Read Soliman, Wendy - The Name of the Game (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Online
Authors: Wendy Soliman
Soliman, Wendy - The Name of the Game (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (2 page)
“You have?” Matt ran his hands over her ass. “I knew you would. Where were they?”
“Hounslow.”
“Hounslow! How the hell did they finish up there?”
“God knows, but I’ve cut a few corners, and they’ll be on their way again today.” She smiled up at him and pushed his wayward hair back into place.
“Thanks, babe. By the way,” he said, continuing to fondle her rear. “Have I ever told you what a gorgeous ass you have?”
“Not for at least a couple of days.”
“Hmm, well, I’d tell you again, but unfortunately now’s not the time.” He clearly had other things on his mind, but he didn’t release her immediately. Instead, he dropped a lingering kiss on her lips. “Do you have any idea how much I want you? How much time I spend thinking about you, and what I’d like to do to you, when I ought to be working my fingers to the bone?”
“You think about me?” She pretended to be surprised.
“Only all the time. You have a lot to answer for, Ms. Wilde.”
Empowered by the obvious passion underlying his words, and the frustration he was making no attempt to conceal, Ashley offered him a sultry smile. “Remind me again what it is that you
do
want to do to me.”
“Later!” He shook his head, ran his finger gently along her jawline and resumed his seat with obvious reluctance.
Ashley took the visitor’s chair on the other side of his desk. She had known that mentioning the missing files would bring his mind back to his growing business worries and wished now that she’d delayed the moment. They were obsessively careful about concealing the true nature of their relationship, and Ashley was fairly certain that no one had guessed. So far, at least. They almost never so much as touched one another during the working day, even if they were practically assured of privacy, and Ashley was surprised by Matt’s impulsive actions of a few moments ago. She was also cheered by all that they implied. The strain of watching her every move was starting to tell on her. Perhaps Matt was feeling it, too? Maybe, at last, he was ready to leave his loveless marriage and set up home with her?
“Did you wish to see me about anything in particular, sir?”
“Yes, gorgeous, I want to know where you’d like to go for dinner this evening.”
Ashley didn’t attempt to hide her surprise, or her elation. They hardly ever dined out together, just in case they were seen. If they did, it was always in small, out of the way places of Matt’s choosing.
“Anywhere I like?”
He smiled that alluringly sexy smile of his, the one that never failed to make her feel weak at the knees, and nodded. “Anywhere at all.”
“And what are we supposed to be celebrating?”
Ashley held her breath, instinctively understanding that they’d reached a defining moment in their relationship. She said nothing more though, determined to make him put into words exactly what was in his mind.
“Well—” He paused, the expression in his silver-gray eyes meltingly gentle, full of tender affection. “There’s a certain event that we should be celebrating on Thursday, but since I have to be in Southampton for the rest of the week, we’ll just have to bring things forward by a day.”
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.
