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Allyson Smith clutched her plane ticket. There was still time to turn around and leave the terminal. She could step outside, hail a cab, and leave the airport. Leave and go back to being utterly miserable, alone, and now jobless.
Shaking off her dark thoughts, she stepped up to the check-in counter and handed her ticket to the handling agent.
The agent looked over her ticket and smiled. “Good afternoon and welcome, Ms. Smith. Thank you for flying with us today.”
Allyson forced herself to smile. Working as an assistant for years had trained her to appear happy and polite. To keep pushing through no matter how bad her day was. And today was as bad as it got.
Her sister-in-law Holly was still in the hospital after a nasty fall last night. A fall that could have been prevented if Allyson hadn’t been so selfish. So self-centered. The last few weeks all she’d made time for was her relationship with Dane. Now Holly was in the hospital, waiting to find out if she’d lost her baby. Allyson hadn’t paid enough attention to her family since she and Dane had started dating. Though, truth was, the trouble had probably started way before that.
Even at her brother’s wedding she’d made things about her. After everyone discovered that her relationship with Dane Prescott was fake, her mother had accused her of making the wedding day all about her. Which, if she was being honest with herself, was probably true. How could she have done that? What kind of person was she?
She blinked, and forced her smile to remain as she focused on the present. After going through everything with the handling agent, Allyson gathered her things to head to the departure lounge. She shoved her carry-on luggage under one of the hard seats and sank down, exhausted. She hadn’t gotten much sleep last night.
Craning her neck to glance around, her eyes fell on a tall man with golden hair. Her heart squeezed painfully. Her stomach clenched. It couldn’t be him, could it? She tried to force herself to calm down. No. It couldn’t be.
Yet she desperately hoped it was.
The man turned to face her. It wasn’t Dane. She exhaled the breath she didn’t even realize she’d been holding. Of course, it wasn’t. This man was older, not so tan, and not so handsome. Worse, he was dressed in tweed. Dane wouldn’t be caught dead in tweed.
Disappointment and relief roiled through her. She’d never been more confused in her whole life. She’d just broken up with Dane. Ran away, just left him standing speechless at the hospital. She knew it had been the right thing to do, yet regret tore at her heart.
After she’d handed him back the diamond engagement ring, she’d fled the hospital. Then, she impulsively used her frequent flyer miles to book a ticket to the Bahamas to get away from the mess she’d caused.
She was still running. Running away from the man she loved, the family she was hurting, and the job she was ruining.
The backs of her eyes burned and she squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. “You will not cry,” she whispered sharply to herself. “Not here. Not in public.”
This trip was supposed to be about her figuring out her life. Figuring out the next step. She’d broken things off with Dane and essentially quit her job at Prescott Global. There was Wi-Fi at the resort she’d booked a room in, so as soon as she got settled she would email her resignation letter. She didn’t have any plans for her future, but there was no way she could spend it working at that place. Everything would remind her of Dane. Remind her of the man she still loved. It was his family’s company. She’d been his personal assistant for the past few years. She knew nothing else.
What was she going to do?
Less than two hours later she boarded the plane and settled into her tiny seat by the window. Her legs already felt cramped, and she knew she had gotten way too used to a life of luxury while she dated Dane. Flying coach was definitely different from flying around in Dane’s private jet.
The flight took over three hours from New York to Nassau, and by the time Allyson arrived at the check- in desk at the resort she was more exhausted than she’d ever been in her entire life. Physically and mentally.
The room was lovely and the sitting area in the corner cozy. It might not be one of the luxury suites she had gotten used to, but the room was airy, cheerful, and decorated with the most beautiful and brightly- colored flowers.
She flopped onto the queen-sized bed and curled up into the fetal position. A sharp, cold sensation stabbed her heart, wounding her very soul. He was gone. She’d left the man she loved behind, the only one who’d loved her for exactly who she was.
There had been jitters at the prospect of marrying him. Of living in his world of decadence and wealth. But through her hesitation she’d realized that she could never ever love a man as much as she loved Dane Prescott. He was the love of her life.
And it wasn’t just Prescott Global that reminded her of him. The entire city of New York reminded her of him. Every sports arena, every restaurant, every high-rise condo was going to remind her of what she had given up. What she had lost. Because the Prescotts practically owned the city, and the only way to escape that was to get as far away from New York as possible.
A lump formed in her throat. A tear formed in the corner of her eye and slid down until it hit the bed sheet. Somehow, she had to figure out a way to get past this heartbreak. But the weight of it was so crushing she didn’t know how. Her heart was aching so much that the rest of her body was taking on the pain.
