‘No, he wasn’t,’ she choked out. ‘I...I...’ Her voice cut out as her whole chest filled with emotion, tears threatening. Silly, really, given she’d already realised she hadn’t loved Dwayne.
‘Oh, Harriet. Hon,’ Emily said gently. ‘I didn’t mean to upset you.’
Harriet gulped, then cleared her throat. ‘I thought you’d be mad at me.’
‘Never. I just worry about you, that’s all. I want you to be happy.’
‘I want to be happy, too.’
‘Then perhaps you should stop looking for Mr Perfect to marry and just have fun for a while,’ Emily suggested. ‘You’re still young, Harriet. Plenty of time for you to get married yet.’
‘You’re so right, Em. I’ve been thinking exactly the same thing.’
Chapter Sixteen
‘GOT ANYTHING SPECIAL planned for this weekend?’ Audrey asked Harriet.
Friday night had finally arrived and the two women were sharing a bottle of white wine at the nearby hotel where the staff of Ark Properties gathered for drinks every Friday night after work. Audrey and Harriet were sitting at a quiet table in a dark corner, whilst the boys were gathered at the bar drinking beer and watching the Friday night football game. Alex was noticeably absent, as he’d been from the office most of the week, finding any and every excuse to go out—minus his PA—from business lunches to doing site-checks of all their current building projects. He’d claimed he had to have everything on track before leaving for Milan the following week, though Harriet suspected he just didn’t want to be around her lest he be tempted to go back on his word.
When she’d arrived at work last Monday morning, a bagel already in hand, she’d made Alex coffee and taken both into his office, where she’d apologised for being so uptight the other night. She’d promised to lighten up in future, adding that she didn’t want to live her life according to rules, and it would be all right with her if he wanted to see her before Friday night. He’d stared at her for a long moment, then told her that he would prefer to wait till Friday as they’d originally agreed upon. Although surprised and a little hurt, the new live-for-the-moment, just-have-fun Harriet simply smiled and said fine. Whatever.
But it had been a long, long week.
‘No, nothing special,’ Harriet told Audrey, hoping the lie didn’t show in her eyes. ‘I might try to catch up on housework. I usually give the flat a thorough clean on a Saturday, but I was away last Saturday.’
‘That’s right. You were up north with Alex. How did that go, by the way?’
Harriet shrugged. ‘Okay. I think Alex was annoyed that the rain had delayed things so much. No way is that golf course going to be open by Christmas.’
‘It’s supposed to rain all next week, too,’ Audrey said. ‘Not just here in Sydney, but all the way up the coast.’
Harriet groaned. ‘He’s not going to be too thrilled with that.’
‘Nothing you can do about the weather,’ Audrey said. ‘Where did you stay?’
‘Oh, some place near Coffs Harbour. Quite nice, really. You know Alex. He wouldn’t stay at a dump.’
‘Why should he? I mean, he’s seriously rich. And seriously sexy. I would watch yourself with him, if I were you.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You know what I mean. Now that Dwayne’s out of the picture...’ Audrey shrugged, then took another sip of her wine.
No way did Harriet want any of the staff ever to know about her affair with Alex. Though they might twig after she resigned. But it wouldn’t matter then.
‘He’s not really my type,’ Harriet said. ‘But I know what you mean. He is handsome, but personally I don’t like arrogant men.’
Audrey frowned at her over the rim of her glass. ‘I thought you liked Alex.’
‘Well, yes, I do. And to be fair, he’s not all that arrogant. But he can be annoying at times.’
‘Yes, I can see that. Rich bachelors like him are not used to considering other people’s feelings. They don’t mean to be selfish or self-centred, but they are.’
‘You’ve got it in one,’ Harriet stated, thinking that was Alex’s biggest flaw. His selfishness. At the same time, however, he could be kind, generous and even rather sweet. She would never forget what he’d done for Romany.
But he should never have pursued her. That had not been kind, or sweet. It had been seriously selfish. He could have slept with just about any other woman in Sydney, but he had to pick her.
Such thinking suddenly annoyed Harriet, who’d determined to put aside the critical habits of her old, serious self and embrace a more easy-going attitude to life and men. So, instead of criticising Alex in her head, she focused on his good points. He gave oodles of money to charity, was a caring son and a fabulous lover. This last fact reminded her that in less than two hours she’d be in his arms again, being made love to in ways she’d only ever dreamt about. The anticipation of what was in store for her tonight had her shifting restlessly in her seat. Her phone suddenly ringing startled her, the identity of the caller startling her as well.