“Hey,” Grayson whispered softly, trying to wake up a sleepy Scarlett.
Scarlett rolled over and opened her eyes slightly. When she saw his handsome face, she smiled despite her exhaustion. “Good morning,” she whispered, lifting her hands to touch his cheek.
“I have to go somewhere over the next few days but I’m leaving a team of bodyguards here to make sure you are safe,” he told her. “Will you be okay?”
Huh? Scarlett stared up at him for a long moment, trying to force her mind to understand what he was telling her. When it finally sunk in, that he was leaving her, that he was going away, the message broke through her exhaustion more quickly and she tried to sit up. “What do you mean? Why do you have to leave?” She also realized that he was not only showered, but fully dressed in a suit and tie. He hadn’t worn a suit since the day he’d arrived. They’d maintained a casual existence here in the Scottish countryside, wearing jeans and sweaters or sweatshirts. She swallowed the panic as she held the sheet over her nakedness.
“I have to but it will only be for a few days if I can get things done quickly,” he told her firmly. “Will you be okay?”
Scarlett thought about it for a long moment. No, she wasn’t going to be okay. He was leaving her! They’d had such an incredible few weeks together and now he was just leaving her? How could he do that? Hadn’t this time together been as special to him as it had been for her?
She wasn’t sure what he was telling her, but she’d always known that this time would come. Grayson was not the forever kind of man. He was the love ‘em and leave ‘em kind. She’d known that since she was a teenager and she’d known it from the moment she’d fallen in love with him. All she’d wanted at the beginning of this affair was a few more nights in his arms and she’d had more than that over the past two weeks. So it was time for her to release her hopes and dreams and accept that this was over between them.
Swallowing hard, she banked all of her pain over his departure behind a weak smile. “Yes. I’ll be fine,” she lied.
He kissed her forehead and walked away, leaving her gaping after him.
“He left?” she said to the now-empty bedroom. “Why?” She felt so lost, so desolate now. It was over. She’d experienced glorious nights in his arms. But they hadn’t been as special to him as they had been to her. Obviously.
Why though? How could he not have felt the amazing passion that flared up whenever they were close to each other? And it hadn’t diminished, not at all over the past two weeks. In fact, it had only intensified. So why was he leaving?
But the empty doorway didn’t have any answers for her. All she saw was the dark, lonely hallway without any Grayson coming through the door to hand her a cup of coffee. Good grief, they’d even gotten a second coffee machine just so both of them could make their own coffee and not have to endure the other person’s! Everything had been so wonderful! What had gone wrong? Why had he had to leave?
She flopped back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. How many times had she done this in the past, wondering about that man?
She wanted to yell and scream at him, she was so furious. He couldn’t do this to her again! But he had! He’d just left her! He’d left everything that they’d shared over the past two weeks and just dumped her cold. She was no different from all the other women who had shared his bed and his amazing body over the years. She hadn’t even lasted as long as some of them!
She flung the covers off of her and stomped furiously to the bathroom. “No more!” As she scrubbed her body clean, trying to forget how many times they’d showered together in this bathroom, she swore to herself that she was going to get over that man! She would fall in love with someone else. She would find another man who could make her feel this alive. This wonderful!
She wasn’t aware of the tears on her cheeks because the shower kept rinsing them off. She was brutally aware of the pain in her heart at his rejection, the humiliation that she couldn’t hold his interest longer than some of the other women in his past and the fury that he was just too obtuse to know how wonderful they were together.
Over the next week, she went into overdrive. She was determined to finish this project off and get out of the castle. Every time she moved into a different room, something hit her hard about her time here with Grayson. They’d made love in practically every room, every piece of furniture and it hurt to remember how incredible his touch had felt, knowing that she’d never feel it again. She couldn’t handle it. This hurt way too much.
So she worked like a maniac, getting in additional contractors, making the castle into an amazing showpiece, but she used a lot of her own money to pay for the overtime of the workers. And she added special details that she normally wouldn’t, simply because this was Harrison and Sierra’s “hideaway”. She brought in special doors, prettier lights, anything that would make this wonderful castle into a home. And every time she came up with a new idea, she prayed that Sierra and Harrison would find more happiness here than she had with Grayson.
Oh, that wasn’t completely true. She wasn’t sure that they could be nearly as happy as she’d been. Scarlett admitted that her time with Grayson had been more joyful than she could have ever thought possible. He was a sweet, gentle yet demanding lover and he taught her things she’d never thought her body could do, could achieve.
Whenever she found herself in a room where the memories were too overwhelming, she’d hurry out and go for a run, letting the fresh, moist air clear her mind. And because they had been in all of those rooms so often and there were so many memories, she got a lot of miles in during the last few days.
