Finally the waiter moved out of his way, and he was able to pass and run after Sabrina. He didn’t care who found his hasty departure curious.
The Maitre d’ tossed him a displeased look, when Daniel charged past him and stormed into the lobby, then outside. He got there just in time to see Sabrina speed away in his sports car.
Daniel stomped his foot on the ground. “Fuck!”
He’d forgotten that she had a spare key to his car, and hadn’t expected that she would leave him in the dust like this.
As he watched her disappear, a dark Mercedes with tinted windows pulled up and stopped in front of the entrance to the club house. The passenger door opened, and Linda Boyd stepped out.
Daniel inwardly groaned. Linda was the last person he wanted to see right now. He tried to turn away to avoid her, but it was too late. She’d obviously spotted him from afar and was already making a beeline for him.
“Hi Daniel, I thought that was your car driving past us.”
There was no use denying it. Linda knew his car as well as anybody else who knew him. And with the top being down, she would also have had no trouble seeing that Sabrina was driving it.
Tensing, he greeted her, “Linda.”
She smiled at him, either oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t in the mood to talk, or blatantly ignoring it. “Sabrina just dropped you off here? If we’d known that you needed to get to the club, we would have given you a ride.” She motioned to the black Mercedes which was just pulling into a parking spot.
“Thanks, but it was no bother.” Under no circumstances would he let on that Sabrina had just broken off their engagement.
Oh God! He couldn’t believe it. Everything had gone so fast. Had she really called off the wedding?
“Mr. Sinclair!” he heard a voice call out for him from inside the foyer.
Daniel whipped his head around and watched as the waiter hurried toward him, reaching out his hand. Something glittered in the midday sunlight.
Before his brain could fully comprehend what was going on, the waiter pressed Sabrina’s engagement ring into Daniel’s palm, driving home reality once more. Sabrina had left him.
“Your fiancée left her ring on the table, sir,” the waiter said politely, before turning back to the club house’s entrance.
Daniel cringed.
“Oh dear,” Linda said. While her voice sounded full of regret and pity, her facial expression said otherwise. When her hand touched his forearm, he almost jolted. “Is it because of Paul Gilbert? I’m so sorry, if I’d known it would come to this, I would have told you about them. I just didn’t think there was anything to it. It looked so innocent.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, about Sabrina and Paul meeting in East Hampton the other day. You know. They were embracing in public. I figured there’s nothing to it. It wasn’t like they were trying to hide it.”
Daniel forced himself to take a couple of deep breaths. He recognized when somebody was trying to manipulate him. And Linda was clearly manipulating him. But even in the state he was in, it didn’t work, though he wanted to find a different reason why Sabrina had left him—a reason he could do something about. A reason he could beat to a pulp and obliterate. But no such reason existed. He knew it in his gut.
“Paul and Sabrina have nothing going on. So stay out of this, Linda!” he ground out firmly. Though he knew that Paul enjoyed flirting, he trusted Sabrina fully. But why had neither of them mentioned the meeting? During the bachelor party Paul had even innocently asked how Sabrina was doing, as if he hadn’t seen her in ages.
“Your friend Audrey has caused enough trouble. So you’ll do well not pissing me off any further.”
He turned away from her, intent on hailing the cab parked at the taxi stand across the driveway, but two people blocked his way: Kevin had gotten out of the Mercedes and walked up to them, Audrey next to him.
He hadn’t anticipated seeing her. His heartbeat raced. For a long moment neither of them said a word.
Then Audrey purred, “Well, hello.” Her eyes dropped to the ring in his hand, and a smile started curving her lips upwards. “I think my work is done.” She let out a laugh.
Daniel took a step closer to her, going toe-to-toe. “If you think your lies are going to drive Sabrina and me apart, you’re wrong. I will prove that the article is a lie!”
Audrey shrugged. “Too late! By the looks of it, it worked. Seems like there won’t be a wedding after all. What a shame. Your parents will be so disappointed. And they will be the laughingstock of the entire community.”