Perfect Match: Irresistible Desire For You
Chapter 77

It was none other than Joseph, here in Mexico. “I’m just passing by.” Joseph’s tone was indifferent as he responded to the look of surprise across Ashley’s pretty face.

Ashley pretended to believe him and acted as if he were indeed on a business trip and their meeting was a total coincidence. Having been surrounded by people with blond hair and blue eyes all day, for the first time ever in Ashley’s life, she was very happy to see Joseph and came up to greet him.

“This is a friend from my country. He’s just here on a business trip.” After some small talk, Ashley turned around and introduced him to the young Mexican men, who were all fluent in English.

Everyone stood up and greeted Joseph warmly, but Joseph stood beside Ashley in stony silence.

Ashley stepped in to break up the awkwardness. “Please don’t mind my friend. He suffers from facial paralysis and struggles to talk to others.”

Everyone nodded in concerned understanding and smiled at Ashley, showing they didn’t mind.

Joseph’s handsome face, on the other hand, immediately darkened at her words. He was clearly not happy with her explanation.

‘What on earth is she talking about? How does she have the nerve to say I have facial paralysis? I just can’t stand here and watch her chat with these five cheery blue-eyed men. I can tell they are only after one thing. She’s normally far more astute than this, but she doesn’t seem to have a clue.’ As he thought this, Joseph fixed his cold eyes on Ashley again.

‘My instinct was right that it isn’t safe for a woman to travel alone. It didn’t even take her a day to be preyed on by these men.’ Joseph’s thoughts on the matter were unshakeable.

In fact, after learning from Ashley that she decided to travel to Mexico, Leonard hatched a plan for Joseph to follow her. He felt sure he would protect her. However, there had been a company emergency that Joseph had had to deal with in person, so he hadn’t got around to filling Ashley in on his plan.

Leonard sneakily bought Joseph a ticket to Mexico the very night Ashley visited him. The old man had called Ashley in advance to get the precise date. Joseph was overwhelmed by his grandfather’s foresight and compassion. That night, Leonard solemnly told Joseph that he wanted Ashley to be his granddaughter-in-law. He asked Joseph to marry her as soon as possible.

Joseph hurried to arrange for the Guzman Group’s cooperation and to organize the company’s affairs in the space of two days. He left the company in Zachary’s hands. To everyone’s surprise, Zachary gave a sly smile and accepted the responsibility of acting CEO without hesitation. “Don’t worry. I will take care of the company.”

After saying goodbye to Zachary, Joseph grabbed the plane ticket Leonard bought him and headed off in hot pursuit. Joseph had already arranged for someone to track down Ashley’s exact location. As soon as his flight touched down in Mexico City in the afternoon, he received an instant message from his subordinate in Mexico, giving him Ashley’s whereabouts. He immediately hurried to meet her.

When Joseph arrived at the Plaza de la Constitution, his dark, attractive eyes scanned the crowds for Ashley.

Tall and handsome, Joseph stood out among the crowds of young people. Some bold and enthusiastic girls approached him, but turned away when they saw the coldness of his eyes. He thought Ashley might be avoiding the crowds, and began to search around the square for her. Finally, he found her in the middle of a bustling group of people.

He saw she was surrounded by a group of foreign men, happily chatting as they ate. Despite all reason, Joseph’s b***d began to boil. He turned to face Ashley and looked into the eyes of the woman he had been seeking with a harsh expression on his face.

Ashley was observant, and immediately felt the coldness in Joseph’s eyes. She couldn’t help but feel a little scared. She admitted that she shouldn’t have insulted him in front of everyone. It may have dispelled the awkwardness, but it had incited his anger.

Then, Ashley reached out her slender hands and took hold of Joseph’s arms. She looked up at him apologetically and said, “Hey, don’t be angry with me. I admit that I was wrong. Shouldn’t I be trying to make new friends?”

Feeling the warmth of her arms and of her expression, Joseph began to calm down. “What are you apologizing for?”

Joseph wanted Ashley to admit that she should never have talked to other men so casually, but Ashley didn’t know what he was driving at. She just answered plainly, “It was rude of me to say you had facial paralysis.”

Hearing this, Joseph’s face darkened a little, but he saw her heart was in the right place and tried to hold back his anger. “And what else?” he went on.

Ashley didn’t know what he meant. ‘What is going on? How could I have insulted him in more ways than one with a single sentence?’ At that moment, she felt like meeting an overly serious man like Joseph had been the biggest mistake of all.

Of course, she couldn’t say this to him, or she would risk being frozen to death by the iciness of his eyes. She thought a while, but still didn’t know what she had done wrong. She shook her head honestly and said to Joseph, “I don’t know.” After pausing for a moment, she continued, “Mr. Marshall, I imagine you are busy at work. Please go on without me and don’t worry.”

If she had stopped there, Joseph would not have got so angry, but he couldn’t stomach the idea of her sending him away.

Seeing he was angry once again, Ashley really felt the situation was getting out of control. ‘Why is he constantly angry with me?’ Ashley couldn’t figure it out. ‘All I said was that, as the president of a big international enterprise, he must have a lot of things to deal with. Surely he doesn’t want to waste time here with me?’

“Now that we have run into each other, what shall we do?” Joseph asked, his teeth gritted. Ashley frowned and said nothing.

She simply couldn’t follow Joseph at all. ‘What on earth would we do? Do you think I want to spend time with you?’