Page 49 of Earl

My mother was a junkie, and I don’t know who the hell my daddy was. And I was brought up in the system, but I fought to get where I am and did not need a man to do it. How dare you judge me without knowing who I am. Get out!”

“No.” Her anger sat well on her. He had never seen so much passion and could feel his loins swelling in response.

“Get out.”

“No…,” he repeated. “Not until you hear what I have to say.” He waited a beat to see what she was going to do and when she just folded her arms over her breasts and glared at him, he continued.

“I have been hurt too many times to count. I grew up in a household where there wasn’t one iota of love. Our parents never showed an ounce of emotion. We were deprived of the basics. Yes, we had money, we were privileged and were sent to the best schools.

They fulfilled their parental obligations to a point, but that was it. They never gave us the assurance of their devotion.” He took a deep breath. “I started looking for it outside and made some bad choices. When I failed in relationships, I buried myself in work, but the richer I got, the more insecure I became.”

He paused and waited for her reaction.

“What does that have to do with me?” She asked angrily.

Raking a hand over his impeccably cut ink black hair, he sighed in exasperation. “I have trust issues.”

“So do I!”

“The last relationship I had, I was planning on marrying her and when I came back from a business trip a day early, she was with another man.”

“I repeat, what the hell does that have to do with me?”

“I found myself getting too close, too quickly. I ran into Diana when I was in Tuscany and she reminded me that I was not just some ordinary guy, that no woman would ever see past my wealth and love me for who I am. That the money would always be an issue.”

“Diana. Was it that same bitch hanging onto your arm at the gala?”

His lips twitched at that. “Yes.”

“Let me get this straight. She cheated on you, and you are still with her?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then enlighten me.”

“She wants to be friends.”

She stared at him incredulously and then burst out laughing. “Are you that naïve?”

His shoulders stiffened. “You have no reason to be insulting.”

“She wants back into your pants and is probably hoping that eventually she will wear your damn ring. Go back to her.”

“It’s not like that. Look,” he took a breath. “I admit that I took the easy way out, but I want us to get to know each other and…”

“No.”

He blinked at her decisive response. “May I ask why not?”

“You may.”

Earl wanted to grind his teeth or shake her until her single plait came loose. And he also wanted to kiss her saucy mouth. God, he wanted it so much that he could not sit still.

“Why not?”

“Because you would always think I am after your damn money. Because you are Earl Drummond, and I am a girl from some group home whose mother was a junkie and whose daddy is unknown.

That’s what it says on my birth certificate. You are on top of society’s food chain and as much as I cleaned myself up andrubbed shoulders with…,” she waved a hand at him. “With people like you, I will never be like you. And most of all, you judged me by your past relationships and that is not fair.”