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CHAPTER ONE
SHE FELT LIKE GLASS, stretched so tightly that a gentle tap could shatter her forever
Clutching her wrap tight in her fingers, Clio Norwood looked around for her fiancé, Jackson
Ashley, his secretary, who had arrived unannounced and interrupted theirwith a client Jackson was determined to add to his cap, was nowhere to be seen either So distasteful hovered in the back of Clio’sto strike
With the s atop the Elittered around them
Usually, the vibrant, unrelenting pulse of the city that had beco spirit for life It had kept her going even when she had been struggling after graduation from Columbia University And had helped her s her failures and her naive, broken expectations ofit by herself in the city that never slept
But tonight, even New York couldn’t puncture the bubble of dread that had begun to pervade her of late
Jackson had returned last night after three weeks from an overseas trip and had been in a stinker of a mood as he liked to call it, because he had missed out on some real estate deal
They had barely exchanged a word all day today as she had been at work When she had returned to the posh flat they had been living in for the past year, he had coht
Commanded and not asked,more and more obvious to Clio Still, she knew the stress of his business, understood the driving need to iven in
Even if she was still bone tired froo
Tonight, Jackson needed her help to convince Mrs Alcott, an old friend of her parents’, to hire him as her personal investment banker With her estates in Britain and substantial family business, Jane Alcott would be a coup for Jackson’s already flourishing career
But they hadn’t even greeted Jane properly before Ashley had approached Jackson with a desperate glint in her eye
Loath to create a scene, Clio had clenched her teeth and smiled serenely even as she saw the curious looks and stifled whispers airlfriends Even the utter kindness of Jane’s question if everything was all right between Jackson and her had been unbearable
What was going on with hi on between them?