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She was, if not happy, at least comfortable and rewarded while she nursed a rejected heart frooodbye He’d driven her into St Petersburg himself and put her on a private jet back to London, where she’d been met by that dead fish, Lazlo
She shouldn’t be so hard on theattentive to the point of s that her boxes had been delivered to the flat in one of the s in London Aleksy’s? She hadn’t had the nerve to ask She hadn’t lowered herself to take any of the three jobs he’d secured for her either As for the credit cards that bore her name but wouldn’t send their bills to her, she’d cut them up the minute Lazlo left
Clair kneas pigheaded, but she hadn’t stayed one night in London She’d put her things back in storage at her own expense and caught the train here A clean break, she had decided, s the expression Look at her, proficient in the vernacular of modern-day relationships after her first one
Sighing, she flipped the page on her diary to check the time on tomorrow’s appointment with an art therapist before she closed the book This was the part of the day she found hardest—going back to a house that felt like a ho only a cat for company Perhaps she’d invite one of the staff and their fa herself to tough out the lonely ti it a confidence booster It turned out people liked her when she opened up and let theer She was an independent young woman like any other
Fetching her jacket off the hook in the corner, she shrugged it on, flipping her hair out froht to trim it soon Outside, she noted a stylish car in the drive Her heart skipped a beat, betraying how many fantasies she still harbored about a certain man, but it was probably just the school trustee who’d promised to pick up the scholarship information Clair had left for her
Hearing a footstep and a creak of a floorboard behind her, Clair said, “Is that you, Geri? I was just about to hunt you down and ask if you’d like to co the doorway Déjà vu struck instantly
She couldn’t eous Aleksy Dain
“Who is Geri? Is he your colleague?” That voice His rough-s her feel restless and anxious to take flight
Clair surreptitiously braced a hand on the sill behind her “Geraldine is one of the house parents What are you doing here?”
“You dropped off the face of the earth, Clair” He stepped into the tiny room and she took in all of him from his uncreased suit to his smoothly shaven jaw He looked restored to his old self Better Like clay that was stronger for going through the fire Clean, polished and strong “What were you thinking, disappearing like that?”
Given that her mind was a clean whiteboard at thebut shock, she took a moment to shake herself into a response
“I wasn’t trying to disappear I only wanted to discuss the foundation with the people it would most closely affect, so I came here to do it Why?” She didn’t like how he put her on the defensive He’d set her out of his life like bottles for the milkman to collect She didn’t have to answer to him
At least, she wanted to be that defiant and dis in on itself and her entire being was soaking up the effect of being near hiain
“If you didn’t want to stay in London, you should have said” His arrogant decree was stated with a scowl of impatience
“Said to who? Lazlo? Nothing against the man, but he’s not my warden and definitely not my bosom chum He already knows more about my private life than I ever wanted his to him”
“To me” Aleksy loosened his tie, then drove his fists into his pockets, his agitationher think for a second—
Clair gave her head a little shake, refusing to read in to it She had let herself get all tangled up in wanting things fro to unravel hi her, but she didn’t want hiain
Even though she suspected he was doing it again and all he’d had to do was step through a door
“We’re no longer involved,” she said with as steady a voice as she couldherself as much as him With a flick of her wrist, she prompted him to close the door When it had clicked fir brilliance of his bronze eyes back on her, she countered it brutally “You paid me out, in case you didn’t know”