Page 3 of Coup De Grâce
I just wasn’t entirely sure why he was following me around.
Aside from the fact that I was Rafe’s widow, what did he think I had to offer? I wasn’t connected with his brother and never really had been. But it wasn’t a stretch to assume that I would have a connection to him, even though I walked away after the funeral and never looked back.
“I guess not,” I answered.
If I wanted to find out what this man wanted, I would have to put on my detective cap, but honestly, I just wasn’t in the mood. I wanted to be left alone. However, since he’d been following me for a week, it wasn’t like I could just ignore him.
“How are you, Libby?”
I chuckled at that, taking another sip of my drink. “Wow. You know who I am.”
“Of course I do. I knew your husband.”
I pretended to be surprised and glanced up at him in shock. “How?”
“The question is, did you?”
Right. So, he wasn’t about to give anything away. Not that I really expected it to be that easy, but a girl could hope. “I thought I did,” I answered honestly.
“You had him fooled,” he grinned, raising two fingers to order a drink.
The bartender seemed to know exactly what he wanted because he didn’t even bother to ask. Must be nice to command that kind of attention.
“How so?” I asked, taking another sip.
“He didn’t really know you. All that time you worked for…who was it?”
Rolling my eyes, I took another sip of my drink. “Clearly, you already know, so why are you playing games with me?”
“Just checking to see if you’re still on top of your game.”
“And?”
When he didn’t answer right away, I looked at him, letting myself get drawn into his deep blue eyes. The thing was, in order for any con to work, you had to let part of you believe it was real, also. If I didn’t believe it, he wouldn’t either. So, I allowed myself to imagine what it would be like to let this charming man take me home for the night. What it would be like to have a man wrap his arms around me and tell me he understood. Maybe he would even spend the night.
God, I wanted so badly to feel a man’s arms around me, but those arms were Rafe’s. Not that it would happen. He was dead. Wiped from my existence with one fell swoop. I didn’t even get the courtesy of a goodbye note.
Tears stung my eyes and I broke the connection I had with the man, playing into my feelings of betrayal.
“He really broke you, didn’t he?”
I squeezed my eyes closed and told myself that I wasn’t broken. No man had that power over me. Yet…I felt utterly broken on the inside. There wasn’t a piece of me that didn’t feel the sharp sting of what Rafe had done. If he had just talked to me. If he had only confided in me…
Maybe I could have helped him get off that island.
But that wasn’t Rafe’s style. Even at his lowest point, he would have rather gone down alone than with me by his side.
“What do you want?” I asked tiredly.
“Why would you let a man tear you down like that?” he mused.
I tried not to look at him. I really did, but those blues drew me in. The danger of his presence oozed from every pore. I knew he was only after me for one thing, yet I couldn’t tear myself away from him.
Part of me didn’t want to.
But in the back of my mind, I knew what I was really doing. Even if I lied to myself, I would always be loyal to Rafe, despite the fact that he broke my trust. He was my husband and there was no one like him.
“I guess sometimes you don’t realize how bad things are until it’s all over,” I answered.
