Read Online Mountain Song by Ruby Laska - Free Book Online

satisfied with her
lover, if that woman was Claudia, would never consent to an embrace like that
one.
    It wasn’t casual .
    But then, nothing
about this encounter was casual, was it? He and Claudia weren’t two strangers
meeting in a dark nightclub at closing time. They were people whose past once intertwined
in a complicated relationship that had changed him, possibly forever. And they
were both under a lot of stress, over-tired, over-caffeinated, undernourished. Maybe
it was no wonder that, given the conditions, they had sought some sort of
temporary salve or release or whatever it was—
    No. Maybe Claudia
could lie to herself, but Andy had no intention of taking the easy route out
of...whatever it was that still existed between them. If Claudia had some other
lover, she would never have allowed the kiss; there had to be some other
explanation.
    So she was lying.
    Disbelief edged into
something like fury. Claudia wanted him, of that he was sure. She’d stopped
herself only with what was clearly a monumental effort—but then she had
the temerity to announce that the incident meant nothing because there was
someone else in her life.
    Then another
possibility occurred to Andy. What if there was a man in her life: someone she
didn’t love, but who had something to offer Claudia besides raw passion. After
all, Claudia was 26 now, old enough to marry. Bored, perhaps, with being
single; sick of performing bridesmaid duties at slick society weddings.  
    The image slowly took
shape. Rich. Powerful. Socially prominent. The kind of man who played polo and
marked birthdays with blue boxes from Tiffany’s. Who would squire her to the
ballet and the symphony and charity balls and all the other places a woman like
Claudia Canfield needed to be seen.
    Places Andy had never
been. Not with her, anyway. It was true that the last few years had brought
invitations, opportunities, of the sort he’d never dared dream of. But when he
entered a restaurant or found his seat in a theater he was aware—always
aware—that he was out of place. When he caught the admiring eye of a
woman or the respectful glance of a colleague, he knew that it wasn’t really
him that they were seeing.
    Sure, Andy Woods, MD,
well-paid and widely-admired physician, was welcome everywhere.
    But would he ever
truly be that man?
    “I see,” he said
tightly. “So, you still only open your arms to men who can afford to be there.”
    Now it was Claudia’s
turn to recoil. “No, Andy,” she said, ice in her voice, “It’s not like that.” Any
trace of anxiety was gone as she regained her composure.
    “Perhaps.” Andy
shrugged. “But you could say that history speaks for itself.”
    Claudia pulled herself
to her full five feet ten inches—in socks—and stared straight into
his eyes. Funny how she managed to look regal even in the old baggy clothes she
wore; not many women could pull off a trick like that. “You make me wonder if
we ever really knew each other at all.”
    Seeing her pull up the
wall, closing herself off to him, only angered Andy further. “What’s his name? Charles?
Preston? Met him at a polo match, did you? Or maybe you’ve known him all your privileged,
country club little life?”
    “His name is Paul,”
Claudia said quietly. When her mouth formed the name Paul, she seemed to soften
a little, and he a second he saw through her bravado to the fatigue beneath. Fatigue
and other emotions he couldn’t read, troubling ones.
    “And I’ve known him
only four years, and from the first moment I ever laid eyes on him I knew I’d
love him for the rest of my life.”
    Despite his anger,
Claudia’s quiet conviction tore at Andy. The image in his mind—a tall,
blonde, figure leaning on a sports car, smooth hands that never labored, an
East coast lockjaw schooled into a silver tongue—fell away in tatters.
    Because if Claudia
loved this Paul, if she truly loved him the way she claimed, then he must be
extraordinary. Of that Andy was almost