Once a Playboy... by Kate Hardy

Author:Kate Hardy
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-10-04T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

SORRY. Can’t do this any more. Wish I could be different.

Serena stared at the screen. Was she really reading this, or had she fallen asleep and was having some kind of nightmare? She flicked out of the message and back in again, just to check; but it still said the same.

She couldn’t believe this. The day she finally decided to trust George, to let him into her life and let him meet her son—that was the day he’d decided to end it between them.

By text.

Without even giving her a proper reason.

This was like one of those teenage moments where the boy who’d just dumped you said, ‘It’s not you, it’s me,’ to make you feel better about it. Except this didn’t make her feel any better. It made her feel as if the bottom had just dropped out of her world.

She was shocked by how much it hurt. And in a way it was worse than Jason’s betrayal. At least she’d been prepared for Jason walking out; she’d known from the start that he wasn’t keen on the idea of being a father and she’d come to realise that he wasn’t going to change his mind. And then the weeks of sleep deprivation that came with a colicky, screaming baby had made them both scratchy enough to have that final fight.

But this—this was completely out of the blue. They’d had such a nice day together at the park. OK, so George hadn’t stayed for dinner, but she already knew that he spent most Sundays in Suffolk and she’d heard him talking to his brother, making arrangements for the day. She’d just assumed he’d meant it when he’d said that he had something to sort out for his father before he went to Suffolk, not that he was giving her the brush-off.

Then again, maybe she’d seen what she wanted to see—that there was more to George than being a shallow playboy. Maybe she’d been completely wrong. Maybe the gossip rags were right about him, after all.

Miserable and feeling sick, she went to check on Ethan. Her little boy was asleep and looked so peaceful. The complete opposite from the turmoil ripping through her heart, she thought wryly. She dragged in a shuddery breath, bent down to kiss his cheek, then slowly walked downstairs.

She’d been such a fool to think this thing between her and George was changing, growing. That it was starting to mean something to him, the same way it meant something to her. Clearly it hadn’t. She’d just been a distraction for him. Someone to take his mind off the fact his mobility was limited while he recovered from the accident.

And now it was over.

* * *

Serena slept badly that night. Her eyes felt as if they were full of sand, the next morning, gritty and painful from the tears she’d cried in the night.

Ethan was sitting at the kitchen table, drawing, when she finally dragged herself downstairs. He looked up at her and smiled. ‘Mummy! I drawed you a picture.

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