AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There was a silence.Uncomfortably she knew he understood what had happened.How naïve she’d been.How hard she’d fallen for Luc when all the while it had been a slightly embarrassing job for him—but one that he’d done very, very well.She’d been heartbroken and humiliated when she’d found out.
Cally almost laughed.She’d thought that had hurt?She really had been naive—because the memory of that moment was nothing on the reality of this one.
She couldn’t care less what those people thought, or that her photo would be splashed in the pages of tomorrow’s papers together with the cute joke about marrying her bachelor bid.What mattered, what hurt, was that she’d fallen in love with Blake, and there was no way he’d ever fall for her.Not if the beautiful Paola was his usual fare.Not when there was obviously such a flare still between them.
‘How old were you?’He held his whisky but was too busy watching her narrowly to take a sip.
‘Eighteen.’She wanted to move this conversation on.‘So I suppose that’s why she thinks it’s amusing that I bought you.’
‘For the record, Cally, you did not buy me.’
Yeah, sure she hadn’t.He’d never have cast her a second glance ordinarily.And if he hadn’t found out she was pregnant he wouldn’t have heard from him again.He set the untouched glass on the bench and moved around it.She didn’t particularly want to define the blaze in his eyes.But the anger, the burn of betrayal, was blinding.He walked to her and she screwed up her heart in self-defence.
‘I’m sorry they did that to you.’
She didn’t want his comfort.She didn’t want to be his convenience.She wanted to be his love.But he’d given his love elsewhere.And even though Cally loved him, would do almost anything for him, she couldn’t cope with being second-best.
If they were two damaged people seeking solace in each other’s arms, then maybe they could work—as an arrangement in which neither got more hurt.But Cally was over Luc.It had taken until now to realise it but she was—because she was so far into Blake.And if she was with him now, the damage to her would be immeasurable.
Talk about frying-pans and fires.
He reached for her, but the heat of him on her skin couldn’t stop the way her heart was icing over.She slid out of his arms.He looked surprised.
Cally bit on her lip.Knowing she shouldn’t ask but unable not to.‘She said you once asked her to marry you.’
The loss of colour in his cheeks was almost imperceptible.But Cally saw it all the same.Steeled herself for the answer.
‘Paola?She managed to slip that in, in the few minutes she had with you?’
‘Is it true?’She knew she shouldn’t have asked.He looked remote.
He dropped his hands, turned away, his answer clipped.‘I was young and foolish, Cally.Yes.I asked her to marry me.She refused.I didn’t think so at the time, but I had a lucky escape.’
So shewaswhy he never talked marriage and babies.She was the one who’d put him off.Because he’d loved her and she’d hurt him.Cally looked at the tension in his body.There was much more to the story, but he wasn’t about to share.
‘I’m sorry, Blake.’
Cally hurt right through.Clearly he still cared about Paola.He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her all night.He’d been coiled with tension from the moment he saw her there.
Cally sank fast under the pain and the futility of her love.She’d never be able to match up to someone like Paola.So perfect-looking.She and Blake would be a striking pair.Imagine the babies they would make together… WhathadPaola meant by that comment?She knew she’d have to find out, but fear held her back from asking now.She could hardly bear to consider the obvious question—did Blake have a child already?
He watched her with eyes that revealed little.‘Don’t feel sorry for me.It’s all in the past now.’
That she didn’t believe.And she had no idea where they could go from here.
He reached for his whisky, took a sip and then sighed deeply.He bent his head and contemplated the amber liquid for a long moment.Cally watched.The hurt, so evident in him, exacerbated her own pain.
Finally he lifted his head, looked at her with a curiously bright expression.‘Do you want to know why I asked her to marry me?’
‘No.’Cally tightened inside, the thud of her heart upping in tempo and volume.‘I’m not sure I do.’
‘Liar.’He stepped towards her.‘Cally, you are anything but a coward.’
‘Okay.’She snatched in the breath her lungs were starving for.‘Why did you?’
‘You know I didn’t have much of a family.It was the one thing I always wanted.My secret dream.The big happy family like you saw on TV and that every other kid seemed to have.Even just one brother or sister would have been good.I was lonely.Mum worked all hours and we were poor and then I was working all hours too and there was no time for any of those nice moments, you know?’
She nodded, not wanting him to stop.
