Read Online Her Own Rules/Dangerous to Know by Barbara Taylor Bradford - Free Book Online

become involved with him. There had been a few boyfriends over the years, but somehow her children and her work had intruded, got in the way. Deep down, she had never really minded. Her children had been her whole world, still were.
    Circumstances had been right when she had met Brandon Leonard four years earlier. But he was a married man. In no time at all, she had come to understand that not only was he not separated, as he claimed, but he had no intention of ever leaving his wife or getting a divorce. Simply put, Brandon wanted his wife. He also wanted a mistress. Since she was not a candidate for the latter role, she had terminated their friendship, and in no uncertain terms.
    Then this past September, on a trip to London, Patsy had taken her to the fancy opening of an exhibition of sculpture at the posh Lardner Gallery in Bond Street.
    And there, lurking among the Arps and the Brancusis, the Moores, the Hepworths, and the Giacomettis had been Reed Jamison. The owner of the gallery.
    Tall, dark, good-looking, charismatic. The most attractive man she had met in a long time. And seemingly very available. “Beware,” Patsy had warned. When she had asked her what she meant, Patsy had said, “Watch it. He’s brilliant but difficult.” Again she had pressed Patsy, asked her to elucidate further. Patsy then answered her enigmatically. “Save us all from the brooding Byronic hero. Oh dear, shades of Heathcliff.”
    Meredith had only partially understood, and then before she could blink, Reed Jamison, having taken one look at her, was in hot pursuit.
    Drawn to him initially, she had fallen under his spell; but gradually, over the following months, she had begun to feel suddenly and unexpectedly ill at ease with him. And she had begun to pull away from the relationship within herself.
    On his last visit to New York, in late November, she had been turned off. He had been morose, argumentative, and possessive. Furthermore, she had detected a bullying attitude in him, and this had alarmed her.
    Tonight she was going to tell him that she could not see him again, that their relationship, such as it was, had come to an end. She wasn’t looking forward to it, but she knew it must be done.
    â€œWhy bother?” Patsy had said over lunch earlier. “Have dinner with him tonight. Say nothing. Tomorrow we’re going to the Lake District and Yorkshire. And then you’re off to Paris. Don’t make yourself sick over this. Avoid a troublesome confrontation.”
    â€œI have to tell him it’s over,” Meredith answered. “Don’t you see, he’ll be in my life, pestering me, circling me, until I make it clear I don’t want him anywhere near me.”
    â€œWhat went wrong?” Patsy asked curiously.
    â€œReed went wrong. He’s just too complex a man for me.”
    â€œI hate to say I told you so,” Patsy murmured.
    â€œIt’s all right, you can say it, Patsy. Because you did warn me, and you were right about him all along.”
    They had then gone on to talk about other things, but now Meredith could not help wondering if maybe Patsy was right. Might it not be infinitely easier simply to have dinner with Reed and say nothing?
    Maybe I should do that, she thought as she turned into Brook Street.
    â€œGood afternoon, madam,” the uniformed doorman outside Claridge’s said as she went up the steps.
    â€œGood afternoon,” she responded, smiling pleasantly, and pushed through the door that led into the hotel.
    Martin, one of the concierges, greeted her as she crossed the lobby, making for the elevator.
    â€œMeredith!”
    She stopped in her tracks, freezing as she recognized the cultivated masculine voice.
    Slowly turning, she pasted a smile on her face as she moved toward the man who had called her name. “Reed! Hello! But you’re a bit early, aren’t you?”
    He smiled and leaned into her, put his arm around her waist, drawing