Modern Romance September 2017 Books 1 - 4. Кэрол Мортимер
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is something else.’
Yes, he was. But quite what that something else was Lia had no idea.
She knew she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since she’d left his apartment late yesterday afternoon. Since she had made... Well, it hadn’t quite been the walk of shame, because it hadn’t mattered that the clothes she was wearing were the same ones she had worn to work that morning. But it had certainly been an embarrassing exit from the hotel after Lia had collected her coat from the staffroom. Made more so by the fact that the other receptionists had cheerfully wished her goodnight before she left—just as if it had been a normal working day at the Exemplar Hotel.
There had been nothing normal about yesterday as far as Lia was concerned.
The pleasurable aches and pains in her body when she’d woken up that morning had seemed to agree with that sentiment. Which was why she had suggested meeting up with Cathy at the gym after work. The two women had been using different apparatus since they’d arrived, so sitting in the adjoining bar, sipping iced water, was the first opportunity they had found actually to chat.
‘I can see by the smile on your face that he’s every bit as satisfying as I thought he might be.’
‘Cathy!’ Lia’s cheeks were ablaze with revealing colour.
‘Lia!’ she came back teasingly. ‘You never had that cat-that-got-the-cream expression on your face after spending the night with David.’
Lia sobered at the mention of her ex-fiancé. ‘I saw David yesterday too.’
‘What?’ Cathy sat forward. ‘When? Why?’
She sighed heavily. ‘Gregorio told me some things about him and I wanted to know if they were true.’
‘And were they?’
‘Yes.’ Lia had no doubt now that Gregorio’s suspicions about David would prove to be correct. Or that he was right to be cautious about to what David might do once Gregorio had evidence against him.
‘More secrets?’ Cathy eyed her sympathetically.
Lia blinked back the tears that never seemed to be far away nowadays. ‘Gregorio thinks David is responsible for my father’s financial problems and subsequent heart attack. I’m inclined to agree with him.’
‘Oh, Lia.’ Cathy placed her hand over Lia’s and gave it a squeeze. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘But not surprised?’ Lia quirked a rueful brow.
‘Not really, no,’ her friend acknowledged with a pained wince.
Lia laughed softly. ‘You really will have to be more honest with me in future regarding the men I date!’
‘Gregorio has my full approval,’ Cathy supplied instantly.
He had Lia’s full approval too. But that didn’t change the fact that she was just another sexual conquest to him. Unfortunately she had to accept that her emotions didn’t function in the same compartmentalised way as his. She already cared more for Gregorio than she should, and she didn’t need to have her heart broken for a second time in a matter of months.
Had David’s desertion broken her heart?
If Lia was honest, the answer was no. It had hurt that he had ended their engagement so abruptly after her father’s death, but she hadn’t been heartbroken in the way she would be if she allowed her emotions to become fully engaged where Gregorio was concerned.
If they weren’t already...
* * *
‘I was wondering when you were going to arrive home.’
Lia stiffened as she stepped out of the lift and saw David standing in the hallway, directly outside her apartment. ‘How did you get in here?’
There was no reception at this small apartment complex, but it did have a key-coded panel outside the front door, and a security number that had to be logged in before the door could be opened.
She had also left Raphael, her protector for the day, sitting outside in his SUV on the other side of that locked door.
David gave an unconcerned shrug. ‘I told one of the other tenants I was a new neighbour and I’d forgotten the door code. She was only too happy to let me inside.’
Lia was pretty sure there had been a lot of David’s false charm involved in that conversation. Although she really would have to introduce herself properly to the other tenants, so that they knew exactly who their new neighbour was in future. They also needed to be more cautious about letting unknown people into the building.
In the meantime, she had to deal with David’s unwanted presence. ‘How did you find out where I’m living now?’ she demanded as she walked down the hallway.
He shrugged. ‘It wasn’t that difficult. A friend of a friend who works for the telephone company.’
Lia eyed him warily. ‘Why are you here?’ He was dressed casually, in an open-necked pale blue polo shirt and designer label jeans, so he had obviously been home and changed after work before coming here.
He gave her one of his most charming smiles. ‘I felt we parted badly yesterday, and I wanted to put things right between us.’
‘Really?’ She quirked a sceptical brow.
‘Yes, really.’
The smile stayed firmly in place, but Lia knew David well enough to realise it hadn’t reached his eyes.
‘You said some unsettling things to me yesterday, and I wanted to set the record straight.’
Lia thought saying really again might be a little too much. ‘That’s no longer necessary,’ she said.
He tensed. ‘Oh?’
‘I think we both know the truth, David. Which means we have nothing more to say to each other.’
‘You aren’t being very friendly.’
She snorted. ‘Do I have reason to be?’
‘We were engaged...’
‘Were engaged being the appropriate phrase.’
‘Look, I know I let you down when you needed me to be strong for you. I made a mistake, okay?’ His smile became ingratiating. ‘I obviously don’t handle sudden death well—’
‘I will not discuss my father with you,’ Lia snapped. ‘Ever,’ she added vehemently. ‘Now, I would like you to leave.’
‘I just want to talk to you, Lia,’ he cajoled. ‘I’ve missed you.’
‘Oh, please!’ She glared her disgust. ‘I realise now how completely naïve I was until a few months ago. Maybe I was just too busy being “the privileged daughter of the wealthy and powerful Jacob Fairbanks”,’ she said, repeating his insult of yesterday. ‘If I hadn’t been then perhaps I would have seen through you much sooner.’
‘This isn’t like you, Lia...’
David had returned to the condescending voice that was really starting to grate on Lia.
‘You don’t talk like this. I can only conclude that it’s the influence of de la Cruz.’ He gave a shake of his head. ‘What on earth are you doing with a man like that anyway? He’s a womaniser—and a corporate shark of the worst kind.’
‘He’s a more honourable man than you’ll ever be!’
Lia knew that was the truth. In all his dealings with her Gregorio had been nothing but honest. Even when the two of them had spent the afternoon in bed together Gregorio hadn’t made any false declarations or promises—before or after.
‘Now, I really want you to leave, David.’ She searched agitatedly through her shoulder bag for her door key.
‘What