how much it means to me.”
“Ah, but I do,” he said, the genuine emotion in his tone
making Haley’s heart ache.
Did the man have a family somewhere? A wife and kids?
Likely not, unless he was divorced, if he lived here alone.
He’d told her the day before he was from France. Was his
family still there?
“It’s nice to hear laughter here again. This is a big place and
there’s not nearly enough of it.”
He sounded so wistful, bordering on sad, and Haley wasn’t
sure why. The place couldn’t be totally mirthless, could it?
Then again, with the ice queen at the helm, maybe laughter
was out of the question.
Chapter 5
Claire
The silly, crazy, foolish, reckless girl.
What did she think she was doing, swimming at this time of
year? Mid-June, the water was still next to freezing. She’d be
lucky if she didn’t get a cramp and die.
Claire had spotted Haley from the window of her office as
soon as she’d walked in. The day had already been a trying
one, her family grilling her about the loans she’d given Robert,
because of course they had to know, seeing as it was a family
business and loans that size couldn’t escape their notice. What
they didn’t know about was Haley, and Claire would do
anything to keep it that way. Haley was her secret. Hers to
protect. She’d promised.
And there the silly thing was, swimming like a fucking
siren, like she was born to the water and didn’t mind that it
was so cold it could steal her breath by dipping a single toe in.