She gave a shuddering breath and started sobbing her heart out until she cried herself to sleep. A knock on the door woke her up. The bedroom was pitch black and she got up, stumbling her way through the dark into the sitting area. Flicking on a light switch, she made her way to the door of her suite.
She hadn’t ordered room service, but someone from the resort staff might be checking in on her. Or someone was probably lost and knocking on the wrong door.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she asked, “Who is it?”
“Allyson? Please open the door.”
Her breath caught and she nearly pinched herself at the sound of the familiar voice. Was she dreaming?
“Allyson? Please? It’s me. Dane.”
* * *
SHE SWALLOWED HARD. There was no way she’d heard right, but Dane’s voice was unmistakable. “What do you want?” she gasped out.
“We need to talk.” His baritone voice on the other side of the door made her stomach somersault. A quiet longing filled her. Part of her wanted nothing more than to fling the door open and kiss him until the sun came up. The other part of her knew that it was over between them. She stood in front of the door, feeling lost and adrift.
“So, you decided to follow me all the way here?” Hot tears were already rolling down her cheeks. “I said it was over. You don’t get to just show up here and try to coerce me into being with you.”
“I’m not here to talk about that.”
If he hadn’t tracked her down to talk about their relationship, something must be seriously wrong. She bit her lip and opened the door. Gesturing for him to come inside, she headed over to the sitting area and took a seat on a plush leather sofa.
“Sorry if I don’t have any refreshments to offer, but I wasn’t exactly expecting company,” she bit out. She knew she probably sounded a little bitchy, but she was still in shock. Dane was supposed to be thousands of miles away, but here he was. Taking up space as he sat down on the sofa opposite her. Even sitting down, his presence was so overwhelming. So commanding.
He looked so masculine sitting there, dressed in an expensive black suit. Luckily the air conditioning in the room was on; outside must have been extremely warm, especially now that it was summer in the tropics.
“I get that you’re angry,” he started, “but I came after you because Holly begged me to.”
Her brow furrowed in confusion. “Why would she do that? Is she okay? Have the tests come back?” Terror suddenly gripped her heart at the thought of Holly losing her baby. “Is the baby...” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
“She’s all right,” he said evenly. “So far, everything looks fine.”
“So, she’s okay?”
He nodded. “She is, but she has to be on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. Not because of the fall, but she has a high-risk pregnancy or something like that.”
She was okay. “So, the baby’s okay for now?” Relief washed over her. “Why did she ask you to come after me?” She was terrified Holly was furious with her. Maybe Holly wanted Dane to drag her back kicking and screaming.
“You ran off. We’ve been trying to reach you for hours, and you didn’t answer your phone—”
“I have a right,” she snapped. “I have a right to get away from everything. There’s no law that says I have to answer my phone.”
“You do have every right, but when I realized you were leaving the country it scared Holly,” he said. “She thought you might...try to hurt yourself.”
“What?” Her chest tightened. “I would never do something like that.”
“I tried to reassure her and your brother, but they were scared, Allyson,” he said. “Then your parents showed up and they freaked out even more. Ever since your brother’s wedding, they’ve worried about your behavior. I tried to reassure them but they got to me because, honestly, I’m kind of scared, too. Your family thinks you’re getting impulsive and they thought the worst.”
Her family actually thought she’d do something that scary. It was like they didn’t even know her at all. Maybe she didn’t know them either.
The truth was, it was impulsive of her to run off without a word of explanation to her family. She hadn’t been thinking clearly when she ran off. Mostly, she had thought it better to just leave Holly in peace instead of staying around to cause her sister-in-law even more trouble. In her heartbreak and guilt, it hadn’t occurred to her that Holly would be concerned about her. Hadn’t thought that her sister-in-law might still care.
She clenched her fists, her nails digging painfully into the palms of her hands. Her breath hitched as she thought about poor Holly. It was good that Holly’s baby was okay. But the fall must have been traumatic, especially since a gang of awful tabloid reporters had caused it. The reporters had been there for her, not Holly. Yet Holly was the one who had paid the price. Now she was going to be bedridden for months, fretting the entire time about the health and safety of her baby.
“How did you even find me?” she asked suddenly.
He shrugged. “It wasn’t that hard. You used the company account, and when you booked a flight and got a resort room I got the notifications in my email. After I flew down here and gave your name at the front desk, finding your room was pretty easy.”
She groaned. “For a second, I thought you got some PI to hunt me down or something.”
“Even if I had, I doubt they would’ve found you this quickly.” He grinned, trying to make her smile.
