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“Why?”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Yes, why would I have dinner with my ex-fiancée?”
Slowly she stood, an indulgent smile curving her lips. “Max, really. I explained that before I left. I made a mistake.”
“Cynthia, have you been smoking crack?”
Her eyes widened at his sharp tone. “Max?”
“You dumped me. I accepted. I sent you on a trip we were supposed to take together. Before you left, I distinctly told you that we wouldnotbe getting married.”
“Well, after talking to Daddy again—”
Damn, he should have called her father when they first split. Cynthia had no backbone when it came to her father and Max knew that. She’d never be able to tell the bastard and make it stick. “Listen, Cynthia, I’m not in the mood to be nice to you. It’s over. I don’t want to marry you, or your father. Nothing is going to convince me that we should be married.”
She sighed, then her shoulders sagged. “It’s because of Anna, isn’t it?”
Just the sound of her name sent a shard of ice to his stomach.
Before he could answer, she was shaking her head. “Never mind. She denied it when I confronted her earlier today. But the look on your face tells me everything I need to know.” Cynthia picked up her purse. “I’m sorry for the bother, really, Max. I just thought it would be easier…”
Anger, swift and deep, had him striding across the living room. He grabbed her by her arms and gave her a little shake. “What the hell do you mean, ‘She denied it’?”
Cynthia’s eyes widened in alarm, but he didn’t give a damn. His life had been torn apart and his pride shredded like yesterday’s newspaper. He didn’t care if he scared Cynthia. In fact, he hoped he did. He was getting sick of her shit.
She swallowed. “I…I told Anna we were still getting married.”
A thousand emotions swirled inside him—anger at Cynthia, anger at Anna for believing her. But God help him, there was a tiny ray of hope. Hope that maybe not all was lost.
“You told her that this afternoon?”
She nodded and all of it started to fit together. The cold brush-off, the look in her eyes. He released Cynthia as he sorted through everything, trying to define exactly how he felt. Everything was jumbled up and turned upside down. He didn’t know what to do next.
Cynthia drew in a deep breath and set her shoulders, as if ready to take on the world. “I’ll have to tell Daddy it’s really over.”
He was damn angry with her right now, but Cynthia, well, she couldn’t handle her father, who had an awesome temper and demanded complete control. “Blame it on me.”
She shook her head as she walked to the door. “You said that before and I thank you for it, but it’s about time I stood up to him. I’m almost twenty-eight years old. Kind of sad and pathetic that it took this long. Time for me to grow up, I’d say. Tell Anna…well, tell her I’m sorry. Didn’t she tell you?”
“No. No she…” Another wave of uncertain, jumbled feelings swept over him. Just when the hell had Anna become such a coward? She was always one to take on anything, head-on.
“I said some nasty things I’m pretty ashamed of.”
He focused on Cynthia again.
“What?”
She shook her head. “I’m truly too embarrassed to repeat them. I just…I just didn’t know what else to do. The truth is it was the easy way out. Confronting my father is definitely not something I am good at.”
“I told you—”
“No, I meant what I said. I don’t want to go through life living it for my father.”
He followed Cynthia to the door, his head still whirling, trying to figure out why Anna would dump him without fighting for him. The answer came to him in a blinding flash. Because every time she broke up with a guy, he claimed he still wanted her. Some would quietly suggest they stay together, others spent money on a multitude of roses, and still others waited around for her to change her mind. She never did.
Again, irritation at her assumptions about him, about the situation, crawled down his spine. She lumped him in with all those damn jackasses she’d dated before. Anna knew him better than that. Didn’t she?