In record time, she was finished. The six bedrooms looked wonderful, both elegant and comfortable. She was proud of the way they all looked like showpieces but still invited a person to curl up onto the bed or a cozy chair to read.
The bathrooms were updated, the kitchen finished…the whole house was a masterpiece with new windows, fresh paint and beautiful furniture that invited a person to come into each room and sit for a spell. She could honestly say that, this castle with all of the extra little details she’d added into the effort, was her best work ever.
Unfortunately, she was a mess! After trying to sleep upstairs in the bed she’d shared with Grayson, Scarlett accepted that it simply wasn’t going to happen. It was hard enough working in the various rooms, she couldn’t sleep in a bed where Grayson had held her in his arms.
She’d finally broken down and moved into the local inn, unable to sleep in the castle overnight because Grayson was no longer there with her. And all of the memories of their time together, their nights and the laughter during the days, were a memory that she would cherish, but she couldn’t keep thinking of it right now.
Maybe in time, she thought. Maybe she would get through the pain of his rejection and the short time they’d had together and smile at her brief love affair with the man of her dreams. But right now, all she wanted to do was to curl up into a ball and cry out her sorrow that she didn’t get to hold him any longer.
Scarlett had no idea what she was going to do when their group got together for their dinners or lunches. In the past, those gatherings had been happy times, filled with teasing and laughter, not to mention just the unspoken support that each member of the group knew was there.
She knew that she couldn’t face Grayson. Not right now. The memories were too sharp, too new. Even as she wandered through the rooms of the castle on her final check to make sure everything was ready for Sierra and Harrison, it felt like she could still smell Grayson in each of the rooms, his aftershave and just his manly scent. It was nice, but also very painful.
With a deep sigh and a resolution that she was not going to cry about the end of her dream affair any longer, Scarlett closed the door for the final time, ensuring that it was firmly locked, and then walked away. The SUV filled with the remaining bodyguards Grayson had left behind was waiting to take her to the airport. Unfortunately, she had no idea where she was going. She should have made reservations but she hadn’t been able to dial the number, her mind unable to move beyond this castle, this project. This dream.
She knew she had other clients waiting. So it made sense that she should go back to New York and check in with her team, find out what was up next or if any other clients had called to ask for assistance, but she couldn’t do it.
As the vehicle pulled away, the tears streamed down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe that Grayson had walked away from what they’d had together. Was there another woman?
A sudden thought occurred to her, lifting her spirits slightly. Maybe it had only been a business crisis that needed his presence. Didn’t an empire as large as his have problems that only he could deal with most of the time? It made sense, but then her hope crashed as reality set in. Grayson didn’t have crises, she told herself. He was smart enough to anticipate issues and circumvent them. Not only that, he had built up his business on good sense and strong employees. His management team could handle just about anything.
But still…She glanced at her phone, praying to find some message from Grayson explaining what had happened or where he was. Or even better, that he was coming back to her.
But the phone was blank except for work issues and her shoulders slumped while her back once again rested against the smooth leather of the passenger seat. No message from Grayson. No explanation or brief text letting her know that she would see him soon. Nothing.
The business issues she skipped through were ignored because her mind simply couldn’t deal with them at this point. She’d deal with those, but not today, she told herself. Tomorrow, she thought. She’d deal with that tomorrow. She smiled at that. She was channeling her inner O’Hara with those words, but then she realized that her “Rhett” wasn’t trying to trick her into marriage like in the movie.
Instead of heading back to New York, for the first time in her career, she didn’t check in with her assistant, nor did she call any of the clients who had sent her messages. She told Grayson’s team of bodyguards that she was going to London and wouldn’t need them any longer.
“But…” the captain of the team started to say, wanting to argue with her.
Scarlett shook her head and lifted her hand into the air. “No. I’m taking the train to London so, thank you for your diligence, but I’ll be fine on my own now.” With that, she stepped out of the vehicle and walked into the train station, rolling her bags behind her. She bought a ticket to London, found a seat on the train and then stared out the window the entire trip. She didn’t see the beautiful countryside. In fact, she refused to let herself think at all. She didn’t want to think because thinking caused her to wonder about what she’d done wrong with Grayson. And that hurt. She was tired of hurting. She was tired of wondering and dreaming and hoping and feeling the debilitating disappointment when her hopes and dreams weren’t going to come true.
When she reached London, she considered making her way to Harrison’s building, maybe even calling up Sierra and asking if she could stay overnight, just until she figured out what she could do. But in the end, she simply checked into a hotel room, wanting to be alone so that she could try to heal. And figure out how she was going to get over the most amazing man she’d ever met.