The Rival

by Joanne Rock

  Regina’s gaze flew to Devon’s. She reached to grab his wrist. Was she hopeful? Nervous? Maybe a little of both.

  “And?” he prodded, even as his stomach rebelled at the idea of his father being implicated in any wrongdoing. It was bad enough he’d written the book that hurt Regina in the first place.

  “He frequently visited a cabin in Kalispell, Montana, that belonged to a woman I believe was a romantic interest.” April paused, and in that moment of quiet, his phone chimed with a new notification. “I just sent you her contact information.”

  More women in his father’s life. No real surprise there, since Alonzo had once told Devon’s mother that he thought marriage “killed the creative spirit.” Alonzo had long considered himself a lover and admirer of women in general, but never one in particular.

  And damn, but Devon needed to keep Alonzo Salazar’s name out of the public eye until after his mother’s wedding. His mom didn’t need any of the old frustrations resurfacing now. His father’s choices might have soured Devon on relationships, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t applaud his mother’s ability to find faith in love.

  Beside him, Regina let go of his wrist, and the loss of her touch frustrated him. It reminded him she was going to slip away, too, if he couldn’t figure out how and why his father had written the tell-all book about her family.

  He glanced down at the incoming text on his cell.

  “Fallon Reed.” Devon read the name aloud where it flashed on his screen. “I don’t remember him ever mentioning her.”

  He looked to Regina, but she shook her head.

  “The email I sent to her came back with a notification that the account no longer exists, but I’ll drive to Kalispell to speak to her if I have to.” The investigator shuffled some papers on her end of the call. “But Ms. Reed is significant because she’s related to one of the owners of Mesa Falls Ranch.”

  “Which one?” Regina asked before Devon could. Her fingers clenched the duvet cover again, dragging it higher against her bare body.

  Devon could feel her anxiety in the way her muscles coiled as she went still.

  “My mistake. Make that a relation to two of the owners,” April corrected herself. “Fallon Reed is an aunt to Weston and Miles Rivera.”

  “Is there any reason to think this woman profited from Alonzo’s novel?” Regina asked, her voice tinged with worry.

  Or was it defensiveness? Restrained anger?

  Whatever the emotion behind the question was, Devon could tell it was intense. She bit her lip, breathing hard.

  “Not as of yet.” April’s tone was cautious, as if she didn’t completely rule the idea out. “Tracing the payments from the book is proving difficult, as I explained to Devon.”

  He felt Regina’s gaze land on him. Was the look in her eyes accusatory?

  Something about her expression struck him as frustrated, almost as if he’d betrayed her.

  April went on to outline her next steps—interview the yoga instructor, return to Montana, then speak to Weston Rivera and possibly visit Fallon Reed. Devon only half listened as she bade them good-night, however. He was more concerned with Regina’s reaction that he couldn’t quite read.

  By the time he disconnected the call, Regina was sliding out of bed, wrapping a chenille throw around her shoulders.

  “Where are you going?” He grabbed his pants and stepped into them, wondering what he’d missed.

  “I thought you were sharing the information from this investigation?” She lost no time retrieving her skirt and sweater.

  “I am.” He followed her until she disappeared into the en suite bath, where he stopped outside the partially closed door. “That’s why I took the call with you, so you could hear what’s going on.”

  What was she upset about? He could hear her rustling around in there while he searched for his shirt.

  “Yet you never mentioned one word to me about tracing payments from the book, let alone why it was proving difficult.” She flung the investigator’s words back at him before she emerged from the bathroom with her clothes back in place.

  Her hair fell loose around her shoulders now. He also thought her sweater might be inside out, but he said nothing about that, seeing the emotions blaze in her eyes.

  She really thought he was hiding things from her.

  “There was nothing to tell,” he reminded her, trying to put himself in her position. Trying to understand how she could be so defensive so fast. “You heard that for yourself from April.”

  “I disagree.” Pivoting on her heel, she stalked out of the bedroom and back into the cabin’s living area. “You could have explained to me why there is a holdup,” she said even as she barreled around the room, finding her bag to toss her hair bow into it. “We could have had a conversation about why it’s difficult, or you could have shared the obstacles with me. But I am in the dark, Devon. As I always have been where your father’s motives are concerned.”

  “Whoa.” He saw her silhouetted in front of the Christmas tree where they’d been having fun decorating just an hour ago. “Let me tell you now—I understand how important it is to you.”

  It hadn’t been his intention to hide significant parts of the investigation. And it saddened him to see how carefully she needed to weigh his words. To test them for truth.

  No question about it, Regina had been hurt before.

  He reached out to brush a touch along her shoulder. Gently. Carefully.

  “Give me a chance,” he said, not sure when it had become so important that she let him in. But somehow, it had. “If you don’t like what I have to say, I’ll make sure you get back to the bunkhouse safely. Okay?”

  Another interminable moment passed. In the end, she nodded.

  He reached for the remote on the side table to shut off the holiday tunes. With the room quiet and Regina listening, he shared what April had told him about his father hiring a nominee service to collect the payments from the publisher to A. J. Sorensen. Briefly, he explained how they worked, based on the research he’d done since then.

