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“Then I guess we should end it now, before anyone else gets hurt.We’re too different. And thinking we could make this work was naive.”
“Too late. Because if you leave, I won’t be hurt, I’ll be devastated.”
She couldn’t respond, needing everything she had to fortify herself against his words.
“Whatever this new company or the palace wants you to do or not do, isn’t really the issue. Leave because you don’t love me like I love you. Leave because you’d rather have your business and career without a relationship to distract you. Those are reasons that make sense. But don’t leave for this made-up reason that you don’t have control over your life.”
Tears flowed freely down her cheeks now. “I don’t see it that way.”
“I know.” He slid his hands into his pockets. “And until you do, we’ll end up in this same situation. You’ll continue to find excuses to run and I... it hurts too much to keep chasing after you.”
This time he was the one who walked away.
Chapter Twenty-Four
EXCLUSIVE: Where Are Duchess’s Parents? Jameson’s Girl Aiming to Swing from Broken Family Branch to Royal Family Tree
The Mail on Sunday
“Hi, Reggie.” Jameson smiled, if one could call it that, at the older man who opened the door. “I believe my mother is expecting me.”
“She is, Your Royal Highness. Please come in.”
Jameson stepped into the foyer of Calanthe’s Kensington Palace apartment. A large marble table sat in the centre of the open space, holding a porcelain vase containing peonies, his mother’s favorite flower. Across from him a doorway framed the curved staircase leading to the upper floors.
Jameson followed the butler into the drawing room, stopping short at the sight of a wooden tray atop a large, tufted ottoman that served as a coffee table, set with his mother’s favorite tea service, the china emblazoned with the House of Lloyd family crest.
“Is she entertaining?” he asked.
Reggie picked up the tray. “No, sir. The Countess of Winchester, the Countess of Harwick, and the Marchioness of Ainsley just left. Her Royal Highness should be down shortly.”
Instead of sitting, Jameson strode over to the far side of the drawing room and stood staring, but unseeing, out the floor-to-ceiling bay window. In the week since Dani’s departure, he had indeed been devastated. He was confident he’d done the right thing, but he hadn’t heard from her and he’d been reduced to stalking her Instagram account again.
“Jameson, darling,” his mother said, sweeping into the room in dark slacks and a beige jumper. She kissed his cheek then held him by the shoulders and studied him. “You look dreadful.”
“Thank you,” he said.
“How are you doing?”
“I’ve been better.”
Wasn’t that the truth!
“I’ve kept my distance because I figured you had some issues to work through. But I’ve had enough of watching you mope over in your garden.”
He hadn’t been able to go back to Primrose Park. Dani had gone there after their argument. He knew from Margery that she’d left two days after the state banquet, but he’d been unable to bring himself to return. Her memory would haunt everything, making it worse if they couldn’t get past this.
“Come and sit down,” Calanthe said.
Jameson dropped onto the love seat and his mother grabbed a small ottoman and placed it in front of him. She sat on it and took his hands.
“How long is this going to last?” she asked.
“Do you think I want this? That I want to be away from her?” he asked, miserably.
“Of course not,” his mother soothed.
“She says she loves me and wants to be with me, but she won’t let me in.”
