Masquerade Read Online Free PDF Page A

would be enough. Would she have the strength to walk away from him? It was something she didn’t want to think about right at that moment. She would just enjoy the rest of the night and deal with the aftermath at a later time. When she had her erratic emotions under control.
    If she ever did.
    • • •
    Sophie gazed down at the man sleeping peacefully in the big bed. He was the man who’d played her body like a first violinist in an orchestra. He’d made her body hum and sing like no one ever had.
    Now she must walk away.
    Alex had said he wasn’t in a place for a relationship and with her new promotion neither was she. A relationship between them would never work. Her hours were long, erratic, demanding, and, at times, tragic. She would disappoint and let him down time and time again. He needed someone who would always be at his side.
    She would take the memories they had created and when life got unbearable, she would bring them out and soothe her frazzled nerves.
    How she longed to climb back in that bed and throw all caution to the wind. But she couldn’t. She had to be strong.
    Their night together was something out of the ordinary. A fairytale, but one that could never have a happy ending. She would never see him again.
    She touched her fingers to her lips and then placed them against his bare shoulder. She daren’t place them anywhere else in case he woke.
    Picking up her shoes and purse she walked toward the door, and with one last glance over her shoulder, she turned the handle and walked out.
    • • •
    It might’ve been the click of the door. It might’ve been the empty space in the bed where a warm body should’ve been. It might’ve been instinct that jolted Alex out of his slumber, but whatever it was, he knew that sleep would be elusive for the rest of the night.
    Sophie had left.
    He didn’t bother calling out; stillness permeated the air. He knew she had gone. All she’d left behind was the elusive scent of her subtle perfume and a crushed pillow.
    Flinging back the covers, he slung his legs over the side of the bed, breathing deeply as he thrust his fingers through his hair, bringing memories hurtling back of Sophie doing exactly the same at the height of her passion.
    He swore and banished the memories from his mind. It was one night, both had agreed. Then why did he feel one night would never, ever be enough? He’d been captivated by her from the moment he’d caught a glimpse of her silver dress. She’d stood out among the sea of people. When he found himself seated next to her, it had taken all he had not to reach out and touch her blonde hair. He gave a small smile as he recalled the way her eyes are sparkled blue fire when she’d pierced the prawn as if it had bitten her. The soft curve of her mouth when she smiled at something someone said. Her skin was as soft as it had looked when he touched her. Her beauty was classic and ethereal, that was the only way he could describe her. He would remember their one night for a long time.
    He pulled on his trousers and wandered over to the window where the curtains still stretched across the glass, stifling the room.
    Opening the heavy material, his gaze was drawn to the horizon. The first fingers of a new day glowed behind the hills, beckoning him to embrace all the wonders of a new year. Like a new baby crying out its welcome when it first enters the world from the safety of its mother’s womb.
    Fingers touching, curling on the cool glass, he accepted the invitation the sun offered. He had a new job and adventure to look forward to.
    A relationship would never have worked between him and Sophie. He’d tried that once, even going so far as to marry. But the pressures of his career and the hours he worked made a relationship too hard to maintain. No woman liked playing second best to patients.
    Sophie would never understand the life of a doctor. She was a society woman who expected to attend charitable functions on any given evening, like