Page 28 of Earl
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that no matter who you end up with, the money will always be an issue.”
He felt the familiar insecurities coming to the fore. “Basically, what you are Implying Is that no woman will ever look past that and see me simply as a man.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Oh God, I tried.” she said tearfully. “I am an actress, but I came from a humble background. I make a lot of money, but nothing compared to what you make. You were born into luxury, so it is natural for you to be accustomed to all that wealth and everything that goes with it. For the rest of us, it is not that easy.”
Chapter 6
Cathy forced herself to concentrate on the meal and the man seated across from her. She had almost called and cancelled the lunch date, after the night she had. The conversation with Earl had been stiff and unlike the ones they had in the past.
When she asked him why he sounded so brusque and almost formal, he had made the excuse that he was tired.
“In case, you have forgotten, we have a significant amount of time differences between us.”
“That never bothered you before.”
“I was in meetings for most of the day and I feel drained.”
They had spoken for a couple of more minutes before he said he had to go to bed. That had never happened before either.Usually, she was the one who insisted they end the conversation so he could get some sleep.
It had bothered her the entire night and had her tossing and turning on the bed. Damn him!
“I am so happy you decided to have lunch with me.” Byron enthused as he took a sip of his wine. “I was reluctant to return to my country at first. I married a French woman and ended up spending years in that country.
Sofia refused to leave France, and I was too much in love with her to leave her. So, I decided that I could run the magazines from anywhere in the world.”
“There were no children from the union?”
He shook his head sadly. “When she couldn’t conceive, we went to a specialist who did a thorough examination, and it was discovered that she had cysts on her ovaries. At first it was thought to be benign, but it turned out to be otherwise.”
“I am sorry.”
He nodded, a grim smile on his face. “It impacted us, especially her in a tremendous way and she never really recovered. She convinced herself that she was less of a woman because she could not give me a child. She even went as far as encouraging me to have one outside of the marriage.”
“Were you tempted?”
“No.” He shook his head. “But I am afraid, it made the situation even worse. Sofia thought I was sacrificing myself for her sake.” He shrugged. “I could not bear the thought of being with anyone else.”
“That’s commendable!” Cathy did not realize her voice sounded wistful. “Most men would jump at the chance to cheat.”
“I am not most men,” he told her softly, reaching for her hand. “I do not want to be forward Cathy, but I am attracted to you. Ispent two years mourning my wife and had to use the magazines to cling to life and hope.
When I saw you in that ballroom, something stirred inside me for the first time in a while. I hope you will give me the chance to try and cultivate a relationship between us.”
Cathy drew her hand away slowly and picked up her glass of wine.
“I have offended you. I have lived in France too long and picked up some of their lesser attractive habits. I tend to get right to the point.”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s not that. I am flattered by what you just said and frankly I don’t know what to make of it. I am kind of seeing someone.”
A frown pleated his brow.
“You said ‘kind of’. Would you care to explain that to me?”
Cathy rolled her shoulders restlessly. He was a very attractive man and appeared to be sincere. If she had met him before she started doing this online thing, she would have gone for it. His story was moving and had touched the core of her. He was probably the kind of man she would want in her life.
“Online dating.”