The Forbidden Innocent by Sharon Kendrick Page A

a pillow over her head to try to block out the sounds of the others as they made their way up to bed. But when the house had grown quiet, she found herself listening in the darkness—like a small animal who had found itself in an unknown and threatening place with no idea how to escape.
    Pricking up her ears, she heard footsteps treading the night-time corridor. Yet these were not the distracted footsteps of Jack in one of his sleepless moods, but much lighter ones—though with a definite sense of purpose. Somewhere a door opened and closed again—and Ashley bit down hard on her lip as if doing that might alleviate the sudden clench of pain in her heart.
    Was that the sound of Nicole creeping into Jack’s bedroom? she wondered. Was she drawing back theduvet and slipping into bed beside him—his hard, naked body enfolding her to him? Behind Ashley’s closed eyes the graphic images continued to dance—yet what right did she have to feel bitter, or resentful?
    You had your chance! You had your chance with him—and you blew it. You threw it away.
    But even knowing that it had been the right thing to do did little to soothe her troubled spirit. It had been a long time since Ashley had cried. There was absolutely no comparison to the night she’d been locked up by her cruel foster mother and lain in the cupboard there, trembling in terror. Yet somehow the thought of what she had almost found with Jack and had now seen snatched away was enough to make her heart clench. Silently, she turned her head and bit her lip, but that did nothing to stem the silent flow of tears.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    S OMEHOW Ashley got through the rest of the weekend. She hid behind a calm smile and a determination not to let her feelings show—but she had never felt more of an outsider. Like an unwilling spectator, she watched from the sidelines as Jack played host to his houseguests—and it seemed to her that the lovely Nicole had been born to live a life like this.
    A horse was sent up from the village and each morning, sitting astride the now-recovered Nero, Jack took the lustrous brunette horse-riding with him. Ashley saw them as they returned to the house, walking companion-ably together across the lawns, their faces flushed with exercise and animated in conversation.
Nicole
wasn’t scared of horses.
She
didn’t jump and startle them and make a man end up lying in a ditch. Ashley hated the sharp pang of jealousy which shot through her—and she hated the way her eyes always seemed to be drawn to the two of them. She had to snap out of it and stop thinking about him in that way—because it was none of her business.
    But to her surprise, there was no sign of any deepening relationship between her boss and Nicole. In fact, Jack seemed more and more uninterested in the brunette as the weekend progressed, leaving Ashley feeling bewildered. It should have appeased her but it did not. If he failed to respond to someone as lovely, rich and cultured as Nicole—then what hope was there for her?
    She was both relieved and nervous when the three houseguests finally departed—wondering what it was going to be like to be alone with him again. Safe in the confines of the office, she could hear the sound of laughter as they all said their goodbyes, but she blocked out the sounds and tried to concentrate on the manuscript.
    When at last he came into the study she paused for a moment, letting her flying fingers still on the keyboard as he entered the room, her gaze drawn unwillingly to his face. His dark eyes were unfathomable as they looked at her and his face was faintly flushed.
    ‘Good morning, Ashley,’ he said softly.
    She swallowed. ‘Good morning.’
    ‘The guests have gone.’
    She nodded. ‘So I heard.’
    ‘Yet you didn’t bother coming outside to wave them goodbye?’
    ‘I had work to be getting on with. Anyway, I didn’t really think it was my place to do that.’
    ‘You didn’t think it was your
place?’
he echoed in disbelief.
    She