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Then his family had refused to let her into histheir backs and pushing her to the fringes like a pariah
She wasn’t someone ore her heart on her sleeve, but the one person she had begun to count on had died Shock and sorrow had overwhelmed her Thankfully she’d had a place to bolt to for a week and absorb her loss Ironic that it had been the orphanage, but what a timely reminder how important the home and foundation were, not just to her, but to children as alone as she was
Now she was feelingnot to squir to reveal that her chest had gone tight and her throat felt swollen It wasn’t just Victor’s unexpected death getting to her, but a kind of despair Would anyone ever stick? Or was she h life in isolation forever?
Into the suffocating ed and the doors whispered open Clair glanced over her shoulder to escape her anxiety, and what she saw made her catch a startled breath
A hunting party of suits invaded the top floor It was the only way to describe the tribe of alert, stony-faced men The last off the elevator, the tallest, was obviously their leader He was a warrior whose swarthy face wore a blaze of genuine battle injury At first that was all Clair saw: the slash of a pale scar that began where his dark hair was coled from his cheekbone toward the corner of his mouth, then dropped off his clean-shaven jaw
He seey co His ar to his powerful build With one sweep of his golden-brown eyes, he dispersed the clique of women in a subtle hiss of indrawn breaths andheels
Clair couldn’t lued to the floor She lifted her chin, refusing to let him see he intimidated her
Male interest sparked to life as he held her stare His gaze drifted like a caress to her mouth, lowered to her open collar and mentally stripped her neatly belted raincoat and low-heeled ankle boots
Clair set her teeth, hating thesestrange happened Her paralysis continued She wasn’t able to turn away in rejection Heat ca elow Warmth radiated into her chest and bathed her throat
His attention came back to her face, decision sta he would want
She blushed, still unable to look away A writhing sensation knotted in her sto like a fist when he spoke in a voice like dark chocolate, e
She didn’t understand him
Clair blinked in surprise, but he didn’t switch to English His command had been for one of his co about her if not to her He swung away,into the interior offices as if he owned the place One of the e
“Was that Russian?” Clair asked on a breathless gasp as the last pin-striped back disappeared She felt as if a tank had just flattened her
“They’ve been coaze away from the hall and became conspiratorial as she leaned over her keyboard “No one knohat’s going on I was hoping you could enlighten us”
“I wasn’t here,” Clair reminded her She hadn’t even been in London “But Mr Turner toldwould carry on as usual, that the fas status quo until they’d had tilanced toward the hall but was certain thatas straitlaced as a lawyer He struck her as so by any iled under the brand of ownership he’d imprinted on her
“So them every day”
“Our—? Oh, right” Clair forced herself back to the conversation Lawyers Not just her friend deceased but the boss and owner, leaving the place on tiptoes of tension She’d noticed the ain hunters at a fire sale didn’t help Clair decided she didn’t like that trespasser of a man
Abby glanced around before hunching even closer “Clair? I’ Mr Van Eych must be hard for y—”
“It’s fine Don’t worry about it,” Clair disht s up walls was a protective reflex, an automatic reaction that probably accounted for why no one ever sent her flowers or love notes She wasn’t good at being close to people That hy she’d let herself fall into a fake romance with Victor He’d offered companionship without the de her fro to ht No chance of pain