Ashley dropped thick curling lashes over her eyes as she attempted to disguise her disappointment. She had allowed herself to hope that he had something far more life-changing in mind that her thirty-fifth birthday. But now wasn’t the time to broach that particular subject. It was enough that he was prepared to risk being seen in public with her—a huge step forward.
“Why, Mr Templeton, I do believe you’ve remembered by birthday.”
“How could I forget?” He chuckled, a soft throaty sound that was so uniquely him. “And good girls can expect to receive special presents.”
“Ah, but therein lies a problem.” She chewed pensively at her lower lip. “You don’t like me when I’m good.”
“That depends upon your definition of good. I don’t, for instance, much care for girls who have good-looking young men in and out of their office all the morning, asking needless questions.” His eyes bored into her profile. “Are you going to tell me who he is?”
“What?” she asked, with wide-eyed innocence. “Surely you don’t mean Gordon, the new dispatcher I just employed? The one with the deep blue eyes, a cute dimple, sexy smile, and hunky body.” Matt growled at her. “Is he good-looking? Can’t say I noticed. Anyway,” she added, enjoying the sexual buzz she got just from flirting with him, “I’m almost old enough to be his mother.”
Matt fixed her with a disbelieving gaze. “Baby, the way he was looking at you when I walked past this morning sure ain’t the way a guy looks at his mother.”
“Isn’t it?” She could detect tension beneath his flirtatiousness. “What is it, Matt?” she asked, her smile fading. “Has something happened?”
He sighed. “Yes, another iffy death claim.”
“No, that makes three now.” She shook her head. “Same pattern as the others?”
“Yes, I asked claims to contact me direct if another one came up. I heard just now. A woman in her early sixties. She didn’t disclose any pre-existing conditions, but died from a heart attack.”
“And let me guess, it wasn’t her first.”
“It was, but she suffered from hypertension and took blood pressure medication for some years.”
“Oh hell!”
“My sentiments entirely.” Matt’s phone buzzed. “Damn, Excuse me, Ashley.” Matt pushed the speaker button. “What is it, Lorraine?”
“Your wife’s here to see you, Matt.”
His expression of concern for the business gave way to a wild look of panic. He stared at Ashley without speaking. Although she was seated directly in front of him, he didn’t appear to see her, causing a frisson of alarm to spiral through her. It was awkward, but Matt’s reaction seemed way over the top. Ashley was well able to maintain a professional stance in front of his wife. Did he imagine that she’d go all girly on him and drop him in it by giving herself away? Really, he ought to know her better than that.
Before she could ask any questions, the door opened, and Ashley was treated to her first ever sight of the woman she’d heard so much about over the past eighteen months but had so far managed to avoid meeting. She examined her critically, disguising her acute interest beneath a cordial smile, and ruthlessly suppressed the gut-wrenching jealousy that wormed its way through her insides.
Matt’s wife was petite, well groomed, and extremely pretty. He’d got that bit right. Oddly enough though, there was one tiny little insignificant detail he’d forgotten to impart.
Eve Templeton, the woman Matt claimed not to have slept with for over a year, had to be at least five months pregnant.
Chapter Two
“Matt, I …oh, sorry, darling, I didn’t realize you were engaged.”
That couldn’t be true. Ashley knew Lorraine would have told her.
Eve turned toward to Ashley and smiled. “Hello, I’m Eve, Matt’s wife.”
She offered Ashley her hand. Somehow, Ashley forced herself to take it, but the lump in her throat prevented her from saying a word. Matt’s miniscule wife had a viscous grip, strong and firm enough to make Ashley’s eyes water. Strange that. Matt had frequently told her how helpless she was. He’d persuaded Ashley that she’d have trouble managing without him and so, for the benefit of his sons, they’d had to keep their affair secret. He kept promising that eventually he’d extricate himself from the clutches of his needy wife and they’d be together. Ashley had long ago accepted that was unlikely to happen until the company amalgamated with Stevenson’s. That knowledge had motivated her to work as hard as she had to establish their new head office.
