This Tangled Thing Called Love: A Contemporary Romance Novel (9 page)

“Don’t sweat it. The weekend will be over before you know it. By the way, did David like your gift?”

“I’m going to bring it over to his place tonight.”

“Let me know what he thinks. Do you know what’s he getting you?”

“No idea.”

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

If there was a hint in Lindsay’s voice, Claire chose to ignore it.

“Have you seen that hot neighbor of yours?”

“No, why do you ask?” Claire hoped that her voice was level. The smallest change in cadence would send Lindsay on a hunting mission. Claire had not seen Alec since the evening when she looked into his window to find him embracing a female silhouette.
Out of sight, out of mind.

“No reason, just curious. He is kind of cute, and since I’m single, he just might be a possibility.”

“Alec is
not
single.”

“Oh? So you did see him again.”

Realizing that she had just fallen into one of Lindsay’s traps, Claire had no choice but to recount the embarrassing incident of staring into Alec’s window.

“And I thought you said you weren’t interested in him.”

“And I thought you had sworn off men,” Claire countered.

“I have, but a girl always has the prerogative to change her mind.”

“I don’t think that dating Alec would be a good idea.” The words escaped Claire’s lips before she could think.

“Oh, I don’t want to date him. It would be an exercise in futility after seeing the way he was drooling over you the other day. I just want you to keep your options open, that’s all.”

“Sure, thanks for the advice. I’ve got to get back to work now.”

With a sigh, Claire hung up. Sure, she could understand Lindsay’s distrust of David, but David Lawson was not anything like Matthew Prince, III.

At five o’clock Claire grabbed her purse. This was going to be a busy evening. She had to run back to her apartment, pick up David’s gift, and then drop it off by his place. After that, she still had to pack for the weekend.

“Have a great weekend.” Jake winked at her. “I want details on Monday.”

An hour later, Claire was inside a cab on her way to Battery Park City.
Cradled next to her lay David’s anniversary gift.
Claire fidgeted with the bow she had tied to the wrapping. She hoped that David liked the lithograph, but then who would not like Joan
Miro
? The vibrant colors, the freeform shapes - David was bound to love it. She was sure of it.

When she arrived at David’s condo, Claire nodded at the doorman and made her way to the elevator. David’s apartment was on the top floor, and she propped the wrapped lithograph against the railing as she waited for the elevator ride to end. Finally, the doors opened, and she turned the corner of the long hallway toward David’s front door.

She rang the bell and waited. Moments later there was still no answer, so she rang again, only to be greeted by silence once more.

Baffled, Claire groped for her cell phone, thinking that maybe David was in the shower or something. They had agreed for her come over earlier in the day, and she had not thought it necessary to confirm. If David had a change of plans, he would have called her. Just then, she noticed a new text message on her cell phone screen. It was from David.

Sorry, babe. Last minute rush at the office. Will be working late tonight, but I promise to make it up to you tomorrow.
Will pick you up at 10 a.m. sharp.
Love, David.

With a sigh, Claire lowered the hefty package on the floor. She had rushed all this way for nothing. The least David could have done was call her.

She picked up her cell phone and dialed David’s number. His excuse had better be good. David’s cell phone went straight to voicemail, and Claire had no choice but to hang up. Sure, she was angry at him now, but she was fairly certain that her fury would subside eventually, and she did not want to say anything to David’s answering machine that she would regret later.

However, there was still the matter of David’s anniversary gift. There was no way she was going to drag the lithograph back to her apartment. For the first time in dating David, Claire wished she had the key to his apartment. She had thought it awkward to ask, and he never offered, but now she saw the downside of her reticence.

Claire made her way downstairs to leave the package with the doorman. She would just have to settle for hearing David’s reaction to it instead of seeing it.

“Good evening there, Miss Chatfield.” The doorman tipped his hat.

“Hi, Frank.” Claire smiled. Frank was the nicest of all the doormen in David’s building. By now, she knew them all. “I was wondering if you could do me a favor.”

“Anything within my power.” Frank puffed out his chest.

“Could I leave this package with you to give to David? It’s his anniversary gift, so could you make sure that he gets it tonight?”

“Yes, of course – no problem.” Frank went around his desk and took the package from Claire. “Mr. Lawson is working late again, huh?”

Claire nodded.

“Well, not to worry. I have the night shift, so I’ll make sure he gets it.”

“Great. Have a good night.”

“You too, Miss Chatfield.”

I’ll try
, Claire thought. She knew she should not be angry at David, but presently, it was hard not to be. Well, she would just have to wait for his explanation. She was certain that it was bound to be a respectable one. This was the first time David Lawson had stood her up, and she sure as hell hoped that it was not going to become a habit of his.

Chapter 9

David zipped up his trousers and looked himself over in the mirror. His tan was beginning to fade, and he made a mental note to stop by the tanning salon. Claudia never tired of saying how much she loved his body, and the tan made his muscles look more prominent. Lately, he had doubled his workouts at the gym, even blowing off work so that he could be buff enough for Claudia.

It had been almost two months, but David still could not believe that he was having an affair with Claudia Block.
“Having an affair” felt like such a tawdry expression to describe his feelings for Claudia.
He literally worshipped the woman. She was the divine dream that had sustained him through the longings of adolescence, and never in his right mind had he hoped to one day have his pubescent fantasies come true.

