“Is something wrong?” Ellie asked, noticing Prissy’s troubled expression.
“Wrong? Yeah, something’s wrong, but not with me. That’s what I came to talk to you about. There’s something wrong with Clay.”
“Clay?” Ellie’s fingers bit into the folds of her robe.
Prissy released a slow breath. “This is hard for me, Ellie. Clay made me promise not to tell you, so what I’m doing now is breaking my word.” She sighed. “I guess I’m just a hopeless romantic...”
“What is it? What’s wrong with Clay?”
Prissy fiddled with the sash on her robe. “You’ll have to talk to Clay about this in person. I shouldn’t be telling you at all but.... All I’m going to say is that Clay feels he betrayed you. When he left you that morning at Claridge’s...well, apparently, he did some things he’s ashamed of. He mentioned something about drugs and...I won’t lie to you, Ellie, there were other women involved.”
“More than one?”
“I don’t know. He just said women.”
She bit back the sound that tried to escape her throat.
“Clay can’t forgive himself. He believes you deserve someone better. That’s why he hasn’t called you. He can’t face you. More than that, he’s trying to protect you.”
“Protect me? Protect me from what?”
“From himself. From the kind of person he believes he is.”
Ellie just stared, trying to digest the things Prissy was saying. The image of Clay in the arms of the woman at Claridge’s flashed through her mind. Her eyes closed against a wave of remembered pain. Everything she had imagined was true. Everything and more.
“How could he?” Her voice whispered out, little more than a breath of air in the quiet room. “When we were together, it seemed so beautiful...so special. I felt cherished. I thought he cared about me. How could I have been so wrong?”
“I’m not sure you are. That’s why I came to talk to you.”
Ellie looked up at Prissy, beginning to get angry. “How could he do it? How could he do a thing like that?”
“That’s the question Clay keeps asking himself. He’s sick about it, Ellie. Sick inside. I’ve never seen a man sorrier about what’s happened than Clay.”
“I don’t believe it. He isn’t sorry at all. He did just what he told me he would do. There’s no reason for him to be sorry.”
“Ellie, please try to think this through.”
“I’ve already thought it through. I’ve thought about nothing but Clayton Whitfield for hours. Days. Every time I think of him, I see him in the arms of that...that...woman! He’s just as big a bastard as everyone says he is.” She jumped up from the bed and started pacing. “And to think I apologized tohim!”
Prissy stood up, blocking the path Ellie was carving into the carpet. “I didn’t come here to upset you. I thought there might be a chance you’d understand. All I can tell you is that Clay regrets everything that’s happened. He won’t tell you because he thinks you’re better off without him. I believe he cares for you very much and that he’s learned something from what he’s done. Whatever happens from here on out is up to you.”
“I hate him.” Her face felt hot, her shoulders tense.
Prissy moved toward the door. “I guess he knew you better than I thought,” she said softly.
Ellie glanced up at her. “What do you mean?”
“Clay said you could never forgive him.” With a last glance at Ellie, Prissy walked out and closed the door.
The trip to Dublin on Tuesday went smoothly. The horses were taken to the stables and settled in their stalls while Jake and the riders were driven to their hotel, the Lansdowne on Pembroke Road in Ballsbridge, not far from the show grounds.
All except Clay, who had taken a suite at the Shelbourne on St. Stephen’s Green.
Renovated to its former elegance, the Shelbourne was the finest hotel in Dublin. Jake wasn’t surprised at Clay’s decision to stay there but he’d hoped to dissuade him, end the feuding between the riders, and make them once more a team.
“You know I don’t approve of what went on between you and Ellie,” Jake said to Clay as he worked to settle Max and Zodiak into their new stalls. “Given her lack of experience, I think it was a lousy thing to do. But Ellie’s a grown woman, and I’ve got no business interfering in her personal life.”
Clay didn’t answer.
