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I think about it. This is too much. You don’t have Christmas decorations or furniture. This place is nice, but I want him to have a great holiday, not be juggled around by his parents.”
    “Kiona.”
    She grumbled. “What?” The anger had helped her get through in the beginning months when their marriage crumbled. Right now, it didn’t work so well. Tears threatened, but she’d be damned if she’d start crying again over him. The drama at his parents’ house, though admittedly a mistake, still hurt. Anne Marie’s existence and her connection to his family made being around him unbearable.
    “I said I give you my pride.”
    “I don’t know what you mean by that, Ridge! What the hell do you want from me?”
    He started toward her but stopped. “I said you needed to trust me, but that was unfair. I held to my guns and let my relationship with you die. I held out simply because I was used to getting my way in business. I was confident you would give in to me, and I didn’t consider how much it must have hurt to think I cheated. I absolutely deny it. I did not once touch Anne Marie. I had no desire to touch any woman other than you after I first saw you at that arts festival.”
    Kiona listened in silence. She couldn’t say she believed him, but for the first time, she wanted to hear everything without shouting at him—and possibly beating him with something blunt.
    “You’re right, I put work before you and Alex. I was driven to get the bigger, better deal, and when I saw that opportunity in San Diego, I chased it. I didn’t think twice about taking Anne Marie because she was my assistant. I know it will be hard for you to believe this, but not five minutes before that call, several men and one woman were in my suite—all there to get the terms of that deal down. We were trying to beat out a competitor. Anne Marie stayed a few extra minutes to get my instructions for the next day. I won’t lie, she’s made her interest clear, but that was early on when we first started working together. I told her I love my wife, and she left it at that. I foolishly thought her desire ended until she began to make a play after you left me. I let her go.”
    This time, Kiona looked at him. “Are you serious?”
    “I am. I haven’t even seen her since then, so my mother bringing her to the house pissed me off and surprised me, and I brought you two here because I refuse to allow my interfering mother to get in the way. No one—and I mean no one —is going to screw with me trying to win you back.”
    The conviction in his tone and the fire lighting his sexy eyes made her believe that last statement. Still she teetered on accepting everything else. How many nights had she lain awake, going over everything, all the times Anne Marie had tried to make them seem closer than Ridge said they were? All the times on the phone, the instances when she visited his office and dealt with the woman. Anne Marie had been subtle, which made it seem all the more real. Give up on Ridge? Oh no, Anne Marie hadn’t given up after he rebuffed her. She had launched an intricate plan, and Kiona with her own insecurities about marrying a wealthy man had handed Ridge over.  She wasn’t so down on herself she didn’t see Ridge’s mistakes, but she hadn’t helped either. She hadn’t snatched Anne Marie bald and sent her back to her uppity family. I should have done that at least.
    “The final way I will give you all of my pride, Kiona, is this.” Ridge took her hand and pulled her over to the bed. Kiona resisted. How the hell was sleeping with her giving up his pride? Ridge made her sit, and he chose the spot beside her. When he took up his cell phone from the bedside table, she figured he had something else in mind. He quick-dialed a number and waited. The muffled voice of another person sounded over the line. “Greg, I know it’s late, but…yeah, everything is fine. About that offer you made me, is it still valid?”
    Kiona seized