One Night, Two Secrets

by Katherine Garbera

  * * *

  When they finally arrived in Cole’s Hill, Siobahn decided to stay at the house but Scarlet was eager to find Mauricio right away and talk to him about the pregnancy. She had Lulu in the large bag that she carried her in when they were in a new place and Billie by her side as they drove into town for coffee.

  She wasn’t sure what kind of man he was; after all they’d spent only one night together and they’d both been drinking and dancing and laughing. When she’d woken up the next morning, he’d been gone, and she didn’t blame him after she’d seen the paparazzi pictures from the night before that had ended up on TMZ.

  Her life wasn’t for everyone, but she’d gotten used to it. Tara used to say they’d been born a goldfish bowl and like good little guppies they’d learned how to preen for the press. There were times when Scarlet wished for a simpler, less public life, but to be honest she loved it most days.

  In this town, though, no one seemed to pay her the least bit of attention. She could get used to this. When she stopped into the coffee shop to get her coconut milk latte, everyone left her alone.

  “Do you know the Velasquez family?” Scarlet causally asked the barista after ordering.

  “Everyone knows them. They’re legends in Cole’s Hill. I think they’ll all be out at the new polo grounds today. I don’t follow the sport but there’s a former professional scheduled to play today... Dee, do you remember his name?” the barista asked the woman at the espresso machine.

  “Bartolome Figueras. He’s also a model. Oh, my, he’s good-looking,” Dee said.

  “He is,” Scarlet agreed. She had met him and his sister at a polo match in Bridgehampton earlier in the summer. She might even have his number. “I love polo. Do you think that we could attend the match?” Scarlet said, turning to Billie, who smiled.

  “I’m sure you could. They’ve been doing monthly matches to raise money for a housing charity that Mauricio Velasquez runs,” the barista said. She pushed a button on her register and some receipt paper came out. She ripped it off and jotted down a website.

  “I think you can get all of the information from here,” she said, handing the paper to Scarlet. “Have fun.”

  When they had their orders, Scarlet and Billie walked out of the coffee shop toward the parking lot.

  “That was surprisingly easy,” Billie said.

  “It was. Let’s go home and get changed. I bet Siobahn will want to join us,” Scarlet said.

  “I don’t know about that. She’s sort of in a funk this morning.”

  Scarlet stopped walking and turned to her assistant. Billie had been picking up the slack the last few days, looking after Siobahn for her while Scarlet had been trying to figure out this pregnancy thing. She hadn’t mentioned the test results to anyone, even Billie. Only she and Dr. Patel knew.

  “I should have stopped in to see her. I’m sorry I’ve been so focused on finding Mauricio.”

  “It’s okay. I’m just saying I don’t know if you’re going to be able to persuade her to come with you to the polo match.”

  “Fair enough,” Scarlet said.

  They went back to the house. While Billie tracked down contact info for Bartolome Figueras’s assistant and texted her to put their names on the VIP list, Scarlet talked with Siobahn. She wasn’t in the mood to leave the house, so Scarlet left Lulu with her.

  The polo grounds were busy when they arrived. Billie went to see if she could find out where the stables were. Scarlet moved through the crowds, searching the men who were dressed in traditional polo shirts and jodhpurs, scanning for the one she’d spent the night with.

  She saw Bart first, and heard his sister Zaria’s laughter. Scarlet smiled at the sound of it. The Argentinean heiress had a big, bold laugh that matched her personality. Scarlet headed toward them, then noticed Mauricio Velasquez was standing in the same group. He had his arm around a very pretty woman with thick dark curly hair that hung to the middle of her back. She watched them for a minute. Maybe she was his sister. But then he bent to kiss the woman, and not in a sisterly way.

  Scarlet had never in her life been a timid person, and seeing the father of her unborn child kiss another woman made her angry. For a split second she realized she’d had a little fantasy of some sort of perfect rendezvous where they’d instantly agree to spend the rest of their lives together.

  It was as if she’d forgotten she was an O’Malley and that kind of thing wasn’t in the cards for her. She didn’t do commitment. She wasn’t programmed for long term. She’d seen what that had done to her mother, who couldn’t handle being left by Scarlet’s father as he’d moved on to someone younger, hotter and a little bit wilder.

  Tara had been the same as their father, living fast and hard and burning bright for such a short time. But Scarlet had been confused, caught between two opposites. On the one hand, she had the dream of having the perfect family that at times she saw in old pictures of the O’Malleys taken when she was a child. And then there was the reality that she had never been responsible for anyone but herself.

  O’Malleys were better when they only had to look out for themselves. It was what they were the best at...that and doing something outrageous and creating scandal.

  Plastering a smile on her face, she strode determinedly toward the group, forcing herself not to look at the woman or Mauricio again. Instead she’d just play it cool and pretend she was here to see Bart. But as she got closer, she couldn’t prevent her gaze from straying to Mauricio.

  He was still handsome—damn him. For a brief second she wondered if there was a world where the Velasquez good would balance out her O’Malley bad. She’d heard nothing but good things about the Velasquez family and how close knit they were.

