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BOOK 5
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Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
Cliff's hand shook as, leafing through the mail his secretary had put on his desk, he saw the ‘Personal’ designation on the letter from a law firm he’d only heard of three weeks ago. For long moments, he held it, staring at it. He rose, locked the door, returned to his desk then slowly, reluctantly, slid his paper-knife under the envelope’s flap. It was the third one he’d received in a month. Exactly as the others had, it read, ‘Ms Castle requests that you contact her either through these Offices or at the above box number. Enclosed, please find a letter from same.’ Letter? The term was a joke. All the polite little missive said was ‘Please get in touch with me, Cliff. It’s past time for us to sort out our lives.’ It was signed, simply, ‘Lynne’. Why, all these months after her disappearance, had Lynne suddenly decided to contact him? There could be only one answer, and it was not one he wanted to hear. ‘Sort out our lives...’ lives being the operative word. Plural. Separate. Negat
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
He bent his head, one hand cupping her chin, looked into her sleepy eyes and smiled. ‘Hi, Lynnie.” Her blue eyes were filled, not with indifference as he’d feared, not with desire as he’d dreamed, but with sleepy questions, and she blinked several times then srniled that joyous, welcoming smile that he had seen every morning when he awoke, every night when he came home, every time she saw him — and every night in his dreams since they’d parted. ‘Hi yourself,’ she murmured, and a huge surge of relief shook his body. She hadn’t come to ask for a divorce! That radiant smile said she still loved him! ‘Lynne ... oh, sweetheart,’ he said, his voice thick and choked, then he took her lips with his own, parting them gently, kissing her with all the tenderness she had ever been able to arouse in him. I love you so much! He dared not speak the words aloud, but it didn’t matter then, because her hands slid through his hair, pulling his head down to her, muffling his, ‘I’ve missed you so badly
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
Cliff ignored what he saw as a provocative statement geared to precipitate an argument. ‘But what you got out there —’ he gestured toward the patio ‘“wasn’t what you came for.’ ‘No, it wasn’t.’ But oddly, his statement — and it had definitely been that; no hint of a question had colored his tone — instilled an element of doubt in her. Had she, on some subconscious level, harbored a hope that maybe, if she and Cliff were to see one another again, things might happen that would eventually lead them to an understanding? Lead them back together? ‘No,’ she repeated sharply, as much to reassure herself as in response to him. ‘I came because I... because I had to.’ He nodded. ‘You came because I forced you by not responding to your letters.’ “Yes. I thought at first it would be easier if we could do it all by mail, and through lawyers, not have to meet personally.’ It was her turn to laugh sourly at the irony of what she’d said. Their meeting had certainly become personal. Their gazes me
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
They'd been working so hard,’ she said, ‘and both of them knew they needed a break. I don’t know if he ever mentioned it, but Taylor had a private pilot’s license.’ Her voice choked again. ‘He’d wanted to be a commercial pilot since he was a little boy, but when Dad died — well, he never got beyond his private license. A friend offered them the use of his hunting camp up in the mountains, so Taylor rented a small float plane to fly into the lake the camp’s on. Michael and I went up to stay with Amanda. We’ve. .. been there ever since.’ ‘And that’s why you left our — your — house in Victoria.’ “Yes.” ‘And why you didn’t take the money I put in your account. Taylor left you ... provided for? Is it enough, Lynne? You said you had a cash-flow problem sometimes. That money’s yours! You must know I want you to have it.’ She sat erect, would have moved apart from him, but for the firmness of his hold. ‘I don’t want your money, Cliff. Taylor left Amanda’s education provided for and the mo
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
As the hotel, Lynne flew from the station wagon through the mercifully empty reception area, and up the stairs to her second floor room. As she’d driven, she’d been fully aware of the headlights sweeping along behind her, headlights that had caught up with her less than a minute after she had left Cliff's cabin. She locked the door and leaned against it, steeling herself for the knock she was sure would come. After long minutes, when there had been no footsteps in the hall, no hammering on the door, she tiptoed to the window and pulled an inch of drapes aside, peering down into the parking lot. His car was there, pulled in beside hers. Cliff stood, leaning against the hood, as if too tired to do anything else. Presently, he lifted his head, looked right at her window, stood erect and headed for the front doors. She dashed across the room to her door then froze, waiting, her body quivering, for his knock on the door. She didn’t know how long she stood there, the silence profound exce
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
Jumping to her feet, Lynne would have strode away, but his hand lashed out and caught her by the wrist, swinging her back to face him. ‘Give me a chance,’ he said quickly. ‘I didn’t finish explaining what I thought about last night before I decided to come here. No, not to live in your house, but to stay nearby for a while, to visit casually as any other man interested in you might, get to know your children in a relaxed, unceremonious way. I wondered if it might be possible for me to learn to love him — them ~ after all, the way you’d want any — uh — suitor of yours to do.’ ‘I don’t have suitors!’ He looked at her as if he longed to believe that, but couldn’t. Not quite. ‘Lynne — why did you take your brother’s child to raise?’ ‘Why? What kind of question is that? Because I love her.’ ‘If you hadn’t? Say, if your brother had lived far away and you’d never met his daughter, never developed an affection for her. Would you then, upon his death, have left her to the care of strangers
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
‘Oh, Cliff. Surely, then, she wanted to know why you needed to know that?’ He shook his head. ‘I guess it didn’t matter to her. She was more concerned that Logan might come home and find me there. I could see how edgy she was. She kept looking past me to the street. My mother has always hated any kind of unpleasantness, and if Logan had come home while I was there, there’d have certainly been some of that. When he kicked me out, he said it was for good, and he meant it. My mother told me she didn’t remember if I’d even had mumps, let alone a bad case, and if that was all, would I excuse her because she had a lot to do. Darren was bringing his fiancée home for dinner. ‘She claimed Frieda was a wonderful young lady from an excellent family. Very well-to-do. Like Darren, she was in pre-law. Her face glowed when she talked about them, so I congratulated her, thanked her for the information and left.’ He shrugged again, gave Lynne a crooked smile that didn’t wipe away the bleakness in h
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
Lynne laughed derisively. It was the only way to keep from weeping. ‘I don’t think that was the only reason, Cliff, nor even the prime one. You wouldn’t hurt a baby. You couldn’t. But you left because your own hurt grew too big for you to bear. You left to protect yourself.’ She watched him swallow. ‘All right. Maybe that’s so. At least in part. But I knew I was hurting you by not being able to warm to him. I could only see it getting worse. I didn’t want to put him through what I went through as he grew older and could sense my ... resentment, or put you through what Logan made my mother suffer. It was because of me that they had a lousy marriage.’ ‘I doubt that. If they’d had a good marriage, they'd have found a way to get around Logan’s feelings toward you.’ ‘You sound so sure.’ ‘I am.’ She gazed at him questioningly for a moment. ‘Was he very cruel to you? Logan, I mean? Did he beat you?’ He came back to her and took her hand, lowering them both to the garden bench, his face
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