Forbidden Passion

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She pulled her hand free and blurted, “I need to make it clear that I’m only looking for a job…not anything else.”

He reared back. The nostrils of his straight nose flared, and she cringed with embarrassment. “I’m sorry. That was—”

“We agreed that what happened was a mistake.” He gestured for her to take a seat in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk.

Feeling utterly foolish, she collapsed into the visitor’s seat. Of course he didn’t want more of her. No man did.

“And your job here will never be based on…fringe benefits, but you’re a co-owner of the business, so we will be working closely together. Will that be a problem for you?”

Would it be a problem to work beside him every single day? Yes. “No.”

Sawyer settled in his chair behind the wide desk and laced his fingers on the polished surface. “When would you like to start?”

She swallowed to ease the dryness in her mouth. “Today? Tomorrow? But first, I’d like a little time in Brett’s office…if that’s okay?”

Sympathy filled his eyes, and she felt like a fraud. She wasn’t a brokenhearted widow. She’d done her share of grieving over her marriage months ago. Now she just felt foolish for having wasted more than four years of her life on what had obviously been a losing proposition.

“You know where it is?”

“I think so.” Brett had rarely brought her to the office and never during regular business hours.

She walked down the short hall on shaky legs and into her husband’s office. She didn’t have to turn to know that Sawyer had followed. Her personal radar was keenly attuned to his presence just one stride behind.

He reached around her to lift a crystal picture frame from the desktop and his shoulder brushed hers. Her breath hitched and her skin prickled at the point of contact. “I’ve asked Opal to bring in some boxes. You’ll want to take Brett’s personal items home—including this.”

She took the picture from him and stared at the blond-haired and blue-eyed couple as if they were strangers instead of Brett and herself. Her eyes glowed and she smiled as if someone had just handed her the world on a platter. How long had it been since she’d felt even a fraction of that hope and happiness? But she’d believed in her marriage vows, and she’d tried to make the relationship work.

Why hadn’t she noticed before that the emotion captured in her husband’s eyes wasn’t love, but possessiveness? How stupid of her not to realize sooner that she’d been nothing but an accessory to Brett. He’d expected her to dress to suit his tastes, to maintain the perfect house and image, to be seen and not heard. But why her? His journal made it clear he hadn’t been motivated by love.

The warmth of Sawyer’s hand on her shoulder jerked her attention back to the concern and sadness in his eyes. Not for the first time she noted the difference between the two men. Brett’s eyes were pale blue and his hair sandy blond. Sawyer’s eyes were intensely deep blue, shades darker than Brett’s, and his hair was raven’s-wing black.

Right now he was frowning at her. “Are you all right? Would you like for me to have someone else handle the packing?”

“I can do it. I’m okay,” she lied, and stepped away, but her skin tingled where he’d touched, and the urge to lean on his broad shoulders nearly overpowered her.

Looking back on it now, she realized she hadn’t been okay since the second year of her marriage when her husband had started systematically eroding her self-confidence. He’d begun with suggesting she dye her hair a more attractive color and then he’d progressed to urging her to get breast implants and collagen in her lips. She’d refused the medical procedures but she’d experimented with hair colors. None had satisfied him, and she’d recently returned to her natural blond.

She’d wanted so desperately to have the family Brett had promised her before they married, wanted so very much to please him and to turn him back into the man who’d charmed her right out of her disappointment over the end of her relationship with Sawyer. She’d failed on all counts.

She shook off her depressing thoughts. “Could I have a few minutes alone?”

“Of course. I’ve spent some time in here myself.” The pain in Sawyer’s voice made her heart ache. She wanted to reach for him but didn’t. With obvious reluctance he backed toward the door. “My extension’s marked on the phone. Ring if you need anything.”

As soon as the door closed, Lynn lay the photo face-down on the desktop and stepped behind the polished surface. She rifled through the drawers, but she didn’t know what she was looking for. Additional bank accounts? Signs of Brett’s infidelity? A tap on the door made her jump guiltily. She closed the drawer. “Yes?”

Opal stepped inside with an armload of boxes, which she set in the visitor’s chair. “Would you like some help packing?”