Playing Dirty Read Free

pressing matters at hand. Like how in the fuck he was going to get his wife back. “How long have they been seeing each other?”  
    Paul leaned back in the chair. “Ford, you should sit down.”
    A buzzing started in his ears. He didn’t want to hear this. He didn’t want to hear that his wife was involved with another man. That some hot shot lawyer was putting his hands on his wife. Touching her, kissing her, making love to her. “How long?”
    “Mattie remarried two weeks ago.”
    Ford turned back to the window so Paul couldn’t see the pain ripping through him.  
    “I’m sorry I had to tell you this. I think it’s best if I dispatch a courier to let her know you’re alive. It’s going—”
    “No,” he said, his voice as cold as the ice settling around his heart. “I’ll be the one to tell my wife we’re still legally married.”
    “That’s not a good idea,” Paul argued. “You do realize this is going to be a shock. She’s going to need time to absorb the information.”
    “No.”
    “Ford, protocol demands—”
    “Fuck protocol,” he roared. “She’s my wife. Mine .”
    “Was,” Paul said, his gravelly voice hard. He came out of the chair, his brows pulled into a disapproving frown.
    “Like hell.” Ford crossed his arms over his chest and braced his feet apart. “Mattie is my wife.”
    “Think about what you’re doing, Ford,” Ravelli continued in a more placating tone. “I’ve known you for a long time, buddy. People change. After what she went through when she heard you were dead, she can’t possibly be the same woman you left behind five years ago.”
    “She’s still my wife. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let her go without a fight.”  

    * * *

    All Mattie Avery could think of as the driver of the rented town car pulled up in front of her modest ranch house, was how she’d never been so utterly exhausted in her entire life. The two week, whirlwind honeymoon trip across Europe was one she’d never forget, and had been everything her shiny new husband had promised. The crazy schedule, not to mention a serious case of jetlag after a full day of travel, had apparently caught up with her and she was beat. She didn’t care that it was nearing dawn and the blistering Texas sun would be riding high in the sky shortly. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for a week.  
    “You go in,” Trenton told her as the car pulled to a stop. “I’ll see to the bags.”
    Mattie looked over at her husband and offered him a half-hearted smile. “Thank you. It’s been a day,” she said, then leaned toward him for a quick kiss.  
    He obliged, which made her smile widen. Eighteen months ago, when they’d first started dating, she quickly learned Trenton didn’t go in for public displays of affection. After time, he’d loosened up, a little. While her groom wasn’t exactly a stuffed shirt, appearances were important to Trenton, something she tried to keep in mind.  
    She pulled her keys from her purse before she left the car, then headed up the walk to the front door. Heavy humidity already hung in the air, stifling and adding to her exhaustion. As she slipped her key into the lock and turned the knob, she was hit by a blast of cool air and silently thanked her sister, Griffen, for taking the time to come by and fire up the air conditioning for them. Her sister and brother-in-law, Jed Maitland, the former star quarterback of the Texas Wranglers, would be over later in the afternoon to bring her daughter, Phoebe, home. Until then, she planned to shower and sleep for the next eight hours.  
    She flipped the switch to light the small foyer, then headed to the kitchen for a cool drink. As she rounded the corner into the family room, she caught a movement in her peripheral vision and stopped cold.
    Her heart pounded so hard all she could hear was the blood thrumming in her veins. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream as a tall, imposing figure slowly moved toward her.