think you’re unaccustomed to hearing no.”
“I have to admit that I’m curious why. We can talk about it later. Go do what you have to do now.”
“I see you two know each other,” Nick Colton said, joining them and turning to Ashley. “And I saw you dancing with Ryan. Now I’d like a turn.” He moved forward to place himself between the pair.
Just as she was about to decline, Ryan moved closer, putting a possessive arm around her shoulder. “We’re very old and good friends. Ashley really can’t dance while she’s on the job. You’re out of luck this time.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to object when Emily touched her arm. “Please excuse me, both of you,” Ashley said, turning to the bride and wishing she had avoided letting Ryan talk her into a dinner date.
“The photographer is asking about me tossing my bouquet,” Emily said.
“It’s time, and you rescued me from dancing when I have other things to do. Ryan doesn’t take refusal well.”
An hour later, Emily told Ashley that she and Jake would be leaving soon. Ashley asked her brown-haired assistant, Jenna Fremont, to take over. Then Ashley left, wondering if she was making a huge mistake.
Another first caused by Ryan. She had never run from someone before, and she felt terrible one minute and relieved the next. If he really wanted to see her, he knew how to find her now. But she suspected another quick departure from her would turn him off for good. Men like Ryan did not chase after women who didn’t want to see them. They were probably accustomed to females chasing after them.
At her duplex apartment in a gated area, Ashley spent the evening thinking about Ryan. She couldn’t get him out of her thoughts, and in some ways, she was disappointed she wasn’t with him.
She remembered with clarity the excitement she’d had with him, as well as the reasons she had wanted to get away from him.
Early that Sunday morning when they had been together, Ashley had awakened to find him missing. She’d wrapped herself in a towel and gone looking for him, stopping in her tracks when she heard low voices. He’d been arguing with a woman.
Ashley had known he was a millionaire playboy, so she shouldn’t have been surprised by the presence of a woman. But suddenly, she realized just how stupid she was in giving herself to him completely that wild weekend. Dressing swiftly, she’d gathered her things. While he still talked, she had slipped out a back door, getting away from his condo as quickly as possible and into the taxi she’d called from her cell phone. They hadn’t had contact since then—until today.
Finding it difficult to get to sleep now, she tossed and turned. When she finally did doze, she dreamed of Ryan and being in his arms again.
The next day, while she tried to do chores she had put off in the last hectic days of getting ready for the Carlisle-Thorne marriage, she couldn’t shake him out of her thoughts.
No matter what she did, Ryan was there in her mind.
They had nothing in common. She was a farm girl who’d come to the city and gotten a job. She was sending some of her paycheck home to help her family, because of her father’s poor health and financial troubles from a flood last year. Her brother had given up his college education to work on the farm full-time, too. Ryan’s world was light-years away from hers. He was a multimillionaire, a self-made man who moved in international circles. He usually had a beautiful socialite with him and lived a jet-set life.
She was amazed he’d even noticed her when they’d met at a party, yet she had fallen into his arms and into his bed with complete abandon. So why wouldn’t he have had a pleasurable weekend that he wanted to prolong?
Recalling the large party, for a charity event at a Dallas country club, she remembered how a waiter had slipped while carrying a tray filled with glasses of champagne. Strong arms had caught her to pull her out of the way, and she’d looked up into Ryan’s green eyes and been captivated. The attraction was hot, instant and intense. They’d made introductions. They had flirted, talked, and he had charmed her. Eventually she’d told the friends she had come with to leave without her because Ryan would take her home. They had gone to his condo, and in another hour, she had been in his arms, and later, in his bed. She had given her body to him intimately, had explored his and shared her life, even telling him what desperate financial straits her family was in, and how she was helping them. Why had she been so free and open in every possible way with Ryan? He had seduced her and won her total trust.
Disgusted with herself, she tried to stop thinking about him now, finally getting out her bank statements and checking her entries and withdrawals for her business that month. She wrote her regular monthly check to her father, which included every penny she could spare.
When she finished, she spent another restless night, before going to work Monday morning.
Ashley tried to immerse herself in business, meeting a client, setting up appointments, talking to a caterer and a florist. Her day passed, but she constantly became distracted, lost her train of thought and realized she was staring into space, remembering Ryan.
She hadn’t seen or heard anything from him since Saturday at the reception, and she decided he’d moved on with his life and she’d seen the last of him. It was for the best.
When it was almost closing time, she walked through her office and headed for the front to ask Carlotta, her receptionist, about an appointment. Carlotta was momentarily on the phone, and Ashley moved away from the desk to wait for her to finish her call. When she glanced out the front window, she saw a black sports car whip into a parking space. The door swung open and Ryan stepped out.
Ashley’s insides clenched. Dressed in navy slacks, a white shirt and navy tie, he was as handsome as ever. Wind blew locks of his black hair away from his forehead, and his long-legged stride revealed confidence and purpose.
Ashley knew she didn’t want a confrontation with Ryan with an audience, so she hurried to the door and stepped outside. She was oblivious to the bright sunshine, the sweet scents of blossoming fruit trees, the enticing splash of the nearby fountain. She focused totally on the determined male striding toward her. Squaring her shoulders, she walked to meet him, knowing she had to convince him that she’d meant what she’d said to him at the wedding.
She had to send him packing. How difficult it would be! Every square inch of her wanted to be in his arms. She wanted his kisses, and as she watched him striding toward her, she struggled with her inclination to hurry and meet him and do whatever he wanted.
Except she knew she could do no such thing, and as she faced him, she could already feel the clash of wills. Someday, she knew she would have to tell him the truth, but not this soon. Now, she wanted life on her own terms, and she didn’t want someone forceful like Ryan meddling in her decisions.
She clenched her fists, reminding herself to stay firm with him. He must not find out the truth so soon. She was carrying his baby from that wild weekend of lust, and she wanted to deal with this secret herself as long as she possibly could.
She stepped forward to meet him, folding her arms across her middle, standing with her feet slightly spread, as if ready for a confrontation. “Why are you here?”
Two
Ryan’s green eyes danced with amusement. “Hi, to you, too.” Even though he smiled and his voice was cheerful, he watched her intently.
“Ryan, I told you that I don’t want to see you.”
“So you did, but then you turned right around and promised you’d go to dinner with me,” he said. “And I do recall your racing pulse when we were together. There’s a conflict between what you say and how you say it. And a few other things.”
“I’m trying to do the sensible thing here,” she said, conscious that they were probably drawing the attention of her employees. “I’ve done the nonsense thing with you, now I’m doing otherwise.”
“Maybe.