Page 88 of Tempt

“Why do you think you’re broken up?” she asked softly, eyes crinkling with concern. I swear she almost came over and gave me a hug.

Which is when I realized I had Margaret all wrong. Or at least I’d been terribly unfair in stereotyping her. She was kind and caring under all that cold English armor. It was easier to make her out to be evil, or some sort of villain in my head so that if my time in London was brief I had someone to blame.

I’d been dreaming of making it in London from the day I was hired at HDM2. Once I arrived, my desire to stay only deepened. The city spoke to me. I’d instantly made friends. The job challenged me. I loved it here and I didn’t want to go back.

So I turned Margaret into my nemesis. A dragon I had to slay in order to follow my dreams. And if I lost my battle, well then at least I was defeated by an evil and formidable dragon.

Yep, I realize I made this way more complicated than it needed to be. Psychology’s a bitch like that.

“Allison?” she asked. I’d been lost in thought instead of answering her question.

“We were having a fight when he needed to leave to take care of this…this situation.” I let out a little shaky breath.

“He left mid-fight, you haven’t seen him in days, and he’s in a terrible situation. No wonder you look like shit.”

I frowned at my boss. “Thanks.”

She gave me a strangely comforting half-smile. “He has a talent for being dramatic at the strangest times. He’s like a much more compact version of Nicki.”

That actually made me smile. Nicki was all drama all the time, but she was right, Theo had a nearly identical ability to up the drama to painful levels in very precise ways. Which made me wonder…how well did Margaret know Theo and Nicki?

“What’s your connection to the Sutherlands?” I knew they were childhood friends—and that was all I knew. No one had cared to elaborate and I hadn’t felt like stepping on any more toes than I already was, but right now I was in the dark and feeling a lot like I had nothing to lose.

Margaret’s eyes darted up to meet mine. “Theo and I have been friends since the day we were born. Our mothers were best friends. They lived next door to me.”

“Do you love him?” My heart thudded in my chest like a jackhammer out of control. If she said yes I was going to need a trash can to lose my morning cracker in.

“Only like a brother, my dear. You have nothing to worry about.”

The jackhammer slowed a little.

Then she smiled. “You two are quite perfect together. I couldn’t have picked anyone better for him.”

“Then why did you warn me away?” I sounded a lot more pissed than I actually was.

She held up her hands and spread them wide. “Because of this. He had unfinished business. He was in no state to commit his life to someone else. He’s brought his mistakes into yet another person’s life and caused her to sit worrying—and damn near in tears—in my office.”

I eased back in the chair and let out a slow, calming breath. Yes, I was worrying, but I was not going to cry. “Yeah, I get that.” This was most definitely not the time to fall in love, not that my heart asked. But then again…I’m not sure Theo would have gone after Toni so hard without a reason. Maybe all this heartache was inevitable.

Ugh, it was all so complicated.

“We were very close when we were little,” she volunteered. “We both lived in houses that followed the ‘children should be seen and not heard’ philosophy. So we’d wander off into the woods. Theo would build things, of course. And me?” She shrugged her shoulders. “I just liked to explore.”

“That’s sounds nice.” And a million miles from the man I knew. I tried picturing a little Theo skipping off into the woods with his friend to spend an afternoon building a fort in the trees, but as soon as I’d get the image conjured up in my brain it would flicker away.

“Thatwas. The rest, not as much. Theo is so very different from that boy.” Her eyes unfocused and she smiled in a way I’d never seen on Margaret before. It was effortless. “He used to be so carefree and full of mischief. I never thought that those things would be his downfall.” She frowned and focused back on me. “Those were what I liked best about my friend.”

“I got a glimpse of that a couple of weeks ago. We went up to the Lake District and he was Theo, but on a whole other plane.”

“It’s good to know he’s still in there,” she said. “I hope when this is over he can finally be free and happy.”

When this is over.The words echoed through my empty heart. Who would he be when this was over? Would we ever forgive each other for the things we said? We were trying so hard to protect each other that neither of us stopped to think if we should.

“What did you think when Theo disappeared?”

She frowned again. “We weren’t quite as close then. We went to different boarding schools and Theo was under a tightly guarded regimen of special tutors. They pushed him hard. And then he was at college. There was no time for fun. But that’s when Nicki and I became close.”

“Are you two still friends?” I really couldn’t get a read on any of them. They were all so hurt and protective of their privacy.

---