Slow Burn (36 page)

Nina’s eyes narrowed. “Call it whatever you
like. Break things off with him. Today.”

What kind of a mother was she? “Don’t you
care about him? What he wants?”

Ms. Wilkins touched the actress’s arm, but
Nina pushed her hand away. “I’m his mother. Of course, I care. But
whatever he’s getting from you, he can easily get from a dozen
other women.”

Ashley’s mouth opened but words failed her.
Nina’s words hurt, though Ashley knew they were probably true. Ron
was an amazing man and a wonderful lover. Few women could resist a
man like him. But what shocked her was Nina’s sudden change in
attitude. Why was she pleasant earlier in the elevator? Had she
known the reporters were waiting downstairs?

“Do we have a deal?” Nina’s eyes
narrowed.

Something snapped inside Ashley. “No.”

“Ms. Fitzgerald,” Ms. Wilkins warned.

Ashley ignored her. “And once Ron hears about
this conversation….”

Rage distorted Nina’s face. “You wouldn’t
dare tell him about this. He’d never believe you.”

Ashley was on adrenaline rush and couldn’t
stop her next words. “It would be your word against mine, but he
would believe me. I’ve never lied to him, never kept secrets—”

The unexpected slap sucked the rest of the
words from her throat. Stars exploded behind her eyes as fiery pain
radiated down her cheek. A telltale clicking sound of a camera
followed from somewhere to their left.

“How dare you threaten me?”

Nina’s words echoed in Ashley’s head. The
actress’ rage-distorted face appeared hazy as Ashley peered at her
through teary eyes. Nina raised her hand again. Ashley imitated
her, ready to fight back, but images of Ron flashed in her head.
She couldn’t fight his mother, no matter how angry the woman made
her. Ashley angled one arm to block the next blow.

“Hey! Stop that.”

Ashley froze.

“Get him out of here,” Ron snapped.

Him who? Ashley turned to look. Ron hurried
toward them, his expression grim. Behind him, two men struggled
with another holding a camera.

“Ron,” Nina wailed and dashed to meet him.
“She’s a horrible person. She called me terrible names. Said I was
a liar, an unfit mother, that you wouldn’t love me—”

“Mother. Not now.” He tried to extricate
himself from her arms, but Nina wasn’t ready to let him go.

“All I tried to do was discuss Carlyle House
with her, but she wouldn’t listen. She started to threaten me, said
she’d turn you against me. She’s a monster, a malicious, evil
person who’ll not stop at anything until she destroys our family.
She said….”

Ashley’s gaze stayed locked with Ron’s. Yes,
she did threaten to tell Ron what his mother had said, but she
refused to jump in the fray and defend herself. If Ron chose to
believe his mother, then so be it.

“Your father…he would still be alive if it
weren’t for her,” Nina continued her tirade despite Ron’s attempts
to stop her. “You know that, don’t you, baby? Remember we discussed
it a couple of weeks ago. If she hadn’t…”

Ashley shook her head and flexed her
throbbing jaw. For a scrawny woman, Nina packed quite a
whopper.

“Mother,” Ron finally snapped. “Stop it.
Right now. This is hardly the place to be discussing such things.
Ashley wouldn’t insult you without provocation.”

Nina stared at him with rounded eyes, and for
once, her mouth stopped moving. A surge of pleasure shot through
Ashley at Ron’s support, but guilt quickly followed. Ron shouldn’t
have to choose sides.

“What did you say?” Nina asked, her
Oscar-worthy performance vanishing faster than dry ice in boiling
water.

Ron gripped her arms and peered into her
face. “Mother, I’m not going to debate with you over anything. Not
here, not now.” He pointed toward the entrance of the museum.
“There’s a reporter out there with very damaging pictures of what
happened here. You should be more concerned about keeping them out
of the tabloids than what Ashley said or did.” A sigh escaped him.
“I know her, Mother. She’s not the monster you’re trying to
paint.”

Nina shot Ashley a heated look. Ashley
winced. It bugged her that the woman refused to let go of the past
and was dragging her son down.

