Forbidden Passion. Emilie Rose

she lied, and stepped away, but her skin tingled where he’d touched, and the urge to lean on his broad shoulders nearly overpowered her.

      Looking back on it now, she realized she hadn’t been okay since the second year of her marriage when her husband had started systematically eroding her self-confidence. He’d begun with suggesting she dye her hair a more attractive color and then he’d progressed to urging her to get breast implants and collagen in her lips. She’d refused the medical procedures but she’d experimented with hair colors. None had satisfied him, and she’d recently returned to her natural blond.

      She’d wanted so desperately to have the family Brett had promised her before they married, wanted so very much to please him and to turn him back into the man who’d charmed her right out of her disappointment over the end of her relationship with Sawyer. She’d failed on all counts.

      She shook off her depressing thoughts. “Could I have a few minutes alone?”

      “Of course. I’ve spent some time in here myself.” The pain in Sawyer’s voice made her heart ache. She wanted to reach for him but didn’t. With obvious reluctance he backed toward the door. “My extension’s marked on the phone. Ring if you need anything.”

      As soon as the door closed, Lynn lay the photo face-down on the desktop and stepped behind the polished surface. She rifled through the drawers, but she didn’t know what she was looking for. Additional bank accounts? Signs of Brett’s infidelity? A tap on the door made her jump guiltily. She closed the drawer. “Yes?”

      Opal stepped inside with an armload of boxes, which she set in the visitor’s chair. “Would you like some help packing?”