The Golden Desires Read Free Page B

will
walk you to your home."
    Silently they walked beside each other, not
touching in any way, until they stood outside the house where Isabella lived
with her parents.
    Before he could move away and leave her, she moved
closer to him.
    "I love having you as my friend, Adrian. I
know that is not what you want to hear, but it is all that I can offer you for
now," she said and he nodded at her, resigned to wait for however long he
would have to, in the hope that she would change her mind.
     

 
     
     
    3 ~ THE JOURNEY
     
    Trent Solace stood on the summit of
the mountain and stared out in all directions that he could see. From where he
stood he was amazed at the feeling of intoxication that came from the freshness
of the air, and the views from this height above sea level. There were things
he had wanted to escape from in his home city. He had not meant to fall in love
with a married woman but had done so, regardless. At 30 years old, he
knew it was a stupid thing to have done but how could he help it? She had made
herself available so easily. She had appeared wherever he was located for his
work. She had followed him to wherever he was for his pleasure. She had gone
out of her way to lure him after that first time she had seen him, and he had too
easily and desperately succumbed to her advances.
    Her suggestion for her to leave her husband for
him had been what had tipped him over the edge, realizing that it was not love
he felt for her at all. Spending time with her like they had been was one thing
but marriage had never been on his agenda. No, he had watched his mother and
father endure hating each other for too many years when he was a child, and he
would never consider marriage a true path for him. It was something that others
were meant to do … but not him. He was a bachelor, through and through, and he
would happily stay that way.
    He could still remember the conversation so
clearly.
    "I am going to leave him, Trent. I will get
the lawyer to draw up the divorce papers tomorrow and then it won't be long before
you and I can finally get married," she had said, as if he was not
required for any part of the decision making process. "We will have a
large wedding, with so many guests. And you don't need to worry about the cost.
I will have enough money from the divorce to be able to pay for it all. It will
be so big that society page journalists will want to pay us for the exclusive
coverage of it…"
    He had listened to her go on and on, completely
oblivious to the fact that he had not asked her to marry him. That he had not
even said anything to her about her declaration that she was going to get divorced.
    "Stop!" he had said loudly when he knew
he could not bear to hear anymore. "For God's sake, please just stop !"
    She had looked at him as if he were speaking
another language.
    "Stop … what?"
    "Just stop … talking ," he said,
trying to get his breathing, thoughts and speaking under control. "And
don't get a divorce because I'm not going to marry you."
    "What?" she asked, her head shaking from
side to side as if to her he was speaking an entirely different language.
    "You heard me. I'm not going to marry you.
I'm not going to marry anyone … ever . So don't worry yourself about
getting a divorce because there is absolutely no need for it. Stay with your
husband. We are done," he had said and just walked way from her. Whatever
he had felt for her, it had in that moment instantaneously evaporated, and he
knew that was a final judgment on his feelings. The feeling or consideration of
being in love with her was gone and he knew it would not come back to him.
    As he had expected, she had then increased her
efforts to be close to him, no matter where he went or who he was with. So he
had done something he had always dreamed of but never gotten around to - packed
up an extensive list of small essentials into a tramping pack and left, with
full intention of getting as far away as possible from her … and from society
in