Old Loves Die Hard (A Mac Faraday Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

fingertips. “I’m meeting Christine for breakfast at nine o’clock.”
    “Are you serious?”
    Not wanting to let her go, he clung to both of her hands in his while begging for her to understand. “I have to talk to her. I couldn’t last night because she was so inebriated. She’s been asking the kids for money from their trust funds, which since I’m the trustee I won’t let them give her, which makes her mad at them. Tristan refuses to talk to her anymore because she’s drunk all the time. I’m going to talk to her about going into rehab and I have to do it at breakfast before she starts drinking again.”
    He pressed her fingers to his lips. He wished that this had been another time, another day when neither of them had any responsibilities calling them away. He wanted to spend the whole day alone with her and no one else, to get to know her in ways that he had only been imagining for a long time.
    “Later?” he whispered to her.
    The sadness in her eyes was replaced with an invitation. “Hurry back.”
    “Oh, I will.” He brought his lips to hers. “I’ll be back by lunchtime. I’ll have Antonio prepare a special lunch for us and bring it home. Cheese and fruit—”
    “Strawberries dipped in chocolate?” Her eyes lit up.
    The grin on her face melted his heart. “Strawberries dipped in chocolate it is.”
    “And we’ll eat them in the Jacuzzi together.” Like a child excited by the prospect of a dream come true, she clapped her hands.
    “Together.” He kissed her one last time before going upstairs to prepare to meet his ex-wife.
    *   *   *   *
    It took every fiber of Mac’s being to force thoughts about his and Archie’s plans for later out of his mind and replace them with the matter awaiting him at the top of the mountain.
    It wasn’t as if he hadn’t had visions—in reality they’d been fantasies—of this moment. He’d rehearsed them in his mind more than once ever since discovering Christine’s affair with Stephen Maguire.
    Every vision contained a common thread. Christine would realize that while her lover had looks, position, prestige, and wealth, it was her devoted husband who’d always been there for her. Upon making this realization, she would beg for him to take her back and Mac would take much relish in saying, “No, no, no, and hell no. You made your bed, baby, now lie in it.”
    Then he would leave her on her knees, tearing at her clothes, and beating on the ground with her fists in anguish.
    Now that the opportunity had presented itself for him to live out his fantasy, Mac didn’t have the heart to bring it to life. Christine’s pitiful condition had sucked the joy out of his vengeance. She had already made her bed and not only lain in it, she had made a full-fledged nest out of it.
    Mac couldn’t leave the mother of his children there.
    His private table was waiting for him in the corner of the Inn’s restaurant. As soon as Mac walked through the cut glass doors, Antonio, the host on duty, whipped a fresh pot of coffee from the burner and took it to the table to fill his cup.
    “Will Archie be joining you this morning, Mr. Forsythe?” With a snap of his fingers, Antonio signaled for a server to fetch a basket of hot croissants for Mac’s table.
    “It’s Faraday,” Mac replied. “No, another friend is visiting from out of town. But I do have a special lunch order that I’d like for the kitchen to prepare for her.”
    “If it’s for Archie, then it won’t be anything less than special.” Antonio announced before hurrying to the kitchen to put in Mac’s order for their romantic lunch.
    While Mac watched for Christine, or Stephen Maguire’s entrance into the restaurant to flaunt his blue blood among the common folks, the servers continued waiting on other customers. Seeing their nervous glances in his direction, he noted that he still hadn’t gotten used to being the boss. His employees’ anxiousness made him uncomfortable.
    During his career as a