One Night with Prince Charming (Aristocratic Grooms #2)(38)
Author: Anna DePalo

It shouldn’t hurt this bad.

If she was honest with herself, she’d say she’d never completely gotten over Hawk. And now…now she was in love with him while he was going to marry another woman.

The realization hit like a body blow.

“Pia?” Tamara said. “Are you okay?”

Pia could only nod, her throat too constricted for words.

Tamara stroked her arm soothingly. “I know it hurts. You’ll need time.”

Pia nodded, and then took a deep breath.

“I was so naive,” she announced when she could speak again. “When Michelene arrived, I thought perhaps she and Hawk had dated in the past. It never occurred to me that I should be concerned about the future!”

“Well, don’t worry. I’ll have Sawyer call Hawk out,” Tamara stated, trying to lighten the mood. “Sawyer must have some centuries-old ceremonial swords lying around somewhere that they can duel with…”

Pia gave a choked laugh. “I don’t know. Hawk is in good shape. He’s a rock climber.”

Pia was thankful for Tamara’s understanding. She wasn’t sure if Belinda would have managed to be quite so deft at a time like this. But then Tamara was happily married, while Belinda was trying her utmost to be happily unmarried.

Pia tried to compose herself, and gave Tamara a watery smile. “Thanks for trying to cheer me up.”

Tamara gave a rueful little smile of her own. “I know what you’re going through, Pia, believe me. It’s where I was just a few months ago.”

“But everything worked out for you. Sawyer adores you.”

“I didn’t think it was possible at the time. There’ll come a day when you’ll be happy again—I promise.”

Pia sighed. “Not any time soon. I’m committed to seeing through Lucy’s big event. How will it look if I end this horrible year by dropping Lucy’s wedding at the last moment? It will truly be a fatal blow to Pia Lumley Wedding Productions!”

Tamara grimaced. “I wish I could question Sawyer right now, but he flew back to New York yesterday, and I know he’s in a business meeting right now.”

“It’s okay. It won’t change anything.”

Nothing could make this right.

“What is Michelene’s full name?” Tamara queried suddenly.

“It’s Ward-Fombley. Michelene Ward-Fombley.”

Tamara nodded. “I’ve heard of her, though I can’t put a face to the name at the moment.”

“She’s genteel and attractive.”

“So are you.”

“You’re loyal.”

Tamara tilted her head. “I’m sure I’ve heard the name in connection with one social function or another here in England…”

“I’m not surprised,” Pia admitted, though it hurt. “She’s from Hawk’s social circle. In fact, I believe she was a leading candidate to be Hawk’s older brother’s bride until William passed away.”

Tamara grimaced again. “Oh, Pia, are you sure Hawk isn’t just feeling some lingering halfhearted sense of obligation?”

“Even if he is, it doesn’t change matters. He engaged in some artful omissions, and I can only assume that his sense of obligation remains.”

Hawk had assumed responsibilities in the past three years, Pia reflected, and she was suffering the consequences.

She recalled the look on the dowager duchess’s face last night. Yes, Pia thought with a stab, Hawk had his life mapped out for him, and their paths were apparently fated to cross only briefly and casually, with no serious feelings or commitment—at least not on his part.

“I need to book a flight,” Pia told Tamara. “With any luck, I can catch a plane back to New York by tomorrow.”

Her friend looked troubled. “Oh, Pia, please stay longer. You’re upset.”

Pia was glad for the offer, but still she shook her head. “Thank you, Tamara—for everything.” She pasted on a brave smile. “But I have business that needs attending to back in New York.”

At the moment, she added silently, she needed to put as much space as possible between her and Hawk.

She also worried that if Sawyer returned home, he’d inform Hawk of her whereabouts. Pia had come to like Tamara’s husband, but she knew he was also Hawk’s friend.

And she wasn’t ready to face Hawk again quite so soon.

Once she was back in New York, she only had to figure out how to avoid Hawk until Lucy’s wedding was over. Because one thing was certain—they were over as a couple.

Hawk sat in his office in New York in a rare quiet moment and reflected on the royal mess he’d made.

Pia had run from him, and he no doubt ranked even lower than the fictional wicked Mr. Wickham in her estimation at the moment.

Mrs. Hollings, no doubt using her crystal ball and her contacts across the Atlantic, had published more or less the heart of the matter in her column: “Could a certain rakish, hawkish duke have resurrected his randy dandy ways before heading to the altar with a suitable marriageable miss?”

His painstakingly built reputation as a serious financier with hardly a remarkable social life was threatening to collapse. He’d merited three thinly-veiled references in Mrs. Hollings’s gossip column in the past months.

Pia had laid dust to his resolve to appear—and to be—strictly proper and responsible. He’d thought he was reformed. She’d proved him wrong.

She thought he’d played her false, and the truth was, he’d been less than aboveboard and forthright. As a result, Pia had been crushed by the unexpected events at Lucy’s engagement party.

And Mrs. Hollings, blast it, knew it all.

It would be easy, of course, for him to track down Pia. He knew where she lived, and she was still working on Lucy’s wedding—or rather, he thought she was.

Lucy had become rather tight-lipped on the subject of Pia. His sister had seemed to intuit what had transpired at Silderly Park, based on Michelene’s unexpected arrival and Pia’s abrupt departure. It was clear that Lucy disapproved of his treatment of Pia, though she’d refrained from outright verbal censuring.

And then again, what would he say to Pia if he tracked her down?

He should have told her about Michelene and explained—but what exactly? Until Pia had unexpectedly reappeared in his life on Belinda’s wedding day in June, he and everyone else had thought he’d marry someone suitable. It had been, in so many ways, the path of least resistance. It was time to marry, and with his reputation as a top-flight financier in place, a predictable marriage had been the final step toward burying his playboy past for good.