He must have been about ten when he first saw Claudia as a Bond girl, her appearance on the TV screen leaving an indelible impression on David, which would make
Claudia about... David refused to think about Claudia’s age
. T
o him, Claudia was a goddess, and goddesses were ageless. Still, David shuddered to think what his friends would say of his involvement
with a woman that much older than him
, not to mention his father who
,
of course
,
was the main
problem. For Claudia, David would shed his social circle in a moment. He would gladly become a recluse on some remote island as long as Claudia was with him. It was, in fact, a favorite fantasy of his: him and Claudia, alone on some exotic island — perhaps in Greece or Bora Bora, making love for hours on end, without any ties to the outside world. But his father...

David frowned. If his father ever found out about Claudia, he would cut him off in a jiffy, and David was no fool. When it came to money, he understood the value of it only too well. Having grown up wealthy, he knew that living without money would be like trying to live without air. When it was there, it was easy to forget about its existence, but take it away, and you would find yourself begging for your next breath. Even Claudia's beauty was possible because of money. Sure, good genes were part of it, but nature only went so far - the rest of it was nurture. And there were the tell-tale signs, of course - a whisper of a scar here and there, reminders of all the nips and tucks it took to freeze time in place. But to David, this knowledge did not detract from Claudia's beauty. If anything, it made him worship her even more. Here was a woman who defied the laws of nature — a woman who had his complete adoration.

David buttoned up his shirt, fastened his tie, and put on the jacket of his linen summer suit. In less than an hour, Claudia would rip these clothes off his body, but she liked him looking dapper when he arrived and he was only too glad to indulge her. Perhaps this time they would have dinner first, talk a bit before jumping into bed - although, God knew, that was what David coveted most. Still, he had to be considerate of Claudia. She loved sex, but she also got bored easily. She was a worldly woman – a woman who had been wooed by the most affluent and powerful of men and was used to obscene luxury and endless entertainment. Her last lover was one of the leading names on Wall Street, and the two were known for extravagant parties and spur-of-the-moment exotic getaways. The relationship ended abruptly with a vague, but persistent rumor about Claudia being left for a young model. For his part, David could not care less. If
Claudia’s old flame was stupid enough to relinquish the treasure he possessed, David was only too happy to step in.

But regardless of how much he adored Claudia, David simply could not afford to give her the same level of luxury as her previous lovers. For one thing, their union had to remain a secret one. If his old man ever found out, David’s future with the company would be toast, and he was fairly certain that Claudia would not want him then. After all, Claudia Block was not the kind of woman who could live on love alone. As such, their love was confined to hotel rooms that Claudia picked at random. They were luxury hotel rooms, but still hotel rooms – opulent, but impersonal. He wished they could at least afford to share with each other the privacy of their own homes, but Claudia was adamant about not letting him into her townhouse, and David was hesitant about inviting her to his apartment, worried about rumors being spread by the building staff and nosy neighbors. The fear that Claudia might get bored with all these restrictions and abandon him just as easily as she had done with her previous boy toys, haunted David with growing intensity. As his adoration of Claudia grew, so did his fear of losing her.

David ran his fingers through his hair, adding just the right amount of gel. In less than two hours, Claudia would greet him on the threshold of a hotel room that would forever become entrenched in his memory. The thought of Claudia naked next to him in bed made every hair on David’s body stand on end. He could never get enough of her. Every moment with her was like a pearl found in the sand, and he never knew if he would chance to find another.

For his part, David was extremely careful. It was easy to placate Claire with imaginary office work. The girl was so gullible, it almost made David feel guilty for lying - almost, but not quite, for being with Claudia was worth hundreds of
Claires
. That reminded him. He had agreed to meet Claire for dinner, but Claudia had called at the last minute, tempting him with an unexpected rendezvous, and he simply could not bring himself to refuse. David picked up his Blackberry and sent Claire a message:
Sorry, babe. Last minute rush at the office. Will be working late tonight, but promise to make it up to you tomorrow.
Will pick you up at 10 a.m. sharp.
Love, David.

Claire would understand. She was such a good, wholesome girl. Besides, tomorrow Claire would get more than her due. It was going to be her, not Claudia, David would bring to meet his parents; and it would be Claire, not Claudia, he would propose to with the five-carat Harry Winston diamond ring that was stowed in the top drawer of his nightstand. That was what his old man wanted from him. Dedication at work was not enough; David had to prove to him that he was also a man of reliable character, and what better way to do that than to get married to a reliable girl?

David still remembered his father’s admonition that had taken place after a particularly wild night in David’s early twenties. He had wound up skinny-dipping with a model at some second-rate celebrity’s party. The party had attracted the attention of the paparazzi, and the next day, a picture of David with blood-shot eyes, flailing in the pool, graced a number of tabloid magazines. The clippings were on his father’s desk less than an hour after publication.

“This is not the way a Lawson behaves,” his father had said. “The company reputation is dearer to me than anything or anyone in this world. Do not doubt for a second that I will think twice about cutting you off should you ever jeopardize it.”

“Yes, Father. I’m sorry, Father.” David knew better than
to
offer an explanation. When it came to the old man, acquiescence was the name of the game.

“Good. We already have one misfit in
the family. I’m afraid I can’t
afford another one.”

The last reference was to David’s younger sister, Stephanie. Perhaps, if his father had actually bothered to acknowledge the fact that he had a daughter rather than blaming her for not being a boy, Stephanie might not have turned out to be a “misfit” as David’s father had so succinctly put it, but David knew better than to argue the point.

Well, if his father wanted him to be an upstanding citizen, he would deliver the desired façade, but what he did on his own time was no one’s business but David’s. And Claire would understand. She was perfect wife material, and David was fairly certain that their marriage would not alter his personal freedom in any way. After all, he was a busy man - an heir to the Lawson empire, and empire heirs worked all kinds of hours.