“Take her home,” Ron instructed Nina’s
assistant and gently nudged his mother toward her. “She’s tired and
overwrought. I’ll call later and discuss what to tell the press if
they catch up with us.” He waited, his gaze on his mother, as the
two women walked away. When his mother looked back with an
anguished expression, he added, “Everything will be okay, Mom. I
promise.”

Right then, Ashley knew he’d always played
the grown-up in his relationship with his mother. How sad and
unfair.

“I’m so sorry,” she said when he turned
toward her.

“That’s supposed to be my line.” The smile on
his face was tinged with sadness. His gaze went to her right cheek.
“Does it hurt?”

The pain level kept increasing. “Not
really.”

“You’re not a good a liar.” He reached out
and palmed her injured cheek. He caressed it, his touch so gentle.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to stop her. My mother can be
vicious.”

That was the understatement of the year. She
covered his hand with hers.

“I think I held my own.” And would have
decked her and enjoyed every moment of it, but she didn’t want to
tell Ron that. Neither was she scolding him for his donation to the
museum. There was just so much a man could take at once. She
gripped his hand and tugged. “Why don’t we head back upstairs? I’m
sure they’re still waiting for me.”

He didn’t move.

“Ashley.” His somber tone caused her to stop
and look at him. “You know I don’t blame you for my father’s
death.”

“I know. I trust you, Ron.” She reached out
with her other hand and ran her palm up and down his sleeve.
“Besides, we agreed to be totally honest with each other,
right?”

Something flashed in his eyes, but it
disappeared so fast she didn’t have enough time to decipher it.

“Right,” he said with a nod.

She wound her arm around his. “Which brings
us to you and your secret.”

This time, she saw panic in his eyes. Ashley
smiled. “Don’t worry, hon. I’m not mad. Just promise to check with
me next time you want to donate money to an organization I work for
or a project I’m working on.”

He nodded. “Anything for you, babe. Now,
let’s get this meeting over and done with. I want to get the hell
out of this town.”

CHAPTER 18

What a day.
Ron closed his eyes and
rested his head against the leather seat. And more was yet to come.
He knew his mother well enough to know that the incident at the
museum was a prelude to more drama. This trip to Vegas only
postponed the inevitable. At least he had Ashley to keep his mind
off things. His woman had been through so much, but still managed
to stay upbeat. No wonder he was nuts about her.

For a moment, he just stared at her. He
loved
everything that was Ashley Fitzgerald. Hot tempered or
sweet, stubborn or vulnerable, she filled a void in him he hadn’t
known existed. He’d be damned if he didn’t admit it felt good and
right. He grinned from ear to ear.

His gaze touched her closed eyelids, the
gentle slope of her cheek and the stubborn chin before settling on
her sensual, full lips. He knew she was nervous about meeting his
grandmother and had made such a fuss over her appearance. Her hair
now fell in soft waves around her shoulders. But whether her hair
was piled up, styled or in a ponytail, she always took his breath
away. How could he have thought that a simple affair with her would
suffice?

“Would you like something to drink, Mr.
Noble?”

This was the third time the flight attendant
asked if he needed something. Ron looked up at the petite flight
attendant and tried to remember her name. She was new and overly
eager to please. Somebody forgot to tell her that corporate flight
attendants should serve without being intrusive.

“We have freshly brewed coffee,” she
added.

“Make it brandy.” Champagne would have been
better, but it would have to wait until he spoke with Ashley. The
conversation they had at the museum flitted in his thoughts. When
she had said
his secret,
he’d thought she knew the truth and
he broke out in cold sweat. Once he finished with his uncle and
learned what had happened between his father and Doyle, he’d tell
Ashley everything.

His cell phone rang, interrupting his
reverie. He eased Ashley’s head off his chest, settled her onto the
couch and got up.

“I’ll be right back, babe,” he murmured.

He pulled the cell phone from its holder and
recognized Kenny’s number before he placed the phone on his ear.
“Hey. I’ve been expecting your call,” he said, moving to the back
of the plane.

“Are you finally in the air?”

“Yeah. We left Santa Monica Muni thirty
minutes ago.” Ron sat down on one of the seats in the back and
stretched his legs. One benefit of using the Gulfstream was the
extra space for someone his size. “What’s going on?”

“Have you seen the news?”

The drama at the children’s museum was the
last thing he wanted to discuss. “No.”

