Another Woman's Son (Harlequin Romance) by Anna Adams

woman had always had a soft spot for Will. The way she reacted to Isabel would show immediately whether Will had talked to Ray about a divorce. Isabel braced herself for open antagonism.
    Her angst came to nothing. The doors opened on Ray’s private floor, and the receptionist’s desk stood empty in front of his open office. Isabel checked the hall. Up here, she’d be underdressed in jeans and a sweater.
    Who gave a damn how she looked? She should have asked for this meeting before she’d scuttled off to Middleburg—hiding as if she’d done something wrong.
    “Isabel? Is that you?”
    Ray came out. Tall and spare and silver haired, he opened his arms. “I knew I heard the elevator. How are you?”
    Relief swept her. Nothing had changed. Ray still loved her without resentment, which meant Will had kept his mouth shut. She’d have to explain. Telling him about her sister and her husband wouldn’t beeasy, but at least Will hadn’t treated their friend to his cover story about her straying first.
    “I’m okay, considering.” She hugged the older man, who offered a second squeeze for comfort. “Thanks again for seeing me.”
    “Why haven’t you called? I can’t remember how long it’s been.” He looked closer. “Are you sleeping well?”
    She stepped away. “I’ll be better after you and I talk. Have you finished eating?”
    “Don’t worry about that.” Curiosity lifted his plush eyebrows. “You know me—work through lunch every day. Come in and we’ll talk. I’d absolutely love to share my salad.”
    Despite their mutual sadness, Isabel found a smile for his sour tone. “You offer it as if you’re suggesting cyanide.”
    “I hate the stuff, but Pam tells me I’m thickening at the middle.” He patted his stomach, but his grin turned sheepish as if humor might be improper. After all, she was a widow.
    She just didn’t know how to grieve. “Pam?”
    He glanced toward the receptionist’s desk. “My—uh—”
    “Oh.” Pam must have a general weakness for powerful men. “You don’t look thick to me.”
    “Ah, you’re a good friend. Your company will help the greens go down easier.”
    Isabel followed him inside and sat carefully on ablack leather armchair across from his perch on the edge of a matching sofa. With a plastic fork, he picked through a mound of salad in a take-out box. “We should discuss the will first.”
    “I’m still in it?”
    He looked up, eyebrows twitching. Spinach dropped off his fork. “Why?”
    She touched her temples, fighting dizziness. “You didn’t know we were separated?” His welcome-back-to-town hadn’t been that at all. He hadn’t realized she’d left.
    Ray worked out the changes in his head. She’d like to hear his thoughts out loud. What did this alter?
    “Will never told me—and I might add, neither did you.” He dropped the fork and sat back, sliding his hands along the leather cushion. “I’m dumbfounded. When did this happen?”
    “Three months ago. Will told me he’d fallen in love with—someone else, and I left our house. I’ve been in Middleburg since then.”
    “You’re kidding.” He plucked steel-rimmed glasses off the coffee table and pushed them onto his nose. “Will never mentioned it. He made several appointments with me. Never said one word.” He waited for her to fill in the gaps.
    “I’ll never be able to explain anything he did.” Her confusion only mortified her. “Why did he see you?”
    “Business. Contracts he wanted me to check. A complaint against your home-owner’s association.He wanted to build a pool, but the architectural review board turned him down. I thought it was supposed to be a surprise for you.”
    Faith’s voice whispered childishly in Isabel’s head. She remembered a night in their tent in the backyard. “When I grow up, I want a pool I can swim in every day,” Faith had said. Isabel had wanted a horse.
    Naturally, Faith’s lover, who’d thought horses a waste of money and time, since