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“This is important. Anyone who helps you can’t tip Claud off. Can you be sure that the people working for you are loyal to you and not your cousin?”

Ashley didn’t hesitate. “There are a few. Give me a break, Trevor. We employ over—”

“That doesn’t matter. It’s not quantity, but quality that counts.”

“I can handle it.”

“I hope so,” he whispered, touching his lips to her hair. “Sometimes I question your judgment.”

“That’s the problem, isn’t it? You always have.”

The air was thick with unspoken memories. Silence weighed heavily on Ashley’s slim shoulders as she stared into the bloodred coals of the fire. “I don’t know you anymore, Trevor. Not at all,” she said in a quiet moment of complete honesty. “And what I remember . . . what happened between us, turned out very badly.” She turned her head and her green eyes looked directly into his.

“A man can change . . .” he ventured.

“And so can a woman.”

His eyes searched the soft contours of her face before she turned away from him to concentrate on the slowly dying fire. “What if I said that I wish I had it all to do over again?” His fingers touched the round of her shoulders and lingered in the black silk of her hair.

The old ache burned savagely in her heart. “I’d say I don’t believe you—no matter how much I’d like to. I’m not bitter, Trevor; just wiser than I was. What happened between us was your doing and nothing you can say will alter the past.” She felt the warmth of his fingers in her hair and knew that she had to pull away from him and break the seductive spell he was weaving. She couldn’t let herself forget the past and the pain. Struggling against reawakened love, she managed to stand and step away from the power of Trevor’s touch.

Her voice was firm. “ I think it would be better to forget what happened eight years ago and concentrate on what’s happening now. For instance, the reason you’re here and what you really want from me.”

The grandfather’s clock in the entry hall ticked off the silent seconds. A chill as cold as a North Pacific gale made Ashley shiver with dread and she rubbed her hands over her arms.

“I thought we could spend some time together. It’s Christmas.” Trevor’s eyes never left her face. He watched even the most subtle of her reactions; the nervous manner in which she clutched the gold chain encircling her throat, and the movement of her tongue as she wet her lips. Desperately she wanted to believe him.

“And you need me to check into the company records to condemn my own family. Isn’t that what this is all about? Isn’t that the only reason you’re here? Aren’t you just trying to clear all the dirt surrounding the Daniels family and push it onto the name of Lazarus Stephens in order that you can get elected? That is the most important thing isn’t it? Your career.”

“And what’s important to you, Ashley?” Trevor asked quietly. His face had saddened. “Eight years ago all you wanted to do was settle down, get married, have children. Now you’re talking about women’s rights and finding yourself! What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” His blue eyes were blazing. “And what about your husband—how does he feel about all this new way of thinking? Or is he the reason you’ve become so liberated?”

Ashley’s eyes snapped with indignation. “Richard and I were divorced four years ago.”

“I know that.”

“Then why do you continue to refer to him as my husband?”

“Because he was!”

“And that still bothers you,” she said, understanding a little of his pain.

“Shouldn’t it?” His cold blue eyes narrowed and he lifted himself from the floor, trying to relieve the tired muscles supporting his back.

“You were the one who couldn’t make a commitment,” she reminded him, hoping to hide the trace of wistful regret in her voice.

Trevor’s fist opened and closed against his jeans, as if he were physically attempting to regain control of his temper. “Don’t twist the truth,” he warned. “I was willing to do just about anything to keep you—”

“Except marry me.”

“Ha!” The sound of his humorless laughter was as bitter as the night. “ How many times did I ask you to marry me? Or have you conveniently forgotten about them?” His voice was low, the sound dangerous. There was a kinetic energy in the air, ready to explode with the repressed passion of the heated argument.

Ashley’s dignity wavered for an instant. “That’s right, Trevor.

You did ask me to marry you, several times.” She waved the back of her slim hand in the air as if the number were insignificant. “But asking isn’t the same as doing. I was tired of being engaged and tired of having an affair. I wanted to be your wife!”

“Correction,” he interjected cruelly, his dark blue eyes burning with accusations. “You wanted to be anyone’s wife. Even if it meant running back to the man your father had chosen for you.”

“I loved you. . . .” She sighed, tears pooling in her eyes with the painful admission. “Trevor, I loved you so much.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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