Against Her Rules by Victoria Barbour Read Free Book Online Page B

MOMENTS BEFORE WEDDING
    The
last article was the shortest so she decided that was the best one to read.
    “LOVE
GONE WRONG”: NINA LEAVES ASHER MOMENTS BEFORE WEDDING
    Just
two weeks after their first public appearance as a couple, it seems rocker
Asher Corbin is now living the lyrics of his first hit, “Love gone wrong.”
Sources say he and recent Top Model winner Nina Reade were in Mexico where they
were to be secretly wed when she discovered Corbin has been having a three year
affair. Who the lady in question is remains unknown.
    ––––––––
      E lsie
paled, and it had nothing to do with Asher’s near-marriage. Three year affair!
She knew how the media worked. They’d keep digging until they sniffed her out.
She read a few more headlines.
    ASHER’S
MYSTERY WOMAN: SOURCES SAY SHE’S ASHER’S TRUE LOVE
    HUNT
ON FOR SECRET LOVER
      She
tapped back to his email. See you Thursday. Today was Thursday. This couldn’t
be happening. First Cam, and now Asher. She didn’t want to deal with either of
them, and she definitely didn’t want them both here. Was it too late to go on
vacation?
      The
phone interrupted her panic.
      “Hello?”
      “Elsie,”
Ida bellowed into the receiver. “Someone here for a room. No reservation. What
do you want me to do?”
      She
dashed to the window. Sure enough, there was an Audi parked outside. Asher
always rented Audis.
      “I
know, Ida. Give him the keys to the Governor’s Suite. I’ll take care of it.”
      Taking
a deep breath, she left her room. Time to face the musician .
    ––––––––
      “A sher!
Put your clothes on.” She hadn’t expected to find him sprawled out on the bed,
naked. The man worked fast. “Aren’t you supposed to be heart broken or
something?”
      He
looked at her with sad blue eyes. “I am, Elsie. I’m crushed.”
      “Then
why are you naked?” She tried to keep her voice down but she was feeling
hysterical.
      Asher
looked at her as if she were the odd one. “I told you I was coming for a
cuddle.”
      “Well,
newsflash, Ash. You can cuddle with your clothing on. Really. It’s true. I know
it’s hard to believe, but thousands...millions of people do it every day.”
      She
tossed a white terry robe at him. “I refuse to talk to you until you cover up.”
      “So
no cuddle?”
      “Not
until I get the whole story, no,” she said from across the room, well out of
arm’s reach. She knew from experience that Asher had no shame, and wouldn’t
think twice of chasing her around the room.
      “Well,
I was caught up in the romance, you know. And so I thought we should get
married. So off we went, me and Nina, to this nice little spot near Cozumel.”
He looked around the room. “Not as classy as this place, but well, I didn’t
think you’d appreciate me getting married here.”
      Am
I an idiot magnet? Is that what my problem is?
      “Thanks for that,” she said,
rolling her eyes.
      “So
here I was, trying to be open with her. No point going into a marriage full of
lies, is there? And when she asked if she was the only woman I’d ever taken to
Mexico, I couldn’t lie.”
      “You
could have,” Elsie said. “Really, you could have.”
      “No.
I had to tell her about Anna.”
      “Anna?”
A cold chill crept down Elsie’s back. Not me? Anna? She gulped. “Who’s
Anna?” Do I want to know?
      “Have
I never told you about Anna?” He looked genuinely surprised. “I met her not
long after Julia dumped me. Remember that? She left me right here in this
room.”
      “Hard
for me to forget, since she left you because she found us in that bed.” Not one
of her better moments. In fact, every moment with Asher was not one of her
better moments. What had she been thinking these past three years? Elsie’s
brain was trying to process this new information.
      He
laughed. “Yea, that was a bit of foul luck, wasn’t it? But I might not have met
Anna if Julia had come back to London with