because every time heâd been with a woman the past few months, heâd imagined that woman was Muriel and heâd been disappointed when heâd realized she wasnât.
âI would never make the mistake of thinking you could love me,â he assured her. âI donât think youâre any more capable of really falling in love than I am.â
âI was married,â she said, âuntil you ended that.â
âYou ended that with your cheating.â
She lifted her hand, but before she could swing it toward his face, he caught her wrist. Through gritted teeth, she told him, âI did not cheat.â
He snorted again, almost amused over her show of righteous indignation. She could be one of those models who easily crossed over into acting; she had the skills. âSo how did your ex find so many witnesses who testified otherwise then?â
Her green eyes widened. âMy ex...? He found the witnesses? I thought you didâyou or that PR firm.â
âYeah, that was your second mistake when you forged those notes that supposedly came from my case files,â he said. âYou made it sound as though I found the witnesses.â He shook his head. âAnd that wasnât true.â
She glared at him. âWhat those witnesses said wasnât true. They perjured themselves and you knew it.â
âAnd that was your first mistake,â he said. He stepped closer now, pressing his chest up against her breasts. âTrying to blame me for your bad choices.â
âBad choices?â she repeated. âMy only bad choice was getting married in the first place.â
He nodded. âIn that, we are in complete agreement. Marriage is always a mistake.â His parentsâ marriage had showed him that. Their constant fighting was why heâd run away from home for a while in his teenage years. âPeople arenât meant to be monogamous.â
âMany people are,â she said.
He shook his head now. âNot people like you and me, Muriel.â He skimmed his fingertips along her jaw, down her throat to push her sweater from one shoulder. Then he toyed with that bow again. He was so tempted to tug it loose. So damn tempted.
His fingers twitched and the bow began to loosen. Then the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.
Muriel stepped back through the doors. But as she did, she reached out and struck a button on the control panel. The doors closed as she turned and ran down the hall.
Ronan wasnât sure what floor they had stopped on, or if it had even been her floor, or if she had just really wanted to get away from him. Before he could look at the numbers above the doors, the elevator began to move againâheading downâuntil it stopped in the lobby.
He hesitated a moment before he stepped through the open doors. Heâd changed his mind about trying to apologize to Bette again. It was probably better for Simon if Ronan didnât talk to her at all. He suspected sheâd already told him all that she knew. No. If he wanted to get to the bottom of the documents that had been given to the bar association, he needed to talk to Muriel again. But he would have to do that another timeâbecause if he tracked her down now, after that kiss and seeing her nipples pushing against that camisole, he would do a hell of a lot more than talk to her.
* * *
Legs trembling, heart pounding, Muriel leaned back against her apartment door. Sheâd turned the deadbolt, so even if heâd followed her, he would not be able to get inside her place. But she didnât think heâd followed her. The elevator doors had closed before heâd had a chance to step through them.
But he could track her down...especially now that he knew where sheâd moved after the divorce. While the building was nice, her apartment was smallâmuch smaller than her old place. Maybe Ronan didnât realize she lived here; maybe heâd thought she was just visiting Bette.
Then she should have gotten off on another floor...because she wouldnât put it past him to knock on every door until he found her.
He was furious with her for reporting him to the bar association. Why was he so angry? Because heâd been caught? Or because he hadnât suborned perjury, as heâd tried to claim?
She could understand his anger if heâd done nothing wrong. That was how sheâd felt over her divorce proceedings. Sheâd been maligned in court and in the media, and she hadnât done anything of which sheâd been accused. She had definitely not cheated.
Sheâd taken her vows seriously. Sheâd been monogamous. That was all she knew. Even before sheâd gotten married, sheâd never dated more than one man at a time. And since the disastrous divorce, she hadnât even started dating again.
Maybe that was why Ronan Hall had affected her so much. Or maybe it hadnât been him at all. Maybe it had been the elevator malfunctioning and making her fear that they were about to plunge to their deaths. With her emotions so heightened, it was no wonder she might feel attracted to him.
And it wasnât as if he wasnât good-looking and sexy...
But still, she should hate him, not desire him. And she did hate him.
But what if he wasnât responsible for those witnesses coming forward? What if those memos from his Street Legal law practice had been forged, as heâd claimed?
No. She couldnât believe that. She knew every one of those witnesses whoâd testified. While they hadnât all been close friends of hers, they were acquaintances. They wouldnât have lied about her without some serious coercion. Arte wouldnât have done that. He hadnât been the man sheâd thought he was, but he wasnât a monster or she wouldnât have married him in the first place. Heâd once been so sweet and charming.
No. Ronan Hall was the monster. And she would prove it. In case those memos werenât sufficient evidence, though, she needed to find more.
Ronan had been attracted to her, too. And she didnât think it was because heâd been scared. No. He was attracted to her because of how she looked. Her looks were whyâdespite her reputation being smearedâher career hadnât suffered like sheâd worried it would. Magazines and designers said she sold copy and clothes, maybe even more so since she had become so notorious.
But she hadnât wanted to be notorious. And she was mortified that so many people believed those lies about her and that her grandparentsâthe sweet couple whoâd raised herâhad heard those lies. About affairs and orgies and sex parties...
While they knew her too well to believe them, they had to contend with the comments from their friends, from their fellow parishioners, from their neighbors...
That was why she hated Ronan Hall. Not so much for what heâd done to her as for what heâd done to them. She wanted him to suffer like they had. That was why sheâd turned those papers sheâd received over to the bar association. But maybe she should have had them authenticated first. Sheâd thought Bette had given
