Chapter 2

A crash. An oval vase rolled to a stop against my foot.

The sound yanked me back, and I pulled in a breath that felt like it burned all the way down.

Inside, everyone went alert at once.

"Who's there?" the baby-faced rich kid called out.

Gwyneth had been so pleased with herself watching my reaction, because this was exactly the scene she'd wanted.

Then, just as she turned to sneer at me, she knocked over the vase sitting there as a decoration.

The smile froze on her face.

Ken, whose eyes had been half-glazed a moment before, snapped clear all at once and got to his feet fast.

The playful curl left his mouth too, his expression turning serious, as if by some sixth sense he'd felt uneasy the instant he heard the sound.

"That good girl, won't even let you touch her..." That voice, once so lovely to me, was unbearable now, and the answer circled in my head and wouldn't leave.

I braced myself against the wall, dazed, and was about to leave.

That was when my eyes met Ken's, already on his feet.

His stare was full of disbelief and shock, his voice unsteady, and he said my name as though confirming it was really me. "Lesley."

I looked over at him and felt my eyes go red before I could stop it, but I held the tears back and threw the question at him. "Ken Harding, was it fun? Playing with a good girl's feelings?"

Panic flashed through Ken's eyes and was gone, his face smoothing back into calm almost at once.

He'd seen scenes like this plenty of times.

For as long as he could remember, girl after girl had been dumped by him.

They'd cry and demand answers and swear they couldn't go on, and a bank card always settled it.

But this was the first time he didn't know how to handle it.

So the anger with nowhere to go got dumped on the one who'd started it.

When the bottle smashed down by Gwyneth's foot, she shrieked in fright.

Even the people around them jumped at the sudden turn.

But no one dared say another word, all of them pinned down by the drop in the air.

"Who told you to bring her here?"

Ken's expression stayed flat, but from that one cold question everyone knew he was furious.

Since we'd gotten together, I'd never once seen him lose his temper.

This was Young Master Harding, all right, the one everybody feared.

Gwyneth shrank toward the side, hurt, her voice thick with tears. "Ken, I was only making sure these women didn't get their hopes up. Why are you suddenly this angry?"

Clearly she'd used this move on plenty of people before.

Her family and the Hardings went back generations, and over the years she'd broken up more of Ken's relationships than she could count.

For the sake of the James family's standing, Ken had always let it slide.

That was why she felt free to do whatever she wanted.

"You said she was boring, didn't you? So why would you rather have these women than turn around and look at me?"

Gwyneth picked the worst possible moment to start airing her complaints to Ken.

Without Ken's quiet permission, she could never have kept circling around him all these years.

"Shut up." Ken cut her off, his face dark.