nothing but dizzying blue and whitewashed walls
on all sides and then this man in the middle of it all, like a dream come to
startling and powerfully sexy life...
âHolly.â
His voice tore into her, dark and impatient and yet still, that
little lilt to her name that made her whole body shimmer into instant, almost
painful awareness. She was glad he couldnât see the way she tensed in her seat
in automatic reaction, her legs going tight as she dug her toes into the floor
beneath her desk. Or that bright little light inside she knew was the most
dangerous, most doomed, thing of all.
Hope.
âI donât have time for this today. And even if I did, I have
nothing to say to you.â His hard mouth moved into some lethal approximation of a
smile, and her curse was, it made him no less attractive to her. Quite the
opposite. âNothing polite, that is.â
It was so tempting to simply lose herself in him, or to let
herself break down and start telling the truths she already knew he wouldnât
believe, not when sheâd spent these long years trying so hard to force him to
let her go by any means possible. Sheâd made him detest her, if not release her.
She had to remember the game she needed to play here or sheâd lose before she
started.
So Holly smiled at him. Not the way she once had, when she
hadnât had the faintest shred of self-preservation in her body, when she hadnât
been able to
help
herself from falling into him and for him like the
proverbial ton of bricks, her innocence indistinguishable from her stupidity, to
her recollection. But the way sheâd perfected in these past few lonely years,
the smile that made it possible to play the role sheâd created for herself out
of the ashes of the marriage sheâd burned to the ground with her lies. The role
sheâd thought would make it so simple for him to wash his hands of her, to
discard her, to divorce her and free them both.
Sheâd been wrong about that, too. Sheâd finally, painfully,
faced the fact that sheâd been wrong about everything, and that sheâd done
nothing here but reenact her own painful history. But he wouldnât believe her if
she told him that. He would think it was nothing more than another game, and
heâd made it clear he wouldnât play them with her, hadnât he? Perfectly, coldly
clear.
Which meant she had no choice but to play one last game with
him, this one with the highest stakes of all.
âBusy?â she asked, letting her drawl take on a life of its own,
a Texan specialty. âDoing what, exactly? Still playing the crown prince in your
daddyâs great big kingdom?â
Theoâs expression went from furious to something like
thunderstruck, then back to a hardness that should have left her in tatters.
Maybe it did. Maybe the truth was that she couldnât tell the difference any
longer.
âI beg your pardon?â His voice was icy, but there was no
mistaking the threat beneath it. âI didnât realize it was time for our
long-overdue conversation regarding each otherâs character flaws. Are you
certain youâre ready for that?â
âBlah blah blah,â she said, rolling her eyes and waving a hand
dismissively, wishing she felt even a tiny bit that relaxed or casual. âJust
call me a whore already, Theo. Youâve been dancing around it for almost four
years now.â
CHAPTER TWO
T HEO â S DARK EYES blazed
to a molten fury and it amazed Holly that he could still make her lose her
breath, that easily. Even when he thought so little of her.
And she was such a foolâbecause a sane woman, Holly knew,
having done what sheâd done, having lied so extravagantly in order to escape
this man the only way sheâd thought she could, would not have looked at that
flare of fury in his dark eyes and read it as some sliver of hope for the future
sheâd torpedoed herself.
Because
fury
wasnât the
on all sides and then this man in the middle of it all, like a dream come to
startling and powerfully sexy life...
âHolly.â
His voice tore into her, dark and impatient and yet still, that
little lilt to her name that made her whole body shimmer into instant, almost
painful awareness. She was glad he couldnât see the way she tensed in her seat
in automatic reaction, her legs going tight as she dug her toes into the floor
beneath her desk. Or that bright little light inside she knew was the most
dangerous, most doomed, thing of all.
Hope.
âI donât have time for this today. And even if I did, I have
nothing to say to you.â His hard mouth moved into some lethal approximation of a
smile, and her curse was, it made him no less attractive to her. Quite the
opposite. âNothing polite, that is.â
It was so tempting to simply lose herself in him, or to let
herself break down and start telling the truths she already knew he wouldnât
believe, not when sheâd spent these long years trying so hard to force him to
let her go by any means possible. Sheâd made him detest her, if not release her.
She had to remember the game she needed to play here or sheâd lose before she
started.
So Holly smiled at him. Not the way she once had, when she
hadnât had the faintest shred of self-preservation in her body, when she hadnât
been able to
help
herself from falling into him and for him like the
proverbial ton of bricks, her innocence indistinguishable from her stupidity, to
her recollection. But the way sheâd perfected in these past few lonely years,
the smile that made it possible to play the role sheâd created for herself out
of the ashes of the marriage sheâd burned to the ground with her lies. The role
sheâd thought would make it so simple for him to wash his hands of her, to
discard her, to divorce her and free them both.
Sheâd been wrong about that, too. Sheâd finally, painfully,
faced the fact that sheâd been wrong about everything, and that sheâd done
nothing here but reenact her own painful history. But he wouldnât believe her if
she told him that. He would think it was nothing more than another game, and
heâd made it clear he wouldnât play them with her, hadnât he? Perfectly, coldly
clear.
Which meant she had no choice but to play one last game with
him, this one with the highest stakes of all.
âBusy?â she asked, letting her drawl take on a life of its own,
a Texan specialty. âDoing what, exactly? Still playing the crown prince in your
daddyâs great big kingdom?â
Theoâs expression went from furious to something like
thunderstruck, then back to a hardness that should have left her in tatters.
Maybe it did. Maybe the truth was that she couldnât tell the difference any
longer.
âI beg your pardon?â His voice was icy, but there was no
mistaking the threat beneath it. âI didnât realize it was time for our
long-overdue conversation regarding each otherâs character flaws. Are you
certain youâre ready for that?â
âBlah blah blah,â she said, rolling her eyes and waving a hand
dismissively, wishing she felt even a tiny bit that relaxed or casual. âJust
call me a whore already, Theo. Youâve been dancing around it for almost four
years now.â
CHAPTER TWO
T HEO â S DARK EYES blazed
to a molten fury and it amazed Holly that he could still make her lose her
breath, that easily. Even when he thought so little of her.
And she was such a foolâbecause a sane woman, Holly knew,
having done what sheâd done, having lied so extravagantly in order to escape
this man the only way sheâd thought she could, would not have looked at that
flare of fury in his dark eyes and read it as some sliver of hope for the future
sheâd torpedoed herself.
Because
fury
wasnât the