“I apologize. As you can see, the situation I am being thrust into allows me little privacy. It tends to rattle my nerves.”
“And she also works at the palace?” asked Megan.
“Work? Heavens no. But you could say that she is part of a problem I need to find a solution for.”
“The case you referred to that’s keeping you out of the spotlight?” Megan asked.
“You ask impossible questions. Can’t we continue to meet as two people who want to share time together with no expectations?”
“I expect nothing from you, Ryan,” said Megan, “except honesty and integrity.”
He ran fingers through his hair. “Then I suppose we shall have to call it a night. I’m sorry.”
He turned away and she stood paralyzed watching after him. Not her vision of the end of their relationship. The man might as well of admitted his dishonesty straight out. Better she’d witness that side of him sooner rather than later when he’d consumed all her take-home vacation memories – at least those of the romantic nature. She marched past the ruin vowing never to return. Appeared tragedy filled the place, past and present. The birds of prey could eat the leftovers from their meal if Ryan didn’t return to clean the mess.
The harder she tried to brush the fifth and final date off as unimportant, the more upset Megan became. Each pounding step grated off a hurt festering on the inside – rejection. The one thing about new contacts that she dreaded most. But this was not her fault. He was the one who did the walking and she’d honor his choice to turn and run. She groaned. He was running. Perhaps part of the trouble that he’d alluded to this evening. She kicked at a stone and broke one of her manicured toenails.
V A C A T I O N – she chanted the letters angrily into the evening air – and finished the carefree ditty with a firm counter-retort – it’s vacation time.
Megan headed straight for her room, ignoring the polite good evening from the desk clerk as she hurried by. Taking the stairs two at a time she reached the third floor out of breath. She slammed the door to her room shut behind her and let the pent-up tears flow. Megan grew angrier with herself by the minute. How had Ryan uprooted such a tender shoot in her heart after only five short encounters, and why on earth did it matter so much? She recalled the way the woman gazed at Ryan, as if he were her personal property. Great! Now she could add jealousy to her temper tantrum. Men! She’d done without one this long, maybe she should stick to a successful career and stop trying for romance. Leave more men for Suzanne to pick through.
A long soak in the tub helped her to refocus and with her hair wrapped in a towel, she went to the window to see what the commotion was about outside the hotel. Crowds had gathered and were chanting something she couldn’t decipher to a figure who’d disappeared through the rotating doors of her building. She shrugged it off as some diplomat staying in the hotel. She pulled on a snugly terry housecoat, compliments of the hotel, plunked in a comfy chair that gobbled her into its folds, and flicked on the television.
The house phone rang, and she grimaced for she needed to apologize for her rudeness earlier in snubbing him off. Picking it up she said, “Hello,” but before she could continue with her admission of guilt, the desk clerk spoke.
“Miss Fairchild. There is a gentleman caller who would like to speak to you.”
“Not interested in any gentleman callers,” but before she removed the phone from her ear she recognized Ryan’s voice.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve come to bear my heart to you.”
“The office is closed.”
“Not professionally, Megan. May I see you?”
“I just got out of the shower.”
“I can wait until you dress.”
Megan sighed, knowing her heart would never forgive her if she cast him aside without allowing him to explain. “Fine. Give me five minutes, then come up.”
“Five? I’ve never known a woman who can dress in five minutes.”
“Believe me, sir, it won’t be fancy.”
She hung up the phone and walked to her room. She chose a simple over-the-head casual dress that fell to knees in the middle and up several inches on the sides creating a v-shaped hem. Vigorously, she towel dried her hair and let the damp loose waves fall over her shoulders, scrunching the natural curls to give it a bouncy wet effect. Wiping a few remaining streaks of mascara from the tears she’d cried took the most time and she went to the door with the facecloth in her hand. This was about as informal as it got.
When she opened to the knock, the entourage standing directly behind him took her by surprise. She raised her eyebrows. “Need protection from little old me?”
He searched her face, beyond the hard exterior and into her soul that could not hide from his intense stare. “Perhaps you will need their assistance, Megan. For if it’s at all possible, you look even more beautiful than earlier.”
“Those lines are worn out, Ryan. Come on in, but leave the troops in the hall. I promise I have no knives and I’ll try not to strangle you for your transgressions.”
Ryan nodded to the men who did not hide their surprise or dismay at Megan’s candor well. She closed the door firmly behind him and headed to the sitting area leaving him to follow. She sat back in her chair and nodded toward another.
“Please sit. I’m sorry I have no dessert to offer you. I left it for the crows. But I can give
