Free Her First Vacation by Jennie Leigh Page A

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Garret’s arrogance. She didn’t really understand how he and Colin could be
friends. They were nothing alike. Then again, Colin never quite seemed to act
the same at dinner as he did when they were alone together in the mornings. He
didn’t exactly ignore her, but he made no effort to pay her any special
attention. She was smart enough to guess that he might be playing a role for
Garret’s benefit. She had trouble believing that he was so insecure that he felt
it necessary to pretend to be something he wasn’t just to gain Garret’s approval,
though. Colin never appeared to be insecure about anything. Which
left her with a lot of uncertainty and no easy answers.
    She’d been wondering about the differences in Colin when he
was with her and when everyone else was around. He was certainly behaving like
a different person tonight. He’d drunk more than she’d ever seen him drink
before, and he and Garret kept sending each other speaking looks and smug
smiles. When Garret finally shoved away from the table and said he was off to
the casino, Colin rose to go with him. Claire watched the pair go, feeling
another strange twinge of unease as Garret said something that made Colin
laugh. The two men couldn’t be that much alike. They just couldn’t.

 
    CHAPTER FIVE
    Colin was late meeting her the next morning. She kept
telling herself that he’d never verbally promised to keep their morning dates,
but she couldn’t help feeling uneasy when the minutes kept ticking by without any
sign of him. When he finally appeared, the sigh of relief that poured out of
her was much too profound for comfort. A few minutes late and she’d instantly
begun to worry that he was tired of her. Worse, the thought of him ending their
morning routine hurt her in ways that she knew she shouldn’t allow it to. She
was much too attached to him already, but she couldn’t bear the thought of
ending the relationship. She desperately tried not to think about how foolish
she was being.
    Colin saw Claire’s relief as her eyes settled on him, and
he instantly felt like a prick. She’d thought he was going to stand her up
again, and the truth was, he’d thought about it. After yesterday, he knew he
had to stop seeing her. She was getting too close, and it was starting to get
in his way. The stakes were too high to risk that. He was also worried that she
was much too observant. In her quiet way, she sat back and watched everyone and
everything around her. Last night he’d practically felt her questions as he and
Garret acted like they’d suddenly become best buddies. She was starting to
notice that he acted like two different people, and that wasn’t something he
could allow. He had to end it, now, before he was forced to do something really
ugly just to get her out of the way. Her welcoming smile made his gut clench.
    “Oversleep again?”
    He couldn’t bring himself to even pretend to find the
comment amusing. Her smile turned strained, then faded as her brows drew
together.
    “Colin, what’s wrong?”
    He shook his head. “I think we should stop meeting like
this.”
    It was almost exactly the same thing he’d said to her that
first morning they’d had breakfast together, but there was no doubt that he
wasn’t being facetious now. Claire felt a denial come into her mind but
couldn’t force it past the instant tightness in her throat. Colin shifted his
gaze off her face for a moment, staring out at the horizon. He seemed to be gathering
his thoughts, and Claire couldn’t make herself say a word to interrupt him.
When he finally met her gaze again, the expression in his eyes made her want to
cry.
    “Look, you’re a great woman and everything, but I just
don’t think it’s a good idea for us to keep seeing each other.”
    She nodded and tightened her hands into fists, digging her
fingernails into her palms in an effort to keep the tears from coming to her
eyes. He saw them though, and the pity that filled his gaze made her want