Legally His Omnibus Read Free

uncle to be with him, helping and encouraging him, loving him—but that had not been enough for him. She had not been enough for him. The success she had helped him to achieve had meant that he no longer considered her good enough for him.
    She was holding her breath and badly needed to exhale, but she was terrified that if she did she was going to start shaking—and there was so way she was going to allow Sean to witness that kind of vulnerability.
    How well she remembered that challenging hard-edged blue gaze. He had looked at her like that the first time they had met, defying her to ignore him. No one would dare to ignore him now.
    ‘Kate is a very—’ She could hear John about to defend her.
    ‘Thank you, John. I shall deal with this myself,’ Sean announced curtly as she walked past him into the room, and he closed the door, excluding John from his own office.
    ‘Kate?’ he demanded grimly. ‘What happened to Kathy?’
    Just hearing him say that name resurrected far too many painful memories. She had been Kathy when he had taunted her the first time they had met, for being too posh to dance with a man like him. And she had been Kathy too when he had taken her in his arms and shown her— Fiercely she pushed away the tormenting memories.
    Tilting her chin, she said coldly, ‘Kathy?’ She gave a mirthless laugh. ‘She doesn’t exist any longer, Sean. You destroyed her when you destroyed our marriage.’
    ‘And your surname is?’ Sean wondered whether she could hear or understand the cause of the anger that was making his throat raw and his voice terse as he grappled with his own shock.
    ‘Kate Vincent,’ Kate answered him coldly.
    ‘Vincent?’ he questioned savagely.
    ‘Yes, Vincent. You didn’t think I would want to keep your name, did you? And I certainly didn’t want my aunt and uncle’s—after all, like you, they didn’t want me.’
    ‘So you remarried just to change your name?’
    Anger darkened Kate’s eyes as she heard the contempt in his voice.
    ‘Why were you late?’ Sean demanded abruptly. ‘Didn’t he want to let you out of his bed?’
    Furious colour scorched Kate’s face.
    ‘Just because you—’ she began, and then stopped, swallowing hard as out of nowhere the memories started to fill her head. Sean waking her up in the morning with the gentlest of kisses...that was until she was fully awake...and then...
    She could feel the tension building up inside her body, a tension activated by memories crowding out the reality she was trying desperately hard to cling on to, to use as a bulwark.
    A bulwark? Against what? The love she had once felt for Sean had been completely destroyed, and by Sean himself. Cruelly and deliberately. Her body stiffened with pride. She was glad that he thought she had found someone else. Married someone else.
    Had he married the woman he had left her for?
    Sean’s mobile rang, and he answered it, frowning briefly as he told Kate that she could go.
    As she turned to leave Kate heard a female voice saying, quite clearly, ‘Sean, darling...’
    * * *
    Kate was halfway through clearing out her desk when Laura came in.
    ‘What on earth are you doing?’ she demanded.
    ‘Clearing my desk. What does it look like?’ Kate responded tersely.
    ‘You’re leaving?’
    Kate could see how shocked and dismayed Laura was.
    ‘You mean he’s sacked you just for being late?’
    Kate permitted herself a thin and slightly bitter smile. ‘No, he hasn’t sacked me, but let’s just say I’m leaving ahead of having him do so.’
    ‘Oh, Kate, no!’ Laura protested, obviously upset. ‘I can see that things have got off to bad start for you—!’ She stopped, biting her lip and looking uncomfortable.
    Laura would never make a politician, Kate reflected wryly, witnessing her colleague’s discomfort.
    ‘Laura?’ she prodded firmly.
    ‘Well, I’m sure he didn’t mean anything—to be critical...or unkind. But I did hear Sean asking John where you were,’ Laura