Soliman, Wendy - The Name of the Game (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (3 page)

Her internal phone rang even before she reached her cubbyhole. Knowing who it would be, she left it unanswered. Matt had to attend a directors’ meeting in a few minutes time and would have no further opportunity to contact her that afternoon. Even so, she was close to breaking point, her emotions stretched beyond their limit. Telling Martin she had a dental appointment, Ashley grabbed her jacket and fled.

She staggered down the stairs to the basement car park as though drunk. Somehow managing to let herself into her car, Ashley drove the short distance home, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision. Her flat was on the top floor of a three-storey Victorian house in the pretty village of Godstone, overlooking the green. It benefited from lofty, well-proportioned rooms that Ashley had painstakingly restored to their former glory. She also had the benefit of a roof terrace that had played host to many a boozy Sunday afternoon lunch in the five years that she’d owned the flat.

Ashley’s long-time friend Sandy, a single mother, lived on the first floor. An aspiring artist, she worked from home and cared for her precocious four-year-old daughter, Callie. She also took Freckles, Ashley’s shaggy mongrel dog, under her wing when Ashley was at work. In return, Ashley delighted in acting as unpaid baby-sitter, big sister, and agony aunt, all rolled into one.

Without knocking, Ashley entered Sandy’s flat.

“It’s only me,” she called out.

Sandy was in her studio, so Ashley helped herself to a healthy measure of vodka,
sin
tonic, and downed it in one. Sandy appeared in the doorway wearing a paint-spattered tunic, just in time to see the vodka disappear down Ashley’s throat.

“Tough day at the office, dear?”

“Sorry, Sandy.” Ashley slammed her empty glass down. “I should have asked before helping myself to your booze.”

Sandy waved her apology aside. Stepping into the room, she looked at Ashley’s face, did a double take, and frowned. “What’s happened?” she asked. “You look terrible.”

Ashley, greeting the wildly wagging Freckles, didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she took a moment to rein in her oscillating emotions and control the overwhelming urge to burst into tears. Much good it did her, though. She looked up from her dog, took in Sandy’s expression of deep concern, and the tears that had temporarily dried up went into free fall once again.

Ashley was vaguely aware of Sandy leading her to the settee. She plonked herself down next to her, pulled her into her arms, and let her sob on her shoulder.

“How could he do it to me?” Ashley spluttered, when she trusted herself to speak. She blew her nose on the tissue Sandy handed her, staring despairingly at her friend. “How could he be so insensitive?”

“Ah, I assume the
he
in question is Matt?” Sandy was the only person whom Ashley and Matt had trusted with knowledge of their affair. Not being emotionally involved, she’d been unable to foresee a happy conclusion. “What’s he done this time?”

Slowly, amid further bouts of tears and angry tirades, Ashley related the events of the day.

“I’m so sorry.” Sandy stroked Ashley’s hand, genuine regret in her voice. “I know how much you love him.”

“Loved! I loved him. Note the deliberate use of the past tense, please. It’s all over now.”

“What was his explanation? I assume he had one prepared, just in case this situation arose?”

“Probably, but I don’t want to hear it. What’s the point? He’s been lying to me all along. He obviously still sleeps with her and has no intention of leaving. You’ve been right all along, Sandy, but if you dare to say so, the way I feel right now, I’ll crown you with that vodka bottle. Talking of which—”

“Okay, I get the message.”

Sandy got up and poured them both healthy measures, taking the precaution of adding tonic to them both.

“I’ve been a blind idiot,” Ashley said morosely as the alcohol worked its way through her system and loosened her tongue. She hadn’t eaten anything all day, so it probably wasn’t a good idea to drink, but right now she didn’t give a toss. “He was so convincing. I really did think he meant what he said.”

“Of course you did. I’d be the first person to agree that he’s hunk material of the first order, and I could see exactly why you fell for him. He’s charming, sexy as hell, exudes power and authority, and all the other damned things that make him so attractive. But, honey, men in his position, married to their work, won’t ever leave the little woman. It’s too distracting, too expensive, too…well, too everything.”

“It was easier for him just to keep me as a bit on the side.”

“Yep, and get you working all the hours God sent to get his bloody office organized for him.”

Ashley summoned up the ghost of a smile. “I wish I could think of a reason to say you’re wrong.” She sighed. “I feel like such a fool.”

“Yeah well, put it down to experience and move on.”

Ashley looked at her as though she’d spouted a second head. “Just like that?”

“Don’t let him see that he’s got to you. That’s the only weapon you have left.”

“I suppose.” Ashley plucked sullenly at the arm of the settee. “Where’s Callie?”

“At her friend Kitty’s birthday party. Kitty’s mum’ll bring her back later.”

“Ah yes, I remember her being excited about it.” Ashley sighed, fought down fresh tears, and swallowed a large gulp of her drink. “Sandy, what am I going to do now?”

“It’s a bit of a bummer, isn’t it?” Sandy looked thoughtful. “You know what I’ve always thought of him, even if I could still see why you fell for him. Those rugged good looks and smouldering eyes.” She sighed dramatically. “When he turned on that disgustingly compelling charm, you didn’t stand an earthly. Working so closely together for so long, and with his wife safely down in Southampton, he was bound to make a move on you sooner or later.”

“Well, he didn’t, not really.”

