so easily, and eagerly, gone to his bed.
She picked up a brush and pointed it at her reflection. “Couldn’t you have shown even a little hesitation?” she said with exasperation. “Did you have to throw yourself at him?”
Turning away, she dropped the brush into the hanging travel bag on the back of the bathroom door, then closed the zipper. When she looked back in the mirror, it wasn’t her own face she saw, but Sam’s.
Dammit, Kiera, if you run away every time there’s a problem …
“I’m not running away from anything,” she snapped at the mirror, then spun on her heels and walked back into the bedroom. Her packed suitcase laying open on the bed screamed that she was a liar.
Okay, so maybe this time she was running away. But sleeping with Sam had exacerbated an already complicated situation. If she stayed, the situation could only get worse.
If she stayed, she’d fall in love.
Oh, who are you kidding? she thought, then sank down on the edge of the bed. What was the use in denying it?
She’d already fallen in love.
Hard.
She cursed herself, then Sam. She didn’t want to be in love. Not this kind of love; the ache-in-the-chest, weak-kneed, I-want-to-have-your-babies-can’t-live-without-you kind of love. She’d seen what that kind of love had done to her mother, how it had destroyed her. Until Sam, she hadn’t understood feelings like that, hadn’t understood how a man could have the power to take away a woman’s self-respect, her identity. But last night, when she’d left Sam’s suite the overwhelming urge to run back to him, to give him anything in the world he asked for, scared the hell out of her.
That was why she had to leave Wolf River. To prove to herself she wasn’t so far gone that she couldn’t walk away. So far gone that she couldn’t, in time, forget about him and love someone else.
She’d hadn’t come here to fall in love. She’d come for answers to questions. She’d come to find out the truth behind the lie. But here she was, questions still unanswered, the truth still beyond her reach, her heart aching.
Part of her wanted to go home to Stone Ridge Ranch. She knew she’d find comfort there, knew that Alaina would soothe her pain, that Alexis would call from New York and give her a pep talk and tell her there were dozens of good-looking men, why fuss over one? Even Trey, who would undoubtedly yell for an hour or two, would soften when he saw she was hurting. Then he’d probably go and beat Sam up.
The thought actually lightened her mood for a moment, but she knew, of course, that she couldn’t go home. Not now. Not for a long time.
So Paris it was, she’d decided, even though the initial excitement over her trip was now nonexistent. Paris would give her a chance to regroup, to refocus and let her heart mend.
She jolted at the sound of the knock from the other room. Sam! She quickly tamped down the urge to jump up and sprint across the room. Instead, she slowly drew in a deep, calming breath and waited for a second knock. Let him stew, she thought, pleased with herself that she strolled, not ran, across the living room.
But it wasn’t Sam standing there, Kiera discovered when she opened the door.
It was Clair.
The spark of cool indifference she’d worked up to greet Sam fizzled, then sputtered out. “Clair, hello.”
Clair, dressed neatly in a chic, navy-blue pantsuit, had more color in her face today, and a firm sense of purpose that made Kiera uneasy.
“May I come in?” she asked.
“Of course.” Kiera stepped aside, couldn’t help but notice the somber tone in Clair’s voice. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes, actually, something is wrong.” Clair moved inside and glanced toward the sofa. “May I sit down?”
“Of course.” Worried, Kiera closed the door behind her and followed her into the living room. The baby, was her first thought, and she felt the panic twist in her stomach. Or Sam. Something had happened to Sam!
No, that didn’t make any sense. Even if something had happened to Sam, Clair wouldn’t have come here. She didn’t know about yesterday, Kiera thought. No one knew that she and Sam, well, that they’d been together. In his suite. Intimately.
Or did they?
Her stomach clenched even tighter at the thought, and she searched her brain for some kind of explanation. Not that there was one, she realized. She and Sam had slept together. That hardly required an explanation. Biting her lip, she watched Clair sit on the sofa, her back straight as a pin, her gaze no-nonsense.
“I understand you quit yesterday.”
Speechless, Kiera stared at Clair in amazement. That’s why she’d come here? Kiera realized that Clair was a hands-on owner, but still, one waitress quitting hardly warranted a personal visit.
“I—I’m sorry.” Her brain still stumbling over Clair’s statement, Kiera had to clear her throat before she could speak again. “I assure you, normally I would have given two weeks’ notice, but under the circumstances it seemed like the best thing to do.”
“The circumstances,” Clair repeated thoughtfully. Her dark hair brushed one shoulder when she tilted her head. “Are you referring to Phillipe’s temper tantrum or your relationship with Sam?”
Kiera’s breath caught. Sam had told Clair? Anger slowly seeped through her shock. How could he!
“I can see what you’re thinking.” Clair shook her head. “And you can relax. Sam didn’t say a word to me, about you quitting or anything else. He’s hardly the type of man to kiss and tell.”
Relief swept through Kiera, along with a blush. “But—”
“I’m not blind, Kiera,” Clair said with a soft smile. “I saw the way he looked at you that afternoon in my office. In all the time I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him look at any woman like that. Do you know he handed me a letter of resignation this morning?”
Kiera sank down on the sofa beside Clair. “He did what?”
“I told him I wouldn’t accept it unless he’d murdered a guest, and even then I might take into consideration whom he’d killed. There’s an oafish brute on the fourth floor driving the entire staff crazy.”
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