Read Online The Couple in the Dream Suite by Marguerite Kaye - Free Book Online Page A

Back in the sitting room, she opened the French doors and went out onto the balcony. The morning air was freezing. Below, the traffic was already picking up. The sky above was pearl-grey. Sadly but resolutely, Vera made her way out of the Dream Suite, whispering goodbye as the door closed softly behind her.
    She was in the main foyer, reading a message from Dexter, when he called her name. She turned, thinking – not thinking. Trying not to hope.
    Justin was coming down the wide central staircase. He was wearing trousers, a shirt buttoned up the wrong way, and nothing else. His feet were bare. He took the last four stairs in one leap. Vera was vaguely conscious of the discreet stares of the night porter, the man behind the desk.
    ‘Don’t go.’ Justin caught her arm, pulling her over to a corner by the side of last night’s stage.
    ‘Justin, I…’
    ‘No, don’t, say it. Please, just listen. I know I don’t deserve it, but – let me explain. Please.’
    She had merely been about to suggest they find somewhere a little more private, but he seemed so on edge she changed her mind. ‘Go on,’ she said.
    He nodded. He raked his hand through his hair. ‘I hated what you said. That thing, about putting what you have learnt into practice.’
    ‘Oh.’ Her stupid parting dagger. The least important thing she’d said of all.
    ‘Don’t look so deflated. I don’t mean – I meant it was the thing that got through to me. Not the most important thing.’
    ‘Oh.’ She had butterflies now. She mustn’t read too much into what he was saying. Hope was a killer.
    ‘I wanted you to walk away. I said all those things, the lies about the exposé – I wanted you to go, but when you did, and you said that thing…’ Justin shook his head. ‘Do you ever get that feeling, where you think your head might explode?’
    ‘Not now,’ Vera said. ‘But before.’
    Justin smiled, a lop-sided smile that made her want to pull him into her arms. She held her hands rigidly at her side.
    ‘All those things you said about yourself, you could have been talking about me. Acting a part. Running. Not belonging. It all hurt so much, I didn’t want it to be happening. It reminded me – too much. Like looking over a cliff edge and wanting to jump just to stop it.’
    Beside the blue-black sheen of his stubble, his skin seemed unnaturally pale. His eyes were dark. ‘Oh God, Justin, I didn’t mean…’
    ‘No. I’m fine. I thought it was the same, but it wasn’t.’ He took her hand. ‘It really wasn’t the same. I’m not the same. You were right. Last night, it changed things. Me. At least, it made me want to change. Not to play a part any more. Not to be so angry. To see if it was possible to live. You were right. You were very aptly named after all, Verity.’
    ‘No-one calls me that.’
    ‘I like it.’ He lifted her hand to his mouth, and kissed her knuckles. ‘Last night, we said we wanted to stop the clock. This morning, you made me see that I want to move it forward.’
    Her insides were doing strange things. She felt as if she was on a swing. Or up high. She was dizzy. Frightened. Excited. Hopeful. ‘What does that mean?’ Vera asked, because hope really was the killer.
    ‘I have absolutely no idea,’ Justin said with a crooked smile, ‘but I think I’d like to find out. Want to help me?’
    ‘And what does that mean?’
    ‘I don’t know that either. Say yes, Verity.’
    ‘What to?’ She didn’t care, but she had to be sure all the same.
    ‘Taking a chance,’ Justin said. ‘Us. Together.’
    ‘Why should I?’ she asked, not a question, but a plea.
    ‘Because I think we could make a difference. I don’t know how, but I think we could. Because you’ve opened my eyes, and maybe I’ve opened yours, and I think maybe we need each other to keep them that way. Only that’s not it. Not only it. Not the real reason.’
    Justin led her across the foyer, to the front door of the Chatsfield. Outside, the sun was