Page 70 of Wife After Wife
And boy, had Harry looked surprised.
Ana thought quickly. “Hello, Katie,” she said. “I haven’t seen you since... oh, since the launch party. It’s lovely to see you again. Harry and I have just polished off the birthday cake his secretary made him, so I hope he still has room for that burger!”
Even to Ana, it sounded forced.
She turned to Harry. “Good night, Harry. Have a lovely evening.”
Nobody suggested she come with them.
“Good night,” he said. “Thanks for staying late to help.”
•••
Ana was so deep in thought she went two stops past Holland Park. Coming out of her trance as the train doors were shutting, she quickly exited and made her way up the steps and across to the eastbound platform. As the trance took hold again, she stared unseeing at a mouse darting about beneath the tracks.
Moments from the day circled in her mind, in a loop that refused to pause. Harry locking eyes with her across the boardroom, raising his glass as he toasted his decade of misbehavior. His hand on her arm as he guided her away from the others. The intensity in his eyes as he trailed a finger down her face, the waves of heat rippling down her body.
A whoosh of hot air rushing out of the tunnel signaled the arrival of the train.
You’re the one, he’d said. But what had he meant? The next casual fling? More than that?
She tried to wrangle her feelings into coherent thoughts. Was it just a physical thing? Although... could the way she was feeling be described as “just”? It was overwhelming. Perhaps it was his power and charisma that had fired her response. Was she just flattered to be the latest object of desire? Or was she falling for the man behind the image? And what about that dangerous streak that had initially repelled her? She was still aware of it, and if he tired of her, what of her future at Rose? Oreven beyond Rose—Harry’s tentacles stretched far and wide. If things went bad, he could ruin her career.
And then there was Percy. How could she be obsessing about another man when she was about to marry the love of her life? Had her feelings for Percy changed?
Percy had been everything to her, until Harry came along. Harry’s sharp wit and easy charm had somehow exposed Percy’s... mediocrity.
Where had that thought come from? Wouldn’tanyman look a little average next to Harry? She shouldn’t compare them. Percy was thoughtful, cute, hardworking. Faithful. Harry was arrogant, entitled, a stranger to self-doubt. He was far too full of himself.
She made an effort to conjure up Percy’s image as she stepped into the carriage. But he was saying, “MD of BWG Dublin,” again.
Percy was a poseur, there was no denying it.
Harry was the real deal.
Percy was lovely but, right now, he seemed second best.
Katie
Katie knew it was finally over the second the lift doors opened. She saw the way Harry was looking at Ana. Katie knew that look, but it hadn’t been directed her way in years.
All her therapy, finally coming off the medication—it had been for nothing.
Harry’s thirtieth should have been a turning point. She’d worked through her anxiety and could now face going up to London, being out and about in society. This dinner in town, with the four people who meant the most to Harry, would be a major step back to happiness and reconciliation.
But Harry had been with them only in body. His mind had been somewhere else entirely, and she knew exactly where.
Katie remembered Ana from the launch party. She’d made such an effort to block that terrible night from her memory, but now it came rushing back. How Ana’s cool, lithe, stylish beauty had made her feel like an overheated whale. How the floaty silk dress she’d loved suddenly felt like a giant green tent.
Harry had hardly taken his eyes off Ana that hot summer night. But Ana had appeared oblivious, wholly focused on making sure the event ran smoothly.
The woman who’d appeared out of the lift was a different creature, her eyes glittering, her face flushed. And her expression when she’d seen Katie and Maria said it all.
Guilty.
Now Harry wanted to talk. He was reading Maria a bedtime story, and then would be telling Katie what she didn’t want to hear. More on the subject of “moving on,” which until now she’d managed to talk him out of.
She had a feeling it would be different this time.