Even in her state of abject disbelief, something of the steely determination in the other woman’s demeanour got through to Ashley. She felt as though the heart had been ripped out of her. She’d believed every word that Matt had said, idiot that she was, because she wanted them to be true. She’d been lonely for too long, but Matt had brought her alive again in ways that she’d forgotten were possible. He’d made the long wait for a man who could satisfy her worthwhile, and she actually thought that his marriage really was in its death throes.
“This is Ashley Wilde, my Office Manager,” Matt said, stepping in to cover what was in danger of becoming a pregnant silence.
Ashley almost laughed hysterically. A pregnant silence, a pregnant office junior, and now a pregnant “estranged” wife. Pregnancy seemed to be all the rage.
“Well hello, Ashley,” Eve gushed. “It’s good to meet you at last. Matt’s told me a lot about you.”
“Oh, has he?”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt, darling,” she said to Matt, “but I’ve got such good news about that house in Warlingham. You know, silly,” she prompted, when Matt looked at her in confusion. “The one that was supposed to be under offer to someone else. I had a call from the agents this morning, saying the sale had fallen through, so dashed up to see it again. As I was here, I just had to come and tell you the good news in person.” She turned to look at Ashley again. “We’ve been having such trouble finding the right house to move to. Obviously, once the amalgamation goes through, Matt will want to be here in Reigate in the new head office. I’ve spent days looking and want to get just the right place before number three puts in an appearance.” She patted her protruding belly. “It’s so important to find something within range of decent schools,” she continued, with a further significant glance at Ashley. “But now I think we’ve managed to do just that.”
“Just a minute, Evie, what the hell are you talking about?” Matt asked, looking perplexed.
As Ashley absorbed this incredible display of arrogance, so her feelings underwent a marked alteration. The devastating damage sustained by her heart a few minutes previously was halted in its tracks, replaced by a fulminating anger she could scarce contain.
Having recovered from the shock of his wife’s unexpected visit, it seemed as though Matt actually thought he could excuse the inexcusable by pretending he didn’t know what his wife was talking about. He still believed that he could have his cake and eat it, too. So sure of his hold over her was he that he actually thought she’d be prepared to continue with their affair. Well, if that really was the case, it just went to show how little he actually understood her.
The blinders had come off, and she could see the man she’d loved devotedly for the past eighteen months in an entirely different light. And what she saw did nothing to gladden her battered heart. Just what sort of woman did he think she was? In spite of all his lies and deceit —so obvious she now could kick herself for her gullibility—did he seriously think that she could ignore something as precious as a new life? Did he honestly think that she could carry on with the baby’s father as though nothing had changed?
“Darling, don’t be silly!” Eve chided. “You know very well what I’m talking about.”
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Ashley said with as much decorum as she could muster, somehow dredging up a tight little smile for good measure. “We can finish up later, Matt.”
Ashley scooped up her files, ignored the distraught-looking Matt, and
walked from the office with head held high.
She could feel Eve’s eyes burning into her retreating back and wondered if she’d just reached an unspoken understanding with her erstwhile lover’s wife. That Eve suspected there was a relationship between her and Matt was fairly obvious. That she had effectively laid it to rest with her dramatic appearance today was beyond doubt. Even in her devastated condition, Ashley couldn’t fail to appreciate just how neatly she’d been outmanoeuvred.
How she managed to concentrate on a full afternoon’s meetings, one of them chaired by Matt himself, she couldn’t afterward remember. She constantly told herself that she still had her pride and refused to give the feckless bastard the satisfaction of seeing her upset. She ignored his increasingly concerned glances, and as soon as the meeting he chaired finished, she was the first to leave the room. She pretended not to hear him when he asked her to remain behind.
