Deadly Vows. Brenda Joyce
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Название: Deadly Vows
Автор: Brenda Joyce
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon M&B
isbn: 9781408953105
isbn:
“I have decided that our relationship was a mistake.” He was final. “It is over.”
She reeled. The one thing she had not expected was this. “I will quote you now. ‘It will never be over!’”
“I have never enjoyed clinging women.”
She gasped.
He stood up. “Please show yourself to the door.”
She did not move. As dazed as she was, a tiny voice in her head screamed at her to leave and come back another time. Men like Calder Hart could not be chased. She spoke unsteadily now. “Hart. I love you.”
“Do you know how many times women have declared their love for me?” He was cool.
She cringed. His gaze was scorching and she knew he was in his most ruthless mood. “Don’t do this to me.”
“Do what? You are the one who did not show up today.”
“You have admitted to me that you love me!”
He laughed, the sound mirthless. “You are so unique, Francesca, that I undoubtedly deluded myself for a while, but we both know that I do not believe in love. It was lust, Francesca, and nothing more. You see, I have come to my senses, as well. What was I thinking, to shackle myself to a woman for what might be an entire lifetime? When the lust is gone, all that would remain is the ink on our marriage license.”
She inhaled. “I know you don’t mean anything you have said tonight.”
“I am not interested in what you think—or in attempting to convince you that I have meant my every word.”
He could not be serious. “How can you be so cruel to me? How can you dismiss me after all we have shared?”
“And what have we shared, other than some conversation, some danger…and several nights in my bed?”
She felt tears well.
“I cannot stand women who cry,” he warned.
She somehow shook her head. “You are trying to make me feel as if I were one of your passing amusements—one of your play toys!”
His stare was filled with innuendo, his silence an affirmative. She was shaken to the core of her being.
“This cannot be happening. We are meant to be, Hart.”
He walked out from behind his desk—and past her. “Nothing is meant to be. And darling? I have no intention of being the one to ruin you. My position hasn’t changed. Your desires will remain unrequited. Luckily, I’m sure Rick will be more than happy to oblige you on that particular matter.”
“Your words are killing me!” she gasped.
“Really? Have no fear. This heartbreak will pass. It always does.” He opened the library door and stood there, waiting for her to leave.
She wasn’t sure how she approached him. She felt as if she had been cut up into so many tiny, bleeding pieces. “I have hurt you. I am sorry! I love you and I always will—even now, when you are trying to destroy that love.”
“Do I appear hurt? I am not. I am relieved.”
She choked.
“God, I hate theatrics. Would you mind? This drama has become more than sordid or distasteful, it has become tiring. I have affairs to attend.”
She hugged herself. His gaze was as frigid as the Arctic Ocean. “I am not taking off this ring. I am not giving up on us, either.”
“Then I feel sorry for you. But you may keep the ring. Use it to buy the portrait, darling.”
She could not withstand his cruelty anymore. Francesca ran past him. As she started to stagger down the corridor, blinded by tears, she heard him behind her. She tensed, sensing a final devastating blow.
It came instantly. “Francesca? Do not bother to come back. When I am done, I am truly done. You are no longer welcome here.”
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