Barbara (Club Angelus Book 7) by Marilize Roos

Author:Marilize Roos [Roos, Marilize]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Marilize Roos Romance
Published: 2023-05-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Something was up with Barbara.

Ever since Wednesday she’d been distracted, distant, but he’d chalked it up to the pressures of getting her new business up and running.

The night before, he’d gone to Angelus, assuming she’d be there, but he’d stayed over an hour and she hadn’t shown up at all and hadn’t answered her phone. Neither Selwyn nor Christian had heard from her; Christian had thought that maybe she was just tired, or wanted a quiet night in.

But without telling him?

She hadn’t answered her phone last night, either.

Lucien parked his Range Rover in the guest parking bay at her flat, having used the remote she’d given him to get in the gate, and grabbing the bakery box with two slices of lemon meringue, he headed up to her apartment.

He could hear ABBA’s Does Your Mother Know blaring from inside her apartment, indicating she was home. He rang the doorbell, then leaned a shoulder against the wall beside the door to wait for her, hoping she’d hear the doorbell over the volume of the sound system.

A minute later the door opened to reveal her in a pair of yoga pants and an oversized T-shirt, her bare feet tipped by dark red nail polish. “Lucien,” she said with surprize.

Lucien frowned; the surprise didn’t sound like a happy one. “Hey,” he said, smiling softly. “May I come in?”

She hesitated a moment, before she nodded and turned away, only to return a minute later with a set of keys to let him in.

She led the way to the kitchen, and Lucien put the bakery box on the kitchen counter. “I hope you like lemon meringue,” he said. “The supermarket near my office has a surprisingly good bakery.”

“It’s fine,” Barbara mumbled and turned to a cabinet for two small plates, then flipped the switch on the kettle. Lucien noted a half-full glass of red wine on the counter.

“Had a rough day at work?” He asked.

“It was fine,” she said.

Lucien’s gut clenched at her monotone, repetitive answers. Feeling light-headed with worry, he stood beside her and cupped her cheek, then tilted her face up to look at him. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” she shook free from his touch.

“Barbara.”

“I told you I’m fine.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well I don’t like being interrogated!”

“Excuse me?” Lucien stared at her. “This is not an interrogation!”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Barbara growled, turning away from him, her dainty hands balled into fists. Lucien’s eye fell on the wedding band on her left ring finger, and felt an icy finger of dread; he couldn’t remember ever seeing her wear it before.

“Barbara,” he said softly. “Let’s just both take a deep breath.”

She took a ragged breath, folding her arms across her chest with her hands still tightly fisted. She kept her shoulder turned towards him and wouldn’t look at him. “Lucien, I’m afraid this is not going to work.”

“Baby, don’t—”

“I can’t do this with you,” Barbara said. “I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

Lucien stared at her, stunned. “Where is this coming from?”

“I can’t handle the age difference,” she said.

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