Chapter 1
# PART 3 — SHE STOPPED WAITING FOR THE WRONG MAN… AND FOUND SOMEONE WHO NEVER MADE HER QUESTION HER WORTH
“What?” Claire asked.
Nathan Mercer tilted his head slightly, his dark eyes studying her face.
“That,” he said. “The laugh. You looked like you were preparing to apologize for taking up space when you walked in.”
Claire blinked.
“I did not.”
“You did.”
“That’s a strange thing to say to someone you barely know.”
“Probably.” He smiled. “But I've never been particularly good at pretending not to notice things.”
She should have walked away.
Nathan Mercer was the last person Adrian would have wanted her talking to.
Perhaps that was why she stayed.
“You know,” she said, “Adrian would be furious if he saw us having this conversation.”
Nathan's expression shifted.
“Adrian doesn't get to decide who you talk to.”
The sentence was so simple that Claire almost missed its significance.
For four years, she had measured ordinary decisions against Adrian's reactions.
Which dress would he approve of?
Would he mind if she stayed out late?
Would he think her friends were too loud?
Would he be irritated if she asked him to attend another family dinner?
Now a man who barely knew her had said something her fiancé never seemed to understand.
She could decide for herself.
“Would you like a drink?” Nathan asked.
Claire hesitated.
“Is this some kind of strategy?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether sparkling water counts as a strategy.”
She laughed again.
Nathan offered his arm.
“Come on. I'll show you where they hide the good appetizers.”
And for the first time since returning Adrian's ring, Claire walked into a crowded room without feeling as though everyone could see that something inside her had broken.
Nathan didn't ask about the wedding immediately.
That surprised her.
Everyone else had.
Her mother had called six times in two days.
Her sister had demanded every detail.
The wedding planner had cried when Claire explained there would be no ceremony.
Even distant acquaintances seemed fascinated by the humiliation of a woman whose wedding had been canceled for the fourth time.
But Nathan talked about other things.
The foundation's scholarship program.
A terrible speech he had once delivered at a charity auction.
His grandmother, who had raised him after his parents died and still believed every expensive restaurant served portions too small to feed a grown man.
Claire found herself smiling.