by Lee, Nadia
And it always helped when you were the best friend of the owner.
She requested a glass of OJ and glanced at her watch. It was white gold and encrusted with diamonds, a present from Gavin after he’d missed a movie night. Thankfully their date had been in their home theater room, so she’d been spared public humiliation.
Sorry, something came up.
Sorry, I can’t make it.
Priceless gifts always followed the excuses.
Had he been too busy for Catherine as well? Or was it just Amandine?
Before she could brood further, Gavin appeared. “Hey.” He took a seat across from her, his perfectly tailored suit settling over his body. The white silk dress shirt looked stark against the tanned skin of his strong neck. He looked like a pirate, of the very well-off variety. “Really sorry I’m late. Bad traffic.”
“Should be worth at least a sapphire bracelet,” she muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Gavin gave her an odd look but didn’t probe.
The waiter brought a wine list and menu, and Gavin studied them. Her gaze fell on his left hand, and the breath caught in her throat at his bare ring finger.
“What happened to your wedding band?” she asked, unable to stop herself. Her voice was scratchy and hoarse.
“Lost it.” He looked up. “What do you think about—”
“How?”
“Eh?”
“How did you lose it?”
A frown scrunched his brow. “I was doing some garden work.”
“We have two gardeners.”
“No, in Houston.”
“What? Why? Catherine has gardeners too.”
“Actually, she fired them.”
“So you were doing landscaping work in her garden? On our anniversary?”
He nodded. “It was that or…”
His mouth kept moving, words marching out one by one, orderly and smooth. Amandine couldn’t hear them over the buzzing in her head. Gavin hadn’t just gone to Houston for “damage control”, as Mark had put it. He’d been doing Catherine’s yard-work on their anniversary, and all the while Amandine had been waiting for him at La Mer.
At least people thought he’d been doing “damage control.” If they’d known the truth, they would’ve looked at her with something far worse than pity.
He stopped and peered at her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said automatically, out of habit. Then she realized she wasn’t okay. Not at all. “No. I’m not.”
“I’m sorry I missed dinner.”
“Gavin, ‘sorry’ isn’t going to cut it.”
“I know.” He sighed. “I’ve arranged for—”
“And I don’t want some damn present to make up for it either.” To her horror, her eyes started to sting with tears. She blinked them away. “I can’t believe you spent our anniversary with Catherine, rooting around in her garden, after telling me you’d spend it with me. You made it sound like whatever was in Houston was extremely urgent, but now I see that wasn’t the case. You just wanted to go there.”
“That’s not true. She was hysterical.”
“She has staff to take care of her.”
“She fired everyone. Bee called me because she was so worried.”
“So? It didn’t have to be you.”
“Who else could’ve gone? My mother? Ethan? You know how they feel about her. She’s my sister-in-law.”
Fury expanded inside Amandine like an exploding fireball. “First of all, no, she isn’t. Her marriage to Jacob was never valid,” she pointed out, doing her best to contain her anger. “And second, I’m your wife.”
“What would you have done in my place? I never thought you would be this cold. She’s your cousin. You were her maid of honor.”
“Don’t try to make this about me.” Her voice shook, and she took a slow, deep breath.
How could she have been in denial all this time? Gavin would never love her. He probably didn’t even want her love.
What she felt for him was never going to be enough to make their marriage work. It’d been three years, and she no longer knew how to act around him without feeling miserable. Her parents’ marriage had survived only because they’d been in love. Both of them. Her dad had never had any money. Most women would’ve left a husband like that within months, but her mother had stayed until the very end.
The only option available to Amandine was so obvious, so painful. “I’ll have my attorney call you.”
“What?” He stared at her. “What are you saying?”
“Something that should’ve been said a long time ago: I don’t think our marriage’s going to work.” She rose.
“Where are you going?”
“None of your business.”
He grabbed her wrist. “Sit down.”
“Let me go or I’ll make a scene.”
“Amandine,” he warned.
“Try me,” she said, a hair louder. “I’m not well-bred enough to give a shit.”
“Why are you doing this? You aren’t going to get anything by it.”
“Don’t worry. I remember our prenup.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
No. Nothing was what she’d hoped he meant. “I don’t care anymore. Now let go or I’m going to scream, ‘Why are you hurting me?’” She looked around. La Mer was full of businessmen and socialites. “I swear I will.”
He narrowed his eyes, but released her wrist. The muscles in his jaw ticked as he clenched his teeth.
“Good-bye, Gavin.” She forced the words past the hot lump in her throat and walked out.
* * *
Gavin took a seat at the bar. There was no point in hogging a table alone.
“Hey, where’s Amandine?” Mark said from the other side of the counter. He was wearing a well-fitted white button down shirt and black slacks and for all the world looked like one of the bartenders.
“Left.”
Mark came out and took the stool next to Gavin. “What happened?”
“She walked out on me. Can you believe that? A day after our anniversary.”
Mark winced. “Ouch.” He signaled a real bartender. Two cold bottles of beer appeared.
Gavin glared at the beads of sweat forming on the dark green glass. “I know I screwed up, but it’s maddening she won’t give me a chance to make things right.” He took a long swig. He preferred bourbon, but beer would do.
