She hadn’t even questioned it.
His animosity towards her father was a living force in the room and the effort not to cry was a physical burning in the back of her throat.
She told herself that even if she were wrong it didn’t make a difference to the outcome. The two men she loved were at war with each other and there was no way to make peace. Especially not now that her father had married Arianna. Damon would never forgive him.
Polly felt sick and dizzy and a sense of crawling misery spread through her trembling frame. ‘I think it’s best if I leave. I—I’ll be back at work on Monday, Damon.’
There was a long, agonising silence.
Damon stared at her without speaking. His eyes smouldered dark and his mouth tightened. ‘You don’t have to give me your work schedule,’ he said coldly. ‘When you’re naked in my bed I’m your lover, not your boss.’
His icy response hurt more than all the words that had been flung around the room and Polly had to physically stop herself from throwing herself at him and trying to undo what had been done.
‘He’s upsetting you, Pol,’ her father said firmly. ‘We should just leave.’
It was like separating two stags, she thought numbly. There was never going to be any way of making them get along.
Devastated, she turned her back on both of them and hurried to the bedroom, trying not to remember the incredible happiness she’d felt only moments earlier. Trying to hold it together, she retrieved her shoes and bag and coat and walked back to the living room.
Bracing herself for another desperately upsetting encounter with Damon, she saw only her father.
‘Where’s Damon?’
‘He’s gone. Gave me a look and walked out.’ Her father cast a nervous look around the apartment. ‘The guy’s unstable. You’re well rid of him, Pol. Let’s get out of here.’
Arriving back at her own home, Polly felt numb with misery. She just wanted to retreat to her room but she knew there was no hope of that.
Oblivious to her agony, her father was chatting excitedly, telling her about his wedding in the Caribbean.
She felt as though she were trapped in a recurring cycle.
Another woman. Another relationship.
She should have been used to it by now, but this time it felt different and not just because Arianna was her friend.
‘Are you mad with me, Pol?’ Arianna hovered anxiously as Polly walked into the house with her father. ‘It’s going to be seriously weird being your stepmother, but once we get over that is everything going to be cool between us? I mean, I know you must be mad with Damon, but that’s just the way he is. You know that, right? And we don’t have to see that much of him.’
That statement depressed her more than anything else that had been said so far. ‘I’m working for him,’ Polly said flatly. ‘I have to see him.’
‘You can get another job,’ her father said cheerfully, sliding his arm around Arianna and kissing her on the cheek. ‘I’m thinking of setting up again. I’ll employ you.’
‘No, thanks.’ Polly found that she couldn’t look at Arianna without thinking of Damon. ‘I like the job I have now. Damon is an inspirational boss.’
Her father looked affronted. ‘Well, he’s good with numbers, that’s true, and he’s certainly—’
‘Dad, just—’ Teetering on the edge of an emotional explosion, Polly held up her hand. ‘Just don’t say anything else, OK? This whole thing could have gone a completely different way. Everyone could have been made redundant and—’ She broke off, too exhausted to fight with anyone. ‘Never mind.’
Arianna walked over and gave her a hug. ‘You’ve had a terrible few weeks. Believe me, no one knows better than me what it’s like having Damon breathing down your neck, checking on everything you’re doing. He does it because he’s a complete and utter control freak.’
Polly snapped. ‘Actually, he does it because he cares. He cares about you—’ The fury shook her and she pushed her astonished friend away. ‘He thinks about your welfare and he cares whether you’re happy. He sees it as his role to protect you and he’s made enormous personal sacrifices to care for you and make sure that you grew up with family and not a bunch of strangers. So maybe you could start seeing things from his point of view for a change. Why the hell didn’t you phone him?! The guy has been worried sick!’
‘Why are you defending him?’ Astonished, Arianna exchanged uncertain looks with her new husband. ‘Polly—’
‘I’m going upstairs to do some work.’ Polly turned away, seriously shaken by the intensity of her desire to defend Damon from attack. She would have thrown herself in front of a moving vehicle to protect him from harm. ‘I have a job to do and I intend to keep it, no matter what shambles my personal life is in.’ She knew that no matter what had happened between them there was no way that Damon would allow the personal to overtake the professional. She knew that her job was safe.
In the privacy of her bedroom, she locked the door and then flung herself on her bed, feeling something close to desperate. The emptiness inside her was a big dark hole.
It was hard to believe that it was only yesterday she’d been celebrating a promotion and the achievement of a lifetime ambition—to do a business degree—and now—