A Broken Promise

Chapter 1

Georgia turned her head slightly to look at the face of the man whose head rested on the pillow next to hers. She knew she had to wake him soon, and he would have to prepare to leave her. He had a plane waiting that would take him back to reality.

Ewan Mailler was one of the wealthiest men in the world. His family had dominated the international financial world for the last fifty years, but now, at this moment, he was just Ewan; a gentle, warm-hearted, generous friend, and lover. Not that the rest of the world would believe him to be capable of such a thing. To the world, he was an unfeeling, ruthless, money-making machine.

The millions he gave away anonymously, all of the non-profits he funded, and the many different endowments and scholarships he provided for education, were only known by a select few who helped guard his secret closely.

As if he sensed her gaze on him, he moved restlessly, allowing the sheet to slip from his chest. Ewan was in excellent physical form, and she knew he worked hard to keep himself fit and healthy, not out of vainness but out of need. His average pace was hyper-speed, and he never allowed himself to tire or get sick.

However, Ewan had been in the military after his university studies. He had deployed to the Middle East, where he had been affected by an IED explosion, and it had burned the left side of his body. His torso had taken most of the fire, but there was some scarring on his arm as well as his leg. It had made him harder and colder to all who knew him. His family had demanded perfection, and the fact that he had no longer been physically perfect had made him shut everyone out of his life.

Georgia, not believing for a minute that he had lived a life of abstinence, had asked him once how he had managed to have a sex life while keeping his physical scars hidden. He had smiled one of his rare smiles and said that he had his ways, and after five years, she didn't doubt him.

His soft brown hair that was showing gray at the temples was in disarray, stubble covered his hard square jaw, and even relaxed, she could see the beginnings of lines around his eyes and on his forehead. He was thirty-nine and even more handsome now than he had been when she started working for him and his sister five years earlier.

Georgia reached out and touched the lines on his face, waking him.

He slowly opened his eyes, giving her one of his rare lazy smiles.

They only had one week together every year. A few of the years, they had managed one week twice a year, but Ewan's schedule was harder to work around, and they didn't want it noticed that they always managed to be away the same week every year.

Ewan's family was from England, and Georgia had to travel back to the United States once a year to keep her working visa current, so she always took two weeks. One week she spent with her aunt, and the other she spent with Ewan. They always went to her beach cottage on the northeast coast that had been in her family since the turn of the century.

At least, that was the story her Aunt told about the cottage. It wasn't large and was very unassuming as it sat behind the dune line. It was one of the few one-story cottages on the shoreline, and it couldn't be seen from either the beachside or the land side since the trees had had a century to grow up and around the building.

It was a large open floor plan with a kitchen, which needed updating, on one side and bedrooms on the other with a large living area and fireplace in between. There were sleeping cots in the attic that she guessed were for the kids when it was too cold for them to sleep on the porch. Her Aunt had told her that they had always slept on the porch during their summers at the house.

The porch was large and full and wrapped around two sides of the cottage. It was entirely screened in and looked like a living room. There was a giant swing, a couple of comfy chairs, a coffee table, a dining table, a few rugs and lamps scattered around, and a sideboard with games and books on it finished off the homey look.

Georgia wasn't thinking of the cottage, though; she focused all of her attention on the man in front of her. Their time was almost up, and she hated this part. The goodbye. "It's time." She returned his smile.

He rolled over and looked at the clock, then uttered an expletive. "Breakfast?" he asked as he gave her a quick kiss before jumping out of bed and heading towards the bathroom.

By the time he had bathed, shaved, and dressed, breakfast was waiting.

As he emerged, his transformation was complete. He was no longer Ewan. He was Mr. Mailler. His suit fitted him to perfection, his jaw was clean-shaven, he had tamed his hair, and he was putting on his watch as he joined her on the porch; a significant gesture because with her, he never wore a watch.

Georgia hated the change in him but was familiar with it. She turned to look out of the screened wall in front of her, letting the sound of the waves breaking on the shore soothe her. Her long ebony hair draped her back in a thick curtain, and she was still wearing her robe. Georgia didn't have to leave until the following day when she would go to her aunt's house, where she would spend another week before heading back to England.

"Coffee, perfect," he said as he sat across the table from her.

They ate in silence, Ewan checking his messages on his phone while Georgia looked out at the scene in front of her. She knew that he was already in work mode, and when he was working, he was not a chatterer.

She had to keep forcing herself to look away from him. She hadn't meant to, but somehow during the past five years, she had broken their agreement and fallen in love with him. It had all been so clear in the beginning, just one week, one week to give in to the strong attraction that they fought the rest of the year.

When they met, they had both been fighting their different demons. Georgia's had been the death of her husband; she had believed at the time that she would never love another man the way she had loved Scott. He had been her high school sweetheart, the love of her life, her best friend, and at that point in her life, she had felt that she never wanted or needed to be in love again; but on the flip side, she had no intention of becoming a spinster.

It only took one night, a delayed flight, a few drinks in an Irish pub, and the rest was, as they say, history. One night turned into a week, a week turned into a yearly event, and somewhere along the way, she fell in love with Ewan Mailler.

Not that he knew or ever would. They had an agreement, after all.

Completely unaware of her thoughts, he rose to put on his suit jacket then started packing up his few possessions, answering emails and texts as he went. As he prepared to leave, she stood and moved to stand next to the screen door, watching his calculated yet graceful movements.

Taking one last look around, he pocketed his phone and picked up his bag, walking towards her.

Georgia was wearing her usual subdued smile as she met his whiskey-colored eyes. "No man has the right to be as handsome and as rich as you are," she teased. "You wear your success well."

"Years of practice." He gave a rakish grin, and she couldn't help but grin back. He put his free hand up to cup her cheek as they both memorized the face of an unguarded moment between them.

Then he gave her one slow, gentle kiss that made her want to cry as he let his hand trail down her cheek then rested his forehead against hers.

"I'll see you on the other side," Georgia said softly and pulled away, unable to prolong the goodbye any longer. She was too close to begging him to stay.

For one moment, he looked as if he wanted to say something, but then he nodded, his stern mask in place once again. "Enjoy your time with your aunt."

After he left, she crawled back into bed, curled herself around his pillow, and cried until there were no more tears. This afternoon would have to do for the next year. Tomorrow she was with her aunt, and then she would be back in England, where she and Ewan acted, not as strangers but as employer and employee.