“Give her some time to cool off.”
“She wants me to talk to her lawyer.”
“Jesus. As in divorce?”
Gavin ground his teeth. “She’s furious. She even blames me for helping Catherine, but what was I supposed to do when she’d totally flipped out?”
“Oh.” Mark’s eyes widened with understanding. “You spent yesterday with Catherine and you told Amandine that?”
“Well…she asked,” he said defensively. He hadn’t wanted to discuss it with Amandine, but he wasn’t going to lie to her about it either. That wasn’t the kind of marriage he wanted.
“Catherine’s your ex.”
“She’s my sister-in-law.”
“You almost married her.”
Gavin winced. Mark knew about his pathetic proposal. “That was years ago, and she chose Jacob. Besides, Amandine’s her cousin and was maid of honor at the wedding.”
“Really? How would you feel if Amandine had spent your anniversary with an ex she almost married?”
The muscles in Gavin’s cheek flexed, and his grip around the bottle tightened.
“You just proved my point,” Mark said and drank his beer.
Silence stretched between them.
“Shit,” Gavin bit out finally.
“Want some advice? Forget Catherine and the family scandal. Focus on Amandine for a while, unless you really don’t care what happens to your marriage.”
“I care.”
“Then spend some time with Amandine and give her something you haven’t given her yet,�
� Mark said. “Like, personal attention. Time alone. That kind of thing.”
“What’s the point?” Given how angry she was, she was likely to push him over the rail of the yacht he was planning to get her.
“Gavin, she’ll probably forgive you if you grovel a bit. She’s too soft and gentle to hold a grudge.”
“She’s the one who brought up lawyers.”
“If she really wanted to divorce you, she wouldn’t have come for lunch or asked you about what you were up to yesterday. Okay? And you really don’t want to lose her. She’s good for you. You actually look relaxed around her. You weren’t like that with Catherine…or anyone else you dated, for that matter.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Success and wealth drew women like roses did honey bees. Gavin had learned the lesson the hard way over and over again, starting when he had been just thirteen. Jacob had swooped in and taken a girl Gavin had harbored a major crush on for months. Older and more sophisticated, Jacob had faced no trouble getting the girl. When Gavin had confronted his older brother, Jacob had laughed.
“What? I didn’t see your name tattooed on her anywhere.”
Gavin had bristled. “You knew.”
“And I promised to teach you an important lesson.” Jacob had smiled. “She turned you down because you didn’t have anything to offer that I couldn’t top. I have more experience, more money, more confidence and more success. Plus I’m taller.”
“She said she liked me!”
“So? Unless she’s spreading her legs for you while she’s saying it, it’s all negotiable. Women’ll latch onto somebody else who is ‘more’ than you just like they’ll toss a sweater back in the bargain bin because they found another one that was a better deal.”
Gavin had never forgotten Jacob’s words. His life experience merely confirmed Jacob’s harsh lesson.
When women said, “It’s not you, it’s me,” they really meant, “I found a guy with more money and more success than you.”
So Gavin had done everything in his power to make sure he was more than others, even though he’d suffered another loss to Jacob when Catherine had decided to become Mrs. Jacob Lloyd.
At least that had been a blessing in disguise. In hindsight, it was obvious he and Catherine were incompatible. Gavin had been more in love with the idea of marrying a beautiful girl from a respectable family and having a proper wife than the girl herself.
He considered Amandine’s behavior. She’d appeared in his bed at Catherine’s wedding. Then afterward, she’d tiptoed out of his room and returned to her life in L.A. Gavin had chalked it up to a one-night stand. She had, after all, been drunk, and he was experienced and jaded enough to know his oldest brother was wrong about one thing: women could spread their legs for a guy without really liking him. Still, something about the encounter had bothered him. Women didn’t generally run from him. He’d never really had to chase any of them…until Amandine.
He might have never seen her again—and would’ve done his best not to think about her—if she hadn’t worked at the Art4Kids Foundation as an art teacher. It was one of his pet charities, and he checked in periodically to make sure everything was being taken care of.
“Hello, Amandine,” he’d said at the end of his visit with one of the foundation’s classes.
“Gavin,” she’d said, her eyes slightly wary.
“How are you?”
“Good! Thank you.”
“I believe you’re done for the day?”
“Um…yeah, actually, I am.”
“Excellent. How about dinner?” he’d asked, his mouth moving almost on autopilot, shocking him. Maybe his subconscious had known then she was the one for him.
“I, uh…”
“Say yes.”
She’d looked at him for a long moment, worrying her lower lip, then nodded.
A year later, they’d gotten married in an elaborate ceremony. Everyone from their families and friends had been invited, and no expense had been spared. He’d wanted to give her the fairytale wedding all women dreamed of.
Being with him had given her access to his social circle, which teemed with the kind of successful, wealthy men any woman would love to get her clutches on. Who was she moving on to after getting rid of him?
Normally he wouldn’t have cared. Women were everywhere, but he didn’t want Amandine to hook up with someone she’d met through him.
