Money Man's Fiancée Negotiation Read Online Free PDF Page A

helping her make something of her life. If his mother had someone like that, someone to take care of her, she might still be alive.
    Helping Melody had, in his own way, been a tribute to his mother. An homage to her strength and character, and as far as he was concerned, Melody had betrayed her, too.
    He gazed down at Melody and realized she was sound asleep. For several minutes he just watched her, wondering what could have driven her to be unfaithful to him. When had she changed her mind, and decided that she wanted more than what they had? And why hadn’t she just told him the truth? If she’d truly wanted out, he would have respected that. He wouldn’t have liked it, and he would have tried to talk her out of leaving, but he would have eventually let her go. No strings attached.
    Instead she had thrown back in his face everything he had ever done for her.
    “How is she?” someone asked, and Ash turned to see Dr. Nelson standing in the doorway. “Sleeping.”
    “I just wanted to stop back in once more before I left.”
    “I’m glad you did. We never discussed when I could take her home. I’d like to make travel arrangements.”
    He gestured Ash into the hall. “If she continues to improve, I would say a week to ten days.”
    “That long? She seems to be doing so well.”
    “She suffered a severe brain injury. You can’t necessarily see the damage, but believe me, it’s there.” He paused then added, “When you say home, I assume you mean California.”
    “Of course.”
    “You should know that flying will be out of the question.”
    “Not even in my company’s private jet?”
    “She had a brain bleed. The change in pressure could very literally kill her. Frankly, I’m not crazy about the idea of her being on the road for that long either, but I guess there aren’t any other options.”
    Sixteen hundred miles trapped in a car together. Not his idea of fun. Besides, he wanted to get her home and settled before she remembered something. If she ever did.
    “I was wondering,” Ash said. “If she does regain her memory, how long will it take?”
    “There’s no definitive answer that I can give you, Mr. Williams. If she does regain any memories, it can be a slow and sometimes traumatic process. Just be thankful that she’s doing as well as she is. It will just take time and patience.”
    Unfortunately he had little of either.
    “Even if she doesn’t regain her memories,” he added, “there’s no reason to expect that you two won’t live a long and happy life together regardless.”
    Actually, there was one damned good reason. Whether she remembered it or not, Melody had crossed him. It was time she got a taste of her own medicine.
    But to make this work, Ash had a bit of cleaning up to do first.

Three
    W hen Melody opened her eyes again, Ash wasn’t in the room. She had the sudden, terrifying sensation that everything that had happened earlier was a dream or a hallucination. Then she lifted her hand, saw the diamond on her ring finger and relief washed over her.
    It was real.
    But where did Ash go? She pushed herself up on her elbows to look around and saw the note he’d left on the tray beside her:
    Went to get your things. Back later to see you.
    XOXO
    Ash
    She wondered where he was going to get them, then realized she must have been staying in a hotel when she’d had her accident. But that was more than two weeks ago.Wouldn’t they have discarded her things by now? Did hotels hang on to the items abandoned by their customers?
    She hoped so. Maybe there was something among her things that would spark a memory, and she was interested to see this so-called research Ash had been talking about. Not that she didn’t believe him. It was just that something about this whole scenario was…off.
    If what he said was true, and she was only here for school, what was she doing with four thousand dollars hidden in the lining of her purse? Was she trying to bribe someone, or buy information? Had she