Page 53 of Keep Me In Your Heart

“He’s fine,” I mutter without emotion.

“Good.” She draws out the response, clearly gauging my reaction to her speaking his name.

She has to know I don’t like her. Why play these fake games? I caught her in the hallway with him. I heard the way she pulled him into the closet that night. I also know she didn’t have him in there long enough for them to do anything—which means he turned her down—because of the contract, of course.

She doesn’t know that though. In her mind, she must think that he loves me more, and that gives me a sense of smug pride.

“He’s not with you today?” she asks, her eyes grazing the crowd.

My molars grind. “No. He stayed home.” I emphasize the wordhome. Our home.

“Are you busy?” she asks. “We should grab a drink.”

I don’t want to grab a drink with this woman, but I do want to hear what she has to say to me. My curiosity always gets the better of me.

“That sounds great,” I lie with a fake smile.

She leads the way as we walk down to a nearby pub. Once we enter, we hang our coats and scarves on the hook next to the door. Then we find an empty table and sit across from each other. The bartender brings us each a beer, and I keep Killian’s gloves at my side.

We make small talk for a while. Claire tells me about her job in restaurant management. I tell her a little about my life in New York and how I’m working on a novel—that I haven’t touched in over a year.

When there’s a lull in our conversation, I feel her ready to pounce on a more scandalous topic.

“So…” Claire says after taking a drink. “I heard a dirty little rumor about you and Killian.”

I take a long sip of my beer, waiting for her to elaborate.

“That you two like to…share. Is that true?”

I set down my beer and press my lips together. I know exactly why she’s asking me this. She’s testing me to see how much power she can use against me. It takes everything in me not to explode on this woman and call her out for being the meddling bitch that she is. Instead, I reply softly.

“You know…you can’t trust rumors.”

She laughs. “Surely, there’s some truth to that one though.”

“There’s not.” My answer is clipped. I meet her gaze, and while her expression is playful and happy, mine is cold and ruthless.

“Okay,” she says with a laugh. “I was just asking.”

“I’m sure you were,” I reply. “Just curious, right?”

Her brows lift and her smile fades. “Did I do something wrong?”

I take another sip, letting her sit with that question for a moment, hoping it tortures her, waiting for the answer.

Deep down, I know I shouldn’t care if she did try to sleep with Killian. It’s none of my business…

Except it is. Because he is legally my husband, and if she did manage to fuck him that night, she could have cost me ten million dollars.

All of that aside…she tried to seducemyhusband.

“You know, Claire…” I say, trying to keep my cool. “You may not be able to trust rumors, but you can trust your gut. And my gut is telling me that you tried to fuck my husband that weekend at my house.”

“Sylvie—” she snaps, glancing around to see if anyone heard.

“My gut also tells me that you’ve fucked Killian in the past, probably when you were already married to Angus.”

She leans forward, and I notice the tremble in her breath. “Stop it.”

---