  “Apparently, Dad contracted a nominee through a lawyer, which gave him attorney-client privilege, as well.” He’d read over April’s notes more carefully after their meeting to discover that, learning how it gave his father’s pseudonym an added level of privacy.

  Regina folded her arms around herself, her brows knitting in thought. She paced past him, setting her purse back on the couch now that she wasn’t heading out the door.

  He was relieved about that. Grateful to have her stay. And damn it, he wanted to get to the bottom of what his father had been doing—for her sake and, yes, for his own, as well. He just wished the timing had been better since he couldn’t afford for the truth to come out now.

  “So the nominee service is still active,” she mused. “And still covered by the attorney-client privilege.” Pausing by a painting of one of the ranch’s studs, she met Devon’s gaze. “Which makes you wonder how she learned about it in the first place.”

  “I didn’t question her methods.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, frustrated. “With everything it’s taking to get the launch event off the ground, I really need April to do her job so I can take care of mine.”

  Moreover, as much as he wanted answers for Regina’s sake, he wasn’t in that much of a hurry for the truth to come tumbling out before his mother’s wedding.

  Not that Regina would necessarily run to the tabloids to share the news. But what if she decided to do just that?

  “Maybe it’s time we give April some backup.” She picked up her purse again, a new spark of determination in her eyes as she hooked the strap over her shoulder. She looked like a woman ready to head out the door again.

  “What do you mean?” Wariness crept through him even as he grabbed his keys from a hook near the kitchen counter.

  “April Stephens has the
best lead yet on your father’s secrets.” Regina was already moving toward the coat rack to retrieve her parka and gloves. “And while her hands might be tied with how hard she can push her sources as a professional investigator, mine are not.”

  “Just because you ask her to reveal her sources doesn’t mean she will.” He took the coat from her to help her into it, tugging her hair from the collar. “That could be proprietary information.”

  He didn’t want their evening together to end, but he didn’t plan on standing in her way when she was on fire to get answers to her questions. Even if that meant he had to face more hard truths about his father, the man he’d never known as well as he’d thought. The facts needed to come out before either of them could find peace. He’d bring her back to the bunkhouse and then figure out his next move.

  As much as he didn’t want to call his brother in Paris let alone admit Alonzo’s murky past was proving tough to investigate, Devon wondered if he should give Marcus a heads-up about what April had discovered so far. Devon’s longtime rivalry with his half brother needed to end if they were going to present a united front when the truth about Alonzo was revealed.

  He hadn’t wanted to believe his father was involved in anything illegal, but considering the lengths Alonzo had gone to in order to keep his secrets, it sure made Devon wonder.

  “If April has run out of options for shaking more information free from her source, she might be glad for a new approach.” Regina tugged on her gloves and studied him with a level gaze. “I got the impression that April has a lot riding on this case, too.”

  Devon thought back to his meeting with April Stephens. She’d been professional. Thorough. Committed. But he hardly got the impression she had anything personal at stake.

  Not like they did.

  Regina reached for the door, but he put his hand over hers, needing to slow things down. The feel of her sent a bolt of desire through him, but he restrained himself for now.

  “I’m not so sure about that,” he told her. “But I can promise you we’re going to have answers sooner or later.”

  He didn’t miss the shadows that passed through Regina’s eyes as she stared back at him.

  “It has to be sooner.” She threaded her fingers through his, her touch as urgent as her tone. “I’ve been waiting far too long for answers already.”

  Worry gnawed at him as he opened the door and escorted her out into the snow. Regina was desperate for her quest to yield information. Now.

  And more than anything, Devon needed time. To get past his mother’s wedding, for damn sure. But maybe more important, he needed time to figure out why Regina had so thoroughly rocked his world and what the hell he was going to do about it.

  Ten

  Regina retreated to her trusty laptop, the same way she had for years every time she heard about a new piece of information that might finally solve the puzzle of why someone would write a book that ruined her life.

  After she’d said good-night to Devon, she slipped into the bunkhouse bathroom and changed into flannel pajama pants and a long-sleeved thermal T-shirt. Combing through her hair—tangled from lovemaking—she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret that the need to research the clues had sent her fleeing Devon’s arms for the night.

  She’d had a good evening with him. No, that didn’t do their date justice. She’d had a special, amazing time decorating the tree with him and then retreating to his bed, where their sensual connection had blazed into a bond she would have never expected to feel for her enemy’s son.

  And that left her feeling more than a little unsettled. Confused. Full of what-ifs... Most of all, what if they’d met on even, uncomplicated ground.

  Turning from the mirror, she emerged from the bathroom to retrieve her laptop, telling herself not to dwell on a relationship that could never go farther than this time together in Montana. Devon’s launch event and his mother’s wedding were both less than a week away, and as soon as everything was over, he’d be on a flight back East.

  Without her.

