Cynthia Hamilton - Madeline Dawkins 01 - Spouse Trap Read Online Free PDF Page A

really. But she forced herself to focus on the task at hand and moaned pitifully through the door.
    “Steven…Steven…I can’t believe this is happening…” She snuffled loudly, waiting for some indication that she was getting his attention. “Steven, please open this door! I can’t stand this! I can’t live without you… Steven! Steven!” she called out, banging her fists against the door.
    “Stop that this second,” Steven said, yanking her into the room. “Does everyone have to know what a desperate, despicable tramp you are?” he railed. Madeline glanced off the edge of the bed, barely catching her footing. She had been a little too successful in getting Steven’s attention, and the look in his eyes now gave her concern for her safety. She backed away as she murmured his name softly, beseeching him with outstretched arms.
    “I’m only going to tell you this one more time, Madeline—our marriage is over. I don’t care if you swear your innocence in front of God Almighty, I don’t believe a word you say. And the reason is simple. I have proof—hard, cold proof to the contrary. So, you can blather away all you want, but I will never trust you again. It’s as simple as that. Even if I could forgive you, I’d never be able to look at you without seeing you with that other guy.”
    Madeline gulped air, trying to approximate the proper emotion for Steven’s dismissal of her. Steven, hands on hips, breathed heavily as he kept his face averted from hers.
    “You better go now,” he said, opening the door and standing back to give her ample room to pass. She tried to implore him with her eyes, but he wouldn’t look at her. She took one step beyond where he was standing and stopped abruptly as he automatically tried to close the door behind her.
    “I will never stop loving you, Steven. And I will never believe that I deliberately cheated on you. Maybe someday I can prove it to you.” With that last proclamation, Madeline walked away. With the sound of the door closing quietly behind her, she gritted her teeth and sucked in air. It’s war now, Steven.

FIVE
    The sound of footfalls crunching on the gravel drive woke Madeline from her troubled sleep. She had stayed awake most of the night, making notes to herself, trying to chart the events that led to her current situation and what her next moves should be. She squinted at her watch: 5:05. She heard a car door close and more faint crunching as she imagined Hughes walking around to the driver’s side. She craned her neck and caught a glimpse of the Maserati as it glided down the driveway.
    Madeline rubbed her aching shoulder as she pried herself from the chair. The legal pad fell from her lap and she stooped with effort to retrieve it. She tried to make sense of the scrawled notes, but she had made them under duress and they were too cryptic to decipher easily. She tossed the pad on the table and did a few minutes of gentle stretching while she got her mental bearings. By the time her muscles were loosened, she recalled her activities during the wee hours of the morning.
    After storming away from the guest wing the previous night, Madeline had made a large highball and retreated to her side of the master suite. She had taken her computer back to her sitting room and researched prenuptial agreements and private investigators. Steven was using both of these tools to railroad her out of her marriage, so she figured she needed to retaliate in kind.
    The problem was—as Steven reminded her less than twenty-four hours earlier—Santa Barbara was a pretty small town when you were part of a highly-visible couple. Finding an attorney or a private eye whom she could trust implicitly wasn’t going to be so easy. The quick education she had just gotten on the real Steven Ridley made her understand his impeccable exterior hid a sinister, calculating heart. In her paranoid state, it was possible to imagine that his tentacles reached all through the city. Finding