The Wedding Party And Holiday Escapes Ultimate Collection. Кейт Хьюит

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СКАЧАТЬ right. She may not have approved of the way he spent his money, particularly the trips to Vegas and Atlantic City that would put him back thousands of dollars. But she hadn’t felt she had any right to dictate where and how he spent—or wasted—his fortune.

      And when the divorce happened, she didn’t ask for a penny. She just wanted it to be over fast. And it might have been if his father hadn’t gotten involved. Apparently, he hadn’t trusted her to fade away quietly. Either that or he was just pissed off that he’d been wrong about her, that she really hadn’t been after Dillon’s money.

      “And sex,” he said. “We never fought about sex.”

      Oh, but they had. One time. It had been the argument. The one that had hammered the final wedge between them.

      “The day I told you I thought I might be pregnant, we argued. Sex…pregnant. Can’t have one without the other.”

      “And I’ve been trying for the first one for days now, but you’re not cooperating.”

      Clearly, he used humor as a defense mechanism when she came close to hitting a nerve, to making him face something he didn’t want to deal with.

      “Don’t do that,” she said. “Don’t make a joke out of this or nothing will get resolved. Just talk to me. I know you’re not used to talking about your feelings, but you’re going to have to if we really want this to work.”

      He was quiet for a second and she could see the wheels spinning, see him working things through, trying to decide if this was worth the hassle.

      What would it be?

      “I had every reason to be upset,” he finally said. “Neither of us was ready to start a family.”

      “You were more than upset.” He had been furious.

      How could she let that happen, he’d shouted? How could she be so careless? As if he’d had no part in it.

      The pregnancy test she later took had been negative, but by then the damage had already been done.

      After that it had been as if they were afraid to touch each other, afraid there might be an accident that would bind them together for life. And without the sex, there had been nothing left to hold them together. She knew that it was only a matter of time before everything fell apart. But admitting it was over was as good as admitting that her mom was right. So she had hung on until the bitter end.

      “I overreacted,” he admitted, then he really blew her away by adding, “I think that deep down I knew I was a lousy husband and thought I would be an even worse father.”

      It was the most honest thing she had ever heard him say. The first time he’d ever admitted he wasn’t flawless, that he had doubts just like everyone else.

      “You weren’t a lousy husband.”

      He got that stubborn, sulky look. “You sure as hell made me feel like I was.”

      Her first instinct was to lash out and deny the accusation. But Dillon was not the kind of man to admit to having feelings he didn’t really have. He was too damned proud.

      “I didn’t mean to,” she said.

      “It wasn’t always that way. After we got married, you changed.”

      Another denial sat on the tip of her tongue. Why was this so hard? Why was her gut reaction to go on the defensive?

      Instead, she asked, “How did I change?”

      He shrugged. “You were just…different.”

      Well, that wasn’t much help.

      She tried another angle. “What was I like before we got married?”

      He thought about it a second, and the hint of a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Fun. You were a little repressed at first, but you were willing to try new things.”

      They did have fun. So much that she used to believe it was too good to be true. She wondered why a rich, handsome man was even remotely interested in someone as boring and plain as her. Dillon had brought her out of her shell. He’d made her feel good about herself. At least for a while.

      The next question was harder to ask, since she was pretty sure she wouldn’t like the answer. “And after? What was I like then?”

      “You were so…serious. All you did was study.”

      That was entirely unfair. Not everyone had the luxury of screwing around. “I didn’t have an eight-figure trust fund to fall back on and a ready-made job being handed to me. I needed to get my degree. And I had to maintain my GPA or I would lose my scholarship. Which, as you know, I eventually lost anyway.”

      “Because of my father,” he said.

      She nodded. He’d pulled a few strings and her full scholarship had mysteriously been revoked. She’d worked hard for that money. She’d busted her butt all through high school and graduated at the top of her class.

      With the snap of his fingers, Dillon’s father had snatched it away. To this day she wasn’t exactly sure why.

      Was it because she’d never been impressed by his money and power? Because she couldn’t be bought? Not for any price.

      May be he’d done it to put her in her place. To prove the power he held over her.

      To add insult to injury, no one would give her a student loan, not when she was married to a billionaire. She’d had to go to work full-time to cover her tuition and living expenses until the divorce was final, and Dillon’s father saw to it that it took a very long time. By then she was so far behind, she’d graduated two years later than she’d originally planned.

      “I didn’t find out what he’d done until it was too late,” Dillon said. “If I had known at the time I would have stopped him. Or at least I would have tried.”

      She’d convinced herself that he’d known all along and had let it happen, and she’d hated him for it. But the truth was, he’d never been vindictive. Just arrogant and misguided.

      And she believed him. If he could have stopped it, he would have.

      “Working harder for it just made me appreciate it more,” she told him, and it was the truth. It taught her to be independent and self-sufficient. She learned she was tough enough to handle just about anything.

      “I would have paid your tuition if you had only asked.”

      She knew that, too, but she’d been too proud to go looking for a handout. Too embarrassed to admit how badly she had screwed up. She had to do it on her own. As Miranda had said earlier, Ivy had a stubborn streak.

      “You didn’t even have to go to school,” he told her.

      “I would have taken care of you.”

      “I’m sure my dad said the same thing to my mom. Then he walked out the door. Besides, if I had quit school, we both would have been bored silly within a month.”

      “Probably,” СКАЧАТЬ