LITMIR.BIZ

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give him the very thing he wanted.”

      “A child?”

      “Yes, a child.” Netherland lowered her head and studied her left hand, specifically the finger where she'd worn a wedding band for all of ten months. She and Erik had begun dating at the beginning of their last year of high school. When her father's military orders had come for them to leave Camp Bullis, Texas, for some godforsaken country in the Middle East six months before graduation, she and Erik, both seventeen, had eloped one night and had gotten married. After that, her parents had had no choice but to leave her behind with her new husband when they left the country. She and Erik lived with his parents for the remainder of the school year. Her parents and brothers had returned for her high-school graduation, and it seemed everything was going great until she'd had a long talk with her mother. Her mother had told her something she should have been told years ago. A severe case of childhood mumps had left Netherland sterile. After telling Erik about it, he had begun acting as if her inability to conceive were some sort of disease. Soon after that, their storybook marriage began falling apart and eventually ended in a divorce. That had been nearly eleven years ago. Over the years she'd heard that Erik had remarried and had four kids, which hadn't surprised her. He'd always talked about having a large family someday.

      Netherland was happy for him. Since then she had accepted the fact that she would never be anyone's mom unless she adopted a child. She was okay with that and hoped whatever man she eventually married would be okay with it, as well.

      “Are you going to warn Ashton about Angela, Nettie?”

      Netherland lifted a chin. “Why should I?”

      “Because once she hears he's in the auction she'll save every penny she can get her hands on for him. What woman wouldn't?”

      “I won't.”

      “Only because of your hang-up about military men.”

      Netherland looked at her friend. “What about you, Rainey? Are you going to bid for him?”

      Rainey gave Netherland a smirky smile. “It would serve you right if I did. But at the moment, I have my sight on someone else.”

      “Who?”

      “The elusive Alexander Maxwell.”

      Chapter 4

      Ashton's gaze drifted around the restaurant for the umpteenth time since arriving more than an hour ago. He had yet to see Netherland. He had eaten his meal with his senses on full alert, but she hadn't made an appearance. He couldn't help wondering if perhaps she was avoiding him.

      “Is there anything else I can get you, sir?” asked a hostess who came up to the table.

      He smiled and leaned back in his chair studying her name tag. “What you can do, Rainey, is tell me where Netherland is tonight.”

      The woman glanced around the room before bringing her gaze back to his face. “She must be in her office working.”

      Ashton nodded. “And where's her office?”

      The woman seemed reluctant to tell him at first, then studied him intently before finally inclining her head toward an archway. “At the very end of that hall.”

      “Thanks.”

      “Don't mention it.”

      Smiling, Ashton grabbed the wine bottle off the table in front of him, along with two wineglasses. Standing, he headed in the direction the hostess had given him. He knocked when he came to the closed door.

      “Yes, come in.”

      And there she was, sitting behind her desk looking so beautiful it nearly took his breath away. He could tell from her expression that he was the last person she had expected to see. Her surprise quickly transformed into a frown.

      “Ashton? What are you doing here?”

      He came into the room and closed the door behind him, locking it. He leaned against it for a moment before slowly walking over to her desk, his gaze not once leaving hers. Her brow lifted when he placed the bottle of wine and the two wineglasses in front of her.

      “Since you won't go out with me, Netherland, I've decided to stay in with you.”

      Netherland pulled in a long, slow breath. The room had become silent. For some reason she could no longer hear the music that had been playing moments ago. Nor could she hear the clinking of the dishes and silverware from the kitchen that was located on the other side of the wall.

      She took another deep breath, telling herself firmly that she would not let Ashton get to her. Too late, her body silently chanted. He's already gotten next to you. Raw, primitive heat coursed through her body as he continued to look at her, making her heart pound and her blood race. And then, as if on cue, there was that heat settling between her legs again, this time making her thighs tremble.

      To gain some semblance of control, she forced her gaze from his to focus on the wine bottle and wineglasses in front of her. “I have too much work to do, Ashton.”

      “Do you?”

      “Yes.”

      He leaned against the edge of the desk facing her. “I can wait until you're through.”

      Netherland frowned. “It may be a while.”

      “I have nothing else to do. Go ahead and finish what you're doing and pretend I'm not here.”

      Fat chance! Netherland thought as she tried to refocus on the documents in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him move away from her desk to settle in the love seat on the other side of the room. As hard as she tried, she could not gather her train of thought to complete the task she'd been working on before he had arrived. Considering that he had been on her mind constantly all day, she had hoped that staying in her office and catching up on some paperwork would be the perfect solution to not having to see him tonight. It appeared that he had no intentions of letting her avoid him.

      After wasting a good ten minutes trying to unscramble her brain and feeling his presence too close for comfort, she finally had enough. “That's it,” she said, standing up. “I'm through with what I was doing. We may as well go back and join the others.”

      Ashton didn't stand. Instead he leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs and looked up at her. “Are you afraid to be alone with me, Netherland?”

      Netherland looked at him, astonished. He didn't know how close to home he'd hit. Yes, she was afraid to be alone with him, but not for fear of what he might do to her. She was afraid of what she might let him do. Her attraction to him was too strong. There was no way she could deny that. If she stayed around him too much longer she would forget about the very reason they could not become involved. “I'm not afraid of being alone with you, Ashton.”

      “Then let's share a drink together. One drink is all I ask. Is that too much to ask?”

      You don't know the half of it, Netherland thought. But if sharing one drink with him would get them out of her office that much quicker, then she would go along with it. “Okay, I'll share one drink with you. Just one and not much.”

      He stood and walked over to her desk and retrieved the wine bottle and glasses. He came back to her and handed her a wineglass. “Most people would envy you, Netherland,” he said, pouring her a small amount of wine.

      She lifted a brow. “In what way?”

      “The one thing you hated about the military most people would find rewarding.”

      Netherland took a sip of her wine before asking, “What could be rewarding about being uprooted every two to three years?”

      Ashton took a sip of his own wine before replying. “In your travels you've probably seen places that most people only dream about seeing.”

      “I would gladly have let them trade places with me. Although I do admit it was nice seeing most of those places, I'd rather have had stability.

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