“The Coast Guard’s been searching for a boat
witnesses said exploded offshore near Venice two days ago. They
found chunks of it, but so far, they’ve only found two bodies.”

Ron sat up. “The ex-firefighters?”

“Eddie Fitzgerald thinks so. Are you taking a
taxi from the airport?”

“No, my cousin’s picking us up. Why?”

“Avoid public transportation at all costs.
More bodies are coming out of the woodwork and that’s never
good.”

“I hear you, man. We were supposed to meet
Doyle Junior at the museum, but he was a no show. I can’t help but
wonder why. Anything on him or his father?”

“Not yet, but I know Fitzgerald is following
a lead, and so am I. As soon as I find a connection between the
Doyles and the firefighters’ reversal in fortune, I’ll call you. I
think he paid them off.”

“Just find that damn connection. There’s got
to be an electronic trail buried somewhere.” Maybe he was grasping
at straws here, but his future was at stake. “Hey, thanks for
giving this all you’ve got. I know you haven’t taken any clients in
the last couple of weeks.”

“That’s why I charge you megabucks.”

“Funny, haven’t seen a bill yet.”

“It’s in the mail…just a sec.” There was
mumbling in the background, then Kenny came back. “What the hell
happened at the museum this morning?”

Ron sighed. The last thing he needed was his
mother going public with some cooked up story to explain her fight
with Ashley. “Ashley and my mother had an argument and some
reporter took pictures.”

“Turn on the T.V.”

Ron started to get up, but saw the flight
attendant sashaying toward him with his drink. “Thank you.” He took
the drink and gestured to the screen to his left. “Could you make
sure all the other screens are off, then turn on the system. I need
to catch something on the news.”

As she walked away, Ron brought his cell
phone back to his ear. “How bad is it?”

“They keep showing footage of your mother and
Ashley answering questions, then shifting to the slap.”

Ron swore under his breath.

“Man, this is jacked up.” Kenny added. “You’d
better expect company when you hit Vegas. One of those damned
reporters followed you to the airport. They know you’re headed to
Vegas. How’s Ashley doing?”

“She’s fast asleep. She doesn’t need to see
this.” The screen beside his seat lit up. “Let’s talk later,
Kenny.”

It didn’t take long to find a channel showing
footage of the incident. He studied Ashley and his mother as they
answered questions. Ashley was tense, chewing on her lower lip the
entire time his mother spoke, yet when it was her turn, she sounded
firm and confident. He had no idea what the hell happened between
the interview and the fight near the murals. He didn’t want to
know, he just wanted the damned thing to go away.

“Oh, no,” Ashley whispered.

Ron turned his head to look at her. He’d been
so absorbed with the screen he hadn’t heard her walk up.

“Sorry, I woke you.” He leaned forward to
switch it off.

“Don’t, please.” She leaned against the back
of his seat, her gaze glued on the screen. She flinched as they
showed the slap footage. “I had no idea he videotaped it too.”

“They’re vultures.” He wanted to apologize to
her again. His mother had gone too far this time.

Ashley gripped his shoulder. “Stop it. That,”
she pointed at the screen, “wasn’t your fault.”

“Really? Where was I when she was hitting
you? From the body language alone, I could see she’d verbally
attacked you before she hit you.”

“I didn’t exactly try to placate her.”

He shook his head. “No one placates my mother
when she’s pissed. I should have come downstairs with you, but that
woman just kept yapping nonstop.”

Ashley wrapped her arms around his shoulders
and pressed her cheek against his head. “This
thing
between
your mother and me started ten years ago. I just wish she could
forgive me and let go of the past. ”

The pain and frustration in her voice filled
him with guilt. He tilted his head into her face. “There’s nothing
to forgive, sweetheart. My father’s death wasn’t your fault. Mom
just needs to accept that. She holds grudges for too damn long.
Over the years, I’ve seen her refuse to forgive people she felt had
slighted her, so don’t take this personally.”

“Maybe once they confirm that the Doyles were
behind the fire at Carlyle House, she can focus her energy on
making sure they’re brought to trial and find closure. I know I’d
like that.”

Her earnest gaze connected with his and Ron
winced. If the tables were turned, would her mother find closure if
his father was involved? Would Ashley?