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When both Molly and Miller had asked where she was going she had made up soh they had looked suspicious, they were used to her working over weekends, so it wasn’t that much of a stretch for them to believe her

That had been teeks ago and since then Ruby had hardly seen, or heard fro had their baby, a beautiful little girl, which had caused Sam’s responsibilities to double Then last week he’d had to fly to LA when an old case he’d been working on had blown up He’d been sorry to cancel yet another weekend together but he’d had no choice

He’d even thanked her for taking it so well, but what had he expected? That she would get clingy? Ruby didn’t do clingy Ever

And really, Sanificantly increased since the et on top of it

She’d also used her free weekend to catch up with her mother and Phil, the fiancé

They’d lunched at a chic French bistro on the previous Sunday, and her hted to fill her in on the story of their romance

Apparently theirs had been a ind affair—her mother’s favourite kind—and Ruby only hoped this one would last longer than the h, to be fair, none of the others had e It still surprised Ruby that after her father had walked out, leaving her h to date as often as she had and to even try ain But she had to admit that her mother did seem happy with Phil, and that was all Ruby had ever wished for her

With Sae words in her ear—words she hadn’t wanted to hear at the tiirl and able to take care of herself, Ruby found herself biting her tongue rather than warning her mother to be careful Of course, she didn’t think that her behaviour was that different from the norm, but Molly had frowned at her after the lunch and asked if she was okay

‘Fine,’ she’d said blithely ‘I’ve just decided to stop trying to save Mum when it’s obvious she doesn’t want, or need, that from me any more’

Molly gaped at her ‘Okay, where’s my sister and how much do you want for her return?’

At the tiiven her that look, but deep down she wondered the sa She did feel different at ti, and alondering what Sa Like now, for instance, when she should be preparing for aout the time difference in LA

And every ti to see Sa weekend at the beach house, every ti in a little over her head, her body would pulse with re herself to end it

Yet

But as he doing now? Working, as he had said, or was he catching up with friends? Had he run into an old flanal that he was already tiring of their relationship? Ruby’s stoether been enough for him, while for her the more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to spend with him?

It took everything in her not to get uptight or paranoid, and she felt as if she’d succeeded right up until she heard his voice outside her office co down the hallway

‘That’s great news Have their CFO call et tricky when you least expect it, so she needs to be fully briefed ahead of time’

Ruby only had a er than life, in her doorway, so handsome it hurt her heart to look at him

Grantup fro furiously on the contract they were planning to put to Carter Jones in less than two hours’ time

Leaving Grant to it, she smiled at Sam, only to find his expression so serious a lump formed in her throat He had met someone in LA Someone at a party, he was sorry, but what could he do? It was back to business as usual for them