Backstage with Her Ex Read Online Free PDF Page A

the three sisters had survived intact.
    â€˜I just can’t see me falling for anyone who doesn’t treat me as an equal. I want to feel safe, and cherished. I don’t want to live on an edge or spend my life worrying whether he loves me or not. I want boring. Old tatty slippers and cardigans. Holding hands for our sixtieth wedding anniversary like Granny and Gramps.’
    After her father had died all ideas of being safe either emotionally or financially were ripped apart, leaving the whole family bereft. She didn’t want to invite more hurt into her life and the few less-than-successful experiences she’d had with men had proved her right. Loving someone could be unpredictable, based on lies that hurt like hell.
    So when her Prince Charming arrived, he’d be driving a Volvo and wearing sensible brogues.
    Immediately, her thoughts strayed to slim long legs and big biker boots, tiled toilet floors and flashy limousines.
    She shuddered. Way too dangerous.
    â€˜I know...’ Cassie sat up and squished her left leg underneath her bottom, eyes firing with excitement. ‘Do you want me to get Nate arrested? Then we can convince him to do it. Pat’s a great policeman—I’m sure he’d find something on him.’
    Sasha eyed Cassie in the way only a big sister could—a look that said I love you, now shut up at the same time. ‘Will you stop with that? Ever since you started dating Pat the Plod you’ve been offering for him to arrest someone.’
    â€˜I know. I can’t help it—the thought of him being all masculine and strong—ooh.’ Cassie clasped her mug to her chest and sighed. ‘Divine.’
    â€˜Just as I thought, it has more to do with the idea of handcuffs than an inflated sense of civic duty.’ Sasha laughed and shook her head. ‘But if the papers are to be believed Nate’s been arrested way too many times already.’
    â€˜I’m sure they make half of that stuff up.’
    â€˜I dare say.’ But the one time it had mattered—the first time—she’d let him go.
    No—she’d turned her back on him like the rest. And with due cause. The man had attacked someone and she’d had enough violence in her life to put up with it from a boyfriend too. Seeing Nathan’s aggressive reaction had sparked a deeply buried memory that she couldn’t bear to relive. So she’d walked away.
    â€˜It’s probably a good thing, anyway. I just have to work out a Plan B for the choir. Leave it with me...’ She thought for a moment and came up with...precisely nothing. ‘Okay, arresting him suddenly seems very attractive. Especially if I get to read him his rights...’
    Tinny music jolted her attention.
    Her mobile.
    Knots tightened in her stomach as she relived the moment it slithered across the toilet tiles; the wretched thing had got her into too much trouble already tonight. She checked the number. No one she knew.
    Cassie leaned over her shoulder and eyeballed the display. ‘Answer it.’
    â€˜No. It’s way past midnight. Who’d ring at this time? It’ll be a crank.’
    â€˜Answer the darned thing. Or...I will.’ Cassie grabbed for it. Sasha jumped off the sofa and stared at the unfamiliar number.
    No way was she taking a chance on her flirtatious little sister nudging in on the act. If it was Nate Munro she needed to be professional and responsible, remember that this was about the choir, and not about herself, or her drumming heart rate. Probably a wrong number anyway. ‘Hello?’
    â€˜Hey, sweet thing, is that you?’
    â€˜Once was funny, now it’s just irritating. Stop calling me that.’ Hearing the pet name she’d loved hit her hard in the gut. After ten years of honing her career into shape she was so far from being a sweet thing it was laughable. So, occasionally she allowed the pupils to think they’d got the better of her