Stroke of Luck - Opal Carew Page 0,77

to keep her lucky charm, so this was a replacement.

She smiled broadly as she walked through the hotel, looking forward to getting back to the suite so she could thank him. Maybe even model it for her two husbands.

“April, you look good.”

Her back stiffened, and ice ran through her veins as she turned around to come face-to-face with Maurice.

Her relaxation and happiness disintegrated.

22

“What are you doing here?” April kept her expression calm and indifferent, despite the roiling emotions inside her.

“Looking for you. When you didn’t respond to my messages, I decided to come and talk to you in person. I asked the manager to help me track you down, and he found that you had an appointment at the spa.” His expression turned contrite. “April, I know I’m the last person you want to see. What I did to you was totally inexcusable. I was an idiot.”

“I won’t argue with you there.”

“I know what I did hurt you, but I’m hoping you’ll give me a chance to make amends.”

Anger spiked through her.

“Maurice, there is nothing you can do to make amends. You left me with a huge hotel bill, which I have no means to pay. I’m lucky I’m not in jail. Then you took away my job, my town house. Everything.”

She wouldn’t even bring up the fact he’d had sex with another woman.

“I know. And I regret all of it.”

He stepped closer, and she stiffened but forced herself not to back away.

“At least have a drink with me so we can talk.” He gazed at her with big brown eyes that at one time had held her enthralled and made her heart thump loudly … but now left her cold.

She frowned, but considered. Every time he contacted her … every time she saw another message from him … she went into a tailspin. She didn’t want him to have that much control over her life.

And seeing him now, the man she’d spent the past two years with, brought back a lot of memories. And aside from what happened last weekend, which had caught her totally off guard, they had all been good memories. Times when she’d felt safe and secure. A part of her wanted to believe that the whole fiasco had been a big misunderstanding.

Except that the memory of him humping that woman against the wall was still too fresh in her mind.

She sucked in a deep breath, driving the image from her mind.

No matter how they’d arrived at this point, it was time to listen to what he had to say. Only then could she put this chapter of her life behind her.

“One drink,” she said firmly.

* * *

Before April sat down, she subtly slipped off her wedding ring and slid it into her purse. She didn’t want Maurice asking any questions about it.

As she sat back in the chair watching him order their drinks, dazzling the waitress with his boyish charm, she wondered what he was up to. She knew better than to think Maurice actually cared about her.

So what did he want from her? She didn’t believe for a minute that he was actually in love with her and wanted her back.

Once the waitress was gone, he turned to her, his expression serious.

“April, I know it’s not enough, but let me start by saying I’ll pay the hotel bill and tell them it was all a misunderstanding and that I take full blame. That way, everyone will know it wasn’t your fault.”

Appearances were important to Maurice, so of course he’d think she cared about that, too. And unfortunately, she did worry about what people thought of her.

One thing she’d learned in the system as a child was that it was important that people like her. She’d had no control over who took care of her or how well. But if she acted the way people wanted her to, and did what people told her to, things went better than if she didn’t.

But she was grown up now and knew she shouldn’t care what the hotel manager and staff believed about her. Nor should she care that Maurice’s friends thought she had cheated on him. It only mattered what the people close to her thought. Unfortunately, although Quinn protected her and was extremely generous with her, she was sure he still had doubts about her.

“What about my town house?”

He nodded. “I’ll give it back for you. With the mortgage paid off so you’ll own it outright.” He took her hand, and she tried not to cringe.