The From Paris With Love And Regency Season Of Secrets Ultimate Collection. Кэрол Мортимер

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СКАЧАТЬ probably buy a house close to my parents. There’s a good private school in their neighborhood. How early is too early to get on the waiting list, do you think?”

      “Matt.” He was babbling about something called Hockaday. It was like they were speaking two totally different languages. She tugged on his shirt. “Matt. I’m not moving to Dallas.”

      Dallas would be the worst place for Matt. He seemed to think he was ready, but it was too soon. He needed more time to heal, more time with her.

      “Sure you are. There’s a really great arts district, and my mom knows a lot of people. She can introduce you to other moms your age. You’ll like it.”

      The first tendrils of alarm unfolded in her stomach. “You don’t even like Dallas. You said it was oppressive. Do you really think you can go back to real estate, like you’re still the same person you used to be?”

      The look on his face when he’d been telling Nicola and Angelo about his family firm—well, he might love his job, but it wasn’t going to be the same. He’d walked away because he needed something else.

      He needed her.

      “I have to be that person. That’s the real me. This?” He pointed at the frescoed ceiling. “This is not me. This is some other guy who’d lost his way. Dallas is where I was always trying to get back to. I have you to thank for getting me on the right track.”

      “Dallas isn’t the right track. You’re talking about shoehorning both of us, and a baby, into something that doesn’t exist anymore. Monte Carlo is the best option for us. We’re moving on together. Don’t you see?” Desperation laced her words, because it was clear he didn’t see.

      “Monte Carlo is not a place for the mother of my child.” His lips firmed into a no-nonsense line she’d never seen before.

      “It is when I’m the mother.”

      Their gazes locked, and the frozen blue of his irises nearly took her breath. All of Matt’s incredible depth—the quality she’d always treasured the most—had vanished.

      “I don’t want you around those kind of people,” he said.

      “Those kind of people?” Her spine stiffened in shock. “And what kind of people would those be, Matt?”

      He had the gall to glare at her. “Alcoholics. Like your ex. People who stumble home after a night of who knows what, like Vincenzo, and throw phone parties.”

      Eyes wide, she snickered to cover her rising distress. “Would you like a stepladder to see over that double standard you just threw up? May I remind you where we met?”

      “That’s irrelevant. You’re not going to Monte Carlo.”

      Who was this man talking to her out of Matt’s mouth and watching her from his eyes, but who clearly was not Matt? It was like he’d put on another mask, but this one scared her.

      “Are we really on such opposite sides of this? How can that be?” She looked for some glimmer of the empathy they’d always had. It wasn’t there, as if the link between them had been severed. The tendril of panic exploded. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

      “We’re having a baby. A baby that will be raised in Dallas, where it will have the best care and the best opportunities.” The corner he was pushing her into grew sharp against her back. He never pushed. Why now? “Where we can have a good life and be happy. Like you said.”

      Dallas was his idea of a good life? “What, exactly, do you envision me doing in Dallas? Tea parties with your mother?”

      He shrugged. “Sure. If you want to. Or volunteer. My sister-in-law runs a women’s shelter. Maybe that would appeal to you. It’ll take a while to get back in the swing of things, even for me, but I usually get invitations to at least one or two social events a week. Charity balls and the like. When the baby comes, you can take it easy and focus on being a mother.”

      “Charity balls?” Her voice squeaked. Which would be unremarkable except it was the highest tone she’d accomplished in a very long time. “Have we actually met? Hi, I’m Evangeline La Fleur, and I live in Europe. I’d like for the father of my child to live in Europe with me.”

      “Or?”

      The challenge snaked through her.

      “Or don’t. But you’re talking about a life in Dallas that I can’t do.” If she put down roots in Dallas, what would happen to her if it didn’t work out? If he decided he didn’t want her to stay after all?

      “Can’t? Or won’t?” His tone sliced through her, and tears burned at the corners of her eyes.

      “Can’t.” She took a deep, calming breath, but it shuddered in her chest. “Matt, have you listened to me at all? I’d die in that environment. Die, as in wither up into a dried bit of nothing and blow away.”

      They both would. Why was he being so stubborn?

      “You’ll be with me. I’ll keep you entertained.” His wolfish smile unleashed a nauseous wave in her abdomen.

      “Is that all I am to you?”

      “No. Of course not.” He shook his head, sobering, and every fiber of her being wished for him to follow that with, I love you. “I want you to be my wife.”

      That’s when it all snapped into place. The sick churning in her stomach sped up.

      “You haven’t been trying to get over Amber. That’s why it’s taking so long. What you’ve been searching for isn’t a cure—you’ve been looking for a replacement. The whole time. And you found one.”

      “No one can replace Amber.” A lethal edge to his expression whipped out and knifed her in a tender place deep inside. “I would never attempt to try.”

      “Of course. My mistake.” One of many. But she couldn’t let it go, couldn’t stop from ensuring they both heard the brutal truth. “I’ve been falling in love with you. All along. Tell me that’s one-sided.”

      The harsh lines of his face softened. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hurt you.”

      “But you’re going to anyway.”

      Her heart froze in disbelief. She’d put it out there, only to have it slapped down. It had never occurred to her that she wouldn’t be successful at healing him. That the baby wouldn’t be the answer. That her feelings wouldn’t be returned.

      But Matt was honest to a fault, and he’d never lie to her.

      He didn’t love her.

      He couldn’t, because she wasn’t Amber. She’d never be able to fill the empty place in his heart, and she’d been a fool to think that demon could ever be slayed.

      Her whole life had been shaped by rejection at the hands of people who didn’t love her because she wasn’t someone else. She wasn’t Lisa. She wasn’t Sara Lear. And she wasn’t Amber.

      “Evangeline...” He sighed, and deep lines appeared around his eyes, aging СКАЧАТЬ