Required to Wear the Tycoon's Ring

She looked forlorn for a second.

 ‘We’d talked about our plans so much. We’d even put a deposit down on a house. We were so excited that we were going to be together at last, in our own home. Greg seemed so happy... I never saw any signs that he wasn’t. But apparently he’d been having doubts about us for months. He said that the time just never seemed right to tell me—that he didn’t want to hurt me.

 ‘But it wasn’t just that. On the day we were due to marry he didn’t show up because he was with another woman. Someone from his work he’d been having an affair with. He’d been telling me a bunch of lies all along. I know you probably think I was an utter fool for trusting him, and I agree with you. But I never guessed for so much as a second that he’d rather be with someone else.

 ‘With hindsight I can see that I blinded myself to the truth because I loved him. I told myself that if we had any problems we could surely work them out. To cut a long story short, I believed he was at least honourable. Sadly, it turned out not to be the case. I found out that it’s not always an asset to try to see the best in people.’

 Quietly, Seth asked, ‘How did you find out that he’d been cheating on you?’

 ‘His best man eventually turned up to put me in the picture. To give him credit, it was just as excruciating for him as it was for me. Greg didn’t tell him that he’d changed his mind until they met up supposedly to travel to the church.’

 Not commenting right away, Seth felt his insides churn with dismay. What a bastard to behave so despicably to a sweet girl like Imogen, he thought.

 Staring at her, he saw that her huge brown eyes were glassy with tears. Feeling an uncharacteristic urge to dispense comfort, he moved round the table to go to her. Almost immediately she backed away, like a wounded animal when it wanted to lick its wounds in private. Returning to her armchair, she hugged her arms over her chest as though desperately trying to compose herself. Seth stayed where he was.

 ‘What happened to the deposit you paid on the house? Clearly you didn’t go through with the purchase if you’re renting this place?’

 As if in a daze, Imogen glanced up. ‘No. I didn’t buy it. Greg did. He bought the house with his new girlfriend.’

 ‘What? I hope he returned your share of the deposit?’

 ‘As a matter of fact, he didn’t. As well as not being honourable, it turned out that he was unscrupulous, as well. He argued that I’d given it to him as a gift. At the moment I’m contesting the case through the law firm I work for. Anyway, that’s enough of that. The main thing is that I learned a very hard lesson...one I’m determined not to repeat.’

 His appetite for food now gone, Seth thought that it wasn’t any wonder that Imogen needed hope. She’d fallen for a man who’d utterly destroyed her trust. Giving your heart to someone was the most trusting thing you could ever do, in his opinion. That was why he believed he wouldn’t easily give his to a woman again.

 ‘Does your lawyer think you’ll win the case?’

 The liquid brown gaze held his for a moment and he saw how the little hope that she could muster vied with her underlying fear that she would lose. That made him angry. It made him angry for all the times he had lost out to people who’d had more power than him because they’d gone to the right schools or had more money... They had not even thought him worthy of their regard.

 He couldn’t help but let James Siddons come to mind...

 He knew how it felt to be rejected—and something deep inside him didn’t want this woman to feel the same.

 ‘My lawyer tells me we won’t go down without a fight—but you know what?’

 Imogen’s smile was uncertain. The vulnerability he detected somehow got to him...made his insides ache.

 ‘What?’

 ‘I don’t want to fight. I’d rather keep my energy to rebuild my life. No amount of money is worth getting ill over.’

 ‘If it means the difference between you having the means to make a new start and beginning again with nothing I know which one I’d choose.’

 ‘I’ll find a way. At least the circumstances I grew up in taught me to be resilient.’

 ‘And what were those?’

 ‘They weren’t dissimilar to yours. I was raised by my mum. My dad walked out on her when she fell pregnant with me. He broke her heart, but she never thought for one second that she should give me up. She singlehandedly raised me, working two jobs to keep us together.’