Her internal phone rang even before she reached her cubbyhole. Knowing who it would be, she left it unanswered. Matt had to attend a directors’ meeting in a few minutes time and would have no further opportunity to contact her that afternoon. Even so, she was close to breaking point, her emotions stretched beyond their limit. Telling Martin she had a dental appointment, Ashley grabbed her jacket and fled.
She staggered down the stairs to the basement car park as though drunk. Somehow managing to let herself into her car, Ashley drove the short distance home, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision. Her flat was on the top floor of a three-storey Victorian house in the pretty village of Godstone, overlooking the green. It benefited from lofty, well-proportioned rooms that Ashley had painstakingly restored to their former glory. She also had the benefit of a roof terrace that had played host to many a boozy Sunday afternoon lunch in the five years that she’d owned the flat.
Ashley’s long-time friend Sandy, a single mother, lived on the first floor. An aspiring artist, she worked from home and cared for her precocious four-year-old daughter, Callie. She also took Freckles, Ashley’s shaggy mongrel dog, under her wing when Ashley was at work. In return, Ashley delighted in acting as unpaid baby-sitter, big sister, and agony aunt, all rolled into one.
Without knocking, Ashley entered Sandy’s flat.
“It’s only me,” she called out.
Sandy was in her studio, so Ashley helped herself to a healthy measure of vodka, sin tonic, and downed it in one. Sandy appeared in the doorway wearing a paint-spattered tunic, just in time to see the vodka disappear down Ashley’s throat.
“Tough day at the office, dear?”
“Sorry, Sandy.” Ashley slammed her empty glass down. “I should have asked before helping myself to your booze.”
Sandy waved her apology aside. Stepping into the room, she looked at Ashley’s face, did a double take, and frowned. “What’s happened?” she asked. “You look terrible.”
Ashley, greeting the wildly wagging Freckles, didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she took a moment to rein in her oscillating emotions and control the overwhelming urge to burst into tears. Much good it did her, though. She looked up from her dog, took in Sandy’s expression of deep concern, and the tears that had temporarily dried up went into free fall once again.
Ashley was vaguely aware of Sandy leading her to the settee. She plonked herself down next to her, pulled her into her arms, and let her sob on her shoulder.
“How could he do it to me?” Ashley spluttered, when she trusted herself to speak. She blew her nose on the tissue Sandy handed her, staring despairingly at her friend. “How could he be so insensitive?”
“Ah, I assume the he in question is Matt?” Sandy was the only person whom Ashley and Matt had trusted with knowledge of their affair. Not being emotionally involved, she’d been unable to foresee a happy conclusion. “What’s he done this time?”
Slowly, amid further bouts of tears and angry tirades, Ashley related the events of the day.
“I’m so sorry.” Sandy stroked Ashley’s hand, genuine regret in her voice. “I know how much you love him.”
“Loved! I loved him. Note the deliberate use of the past tense, please. It’s all over now.”
“What was his explanation? I assume he had one prepared, just in case this situation arose?”
“Probably, but I don’t want to hear it. What’s the point? He’s been lying to me all along. He obviously still sleeps with her and has no intention of leaving. You’ve been right all along, Sandy, but if you dare to say so, the way I feel right now, I’ll crown you with that vodka bottle. Talking of which—”
“Okay, I get the message.”
Sandy got up and poured them both healthy measures, taking the precaution of adding tonic to them both.
“I’ve been a blind idiot,” Ashley said morosely as the alcohol worked its way through her system and loosened her tongue. She hadn’t eaten anything all day, so it probably wasn’t a good idea to drink, but right now she didn’t give a toss. “He was so convincing. I really did think he meant what he said.”
“Of course you did. I’d be the first person to agree that he’s hunk material of the first order, and I could see exactly why you fell for him. He’s charming, sexy as hell, exudes power and authority, and all the other damned things that make him so attractive. But, honey, men in his position, married to their work, won’t ever leave the little woman. It’s too distracting, too expensive, too…well, too everything.”
