Page 57 of A Lone Star Love Affair
The night of the reception, she dressed carefully, still wishing Tony would attend yet knowing he wouldn’t be there. She had checked again yesterday to see if he possibly had changed his mind, but he had not and they were not letting anyone in who had not accepted the invitation.
She had bought a new red dress for the occasion. She wanted to wear black, but red would be more festive. She didn’t feel festive. She simply hurt. She missed Tony and her friends at Ryder Enterprises, which she still thought of as Morris.
Her red dress had a plunging neckline and a low-cut back with tiny spaghetti straps and a straight short skirt. Thinking of Tony, she left her hair down and wore no jewelry.
The reception at the new Tralear Building was being held in a great room that would be used for such events or conferences. The tables were along the walls, covered in white cloths and holding a buffet of delicious food from steamy chicken and chilled shrimp to chocolate pastries and fruits. At one end of the room on a raised platform a band played. Guests mingled, filling the room with conversation and laughter.
She should have been jubilantly happy instead of wishing she were home and finding it difficult to carry on a conversation or even to listen to others.
Every tall man with black curly hair caught her attention. Because of the crowd, she could only see the top of one man’s head, and his thick, black curls. She was mesmerized and couldn’t look away because his hair reminded her of Tony. The resemblance made her heartbeat race. Would she be the same way about strangers who resembled him five years from now? Should she rethink moving in with him? She knew it was too late to go back.
Then the man drew closer, the crowd parted and she looked into Tony’s eyes.
Eleven
Her heart thudded and she forgot everything except Tony walking toward her, his gaze holding hers, immobilizing her. She smiled, but she was unable to speak. Her mouth went dry and she felt overwhelmed. She wanted to run and throw herself into his arms, but she maintained restraint. This was the time for that if she wanted him back. She felt that intuitively and thoroughly. It was also the time to get him out of her life forever if that was how it had to be.
He walked up to her. “Hi,” he said, his thick, deep voice melting her. She couldn’t even speak to answer him. “You’re stunning,” he said, his gaze roaming over her face and hair. “Where can we go to talk?”
“Tony, there’s no point. I want all of you. I want marriage to you. I’ve made that clear and you’ve made your feelings clear to me. We should just stay in here. I need to greet people.”
“I want to talk to you,” he persisted.
“I’ll be available tomorrow or the next day. I’m sure it can keep,” she said, her pulse racing and her insides churning over rejecting him when he kept insisting on talking privately with her. She had spoken openly and frankly about her feelings. She saw no choice, except the one she had to live by.
She started to walk away from him. He pulled her around. When she began to protest, she took one look at his determined expression and closed her mouth.
“I have to talk to you.”
“We really have nothing further to discuss.”
“Yes, we do. I’m willing to give up my goal of billionaire by forty.”
Stunned, she stood in shock, staring at him and trying to fathom what he had just stated. “You can’t mean that,” she said.
“I do mean it. Totally. I know what I want.”
She stared at him, narrowing her eyes. “That is so totally unlike you in every way. I don’t think you really can do it even if you think you mean it.”
“I mean it, Isabelle, and I can do it if I really want it.” He glanced around. “This isn’t a good place to talk. The band is playing, people are beginning to dance around us.”
She realized he was right. Her surroundings had faded into nonexistence for her. “All right, Tony, step into the hall. I didn’t think you were coming tonight. I saw your RSVP.”
“I didn’t plan to attend and then at the last minute, I wanted to talk to you and I don’t want to wait until tomorrow.” He took her arm lightly, yet the touch made her draw a deep breath. She wanted to be in his arms more than ever. Her thoughts spun with his declaration of giving up his lifelong goal. She couldn’t believe he actually would do so, but she was beginning to not care.
They walked into the hall and she looked up at him. “I have an office two stories down if you’d rather go there.”
With his jaw set, he steered her toward the elevators and they rode in silence until they entered her office and he closed the door.
She walked away from him, turning to face him. “Tony, I don’t think you could live up to that even if you think you mean it now.”
He closed the distance between them, stopping close to her. “My life is miserable without you in it. It isn’t worth the sacrifice to stay single.”
Surprised, she clamped her jaw shut tightly and shook her head. Tears threatened. She wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t. “Tony, I’ve missed you, but you’ve spent your adult life as a workaholic, driven, addicted to work. I don’t think you can change. You say you will, but several months after marriage or even a year or two later, your family will slip into second place. And you don’t care for kids or really want children.”
“Yes, I do. I want you and everything that goes with marriage to you. Kids—” He shrugged. “I don’t know, but Sydney is younger than I am and I’ve always loved her.”
“That’s entirely different.”
