It's Always Been You by Victoria Dahl Read Free Book Online Page B

She wouldn’t have known. In the past, when he’d looked at her, his eyes had been too full of love to leave room for anything else.
    And just like that, she saw him. Really saw him. His short, slightly wavy hair and his shockingly green eyes. His wide mouth and straight nose and hard-hewn jaw. She saw the changes in him too. The touch of gray in his hair and the faint lines that creased his forehead and the corners of his eyes.
    He had aged, matured in the years she’d been gone. Grown into his tall frame and wide shoulders. He was extremely attractive. Impossibly, even more attractive than he’d been as a young man. He glanced her way and caught her looking, and he smiled. He smiled, and it was as if there were a lamp inside her and someone had just struck the flame.
    Panic welled in her chest and threatened to strangle her.
    That had been the feeling curling inside her since yesterday. Attraction .
    “Katie.”
    She jumped nervously at the rich sound of his voice.
    “Are you all right?” The last of the other guests at the table had departed. When she only stared mutely, Aidan waved a servant over and took a glass of red wine from the tray.
    He held it out toward her, his mouth a line of concern.
    “Thank you,” she stuttered, and reached for the glass. The crystal chimed a pretty note when her fingers struck the rim, and a tiny wave of wine sloshed over the edge. The red stain spread in a slow circle over Aidan’s white shirt cuff. Kate stared in horror.
    What was she doing? What would people think?
    “It’s fine,” Aidan said in a rush as he reached for her hand. “It’s nothing.” His fingers curled over her own and she thought she would dissolve into tears right there at the table. His touch felt wonderful. The heat of his skin seeping into hers. The soft rasp of his fingertips sliding across her knuckles. Wonderful.
    Jerking her hand away, she stood on shaky legs. “I must go. Excuse me.”
    Aidan frowned up at her. “What? Why?”
    “I’m sorry.” She turned and fled before he could even stand, rushing past the swiveling heads of the other guests. She tried to appear calm as she hurried toward the door, tried to pretend she didn’t see the startled looks of her neighbors, but her composure was completely destroyed.
    First he’d brought pain back to her life, now his presence was eliciting other emotions as well. She hadn’t expected this, not at all. And she could not afford it.
    She reached the front door, but only managed three steps past the frame before his alarmed voice stabbed into her.
    “Katie—”
    Feeling a hand close over her shoulder, she stopped, embarrassed to be running away again, humiliated that she now saw hiding as her greatest hope.
    “What’s wrong? What happened?”
    “I just . . . I have to go.” She was stammering. Stammering .
    “Here.” Aidan took her arm and led her gently down the stairs and into a hidden corner around the side of the house. “Tell me.”
    His warm fingers touched her chin, a startling contrast to the cool air. She closed her eyes against the beautiful pressure of him tilting her face up. She tried not to remember this same touch, long ago, this same motion just before he’d pressed his lips softly into hers for the very first time. Her eyes burned, wanting to weep.
    “Katie—”
    “Don’t call me that!” She heard his sharp inhalation and shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Please don’t call me that. I’m Kate now.”
    “All right,” he said carefully.
    “And . . . I’m sorry but I can’t see you again.”
    His fingers held her chin for a moment, tightened almost imperceptibly before they fell away. “Of course.” She didn’t dare look at him, didn’t dare to see what emotion chilled his voice. “Then I will take this opportunity to say good-bye. I’ll leave for London in the morning.”
    “Yes. I think that’s just as well. I didn’t mean . . .” She forced her eyes open, willed away the tears