Kismet: A Serendipity Novella Read Free Page B

much she was still drawn to him, they were history.
    Even after he’d overcome his shock at seeing
her, wariness remained between them. Still, he insisted she
accompany him, not just for his daily business but on all his
after-hours appointments as well.
    Beginning with dinner tonight, a formal
event on Friday evening, and a dinner party on Saturday. That meant
she needed a formal gown and another dress for Saturday night, none
of which she could easily afford. She’d tried to cover her surprise
and dismay and knew she’d failed miserably ... but at least she’d
salvaged her pride and hadn’t let her lack of money slip.
    No doubt Trevor assumed she’d received a
nice settlement to end her marriage. She wasn’t about to inform him
how hard she’d had to scrape for life’s little luxuries. Her
marriage and its aftermath were none of his business. She didn’t
want or need his sympathy—if he’d even afford her that, given their
history.
    She’d left his office at three in order to
pull herself together, check into her hotel, and then go shopping.
Since she didn’t know any places like Consign and Design in the
city, she’d have to pay full price at a department store. At least
her parents were watching Olivia through the end of this school
week and then her baby was going to stay with her father and his
bimbo.
    Make that Brad’s soon-to-be wife, who was
all of twenty-two years old and who possessed more money than even
Brad’s family. Lissa cringed. But no matter how much Lissa resented
Brad and his behavior, she knew Olivia was safe and cared for with
her father, giving her the freedom to be in the city and take care
of business.
    She grabbed her purse, made sure she had her
credit card in her wallet, and started to leave, when a knock
interrupted her. A look through the peephole showed her someone in
a hotel uniform, so she opened the door.
    “Can I help you?” Lissa asked the younger
man.
    “Are you Miss Elisabetta Gardelli?” he
asked.
    She nodded. Every time she heard her full
name, she was glad she’d reclaimed her maiden name after the
divorce. Olivia was still a Banks, but Elisabetta had no desire to
be one anymore.
    “Special delivery for you.” He gestured to
the rolling cart Lissa hadn’t noticed before.
    She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t
order anything.”
    The man looked at the paper in his hand.
“From Saks Fifth Avenue, for you. May I?” He inclined his head,
indicating he wanted to come into the room.
    “Umm, sure.” Confused, Lissa let him enter
and lay out garment bags on the bed, along with shoeboxes and
shopping bags.
    He’d started to push the cart back out of
the room when her brain kicked back into gear. “Wait, please.” She
went to her wallet and pulled out some bills to tip him with.
“Here. Thank you.”
    “No, ma’am. It’s all taken care of, but
thank you.”
    “I don’t understand,” she said, her legs
beginning to shake as she realized there was only one person who
knew she needed clothing.
    “A Mr. Trevor Dane is downstairs. He asked
me to get your permission to share your room number with him?”
    Mutely, Lissa nodded. “Send him up,” she
murmured, lowering herself onto a corner of the bed, knowing her
legs wouldn’t hold up much longer.
    Nothing about this interview and reunion
with Trevor was going as she’d envisioned. She’d known being with
him again would be challenging, but she’d hoped it would be
cathartic. She’d never quite gotten him out of her system and after
seeing him today, she was coming to the conclusion she never would.
She thought she’d be resigning herself to that throughout this
long, torturous weekend.
    But now she was facing this ... thoughtful,
caring gesture from a man who ought to hate her. He should be doing
everything he could to make her time with him as painless for
himself as possible—by spending as little time with her as he
needed to in order to get the article written. Yet he was sending
her