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private affairs when he himself was still trying to heal his pain - pain caused by her.
That nagging feeling poked him harder. It kept insinuating he had something to do with her
tears. But if that was the case, that would mean she had feelings for him!
His heart danced madly at the thought but his head warned him not to jump to outrageous
conclusions. He'd made that mistake before and he'd been so wrong.
They had amazing sex. They shared intimate conversations about their dreams, careers and
families. Their dates had been seriously fun.
These things made him think she at least cared enough for him to not want to see other people.
Turned out what made his heart soar to the skies meant nothing to her.
If he was wrong on those counts, how could he be right in thinking her tears were caused by
him?
No. She must have gotten upset because of something else and not because he refused to talk
to her or because she caught him out on a date with another woman.
He marched to his office, determined not to ask about her, even though it might just kill him
not to know. He slumped on his chair and swivelled it so he wasn't facing the door.
Thinking about Faye was emotionally draining. But he didn't know how to stop.
He heard a soft knock on his open door. He hastily composed himself and twirled around.
"Hi, Ray," Jessa said as she stood at the threshold. "Just wanted to let you know Mrs. Collins
rang and said their office is already getting inundated with calls due to our feature article, even though
this month's edition only came out this morning. She's already booked an appointment with us in two
weeks to discuss paid advertorials moving forward."
"That's great," he smiled at Jessa. "You guys do such a great job with your articles we don't
even need to sell our advertising spaces. Clients fight for the paid spots because they know we reach
their target market. Excellent work, Jess."
"Thanks. And just to confirm, you want Mark to work on the editing of both Rob's and Will's
adverts, right?"
"Well, I don't really care if you, Clarise or Mark work on them. They're paid educational
articles that will appear under their own business banners so whoever works on them doesn't really
matter. It's a question of whether you girls want to work on your fiancés' business marketing or not.
I'll leave it to the three of you to decide."
"Okay, great," Jessa replied with a grin. "Rob's already grilling me with his so I might as well
work on it."
He smiled his agreement.
"Oh, and Ray," Jessa continued, "sorry we didn't really say a proper goodbye to you and Rita
earlier at the restaurant. Faye got a bit upset."
Involuntarily, he took a sharp intake of breath. He blinked a couple of times and swallowed
visibly. He didn't expect any of them to openly discuss Faye with him. But of course, they didn't know
about him being 'John'.
Despite his promise to himself, he croaked, "Is she okay?"
Jessa shrugged casually but her gaze was penetrating. "She took it quite hard."
Before he could ask Jessa what she meant, his phone rang. He stared at Jessa for a couple of
seconds before advising her he had to pick up that call. She nodded and left.
Unbeknownst to him, his eyes expressed more than he intended for her to notice.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"Ray's definitely coming, right?" Victor queried as he greeted Clarise and Will, who had arrived at
his boyfriend Evan's very first public exhibition of his oil paintings.
"Yes, that's what he told me," Clarise confirmed. "Is Faye here already?"
"Not yet. She said she's bringing Kane with her. Some of Evan's work on geometrics might
catch Kane's architect eyes."
"Where's Evan?"
"Oh, he's somewhere in the next room chatting with some people. I'm so excited and nervous
for him. I hope he sells some of his paintings."
"He definitely will, Victor. Will and I checked his website and we're interested in a couple of
them," Clarise declared then swayed towards her fiancé. "We should go check them out, baby, before
someone else buys them."
"Good idea," Will responded.
"Oh, thank you, guys. You're so sweet," Victor gushed.
"No, Evan's good," Clarise grinned.
"Oh, no," Victor exclaimed in dismay.
"What?"
"Guess who just walked in?"
Will and Clarise turned and saw none other than Rita Maxwell arriving with an older woman.
The resemblance was unmistakable, and they guessed her companion must be her mother.
"Who invited her?" Clarise whispered to Victor.
"I don't know. The owner of this gallery has a lot of connections. Now what do we do? This
could be bad for Faye."
Clarise put a hand on Will's arm. "Honey, can you give me a few minutes? Victor and I need
to talk about this unexpected guest."
"Who's she?"
"Someone who's after Ray."
"Oh. So you think with her being here, Faye might not get her opportunity to talk to Ray
alone?"
"Rita's very flirty and doesn't seem to care if people see her as being all over Ray. I wouldn't
be surprised if she attaches herself to his side all night. We just want Faye to have every chance of
speaking with him privately."
"Okay, hope everything works out well for the two of them." Will gave Clarise a quick kiss on
the lips and sauntered off.
Clarise and Victor went in search of Jessa. They hadn't verbalised their opinion to Faye, but
all three of them were sure Ray felt the same way about her. They had observed him enough at work
to know he was hurting because of Faye. But those two had better talk so they could know the truth for
themselves.
*******
"You okay?"
Faye looked up at Kane, who looked mighty fine in his expensive suit. They had just parked
Kane's car and were making their way to the gallery entrance.
"Yes," she smiled at him. "Thank you for coming with me tonight."
"You do know my services don't come for free. You have to make me dessert this weekend."
"No problem," she chuckled. "You know, you should watch what you eat. You're not getting
any younger and all those sweets could blow you up before you even know it." She eyed her brother
keenly but had to admit he was in great shape.
Kane's brows furrowed together. "I thought you use light cheese and less sugar in your cakes."
"Yes, relatively speaking. But they're still high in calories."
"I'll just exercise more," he said with a shrug then peered at her closer. "You look nervous."
"Is it obvious?"
"Because I know you well, yes. You usually handle most things with aplomb, so it worries me
that you're not only listless but also nervy. Is it because of that guy Ray?"
"Yes," she responded quietly. "He's going to be here tonight."
"Oh, I see. Good."
Faye's head jerked up to her brother's face at his tone. "What do you mean? What are you
planning to do?"
"Nothing," Kane replied innocently.
"Kane, please don't do anything that would embarrass me. I can handle this."
"Handle what? What are you planning to do?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]