  And it had created a longing inside her for the family that she’d never had and had always been a little curious about. Even though she wasn’t built for commitment, it might be nice to be a part of this kind of thing for real.

  “Scarlet,” Bart said in his wonderfully accented English. “What a surprise! I’m glad you’re here. Please meet my friends Mauricio Velasquez and his fiancée, Hadley Everton.”

  Fiancée?

  What the hell?

  She turned toward the man she thought she knew and noticed the set of his shoulders and the scar on his eyebrow. The man she’d slept with didn’t have that. What the hell was going on?

  “Hello, Mauricio,” she said. “I believe we’ve met. At that gala in Houston.”

  “Well, actually—” Mauricio began.

  “I’m the one you’re looking for,” a male voice said from behind her.

  She turned to face the man and was struck speechless. He was a mirror image of Mauricio. He had a twin? In that moment, Scarlet realized that in true O’Malley fashion this situation had gone from bad to worse. A baby scare from a one-night stand? Sure, it happened. But learning that her baby daddy was an impostor, a virtual stranger whom she knew nothing about... Well, that was the old O’Malley bad luck.

  Two

  Alec really wished he’d figured out a way to send that email. The look on Scarlet’s face as she turned to face him was one of shock, followed quickly by disdain and anger. He’d actually never had a woman look at him like that before and he didn’t like it.

  He prided himself on being a good guy.

  He had always treated women with respect—he had a sister after all. He never wanted to be the kind of man who did anything to incur this kind of look.

  In his head words swirled around like computer code when he was trying to figure out a new algorithm. He sorted through them with lightning speed.

  But this wasn’t the time to really talk. Bart, Mo, Hadley and the others were all staring at him. Mo and Hadley at least knew what was going on, but to everyone else... It had to seem crazy.

  He reached for Scarlet’s arm, to draw her away and speak privately, trying to ign
ore the fact that her honey-blond hair, falling in waves to her shoulders, seemed even thicker and more tempting than he remembered. Her gray-green eyes sparkled with temper as she shrugged away from his arm and turned, the full skirt of her flowy dress swinging around her legs. Her shoulders were straight as she headed toward a copse of trees on the edge of the polo grounds. Alec had no choice but to follow her.

  She stumbled on the grass and he reached out to steady her.

  “Thanks.”

  He nodded. He couldn’t believe she was here. Or that his lie had been found out in such a public way. He knew he’d screwed up.

  When they finally reached the shade of the trees, he immediately launched into an apology. “I’m sorry. I should have told you everything that night. Mauricio was sick with food poisoning and he asked me to step in and accept the award for him. For some reason, I thought it would just be easier to let everyone think I was Mauricio, instead of having to explain his absence. I didn’t want the organizers to think that Mo had blown them off. It goes back to how we handled things like this when we were young. I should have told you, too, but by the time I realized my mistake, it was too late,” he said.

  She tipped her head back, lifting the hat that he hadn’t realized she was carrying in one of her hands and settling it over her hair. Then she drew out a pair of large dark sunglasses and put them on.

  “I don’t accept your apology,” she said. “Who are you? I don’t even know your name.”

  Shame made him shake his head. How could he ever make this up to her? “I’m Alejandro. Mauricio and I are twins. My friends call me Alec.”

  “That’s good to know, Alejandro. I think you should have told me when we got back to my hotel room.”

  “We were too busy with...other things to talk at that point,” he said in his defense. “But you’re right. I definitely should have stopped and told you who I was. I meant to do it in the morning but by then our photo was going viral and I knew my brother was going to be in hot water with Hadley. And I rushed out to try to warn him. Not that you should take that as an excuse.”

  She crossed her arms under her breasts and his gaze drifted down for a moment. He enjoyed the deep V of the bodice of her wrap dress before he realized what he was doing and brought his eyes back up to meet hers.

  “Fair enough. I get why you left,” she said.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. Was it actually that easy? He’d been afraid to let her know and now it seemed his worry had been for nothing. He might actually be able to ask her out and maybe get something started.

  She nodded. “Actually, I need to talk to you about that night.”

  Talking was good. Right? He was a practical man. A rational man. But he’d been raised by parents who believed in fate and destiny, and a part of him thought Scarlet’s presence in Cole’s Hill had to be more than just coincidence. But what was it?

  He easily attributed his longing for her to the fact that one night hadn’t been enough for him. It never was. One weekend...maybe. But one night—no way! Now he was standing in front of her and that ache he’d felt when he’d been trying not to think about her for the last six weeks was stronger than ever. So he wasn’t going to walk away from it.

  He’d learned early on that the more he denied he wanted something, the more he craved it. But Scarlet hardly seemed like she was going to give him a second chance.

  And really, did he blame her?

  No, of course not.

  His smart watch buzzed, warning him he needed to head to the barn to get ready for the polo match.

  He scrubbed his hand over his face and wished for once that he had more self-control. Though following his gut had led him to great success in business, this wasn’t the first time it had landed him in hot water with his personal life.

  “I have about ten minutes before the match starts,” Alec said. “My family is having a brunch afterward and I’d love it if you would accompany me. So you can see I’m not a total douchebag.”