Allyson wasn’t in any mood to smile. “So...what happened? You were at the hospital, got the email notifications, and just got on your private jet to come after me?”
He nodded. “Basically, yes.”
“It’s scary how much power you have.” She forced out a frustrated breath.
“Ordinarily I wouldn’t do this, Allyson,” he said smoothly, his smile disappearing as he turned serious, almost businesslike. “I respect your wishes. But your family was desperately worried, and the only thing that would soothe them was for me to find you and make sure you were okay.”
“This is a mess,” she said. “Holly’s in the hospital, and instead of concentrating on herself she’s worried about me.” She swallowed a sob building its way to the surface. “I’m so selfish.”
He sat there silently, his handsome face expressionless. She’d never seen him look so aloof before. So utterly remote and detached. Like he didn’t care anymore. Not that she blamed him. He’d proposed, and in less than a week she’d practically tossed the engagement ring back at him. She wouldn’t blame him if he flat-out hated her.
“I’m going to call your mother to let her know you’re okay.” He pulled his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. “I know you’ve said you’re trying to get away, but I think you should talk to her. Just so she can at least hear your voice and be reassured.”
She nodded.
He dialed the number and put the cell phone to his ear. “Hello Mrs. Smith? It’s Dane Prescott. Yes, I’ve found her. She’s fine.” He held the cell phone out to Allyson. “She wants to talk to you.”
She cleared her throat and took the cell phone from Dane. “Hi, Mom!” She did her best to sound as cheerful as possible. If her mother suspected that she’d been crying over Dane, she’d probably start freaking out.
“Allyson!” her mother cried. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine,” she replied. “Don’t worry about me.”
“When your father and I showed up at the hospital to find that you had left, we were so worried,” her mother said. “Oh, honey. Why did you run off like that?”
She inhaled deeply. This was the last conversation she wanted to have right now. She had jumped on a plane and left the country to avoid all this. “I thought Holly needed her space. That’s all.”
“Well, Holly said these reporters showed up and she could swear it was because of you and Dane. Did you and Dane have some kind of falling out? Is that why you ran off?” her mother asked.
“Look, Mom, I’ve got to go,” she said softly. “I’m really tired from the flight.”
Her mother paused. Like she wanted to say something important and didn’t know how to say it. Finally, she said, “If you say so, honey. I’m just glad to hear your voice. I do love you. We all do. You know that, don’t you?”
Tears threatened to fall again. For years, she had been so desperate for her family to show her that they loved her, and the minute her mother said the words she felt like she didn’t deserve to hear them. Didn’t deserve their love after the pain she had caused. “I do. And I love you guys, too. Please tell Holly that I’m so sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused her. I’ll call you when I get back to New York, okay? ‘Bye.” She hung up and handed the cell phone back to Dane. Taking a deep breath to fight back the tears she said, “That’s it. You got what you came for.”
“Did you get what you came for?” He fixed his gaze on her, his blue eyes piercing her with cold intensity.
“I came here for peace and quiet,” she said. “I came here to get away from all the noise.”
“You think you’re going to do that at this tourist trap of a resort?” He shook his head. “This place is crawling with people.”
“One day without me and you’re already a snob.” She gave a small smile in spite of her heartache.
“I’m serious.” He sighed. “The beach is going to be crowded with tourists. Don’t even get me started on the pool. What’re you going to do all day for peace and quiet? Stay in this tiny room and watch TV?”
She sighed heavily. “This is all I can afford.”
He got to his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets. “What if there was somewhere that was actually quiet? You could stay on the beach and not be bothered by anyone other than a chef and a housekeeper.”
That did sound tempting. Honestly, a place all to herself sounded like absolute heaven. “How much does this magical place cost?”
“No charge,” he replied. “I own the place. It’s a short flight away from here, on a different island. You could have my private villa all to yourself.”
“Why would you do this for me?” She blinked, trying to get the tears to disappear. If he reached out to touch her, she’d crumble.
“Because you deserve to be happy,” he said tightly. “Maybe I’m not the man for you, Allyson. But give me this last chance to finally give you a little happiness.”
“It does sound nice,” she whispered. He had no idea how much he was the perfect man for her. She just wasn’t the right person for him. He deserved better. And yet, an entire villa just for her was so much more than she could ever afford. It was so generous of him to offer, but it didn’t seem right to take advantage of his kindness now that they had broken up.
He held his hand out to her. “You don’t have to do anything. I’ll take care of it. All you have to do is get on the plane. What do you say?”
