A Second Chance at Love: A Hometown Hero Series Novel by Clare Connelly Read Free Book Online

and familiar to him. “Why are you here, Madeline?”
    She took a bigger sip of the wine. “Like I said, I hated the way things were between us the other day.”
    “And how were things between us?”
    She ran a finger around the rim of her glass. “You were so angry with me.”
    He narrowed his eyes, flicking the kettle on. “Do you blame me?”
    She nodded. “Yes. I don’t understand your reaction. We were over years ago. Why, after all that’s happened, would you still be mad?”
    A very good question; one he couldn’t bring himself to answer. “I used to love you, Maddie. I thought you loved me too. I will never understand how you let your father talk you out of a decision you’d already made. A good decision.” He grabbed a mug and spilled some coffee into it, then added water. “We would have been happy.”
    She swallowed convulsively. She knew he was right. “We were kids,” she shook her head. “I was only twenty.”
    His eyes sparked, and then dropped to the enormous boulder she wore on her ring finger. “And you had bigger fish to fry.”
    Her skin paled. “Meaning?”
    “Your daddy didn’t approve of me. So you upped sticks and married the first millionaire who came your way. A man daddy would approve of.”
    He was right. That was exactly how it had happened. Only she’d done it to protect Harrison, and to protect his mother Diana. A woman who’d already endured more than her fair share of life’s injustices.
    “And you got over me pretty damned quick, didn’t you? So why the hell are you acting as though I ruined your life?’
    “Got over you? Got over you?” He demanded harshly, closing the distance between them. He looked down at her with an expression that spoke of a soul deep torment. “I didn’t get over you, Madeline. Who could?”
    She stared at him. “What do you mean?”
    “Oh, I stopped loving you. But I didn’t stop wanting you.” His laugh was harsh. “Sometimes, I wanted just to hurt you. To make you feel a shred of what I had felt, when you left me. But other times, I just wanted you.” He lifted a hand and ran a finger down her face, from her cheek, to her full, pink lips. A soft moan escaped her at the forbidden contact.
    “Harrison.” Her eyes were heavy with disapproval as she stepped back. “You’re married. What the hell are you doing?”
    He realised that she hadn’t commented on her own marriage. But at the time, he thought it unimportant. He was so surprised by her statement that he wasn’t capable of analysing it properly. “Married? Who to?”
    “Ivy’s mother,” she said quietly. “You have a family, Harrison. I didn’t come here to ruin that. I just couldn’t bare to think of the man I used to care for thinking of me with such malevolence.”
    His chest was moving in a way that Madeline found distracting, for it simply drew attention to his broadly muscled physique and strong arms. “And what of your family, Madeline? Why do you not mention your husband? Do you not think he’d mind that all I can think about now is kissing you?”
    Madeline sucked in a deep breath and lifted a fluttering hand to her chest. “Harrison,” she whispered unsteadily. “You can’t talk like that.”
    “Why not?” He prowled towards her, his eyes dark with the intensity of his feelings. “Aren’t you curious, Maddie? Don’t you want to know if those feelings have burned out completely?”
    She shook her head, but her words hitched in her throat. “No.” She wasn’t curious, because she already knew. The flame that had always roared between them was as powerful as ever.
    “Liar,” he whispered, taking one last step, so that his body pressed against hers. Maybe it was the lunch he’d skipped and the two beers he’d thrown back before she’d arrived, but Harrison was feeling furious, and reckless. He’d spent his life following a strict code of honor; always abiding by the moralistic choice. Well, he didn’t want to do that with Madeline. Because