“You were in the shower. I could hear it running. She was talking to you. She called out to you, ‘Cord, darling. Come back to bed. I miss you.’ ” Ashley stood straighter. “Please don’t insult me by attempting to deny it.”
A dark brow lifted menacingly. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Unlike you, I believe you saw what you saw. The problem is, I wasn’t there, so I have no way of knowing what that liar did or didn’t do. I have to rely on your testimony completely.”
Ashley blinked. “But you were,” she insisted, a little less sure of herself than before.
He put his hands on his hips in an unconscious masculine stance. “Did you see me? Did you hear me answer her?”
“Well, no, but—”
“For your information, I went back to the room, put on my clothes and went for a long walk. I returned when I thought you’d had enough sleep and I could waken you to tell you my plans for us. But you had gone. There was no sign of you.”
Could he fake the wealth of loss in his voice just now?
Cord could be so convincing, she didn’t know what to think. “W-what plans?”
“To forsake the families who needed a champion to fight against Sheila, to allow her the complete takeover of an established business to which she gained the rights through immoral and corrupt devices, to let her keep the whole damn house and everything that went with it. In other words, to let her win.
“And all because I wanted you more than anything else in this life. Because I wanted to go back to the Tetons where we were happy and live out the rest of our lives.”
Ashley felt a jabbing pain in the region of her heart. It propelled her to the window where she could view the foliage surrounding the state capitol. Many of the flowering trees were in blossom. A sign of spring and hope.
Had Sheila, with her posturing and innuendos, truly been trying to break up their marriage during those hellish two months after Cord’s father died?
Had her jealousy driven her over the edge when she found out that Ashley and Cord slept together that last night?
Did she really want Cord so badly, she would resort to something as wicked as pretending to be with Cord in his bedroom so Ashley would think the worst?
Ashley closed her eyes, but the answer stared her in the face. She’d taken one look in Cord’s room, had seen what Sheila had intended for her to see and on cue had fled the scene, never looking back, never giving Cord a chance to explain.
When she really thought about what he’d just told her, Ashley had to admit that she hadn’t seen Cord in that bedroom. She’d only seen evidence that he’d been in there. In all honesty, she never did hear his voice answering Sheila.
Was it possible Sheila had put on that act solely for Ashley’s benefit?
“While you’re attempting to sort through her sea of lies and machinations,” Cord interjected in his deep voice, “don’t you think that if I’d wanted to leap straight from your bed to Sheila’s, I would have gone to her room rather than my own, or at least have locked my door on the outside chance that you might have come looking for me?”
Ashley smothered a groan because she’d just been asking herself those same questions, only Cord’s mind worked faster and he’d posed them before she could.
She turned to him. “If what you’ve just told me about Sheila is true, then that means she’s not only a liar, she’s evil.”
An intensely relieved sound came out of Cord, much like cloth being shredded against the grain. “I came to that conclusion about Sheila the night I found her and my father together.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “So, Ash… it seems we’re down to her word against mine. Whom do you believe? Has so much damage happened, you can’t take my side on any issue? Is that the prob—”
But she didn’t hear the rest of his question because an aide poked his head in the door. “Lunch is almost over. You’d better hurry down if you want some.” While Cord assured him they’d be right there, Ashley glanced at her watch. It was twenty after twelve. While they’d been reliving the trauma of the past, time had escaped them completely.
“Let’s go,” Cord muttered, cupping her elbow. “I think the three of us could stand some nourishment about now.”
The three of us.
As Cord escorted her down the hall, Ashley had to admit that even if he’d only found out he was going to be a father five hours ago, their baby was already as much a part of his life as it was hers.
When they entered the makeshift dining room, the five other couples greeted them, urging them to join the group. Ashley accepted with an eagerness that she knew irritated Cord.
He wanted an answer from her, but she was still trying to assimilate everything he’d told her and couldn’t possibly give him one yet. In Ashley’s mind, the subject of Sheila was still very painful. And though Cord’s stepmother presented the greatest stumbling block to their happiness, there were other contributing factors they hadn’t touched on.
Right now Ashley was thankful for the respite, for other people. She filled her plate with fresh fruit and a roll. Cord made himself a couple of sandwiches out of the cold cuts left and took a liberal helping of salad.
While Cord poured himself a cup of coffee, she sat down with the others and started getting acquainted. He joined her and before long had everyone talking, even the older couple, Kathy and Jerry, who’d at first seemed reticent to contribute. Cord’s urbane charm and sophistication was potent.