Soliman, Wendy - The Name of the Game (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

progressively drunken manner. The vodka had taken the edge off the worst of Ashley’s pain. It would probably take the rest of the bottle to expunge it completely. Whatever. She no longer card.
    “At least he’ll be in Southampton for the rest of the week so I won’t have to face him again until Monday,” Ashley muttered.
    “That’ll give you a little breathing room.”
    “He called her “Evie.” Ashley appeared determined to subject every excruciating second of that disastrous meeting to microscopic attention. “How sweet is that?”
    “Yes, very cosy, but—” The doorbell rang. “That’ll be Kitty’s mum returning Callie,” Sandy said, the grin that sprang to her lips lending a lie to her martyred expression.
    Sandy headed for her front door, preceded by Freckles. But it wasn’t Kitty’s mum. Ashley’s stomach lurched when Matt’s dulcet tones penetrated her vodka-sodden brain. She could hear Freckles squealing with excitement and knew he’d be jumping all over his friend Matt. She’d deal with her traitorous dog later, but first, unable to pretend detached indifference, she eavesdropped blatantly.
    “If she here, Sandy?”
    “Do you think I’d tell you if she was?” Sandy asked, belligerently.
    “She wouldn’t answer the phone at work, when I ring the flat all I get is her answer-phone, and her mobile’s switched off.”
    “Well, that ought to tell you something.”
    “I know what she must be thinking, but she’s wrong.”
    “Oh, of course she is. What a little idiot she is.”
    “I don’t expect you to understand, but—”
    “Good, because I don’t. All I know is that you’ve destroyed her, and if I had my way you’d—”
    “Just let me talk to her for five minutes. That’s all I ask.”
    “She doesn’t want to see you.”
    “But she must. I need to explain.”
    “I doubt there’s anything you can say that she’d care to hear right now. You’ve done enough damage.”
    “Please, Sandy, I’m begging you.”
    “Matt, it won’t do any good.” Sandy’s voice had lost its hard edge. “But don’t worry. At least she still has a conscience. She won’t leave you in the lurch until the takeover’s a done deal.”
    “Is that all you think I care about?”
    “Isn’t it?”
    “Right now I couldn’t give a shit about the business. All I care about is Ashley.”
    Ashley sprang to her feet, hope flaring and as quickly receding. He sounded so genuine. Perhaps there really was an explanation, some way out of this mess for both of them.
    A moment’s reflection and she fell back into her seat, defeated. She couldn’t, wouldn’t let herself be played for a fool ever again.
    “Too little, too late, Matt.”
    “Oh, God, what have I done to her?” He sighed loud enough for Ashley to hear. “Tell her I was here, Sandy. Tell her I love her and that nothing’s changed.”
    He sounded choked. Ashley could imagine him running his hand through his thick hair, pushing it back from his face, just as he always did whenever he was preoccupied. She ached to do it for him. In spite of everything, she still ached, simply for him. Something that had felt so right couldn’t possibly be wrong. Could it?
    “Get a grip,” she muttered, disgusted with her lack of self-respect.
    Had it been anything else, she might have listened to him, given him a chance to explain, but how could he explain away that pregnancy? It was the worst kind of deceit, especially since he knew how much Ashley would have loved a child of her own. Not only had he misled her about his relationship with his wife, he’d also flaunted Eve’s pregnancy in front of her. He may not have intended for her to find out that way. She’d seen just how shocked he’d been when Eve arrived at the office, but perhaps that had been because he was aware the game was up and he could no longer have both of them.
    “Just go, Matt,” Sandy said.
    When Sandy returned to her living room, Ashley was curled up in a foetal ball in the