“Bullshit! He played you like a Stradivarius. You’re a real babe, Ash. You’d been celibate for far too long when he came into the picture, and he would have picked up on that. I’ve tried to tell you before, you represent the sort of challenge a man like him can’t resist.” Sandy was a founder-member of the “all men are bastards” club, having been unceremoniously dumped by her live-in lover the moment she fell pregnant. His parting shot had been to clear out their joint bank account and leave her destitute. “You have a reputation at the office for keeping men at arm’s length, and he would have heard about it. It was always going to end like this,” she finished gently.

“All that work, all the hours I put in to help with the amalgamation, thinking we’d be together at the end of it. All the hiding and deception I put up with, never questioning the need for it. How could I have been such a fool?”

“You’re not the first to fall for such a line, darling, and certainly won’t be the last.”

“I really believed him, Sandy.” Ashley dropped her head in her hands and sobbed. “I really thought he loved me.”

“He probably did, in his way. He’s just not the monogamous type.”

“I still can’t get my mind round the extent of his lies. He assured me he had no intention of moving Eve to Reigate when he relocates here himself, but it’s clear now that they’ve been house-hunting for ages.”

Sandy grimaced. “Yeah, that must be a tough one to stomach.”

“And, just think, I was so pathetically grateful ’cos he wanted to take me somewhere smart tonight. I really thought we were making progress. But all the time Eve was here in his flat.”

“Are you sure? You said he wasn’t expecting her.”

“Well, he did seem surprised, and she said her trip was impromptu, but I don’t believe anything that either of them said.”

“Atagirl!” Sandy gave Ashley’s shoulders a squeeze. “So he would have wined and dined you, showered you with expensive presents, come back here to have his fun, and then gone home to the little wife.”

“No wonder he’s never taken me to his place.” Ashley snorted. “And I believed it was because it was too central and there was too much chance of me being seen there.”

“So, what happens now?”

“I can’t work there anymore,” Ashley said forcefully.

“But you’ve been with that company for seventeen years. Don’t let yourself be pushed out just because he can’t keep his pecker in his pants.”

“If I stay, I’d have to see him every day and work with him.” She shook her head. “I don’t think I can do it. I’m furious with him for using me. I’m even more furious with myself for falling for his lies, but I still love him so much that it’s like a physical ache.”

“I know, but in time—”

“Yeah, time. That’s what the experts say in these situations, but it’s bullshit. I don’t know how to work through it, but I do know I’ll never be able to try if I have to see him every day.”

“Then what will you do instead?”

“I don’t know exactly, I haven’t had time to think. But when the amalgamation takes place—if it does—they’ll be asking for voluntary redundancies. I’ll make Matt put my name forward. God alone knows, he owes me at least that much.”

“What do you mean,
if
the amalgamation goes ahead? I thought it was all but a done deal.”

“It was. It is, but we’ve got a few problems. Three iffy death claims in as many months.”

“You’re a life assurance company.” Sandy shrugged. “Of course you get death claims.”

“Yes, but not disputed ones, and certainly not three on top of each other. We usually get perhaps one a year. Now we have three.” Ashley sighed. “Matt had just told me about the third one when Eve arrived. The families of the first two are threatening to go to the ombudsman. If they get wind of this third one, they’ll probably all band together and—”

“I can’t believe you’re still beating yourself up over work problems after what Matt’s done to you.”

“I only am because I care about Interactive. It will do our image no good at all if this leaks out. It might even mean that Stevenson’s get the upper hand in the negotiations.”

“Why should you care? You just said that you plan to get out. What will you do instead?”

“I’ll get a decent redundancy pay out, so I’ll be able to please myself. Do whatever I like, without worrying about money. I could take a part-time job, pulling pints in the local perhaps, and concentrate on training Lucius for advanced dressage and one-day events.”

“Ashley, don’t do anything hasty. Give yourself time to get over this. You can’t go from being the office manager for a large company to working in a pub. You’d be bored out of your skull within a month. And you spend all your spare time on horseback, anyway. There’s only so much more you can do to prepare Lucius.”

Ashley shrugged. “I’ve tried being the high-flying executive, obediently toeing the company line, and look where it’s landed me. Perhaps it’s time to be an underachiever instead. There’s plenty of room at the bottom and, who knows, maybe I’ll prefer a life with no responsibility.”

Sandy groaned. “Why couldn’t Mr. Matt-bloody-Templeton have stayed safely tucked away in Southampton. This never would have happened then. You were quite happy with your life before he came on the scene.”

It was true. Until two years ago, the head office of Interactive Assurance had been in Southampton and Matt had been an infrequent visitor to their branch office in Reigate, run by Ashley. Interactive owned the entire Reigate building, renting most of it out. When the other tenants decided not to renew their lease, Matt and his fellow directors took advantage of the empty space in such a prime location and moved their centre of operations to the market town. From supervising fifty employees, Ashley suddenly found herself in overall charge of more than two hundred.

Simultaneously, she was thrown into a close working relationship with Matt. Separated from his family and friends, he appeared to take pleasure in her company. Ashley soon discovered that they had much more in common that just Interactive. They shared the same sense of humour, liked the same quirky films, enjoyed jazz, appreciated good wines, and read books by similar authors that they discussed at length. Most importantly of all, they were both dedicated equestrians.