Free All That Lies Broken (Ashmore's Folly Book 2) by Lindsey Forrest Page A

spring. I’d like to take the cruise before we start a family – pregnant women are strongly discouraged from the trip because it’s so far from medical facilities.
    Here’s the link so you can look at the cruise for yourself. Should I see about reserving the Penthouse Suite?
    Love, Mark
    ~•~
    To: Mark St. Bride
    From: Laura St. Bride
    Subject: Read this carefully
    Mark:
1.   My next wedding will be at a high Mass at St. Peter’s, with the Pope presiding.
2.   I spent the weekend in bed with Richard Ashmore.
    Laura
    ~•~
    To: Laura St. Bride
    From: System Administrator
    Subject: Attempt to recall message - failure
    The system could not recall your email message because the recipient had already opened it for reading.
    ~•~
    To: Laura St. Bride
    From: Mark St. Bride
    Subject: RE: Read this carefully
    Dear Laura:
    Not funny.
    I get the message. I’m coming on too strong. We’ll talk tomorrow, if you’ll turn your damn phone on.
    Love, Mark
    PS: I take it that crack about Ashmore was your way of telling me not to take you for granted.
    ~•~
    To: Mark St. Bride
    From: Laura St. Bride
    Subject: Re: Read this carefully
    Mark:
    That crack was my way of telling you that I spent the weekend in bed with Richard Ashmore.
    I get a vote in this. I vote NO. I AM NOT GOING TO MARRY YOU.
    Laura
    PS: Don’t bother to call. I am too angry to talk to you right now.
    PPS: BTW, I am not “dumb as rocks.” I am not “in outer space.” I have a summa cum laude degree in music, and I do NOT appreciate being treated like a simpleton, by you or Cam or your sister or ANYONE ELSE.
     

Chapter 5: Iceberg, Dead Ahead
    “LAURA?”
    She heard his voice calling her from the front of the house, but she did not answer. She sat on the back steps, staring off into the night, her left hand petting Max the length of his body as he lay beside her. Max was possibly the only male on earth that she didn’t hate with a passion right now.
    Cam, Mark, Richard – all of them protecting her, shielding her, treating her as if she was fragile as glass, dumb as rocks. At the moment, she wished them all to perdition. One was permanently out of reach, another had prudently removed himself to the other side of the world, but the third—
    Richard called her name again, louder this time, and she heard him open the side gate door.
    “Laura? Are you back there?”
    She didn’t trust herself to say anything. She’d waited for him since she’d opened the door to the process server, torn between fury and fear. She felt sick at heart – she was at risk, Meg was at risk, and her fledgling bond with Richard was at risk.
    And he had deceived her. That made her sickest of all.
    How could he have kept this from her? He’d known, he must have, before he ever came back to her Friday night. He’d taken her away for the weekend, introduced her to his world, made the most tender love to her she’d ever known in her life, opened his heart to her. We stand together , but not, apparently, when it came to telling her that her sister had subpoenaed her to testify against him.
    Lucy had known too. She had admitted as much when Laura had called to ask for advice. I couldn’t tell you. I’m bound by client confidentiality. Lucy couldn’t help her, because Richard was her client and Laura was now the witness called against him. I’ll find you a lawyer , was all Lucy could promise. First thing in the morning. Don’t worry, Laurie.
    But she couldn’t help but worry. She felt betrayed by both Richard and Lucy; neither of them had trusted her enough to warn her or even think she was grown up enough to handle the truth.
    She was always going to be little Laura Abbott to them.
    “Laura?” Richard appeared at the side of the flagstone terrace, a tall shadow in the late evening darkness. “What are you doing out here? Didn’t you hear me?”
    She sounded rusty and strained to her ears. “I just wanted to sit outside for a while.”
    He came over to her, and she saw