put her fingers to her mouth and cocked a hip for dramatic effect. “Brenda Ellis at the deli told me Hunter and Rachel Banks are finished. As in unengaged.”
Ariana’s knees went weak.
“Sweetheart, I need you for a second.”Ariana’s mother pounced like a cat on a hot tin roof.
Ariana held up a hand. “Not now mother.”
“Now.” Her mother took her arm, shoved a drink in her hand and led her through the guests to the back patio off the kitchen.
Ariana dug her heels in and pulled to a halt. “What’s going on?”
Her mother swept a hand over her perfect chignon, her delicate chin lifting. “The night that Hunter left town, he came to see you.”
Ariana stared at her mother as though she was speaking Spanish.
“He wanted you to come to New York with him. I knew it. I told him he wasn’t good enough for you. To go and not come back.”
The wooden deck swayed around Ariana like the rolling ship she’d use to love at the amusement park. “You’re joking.” She must be joking.
Her mother’s mouth firmed. “I was having an affair with Michael Joseph. I didn’t want you anywhere near Hunter because I knew the truth would come out.”
“And therein lays the issue with this evening’s festivities.”
Ariana whirled around at the sound of Hunter’s deep, rich baritone, finding herself face-to-face with the deep blue eyes and six-foot-two gorgeous inches of the ex she hadn’t seen in seven years. It was all too much. Her head swam. The glass slipped from her fingers.
She was vaguely aware of Hunter cursing, plucking her from amid the glass shards and ordering her mother to get water.
Her gaze lifted to his. “What’s going on, Hunter?”
He smiled that devil-may-care smile she remembered so well. “Why, I’ve come back to take what’s mine. You’ve always been the only woman for me, Ari. Surely you know that?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say no, surely she didn’t. That he’d left her. But then Hunter was setting her down on a bench and disappearing inside to find a broom.
Her head spun even faster. It took about five seconds for Ariana to do what any semi-hysterical, vaguely sensible woman would do.
She picked up her skirt and ran.
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