The black cab pulled up outside one of London’s most prestigious hotels as in the distance Big Ben chimed half past eleven. Just half an hour and all this would be over. The deal. Her marriage. Her love.
She touched her fingers to the diamonds that lay coldly against her skin, annoyed that Max’s driver had handed her the package and said he had instructions to take her to the party. With cold anger in her veins she’d taken the package, knowing full well what it contained, and had dismissed the driver, who’d reluctantly left.
At first she’d thought she wouldn’t go, that she’d return the diamonds to him by courier, but that plan had slipped from her mind as quickly as it had formed. Only seeing him once more, so cold and heartless that he had insisted on their deal in such a way, would finally kill that foolhardy love she had for him.
She’d take off the jewellery piece by piece, a symbol of her heart, her love, and give it back to him. Then walk away.
‘Are you wanting to go somewhere else?’ The driver asked as she sat in the sanctuary of his cab, reluctant to get out, reluctant to do what she knew she had to.
Did she want to go somewhere else? Yes, anywhere but here. ‘No, thanks.’
She passed the fare through to him and opened the door, the cold air of the evening making her shiver, or was it what she intended to do? Walk away from her marriage, the man she loved?
She picked up the emerald-green silk of her dress, holding it just above her ankles, and stepped down from the cab, feeling unsteady on the gold high-heeled sandals she’d bought as she’d wandered aimlessly around London today, proving if nothing else that she wanted—or needed—to be at the party tonight. To see Max one last time. To put an end to it all.
She pulled off the black coat, which hadn’t gone with the high-class dress at all, and handed it in, suddenly feeling very exposed. The long dangling diamond earrings felt heavy in her ears, the necklace weighed her down even more, but very soon she would be free of them and all the pain they’d brought her.
She held her head high as she ascended the main staircase of the hotel and followed the sound of music until she came to the double doors of the suite where one of the biggest New Year’s Eve parties this season was being held. It was the place to see and be seen. She pushed the doors gently open and stood at the top of a very grand wide staircase and looked down at the most glamorous party she’d ever seen.
It was like being Cinderella arriving late at the ball. She might not have glass slippers, but she did have a dress she’d never be able to afford, not in a million years. And diamonds. As she looked around at couples dancing, groups of people talking and the sheer glitz of the moment her thoughts went back to the fairy-tale films she’d watched endlessly as a child. She might not be about to get her happy ever after, but she was certainly at the ball.
She lifted the hem of her dress slightly again and slowly descended the steps, one hand on the wide balustrade, then all the air sucked out of the room, the voices and the music slowed and became nothing but a steady thump. Or was that her heart?
Max was standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up at her. If this were her fairy tale then he’d be smiling up at her, love shining bright in his eyes. He would rush up the stairs, take her hand and kiss her fingers so gently yet so passionately, then lead her to the dance floor, where they’d whirl around in a mist of love.
But this wasn’t her fairy tale. This was reality.
The reality of Max so very handsome in his black tuxedo, his face dark and thunderous as he looked up at her.
* * *
Max’s breath felt as if it had stopped. No matter how deep he tried to breathe he couldn’t. Like a vision of pure loveliness, Lisa stood halfway down the stairs, the green silk of her dress cascading down her body like a waterfall. Her vibrant red hair was piled up in a mass of unruly curls and the diamond earrings sparkled as they moved gently in the light. The necklace seemed to caress her skin, making his fingers want to touch her there, his lips to kiss her.
She’d come. His mouth dried as relief washed over him, but that was short-lived as he felt her gaze fall on him, felt the heat of those alluring green eyes. Around him people chatted and danced, but he couldn’t move. Not toward her or away from her. He’d been certain of what he had to do as he’d left the bar, but hadn’t expected that moment to come so quickly. He’d anticipated a car journey across London, time to process his thoughts, rehearse his words because he knew he only had one chance and they had to be right.
