One Night with Morelli(66)

                He grinned and Eve almost responded, making up for the near slip with a really fierce frown. She needed her anger to hide behind… Her eyes widened in alarm before she lowered her eyelashes protectively to mask her expression… Where did that thought come from?

                ‘Clare loses interest in things very quickly.’

                Shocked by the suggestion, Eve looked up. ‘Even in her own daughter?’

                He ran a hand down his jaw. ‘In anything.’ A fact that Edward had yet to learn.

                Eyes on her face, he didn’t miss another flicker of repugnance as he let his broad shoulders relax into the buttoned leather back of the chesterfield, giving a grunt as he stretched his long legs out and crossed one ankle over the other.

                His fitness regime was pretty brutal but the previous night followed by today’s session with Eve had left him with some muscles he hadn’t known he had aching. Eve in his bed beat a treadmill any day!

                ‘So you no longer think this afternoon was part of some dastardly plan of mine.’

                She shifted uncomfortably and shrugged. ‘Maybe not,’ she admitted.

                His brows lifted. ‘Maybe?’

                Maybe she deserved to squirm a little…? ‘All right, definitely not—’

                ‘This custody thing.’

                ‘That’s worrying you now, isn’t it?’

                The question in Eve’s mind was, why hadn’t it been worrying him all along?

                ‘Look, this isn’t Clare, it’s her fiancé who is driving this campaign for custody of Josie, and he has his own political agenda. What he doesn’t realise is that Clare is allowing him to manipulate her. Don’t let the ditsy blonde stuff fool you; Clare is smart and when she needs to be, she’s totally ruthless.’

                This chilling assessment made Eve shiver, all the more so because it came from Draco. He clearly still had feelings for the mother of his child—nothing else in Eve’s opinion made sense of the fact he seemed to tolerate and make excuses for Clare doing just about anything. The question was how deep were those feelings?

                ‘And you’re all right with that?’

                ‘She loves Josie.’

                But do you love Clare…? Eve just stopped herself voicing the question that loomed large in her head. What would be the point when she already knew the answer? No man could make so many allowances for a woman who had left him literally holding the baby unless he had real feelings for her. Maybe he couldn’t admit it, but it was obvious to her that the only reason that Draco had not been in a real relationship since his divorce was that he was still hooked on his beautiful, selfish ex-wife and the mother of his child.

                Eve was glad she was not competing with that!

                ‘No, I’m not in love with Clare.’

                Her eyes flew wide. ‘I w-wasn’t thinking that!’

                His brows lifted in a sceptical arc.

                ‘Look, I know you don’t want to know what I think.’

                Draco arched a sable brow. ‘But you’re going to tell me anyway…?’