Brides, Babies And Billionaires. Rebecca Winters
viability of the business. His temper rose as he researched the reporter, found her profile and photo.
And his fragile faith was obliterated in a torrent of bitterness, far worse than all the other betrayals combined. This was the woman Lauren had been with on Monday, the reason for her reticence since.
She was one of the very few who had knowledge of his father’s dementia and fraud. What reason could there be for meeting that woman? Why?
His chest heaved, and anger ruled as he reached for his keys. Threw them down, snatched up his mobile, and paced the floor until Lauren answered.
‘Matt?’
Diffident and wary. Guilty?
‘Who was the woman you were with on Monday?’ Grated out without polite niceties.
Her quick gasp sharpened his pain. Her silence exacerbated his temper.
‘She’s a damn reporter. What did you tell her?’
‘You...I’m...’
‘Lost for words, Lauren. What am I? A magnet for cheats and liars? Dad, Christine, and now you? Do you have any idea what I...? No, you wouldn’t. I can’t bear to see you. Don’t want to hear your voice.’
He hung up, tossed his phone on the coffee table and sank into a chair, burying his head into his hands. This was it. He’d never fully trust anyone again.
LAUREN CURLED UP on his settee, buried her head into his cushion and sobbed at his tirade. How could he believe she’d break her promise?
Idiot, stupid, stupid idiot. She hadn’t realised the woman was a reporter until she’d begun to ask about Marcus. Fearing he might be annoyed that she’d been duped into the conversation, she hadn’t told him. Things the woman had hinted she knew could only have come from one of the select few people he trusted implicitly.
He hadn’t said what the reporter had claimed to know, only accused her of telling family secrets, and she had no way of proving her innocence. Maybe if she had been truthful with him he’d be looking for the real culprit. Instead he’d condemned her without even seeing her, proof his caring had been superficial.
She rubbed the tears from her cheeks, and went to wash her face with a cold flannel. The red-eyed wreck in the mirror gave her no choice.
She loved him so she’d make it easier for him. He didn’t want to see her so she wouldn’t be here when he came home. She booked a flight, packed her belongings and called a taxi.
* * *
Matt hadn’t needed his cousin’s harsh rebuke over the phone to know he’d been wrong to call her in anger. Personal confrontation when he could see her eyes and read her expression would have been better. Didn’t change the reality. Or did it?
Alan had rung to say he’d done what Matt should have—checked and found out the reporter was ambitious, and not particularly scrupulous in her methods of obtaining information.
He couldn’t postpone the morning’s scheduled meeting though he came close to doing just that. It was crucial to the company’s survival, especially after today’s media article. With the prospect of legal proceedings giving him motivation, he blocked Lauren from his mind and went to the boardroom to fight for his and the company’s future.
He deliberately stayed late at the office, arriving home to a dark and silent unit. Refusing to acknowledge the sour churning in his gut, he walked in.
I can’t bear to see you. Don’t want to hear your voice.
His words echoed in his head. He sagged against the door jamb leading to the kitchen area. The table was bare. The vase had gone. Lauren had gone.
* * *
Lauren had never felt more alone. She ached for Matt’s smile, his spine-tingling touch, and his midnight-blue eyes that could make her pulse race from across a room. She even missed his cajoling her to reassess her relationship with her family.
Knowing he believed she’d betrayed him tore her apart. Knowing she had unconditional support from her friends held her together. Whatever they suspected, they’d never push, would give her all the time she needed until she was ready to confide in them.
On Wednesday night, she cried herself to sleep, reliving his caresses, his kisses. The passion they’d shared. On Thursday she wandered aimlessly for hours, stopping only for drinks and an occasional snack. On Friday morning she went to see her employer and resigned. When she got back to the units, Pete was home so she told him.
‘You can’t, Lauren. You’re the best. You love digging out the solutions where others have failed. You...’ Words failed him and his arms flailed in the air.
Lauren shrugged. She’d lost enthusiasm for her work, and her heart hurt every second of every day. Matt didn’t want her, didn’t love her and had never really trusted her. He hadn’t bothered to ring but she’d have blocked the call if he had. His throaty voice was implanted in her brain. She heard it every night as she lay alone in her single bed. Didn’t need to hear the reality and have her heart ripped apart even more.
‘I’m going to teach.’
Pete made a scoffing sound, and dropped down beside her on the sofa. ‘You’ll be bored and climbing the walls in a week. And the salary’s crap.’
‘Private lessons to adults. One on one showing them just the functions they want to use on their own personal computers. I’ve done it for friends, and they all said they knew people who’d pay for the service.’
‘You’ve thought it through? It’s really what you want?’
‘For now it’s what I need, Pete. Who knows what’s ahead?’
Nothing but memories and what-ifs for her. Her throat tightened—it seemed to do that a lot lately—her breath hitched, and she shivered.
In an instant she was wrapped in friendly arms, her head was cradled to his shoulder and his hand made soothing strokes over her back.
‘I’d like to find the guy who hurt you and feed the most destructive viruses I can find into his computer system. And him.’
She choked up at the thought of polite, pacifist Pete going into battle for her. She felt warm and cared for, knowing he meant it and that the others would back him up. They might not have Matt’s name or details of the breakup but he was now the enemy.
Easing away, she stood up and brushed off the few tears that had escaped.
‘Save your knight-in-armour mode for Jenny. He wasn’t completely to blame. He’d been betrayed by someone he trusted and circumstances showed me in a suspicious light.’
‘Loving means trusting.’
Which again proved Matt didn’t love her.
‘And the only way is forward. I’ll take each day as it comes.’
And hide my torment in the dark nights.
* * *
All Matt wanted to do was to cower in a dark corner and lick his wounds. Nothing he’d suffered before had prepared him for the gut-wrenching pain whenever he thought of her, which was almost every minute of every day. He lay awake remembering the nights they’d spent together, reached out for her in his restless sleep on the couch.
The sun was rising as he drove into the city on Monday, an unneeded reminder of last weekend. Telling himself he was better off without her had no effect. His brain kept repeating one word over and over. Why?
Mid-morning he brewed another mug of strong coffee, couldn’t bear to drink it in his office. Even with the connecting door shut, he kept glancing that way as if she’d suddenly appear. He walked to the boardroom because she’d never been