As if in slow motion she continued down the stairs toward him. This was the woman he loved, the woman he wanted to be with for ever, but could he say it now when that realisation was all still so new and fragile?
She reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped. The diamonds at her neck glittered as she breathed, giving away the strength of her emotions right now, but the look on her face was unreadable. A mask of defiant beauty.
He became aware of people around him staring, looking from her to him and back again. The strength of the emotion arcing between them was so powerful it was drawing others in and they stepped back, watching, waiting.
Slowly she walked toward him, the emerald silk of the dress shimmering over her body, giving her an ethereal glow. The mutinous spark in her eyes sent a trail of fear sparking down his spine. She looked like a woman with a purpose. The love had gone from her eyes. He’d done that to her.
Then she was standing before him and her heady perfume invaded his senses, making clear and rational thought almost impossible. He knew they were being watched, knew they’d grabbed everyone’s attention, but right now he didn’t care, not if it meant he could tell Lisa what he had to tell her.
‘I’d like to dance.’ Her words were lethally sharp. The soft and gentle woman he’d unknowingly loved all this time had been replaced by an ice-cold vision of beauty.
‘It will be my pleasure,’ he said as he took one of her hands and pulled her gently into his embrace.
It should feel good to hold her against him, to feel the heat of her skin through the fine silk, but it was bittersweet. He looked down at her, but she was resolutely fixing her attention on his chest and he wished this particular scene had been played out anywhere else but the dance floor.
He wanted to ask her why she’d come after he’d been so cruel to her, wanted to know if it meant he had another chance, but the words just wouldn’t come. This was worse than a damn game of poker.
‘I came here tonight to honour the deal I made with you,’ she said, finally looking up at him, as if hearing his thoughts, but the fierceness in her eyes scared the hell out of him.
‘I’m glad you did.’ Her delicate brows lifted in surprise, but the hardness remained in her eyes, sparking more brilliantly than the diamonds at her throat.
‘Are you?’
‘We need to talk, Lisa.’ Max pulled her closer as they moved slowly in time to the music. She stiffened in his arms. This wasn’t going well. He could feel her more than physically pulling away from him.
‘There is nothing more to say, Max.’ She stopped dancing and looked up at him as she pulled off one earring, then with purpose she pulled the other off. ‘You have said all that needs to be said.’
‘Not yet I haven’t.’ What was happening?
She took his hand, turned it over and placed the earrings in his palm. Puzzled, he looked at them lying there like glittering icicles, but as he looked back at her he saw her reach up and begin to unfasten the necklace.
She was giving them back. Giving back her love—in the most public and final way.
‘Stop.’ The word came out as a feral growl but it snared her attention. She looked at him, her arms poised ready to unfasten the necklace, the diamonds setting off fireworks of sparks with each breath.
‘Why?’ The breathy yet fiercely determined word reared up at him like a stallion. Wild and untamed. Hurt.
This was it. This was the moment to put his cards on the table, the moment to tell her everything. Why here? Why like this? But as those thoughts raced in his mind he knew that if he didn’t do it now he’d never get another chance.
He took a deep breath, still holding the earrings, which now seemed to burn his palm. ‘Because I love you.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
LISA COULDN’T MOVE, couldn’t even blink as she looked at Max. She’d waited so long to hear those words that she’d given up hope of ever hearing. In desperation she’d come here tonight to give him back the diamonds and, by doing so, take back her love, her heart, because they were wasted on a cold and emotionless man like him.
A gasp from someone nearby warned her that everyone close to them had stopped dancing and had formed a circle around them. They were the centre of attention, just what he’d wanted to avoid, but she hadn’t planned it like this—so public. But somehow that didn’t matter, not any more. Her heart thumped hard and she couldn’t take her eyes from Max’s.
‘I should have said it a long time ago.’ Regret filled his voice, but she wasn’t going to be lured in by such tactics.
She lowered her hands so that he didn’t see how much they were shaking. ‘Yes, you should have. A long time ago, but you didn’t feel it, did you, Max?’