Mistress to the Magnate: Money Man's Fiancée Negotiation. Michelle Celmer

haven’t said that enough. I know it’s been a rough week, and you’ve been wonderful.”

      “I’m just glad to have you home,” he said. He flashed her one last sweet smile, then disappeared from sight. Not a minute later she heard the jingle of his car keys, then the sound of the door opening and closing, then silence.

      As promised, the first thing she did was fish the doctor’s card from her purse and called to make the appointment. It was scheduled for Friday of that week, three days away at nine in the morning. Ash would have to drive her of course, which would mean him taking even more time off work. Maybe he could just drop her off and pick her up. She wondered if it was close to his work. The receptionist spouted off cross streets and directions, none of which Melody recognized, but she dutifully jotted them down for Ash.

      With that finished, she stepped back into her bedroom, wondering what she should investigate first. There was a desk and file cabinet on one side of the room, and a chest of drawers on the other. But as her eyes swept over the bed, she was overcome by a yawn so deep that tears welled in her eyes.

      Maybe she should rest first, then investigate, she thought, already walking to the bed. She pulled down the covers and slipped between sheets so silky soft she longed to shed all of her clothes, but this was going to be a short rest, not a full-blown nap.

      But the second her head hit the pillow she was sound asleep.

      Despite how many times Ash reminded himself what Melody had done to him, she was starting to get under his skin. He was sure that going to work, getting back to his old routine, would put things in perspective. Instead, as he rode the elevator up to the sixth floor, his shoulders sagged with the weight of his guilt.

      Maybe it was wrong to leave Melody alone so soon. Would it have really been so terrible waiting until tomorrow to return to work? But he’d felt as though he desperately needed time away, if only a few hours, to get her off his mind. Only now that he was gone, he felt so bad for leaving, she was all he could think about.

      Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t.

      The halls were deserted as he stepped off the elevator, but when he entered his outer office his secretary, Rachel, who’d single-handedly held his professional life together this week, jumped from her chair to greet him.

      “Mr. Williams! You’re back! I thought we wouldn’t see you until tomorrow.” She walked around her desk to give him a warm hug. He wouldn’t ordinarily get physically affectionate with his subordinates, especially a woman. But considering she was pushing sixty and happily married with three kids and half a dozen grandchildren, he wasn’t worried. Besides, she was sometimes more of a mother figure than a secretary. She reminded him of his own mother in many ways, of what she might have been like if she’d lived. However, no matter how many times he’d asked, she refused to address him by his first name. She was very old-fashioned that way. She had been with Maddox long before he came along, and probably knew more about the business than most of the hotshots working there.

      “I decided to come in for a few hours, to catch up on things,” he told her.

      Rachel backed away, holding him at arm’s length. “You look tired.”

      “And you look gorgeous. Is that a new hairstyle?”

      She rolled her eyes at his less-than-subtle dodge. He knew as well as she did that her hair hadn’t changed in twenty years. “How is Melody?”

      “On the mend. She should be back to her old self in no time.”

      “I’m so glad to hear that. Send her my best.”

      “I will.” Rachel knew Melody had been in an accident, but not the severity of it, or that she had amnesia. There would be too many questions that Ash just didn’t have the answers to.

      It was best he kept Melody as far removed from his life as he could, so the inevitable breakup wouldn’t cause more than a minor ripple.

      When rumors of her leaving the first time had circulated, the compassionate smiles and looks of pity were excruciating. He didn’t appreciate everyone sticking their noses in his personal life, when it was no one else’s business.

      Rachel looked him up and down, one brow raised. “Did someone make it casual day and forget to tell me?”

      He chuckled. “Since I’m not officially here, I thought I could get away with it.”

      “I’ll let it slide this one time.” She patted his shoulder. “Now, you go sit down. Coffee?”

      “That would be fantastic. Thanks.” He was so zonked that if he were to put his head down on his desk he would go out like a light. He’d slept terrible last night, knowing that Mel was just a few feet away in the next bed, naked. It only made matters worse that she insisted on walking around the room naked beforehand.

      While Rachel fetched his coffee, Ash walked into his office. It was pretty much the way he’d left it, except his inbox had multiplied exponentially in size. He was going to have to stay all weekend playing catch-up. Just as he settled into his chair Rachel returned with his coffee and a pastry.

      “I know you prefer to avoid sweets, but you looked as if you could use the sugar.”

      “Thanks, Rachel.” He’d been eating so terribly the past week that one little Danish wasn’t going to make much difference. Kind of like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic. Thankfully the hotel in Abilene had had a fitness room, and he’d used it faithfully each morning before he left for the hospital.

      “I there anything else?” she asked.

      He sipped his coffee and shook his head. “I’m good.”

      “Buzz if you need me,” she said, then left his office, shutting the door behind her.

      Ash sighed, gazing around the room, feeling conflicted. He loved his job, and being here usually brought him solace, yet now he felt as if there were somewhere else he should be instead.

      With Melody, of course. All the more reason not to go home.

      Ash picked up the pastry and took a bite. Someone knocked on his door, then it opened and Flynn stuck his head in.

      “I see our wandering CFO had finally returned to the flock. You got a minute?”

      Ash’s mouth was full so he gestured Flynn in. He swallowed and said, “I’m not officially back until tomorrow, so I’m not really here.”

      “Gotcha.” He made himself comfortable in the chair opposite his desk. “So, after you left so abruptly last week I tried to pump Rachel for information but she clammed up on me. I even threatened to fire her if she didn’t talk and she said this place would tank without her.”

      “It probably would,” Ash agreed.

      “Which is why she’s still sitting out there and I’m in here asking you why you disappeared. I know your parents are dead, and you never mentioned any relatives, so it can’t be that. I’m guessing it had something to do with Melody.” He paused then said, “Of course you can tell me to go to hell and mind my own business.”

      He could, and it was tempting, but Ash figured he owed Flynn an explanation. Not only was Flynn his boss, he was a friend. However, he had to be careful to edit the content. Maddox had some very conservative clients. Conservative, multimillion-dollar clients. If rumors began to circulate that his mistress of three years left him because she was carrying another man’s love-child, it would only be a matter of time before word made it to someone at Golden Gate Promotions, who wouldn’t hesitate to use it against Maddox.

      Not that he believed Flynn would deliberately do anything to jeopardize the success of the company his own father built from the ground up, but despite the best of intentions, things had a way of slipping out. Like the affair that Brock, Flynn’s brother, was rumored to be having with his assistant. Brock and Elle probably never intended that to get out either.

      It just wasn’t worth the risk.

      “I