But what if it’s something else? What if she’s genuinely unhappy about something?
Why wouldn’t she tell him if that was the case?
“I know what I see,” Mark said. “You married her for the most obvious reason men like you marry a woman. There was something special there, right? So don’t let a minor hiccup become full-blown pneumonia. Grovel for a bit, get her back, and next year don’t let anything get in the way of the anniversary dinner. Problem solved.”
Gavin only vaguely noted his friend’s remarks. He finished his beer and went out, murmuring something about an appointment he couldn’t miss.
He slid into his car the minute Thomas opened the door. His heart had never squeezed like this when he’d lost a woman. If they’d wanted to leave, then fine. They had his blessing. But Amandine was different. She was his wife.
That had to be why his throat felt tight like he was suffocating. It couldn’t possibly be anything more…could it?
Chapter Six
GAVIN WORKED LATE in the office, until well after eleven. His to-do items were procreating like bunnies on Viagra. No matter how fast he went through them, more seemed to appear.
But I can still use more things to do.
He didn’t want to go home yet.
Going home meant confronting the aftermath of Amandine’s bombshell announcement at La Mer. Had she already moved into one of the guest bedrooms? He’d rather bet a billion dollars in the currency market than find that out.
Really? That’s all there is to it?
No. For once, he was actually scared. He didn’t know what to do to convince Amandine to stay with him. He realized that she hadn’t been exaggerating at lunch. She truly wanted to get rid of him.
Grovel, Mark had said, but Gavin didn’t know how. He’d already apologized. Did he need to get on his knees? Shed a tear or two?
Ugh. That would only serve to make him look pitiful and ensure Amandine would immediately run to her attorney to finalize their divorce.
He needed something better than “groveling” to get his wife back. The problem was he didn’t know exactly what that was yet.
Gavin checked his email for the tenth time and voice mail for the twentieth. Catherine still hadn’t returned any of his messages, damn her. His wedding ring was still at her place, and he wanted it back. He knew the ring was one of the reasons why Amandine was so mad.
Should he fly to Houston and get it himself? Or would that upset Amandine even further, since she obviously didn’t want him spending any more time with Catherine?
Hilary could go… Assuming Catherine was still in Houston, of course.
His office door opened, and his brother-in-law Pete Monroe stuck his head in. “Wanna split some Chinese?”
Gavin was about to say no, but then he caught a whiff of lo mein and his stomach rumbled. “Sure.”
Pete came in with a big white plastic bag stuffed with paper plates, chopsticks and boxes of noodles, rice, chicken and beef and set things up on the coffee table. His hair wasn’t golden like Amandine’s. From what Gavin heard, Pete got the dark hair of the Fairchilds through his mother, but his blue eyes and height from his father. Luckily, since the Fairchilds were short.
Gavin took the plate Pete offered and stared at the amount of food Pete had spread out. “You usually eat this much?”
“No, but I thought you might want some. I didn’t see you grab any dinner earlier.”
He hadn’t had lunch either. It was difficult to have a decent appetite after his wife had told him she wanted to leave him. “How long hav
e you been here? About two years?”
“Actually, a little over three.”
Gavin nodded. Pete was one of the brightest young analysts working for him. Would he lose Pete as well if Amandine insisted on divorce? “Why did you choose to work for me? You could’ve gone anywhere. Goldreich, Sterling & Wilson…even Europe.”
Pete stopped in the middle of shoveling sweet and sour chicken into his mouth and considered the question. “Well. You offered to mentor me.”
Gavin waved his chopsticks. “Everyone says that.”
“Yeah, but no one else is married to my sister. I figured you’d actually keep your promise.”
“I see.” Gavin’s chopsticks brushed a broccoli floret in the beef dish; he pushed it to the side. Only his mother’s disapproving gaze could make him eat the cruciferous thing. “What would you do if Amandine and I weren’t married? Would you quit?”
A laugh trembled out of Pete. “W-What?”
“If we were to divorce.”
“That’s” —Pete took a big gulp of his Coke— “ridiculous. She’s crazy about you.”
Gavin bit into the beef and took his time chewing the meat. “How can you be so confident? About her feelings, I mean.” If it turned out that Pete somehow had the power to read Amandine’s mind, Gavin would quadruple his salary.
“I know my sister. She’s such a romantic, she would never have agreed to marry you if she didn’t love you. Believe me, she adores you,” he said, his voice firm, almost forceful. “The only way your marriage will fall apart is if you decide to leave.”
Gavin wanted to laugh. Pete clearly had no idea his sister wanted a divorce. Or maybe he was confusing his devotion to his job with his sister’s to her marriage.
“Or…maybe if you did something to kill her love.”
Gavin swallowed hard. Had he done that?
“But I’m sure you never would. And even if something were to happen…” Pete glared at his noodles. “I think we should be able to separate our personal and professional lives.”
“I see.”
“Don’t you?”
Pete’s intense gaze bore down on Gavin. He smiled inwardly. Did his brother-in-law have any idea how obvious he was? “Of course.” Gavin finished the last bit of meat from his plate. “Thanks for dinner.”