  She tucked her brush into her toiletries bag and hung her wrinkled clothes in the nook near her bed, trying not to think about how much that might hurt. They hadn’t known each other long, after all. And yet he’d become more important to her faster than anyone she’d ever known. Who else had taken up her cause for answers the way Devon had this week? He hadn’t protested when she’d left his cabin tonight. He’d understood her need to dig deeper for answers about his father.

  Her gaze went to her laptop in its neoprene case at the bottom of her drawer, and she withdrew it slowly, thinking about all the times Hollywood Newlyweds had robbed her of real-life experiences. She still ached over how the book had fractured her family life, robbed her of friendships and nearly cost her her life in the car wreck. Therapy had helped, but she still hadn’t found the peace she so desperately needed. And now she was spending her time picking apart the mystery of the author and his motives when she could be lounging in bed with a gorgeous, successful businessman who genuinely seemed to care about her.

  How much more would she let the book steal from her?

  Behind her, she heard the floorboards creak and turned to see Millie wander in with a steaming mug in one hand and a paperback novel in the other.

  “Hey, hon,” the older woman greeted her, laying the book on an unused bed. A kitschy reindeer cocktail ring clanked against her stoneware mug as she wrapped both hands around the cup as if to keep her fingers warm. “How was your date?”

  Regina smiled over how Millie had remembered she was seeing Devon tonight and cared enough to ask how it went. Touched, she set down the laptop and leaned her hip into the ladder on the sturdy built-in bunks.

  “It’s hard to say.” She breathed in the scent of hot cocoa, soaking in the joy of a friendship from an unexpected source. “We had a great time decorating a tree and...” Her cheeks warmed. “Um. Getting close.”

  A wicked twinkle glowed in Millie’s eyes. “Sounds fun. Which begs the question, what are you doing back home already?”

  Was it a burning need to do April Stephens’s investigative work for her? Or was there more to it than that?

  “I thought I had a good reason.” She’d attended enough counseling sessions to identify an attempt to rationalize her choices. “But I’m wondering now if it was old trust issues that sent me running.”

  Frowning, Millie took a sip of her cocoa before responding. “It’s always a risk trusting people—friends, parents, coworkers...romantic interests.”

  “There’s a high potential for hurt in those relationships.” Regina should know. She’d been kicked in the teeth by life enough times to have all the survival badges. “Is it so wrong to want to spare myself that pain? To just have fun?”

  Mille tilted her head to one side, her steel-gray ponytail swinging down. “But are you having fun?”

  No.

  She was mostly having stress.

  “Sort of,” she said finally, smoothing her hand over the peacock blue quilt on her bed. Her maternal grandmother had given it to her long ago, and the pattern was “double wedding ring.” A romantic name for a pretty design. A dream that seemed far out of reach for her, considering her parents’ spectacular failure and her experience with rejection. “I mean, I had fun tonight.”

  “And maybe that will be enough.” Millie patted her shoulder, a brief, comforting touch. But as the silence between them stretched, she added, “Just keep in mind that if you always play it safe with people, you might miss out on the chance for deeper connections that can lead to something really wonderful.”

  Regina knew she could never put herself on the line that way with Devon. There was zero chance that their out-of-control attraction would lead to something “deeper.” It was amazing they’d already found as much common ground as they had. Because even if she ignored the way the book put them at odds, they were sti
ll very different people. Devon was an entrepreneur with a company on the verge of international expansion and she was drifting through different jobs while she chased her dream of payback.

  Regina hadn’t even really figured out what to do with her life once she put the ghosts of the past to rest. Devon had a family to go home to back East. She was untethered, isolated from the only family she had left. Her real father didn’t have room for her in his life, while she and her mother had never really put their relationship back together again.

  “Perhaps you’re right.” Regina wondered how she could move forward with her mom. Put the past behind them for good.

  “Just remember to take some risks now and then,” Millie encouraged her, warming to her topic and gesturing as she spoke, the crystals on her reindeer ring flashing in the glow from a pendant light. “None of us goes through life unscathed. We’re all going to get banged up and bruised now and then, but that’s part of the ride, honey. You take the risks to reap the sweet rewards.”

  They talked a little longer before Millie went back to the front room with her book. But the idea of taking chances stayed with Regina.

  Once she was alone in the bunkhouse, she retrieved her phone and stuffed her arms into the sleeves of her parka before stepping out of the building into the starry night.

  A light snow was falling as she dialed a number she hadn’t used in a long time. She began to wonder if she’d get an answer when she heard a recorded voice and a beep.

  Regina took a deep breath.

  “Hello, Mom. It’s me.” She closed her eyes, wishing things were easier between them. “Call me back when you get a minute.”

  She didn’t know if Tabitha would return the message, but Regina hoped so. She might not be able to smooth over things with Devon the way Millie suggested, but at least she could start rebuilding her relationship with her mother.

  For now, it would have to be enough.

  * * *

  April Stephens had stalked men in her line of work before. A couple of cheating husbands in the early days before she’d specialized in financial forensics. Later, she’d tailed some business types suspected of embezzlement. Sometimes she followed potential leads who simply didn’t want to talk to her.