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BOOK 5
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Being Yours BOOK 5
'Well,' Grant said Monday morning when Lynne arrived at work. ‘You’re looking great. The break must have done you good. I take it Cliff didn’t work you too hard?’ To Lynne’s disgust, she felt heat searing her face and was grateful when Nita arrived to distract her husband’s attention from Lynne. ‘Guess what?’ she said, her face a picture of astonishment. ‘I just heard from Cliff. He’s taking off this morning for a drive down the Oregon coast. He says he won’t be back in touch till his vacation’s over. And,’ she added, her gray eyes forming disbelieving circles, ‘he said he’s not taking any work with him!’ Grant whistled. ‘Well! I guess you must have done him some good, too, Lynne. I guess my sending you over there to work with him for a weekend was a smart move. He’s very protective of women. Maybe he’s afraid if he hangs around Ill send you over again.’ Lynne suspected Grant was absolutely right, but: not for the reason he assumed. She knew why Cliff had gone. To escape her, to gi
Being Yours BOOK 5
If he was ‘smitten’, Cliff took great care not to let it show for the rest of the weekend. Though he agreed to stay in one of the spare rooms that had been finished and furnished since his first visit, Lynne knew without having to be told that he — and she — would both be sleeping alone Saturday and Sunday nights. Taylor was delighted with both the gifts Cliff had brought, and equally pleased by the expert help he could provide. The fanlight, installed in the front door, sent great splashes of rainbow color across the deep shine of the hardwood floor in the foyer. The two men spent the rest of the afternoon and even an hour after dinner hard at work, cutting, fitting, nailing, discussing, while Lynne and Ann did finishing work, sanding, painting, and even wallpapered one bathroom. Despite the busy schedule, Lynne was not deprived of time with her niece who was now making her first, all-too-successful attempts at crawling, and was very proud of herself, not to mention very apt to ge
Being Yours BOOK 5
Shock waves resounded through the office following the news that Cliff was leaving the company and joining up with a friend in Vancouver, an investment broker. It was an amicable dissolution of the partnership between him and Grant and Nita, and would change nothing in the basic structure of the firm. Grant assured Lynne that her arcticling year was not in jeopardy, and that they’d all help her through her exam preparations. Though she couldn’t say so, she didn’t care about that. She could only nod, feeling numb, and wonder if Grant and Nita knew why Cliff had decided so suddenly he wanted out of the company. Nothing either of them said gave her reason to suspect that they knew, but that failed to ease her heartache. She knew, and that was what mattered. Did Cliff suspect she was pregnant? Was he running from that, too? No. She was sure of it and felt guilty for the thought. He was too honorable to do that, and she had to tell him. But it all happened so fast she didn’t have a chan
Being Yours BOOK 5
If he did, he gave no indication of it. He seemed, instead, to ignore the entire situation. He was kind, loving, considerate, and concerned for her health and comfort. In bed, he was the lover she’d always dreamed of, and she tried hard to please him. There, locked in an intimate embrace, making love with him, was the only time she truly believed in the love he professed every day. In him, she sensed a deep need she suspected she could never fill, a hint of desperation in his loving, as if each time might be the last. Was this a hold-over from his first marriage? Did the hurt he’d felt at its dissolution linger? Did he distrust her because Julia had left him and he expected no better from her? How could she ever hope to prove to him that her love was forever, except to be there for him, with him, forever? Or was it something from his childhood that still disturbed him? She knew virtually nothing of it except it had been unhappy. Frequently, she tried to draw him out, but he evaded h
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
Cliff's hand shook as, leafing through the mail his secretary had put on his desk, he saw the ‘Personal’ designation on the letter from a law firm he’d only heard of three weeks ago. For long moments, he held it, staring at it. He rose, locked the door, returned to his desk then slowly, reluctantly, slid his paper-knife under the envelope’s flap. It was the third one he’d received in a month. Exactly as the others had, it read, ‘Ms Castle requests that you contact her either through these Offices or at the above box number. Enclosed, please find a letter from same.’ Letter? The term was a joke. All the polite little missive said was ‘Please get in touch with me, Cliff. It’s past time for us to sort out our lives.’ It was signed, simply, ‘Lynne’. Why, all these months after her disappearance, had Lynne suddenly decided to contact him? There could be only one answer, and it was not one he wanted to hear. ‘Sort out our lives...’ lives being the operative word. Plural. Separate. Negat
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
He bent his head, one hand cupping her chin, looked into her sleepy eyes and smiled. ‘Hi, Lynnie.” Her blue eyes were filled, not with indifference as he’d feared, not with desire as he’d dreamed, but with sleepy questions, and she blinked several times then srniled that joyous, welcoming smile that he had seen every morning when he awoke, every night when he came home, every time she saw him — and every night in his dreams since they’d parted. ‘Hi yourself,’ she murmured, and a huge surge of relief shook his body. She hadn’t come to ask for a divorce! That radiant smile said she still loved him! ‘Lynne ... oh, sweetheart,’ he said, his voice thick and choked, then he took her lips with his own, parting them gently, kissing her with all the tenderness she had ever been able to arouse in him. I love you so much! He dared not speak the words aloud, but it didn’t matter then, because her hands slid through his hair, pulling his head down to her, muffling his, ‘I’ve missed you so badly
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
Cliff ignored what he saw as a provocative statement geared to precipitate an argument. ‘But what you got out there —’ he gestured toward the patio ‘“wasn’t what you came for.’ ‘No, it wasn’t.’ But oddly, his statement — and it had definitely been that; no hint of a question had colored his tone — instilled an element of doubt in her. Had she, on some subconscious level, harbored a hope that maybe, if she and Cliff were to see one another again, things might happen that would eventually lead them to an understanding? Lead them back together? ‘No,’ she repeated sharply, as much to reassure herself as in response to him. ‘I came because I... because I had to.’ He nodded. ‘You came because I forced you by not responding to your letters.’ “Yes. I thought at first it would be easier if we could do it all by mail, and through lawyers, not have to meet personally.’ It was her turn to laugh sourly at the irony of what she’d said. Their meeting had certainly become personal. Their gazes me
Being Yours BOOK 5 PART TWO
They'd been working so hard,’ she said, ‘and both of them knew they needed a break. I don’t know if he ever mentioned it, but Taylor had a private pilot’s license.’ Her voice choked again. ‘He’d wanted to be a commercial pilot since he was a little boy, but when Dad died — well, he never got beyond his private license. A friend offered them the use of his hunting camp up in the mountains, so Taylor rented a small float plane to fly into the lake the camp’s on. Michael and I went up to stay with Amanda. We’ve. .. been there ever since.’ ‘And that’s why you left our — your — house in Victoria.’ “Yes.” ‘And why you didn’t take the money I put in your account. Taylor left you ... provided for? Is it enough, Lynne? You said you had a cash-flow problem sometimes. That money’s yours! You must know I want you to have it.’ She sat erect, would have moved apart from him, but for the firmness of his hold. ‘I don’t want your money, Cliff. Taylor left Amanda’s education provided for and the mo
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