“It was easier for him just to keep me as a bit on the side.”
“Yep, and get you working all the hours God sent to get his bloody office organized for him.”
Ashley summoned up the ghost of a smile. “I wish I could think of a reason to say you’re wrong.” She sighed. “I feel like such a fool.”
“Yeah well, put it down to experience and move on.”
Ashley looked at her as though she’d spouted a second head. “Just like that?”
“Don’t let him see that he’s got to you. That’s the only weapon you have left.”
“I suppose.” Ashley plucked sullenly at the arm of the settee. “Where’s Callie?”
“At her friend Kitty’s birthday party. Kitty’s mum’ll bring her back later.”
“Ah yes, I remember her being excited about it.” Ashley sighed, fought down fresh tears, and swallowed a large gulp of her drink. “Sandy, what am I going to do now?”
“It’s a bit of a bummer, isn’t it?” Sandy looked thoughtful. “You know what I’ve always thought of him, even if I could still see why you fell for him. Those rugged good looks and smouldering eyes.” She sighed dramatically. “When he turned on that disgustingly compelling charm, you didn’t stand an earthly. Working so closely together for so long, and with his wife safely down in Southampton, he was bound to make a move on you sooner or later.”
“Well, he didn’t, not really.”
“Bullshit! He played you like a Stradivarius. You’re a real babe, Ash. You’d been celibate for far too long when he came into the picture, and he would have picked up on that. I’ve tried to tell you before, you represent the sort of challenge a man like him can’t resist.” Sandy was a founder-member of the “all men are bastards” club, having been unceremoniously dumped by her live-in lover the moment she fell pregnant. His parting shot had been to clear out their joint bank account and leave her destitute. “You have a reputation at the office for keeping men at arm’s length, and he would have heard about it. It was always going to end like this,” she finished gently.
“All that work, all the hours I put in to help with the amalgamation, thinking we’d be together at the end of it. All the hiding and deception I put up with, never questioning the need for it. How could I have been such a fool?”
“You’re not the first to fall for such a line, darling, and certainly won’t be the last.”
“I really believed him, Sandy.” Ashley dropped her head in her hands and sobbed. “I really thought he loved me.”
“He probably did, in his way. He’s just n
ot the monogamous type.”
“I still can’t get my mind round the extent of his lies. He assured me he had no intention of moving Eve to Reigate when he relocates here himself, but it’s clear now that they’ve been house-hunting for ages.”
Sandy grimaced. “Yeah, that must be a tough one to stomach.”
“And, just think, I was so pathetically grateful ’cos he wanted to take me somewhere smart tonight. I really thought we were making progress. But all the time Eve was here in his flat.”
“Are you sure? You said he wasn’t expecting her.”
“Well, he did seem surprised, and she said her trip was impromptu, but I don’t believe anything that either of them said.”
“Atagirl!” Sandy gave Ashley’s shoulders a squeeze. “So he would have wined and dined you, showered you with expensive presents, come back here to have his fun, and then gone home to the little wife.”
“No wonder he’s never taken me to his place.” Ashley snorted. “And I believed it was because it was too central and there was too much chance of me being seen there.”
“So, what happens now?”
“I can’t work there anymore,” Ashley said forcefully.
“But you’ve been with that company for seventeen years. Don’t let yourself be pushed out just because he can’t keep his pecker in his pants.”
“If I stay, I’d have to see him every day and work with him.” She shook her head. “I don’t think I can do it. I’m furious with him for using me. I’m even more furious with myself for falling for his lies, but I still love him so much that it’s like a physical ache.”
“I know, but in time—”
“Yeah, time. That’s what the experts say in these situations, but it’s bullshit. I don’t know how to work through it, but I do know I’ll never be able to try if I have to see him every day.”
“Then what will you do instead?”
Soliman, Wendy - The Name of the Game (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Page 2