Page 228 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

‘Why?’ Her beautiful brown eyes were narrow and dark on his face. ‘Because that might mean you were wrong?’

‘No, because every time I think about my father, I want to punch things.’ He hadn’t been going to say that, but the words came out in a rush as if they had been sitting there, just waiting to be spoken.

She blinked, and he felt her body tense beside him. ‘Did he hurt you?’

‘Hurt me? You mean hit me? No.’ He shook his head, appalled. And yet, the answer to her question was yes, he realised, or how else could he explain that dark ache inside his chest that he had carried for so long?

‘There are other ways to be hurt by someone.’

‘I don’t think he knew he was hurting me. Not in the beginning anyway. After my mother died, he was adrift. He couldn’t be on his own, and every single time he was so sure that he was in love, so sure they were in love with him, even when it was completely obvious that it wouldn’t last.’

‘How many times were there?’

‘Six. But I only really had to deal with the first four. I went to college just before he married number five.’

‘Didn’t any of them last?’

‘I think the longest was probably four years. She was number three. A couple of them lasted around six months. There was one who lasted three weeks. You would have thought he’d learn from his mistakes but he never did. He’d meet them and he’d be so sure they were the one and the next thing they’d be married and then they would divorce him and he’d be on to the next one.’

‘But he loved them?’

‘He thought he did. But it always fell apart so easily. And each divorce left him a little poorer but not a little wiser.’ His mouth twisted. ‘In the end it was just a mess. He had to sell our home and downsize and he did that again and again until there was nothing left. It was the same with the business, although I managed to hold onto one mine and the name.’

‘And where did you fit in?’

‘I didn’t.’ It was the first time he’d ever admitted that to anyone. ‘None of my stepmothers really wanted me around. And my father was either distracted or desolate. It wasn’t all bad. I mean, I had a roof over my head and there was food on the table and he was smart and funny, and I loved him. I loved who he used to be.’

Gazing down at Sydney, he remembered that ache in her voice when she’d asked him what he wouldn’t do to save someone he cared about. The answer was simple. If it meant saving his father from his worst impulses, he would have sold his soul.

‘That must have been hard.’

It had been such a long time since anyone had been there for him. Obviously he could draw on the expertise of his staff if he needed financial or legal advice, but he had never been able to let people get close to him.

He’d seen the consequences too many times with his father and then the one time he’d thought he had found someone he could trust, it had blown up in his face.

‘School was tough. It was a small town. You know what they’re like. Everybody knows everyone else’s business. My dad was a great go-to for gossip. What is it they say? No fool like an old fool? And I was the old fool’s son.

‘I got a lot of grief from the other kids, and I was on a pretty short fuse so I was a bit of a loner. And then I got a place at MIT, and nobody knew who I was or who my dad was and what he’d done. I guess I relaxed a bit. That’s when I met Harris.’

‘You were at university together?’

‘He was in the same halls as me and we just clicked. We had the same interests, same determination, same focus. We were really competitive, but in a good way. We drove each other on. I don’t have siblings, but he felt like a brother to me.’

Sydney felt her stomach twist. There was a tension to Tiger’s spine that looked painful.

‘What happened?’

‘He had a lot of girlfriends, we both did. Nothing serious or exclusive. He dated some of my exes and I hooked up with some of his. You know how it is?’

No, she thought. Her sex life had been nothing like Tiger’s casual ‘friends with benefits’ approach to relationships. It had been tense and confusing and limited to one man’s view of what it should be.

‘But it wasn’t like that with Franny. I knew she was different. That they were seeing each other. Anyway, my dad was ill a lot that year and I had to go home because his last wife had left him and he was on his own, and when I got back, she was in my bed.’

Sydney felt a stab of jealousy that was as sharp as it was irrational.

‘My roommate had let her in. Apparently, she and Harris had fallen out and she wanted to talk to me about him. I tried but I wasn’t, I’mnot, good at talking about relationships. Anyway, she was tired and I had classes so I told her she could stay and get her head straight. She came to the door to see me off, and she must have taken one of my T-shirts to sleep in. Long story short, Harris saw us.’

‘Didn’t you tell him what happened?’

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