Secrets of You Read Online Free Page A

spoke of mystery and intrigue—and unfortunately reminded her of Alexander Maldonando, a man she’d trusted and who’d only used her to get to his estranged wife. What a mess that had been. All these months later and she still didn’t like to think about the dark handsome man who appeared one day asking about jewelry for his sister—onyx, of course—and ended up almost killing her best friend, Quinn. Some days it seemed long ago; Quinn and Eve were married, had a baby, a life together.
    And Arianna? Life had frozen for her. Alexander was only another bad choice in a string of bad choices—all men-related. The worst, of course, was the man who’d deserted her ten days before their wedding. Ash Revelin. She clutched the polishing cloth and sipped in air. Damn that man.
    “Arianna?”
    That voice. His voice. She looked up and there he was, standing just inside the door, not twenty feet away. Longer, leaner. His dark hair almost shaggy, his skin deep bronze, his face thinner, making his cheekbones and jaw stand out in an almost too-pronounced manner. He looked tired and guarded and his eyes—oh, those brown eyes held her, stroked her, made her want to run to him and— Then she remembered; she hated him. “Hello, Ash.” Amazing she could speak, more amazing still, her words were coherent.
    He moved toward her, those eyes still on her, devouring her with heat and need, and something else? Regret? Sadness? “I bet the last person you expected to walk through that door today was me.”
    “A true understatement.” Were they really going to engage in idle chatter when she wanted to scream, Why did you leave me? Where have you been all this time? And then, Why did you come back?
    He’d reached the counter…less than two feet separated them. She ignored the pounding in her chest when he placed his hands on the top of the glass display case—strong hands, graceful hands, hands that had touched her in ways no man ever had before. “My brother needs me here.”
    “Oh, I didn’t know you had a brother.” Another sad testimony to their relationship.
    “I do. His name’s Pete.” She stared at him. These were not the words she’d imagined him speaking if they ever saw one another again. Not that she’d ever planned to see him again. Men who ditched their fiancées didn’t usually look them up again. They ran. They hid. They remained hidden. Those eyes burrowed into her soul, called back old feelings she’d buried long ago.
    “I have no reason to ask or even hope for another chance, but if you give me one, I promise I’ll never leave you again.”
    Was he serious? “It’s a little late for that.”
    “I love you.” His voice dipped and created a swirl of heat in her belly. “I’ve never stopped loving you.”
    His lips twitched and pulled into that sexy smile she remembered. He wanted time? She hadn’t been able to get out of bed for two weeks after he’d disappeared. He wanted to prove himself? Quinn had been the one to pack up the wedding dress and drive her to a therapist who ordered pills that fogged her memory. He loved her? He had no idea what that word meant.
    “Well—” She turned and opened the drawer behind her. “Love is a powerful thing.” She lifted the polishing cloth and gripped the gun that lay beneath it. Quinn had insisted she learn to shoot the darn thing, had taken her to the range, taught her how to handle it, load it, shoot it. “Such a powerful thing.” She snatched the gun from the drawer, cocked it, and pointed the barrel at Ash Revelin’s cheating heart. “Almost as powerful as hate.”
    “Hey, hey.” He held up his hands and said in a soft voice, “You really want me dead?”
    She cocked the trigger. “Not dead.” She smiled and aimed at his left shoulder. “Just wounded. And scarred, with a stiffness that will remind you of this moment for the rest of your life.”
    “Arianna.”
    He said her name as though he thought she weren’t serious. Well, she was. She