Witness Read Online Free

Tell them we want someone older or younger or… Hell! Tell them anything, but get rid of Ashe.”
    â€œI believe he still cares about you.” Carol smiled, deepening the faint lines in her face.
    â€œMother!”
    â€œIt’s been eleven years, Deborah, and you haven’t had one serious relationship in all that time. Doesn’t that tell you anything about your own feelings?”
    â€œYes. It tells me that I’m a smart girl. I learn from my mistakes.”
    â€œIt tells me that you’ve never gotten over Ashe McLaughlin, that somewhere deep down, in your heart of hearts, you’re still in love with him.”
    Deborah couldn’t bear it. Her mother’s words pierced the protective wall she had built around her heart. She didn’t love Ashe McLaughlin. She hated him. But she knew only too well how fine a line there was between love and hate.
    â€œI’ve hardly had time to date, let alone find the man of my dreams. Have you forgotten that I was in my senior year of college when Daddy died and I had to complete my courses for my degree and step in at Vaughn & Posey?” Deborah paused, waiting for her mother to comment. Carol said nothing.
    â€œThen I had to earn my Realtors’ license and work damn hard to fill Daddy’s shoes at the firm,” Deborah said. “Over the last few years while other firms have floundered, I’ve kept Vaughn & Posey in the black, making substantial gains each year. Over the last five years, we’ve been involved in two different subdivision developments.”
    Carol held up her hand, signaling acquiescence. “I know what a busy young woman you’ve been. But other people lead busy lives and still find time for romance.”
    â€œI don’t need any romance in my life. Have you also forgotten how my foolishly romantic illusions about love nearly destroyed my life eleven years ago?”
    â€œOf course I haven’t forgotten. But there’s more at stake than my desire to see you and Ashe settle things between you. Your life is in danger—real danger. Charlie Blaylock can only do so much. You need twenty-four-hour-a-day protection, and Ashe is highly qualified to do the job I’ve hired him to do.”
    â€œWhat makes him so highly qualified?”
    â€œHe was a Green Beret for ten years and joined, what I am told, is the best private security agency in the South. If you won’t agree to his staying here for any other reason, do it for me. For my peace of mind.”
    â€œMother, really. You’re asking a great deal of me, aren’t you? And you’re putting Allen at risk. What if Ashe were to suspect the truth? Do we dare take that kind of chance? How do you think Allen would react if he found out that everything we’ve told him is a lie?”
    Tears gathered in the corners of Deborah’s eyes. She blinked them away. No tears. Not now. She cried only when she was alone, where no one could see her. Where no one would know that the strong, dependable, always reliable Deborah Luellen Vaughn succumbed to the weakness of tears. Since her father died, she had learned to be strong—for her mother, for Allen, for those depending upon Vaughn & Posey for their livelihoods.
    â€œEven if Ashe learns the truth, he would never tell Allen.”
    â€œHow can you be so sure?”
    â€œIntuition.”
    Deborah groaned. Sometimes her mother could be incredibly naive for a fifty-five-year-old woman. “I don’t want Ashe McLaughlin to become a part of our lives.”
    â€œHe’s always been a part of our lives.” Carol glanced up at the oil painting of Allen at the age of three, hung over the fireplace beside the portrait of a three-year-old Deborah. “All I ask is that you allow him to stay on as your bodyguard until after Lon Sparks’s trial. If you feel nothing for Ashe excepthatred, then his being here should do nothing more than annoy you. Surely you can