  “I don’t think you’re a total douchebag.”

  He almost smiled at the way she said it but he knew he was still in hot water. It reminded him of why he’d hooked up with her. She’d been so spot-on with her descriptions of some of the more pretentious people in the room the night of the awards banquet, they’d sort of started bonding over it.

  “Will you please come with me?” he asked. “They all know what I did...well, at least that I kissed you while pretending to be Mo. So they will definitely understand you’re angry with me.”

  “My assistant is here. Can she come, too?”

  “Yes, of course. I think Bart and Zaria will be joining us, too, so there will be more familiar faces for you.”

  “Fine. I’ll see you after the match,” she said, walking past him in a cloud of feminine ire and Chanel perfume. He glanced over his shoulder, watching her retreat and ignoring the spark of excitement that was spreading through him.

  * * *

  She kept her cool until she was sure she was out of his line of sight and then she finally stopped walking like she had all the confidence in the world.

  Whom the hell had she slept with?

  She’d made some dumb decisions in the course of her life. Heck, who hadn’t, right? But the truth was she was usually pretty picky when it came to bed partners. She didn’t hook up with just every cute guy who came along, despite what the tabloids liked to print about her. And that night... Well, she’d thought she was connecting with Mauricio Velasquez. As for Alejandro—Alec—she’d had no idea she was being tricked like that.

  Ugh.

  “You okay?” Billie asked, coming up next to her.

  “Yeah. I mean no. I don’t know,” she admitted to her assistant. “This isn’t going like I planned.”

  Billie laughed in that honest way of hers and Scarlet couldn’t help smiling. “When does it ever? What’s going on here? You haven’t told me a single deet except you wanted to reconnect with that guy you met in Houston.”

  Scarlet took her sunglasses off and glanced at her friend, trying to find the words. But they still escaped her. This was the kind of situation Tara had always found herself in. Usually Scarlet prided herself on being smarter about her personal life.

  “It’s complicated,” she said.

  “I’m all ears,” Billie said.

  “Well, I can’t say too much here,” Scarlet said, glancing around at all the people gathering on the observation deck to watch the match. There was a bar set up and a small buffet table. The conversation was about the Velasquez brothers; apparently one of them was married to the British jewelry heiress Phillipa Hamilton-Hoff.

  “Later, then?” Billie asked.

  Scarlet nodded.

  “Do you need me? I thought I’d go back to the house and check on Siobahn and then go grocery shopping. I have two interviews lined up for later this evening with private chefs but I’m probably going to have to cook dinner tonight,” Billie said.

  Billie was obviously busy, and a part of Scarlet knew she should just let her get on with her job. What was she going to say to Billie?

  “Scar?”

  She just shrugged and shoved her glasses back on her face and turned away. The quick movement made her stomach churn.

  Crap.

  She didn’t want to throw up here. She couldn’t.

  But she felt the bile in the back of her throat and put her hand in front of her mouth.

  “Bathroom?” she said to Billie.

  “Shit. Too far,” Billie said, quickly realizing that Scarlet was going to throw up. Billie grabbed her hand and they started running away from the crowd as the first chukka of the polo match got under way. Billie drew her behind the side of the barn in the nick of time and Scarlet was sick while Billie squeezed her shoulder and held her hair out of the way.

  When her stomach was empty, Billie handed her a water
bottle and she rinsed her mouth and spit before standing up and turning to her friend. She’d lost her sunglasses somewhere and she needed them.

  She liked the illusion that she was invisible hiding behind the large-framed glasses. And as she saw the surprised look Billie’s brown eyes, she knew she needed to hide. Her friend wasn’t going to buy any excuse. She knew for a fact that Scarlet had been on a detox, eating and drinking healthy.

  “You’re pregnant?”

  Scarlet swallowed, her throat dry and sore. “Yes. But it’s complicated.”

  “The father is that Mauricio guy?” Billie asked, taking a few steps away from Scarlet and picking up her sunglasses from the ground.

  She handed them to Scarlet and she put them on. “I thought so. But the guy has a twin brother. They switched places that night.”

  “Okay, obviously we are mad about this. What do you want me to do? I can reach out to our press contacts and start a smear—”

  “Not yet. I don’t even know this guy. He invited me to join him and his family for brunch after the match. I was hoping you’d come with me,” Scarlet said.

  “Oh, hell yes, I’ll be there. What’s his name?” Billie asked, pulling her smartphone from her pocket.

  “Alejandro Velasquez,” Scarlet said.

  “Shit, are you kidding?”

  “Do you think I’d joke about that? Why? Who is he?”

  “Well, let me do a quick internet search to confirm it but I’m pretty sure he’s a tech genius who owns a billion-dollar software company.”

  “So why would he do something so immature, like pretending to be his brother?” Scarlet asked. “B, what am I going to do? You know my family... I thought—”

  “I’ll do some research while you watch the match. Then at this brunch thing we can see what kind of family he has, what kind of people they are. Maybe the switching-places thing was innocent. Whatever happens you’ve got me by your side,” Billie said as she hugged Scarlet.