One Night, Two Secrets

by Katherine Garbera

  She wasn’t alone. Why, then, did she always feel that way? Billie was the best assistant she’d ever had but, in a way, she was just like the nanny Scarlet and Tara had shared growing up. Paid family. Though she knew Billie wasn’t with her just for a paycheck.

  “Thanks, B,” she said. “This has completely screwed with my head.”

  “That’s saying something. Nothing ever rattles you.”

  She had to smile at that. She had built up a resistance to the kinds of situations that would freak out most people. But this... Maybe it was the fact that Tara wasn’t here for her to talk to about it. Tara would be able to make her laugh about it even though a part of her was hurt.

  Scarlet couldn’t help but think that maybe he hadn’t worried about lying to her because of who she was. Because she was the kind of person who’d lived her life going from one scandal to the next. She had a reputation. So lying to her hadn’t worried him.

  She hoped that wasn’t the case.

  But then she’d learned that hoping was a waste of time. She’d hoped her dad would stop marrying younger women and actually be a parent to her and Tara. She’d hoped that Tara would stop using and get clean. Now she was hoping that Alejandro Velasquez was a decent guy...

  * * *

  Alec had grown up playing polo with his brothers. The Velasquez family had been horse breeders for generations, and Alec’s dad had been playing on a team with Tio Jose and their cousins since they were children. So riding was second nature to Alec. His four-player team generally consisted of Alec, Mo, their eldest brother, Diego, and the youngest Velasquez, Inigo, with either Malcolm Ferris—Mo’s best friend—or their dad often subbing for Inigo, who was gone a lot of the time on the Formula 1 circuit. Technically Inigo wasn’t supposed to play when he was home because of insurance concerns, but the Velasquez men had a problem with following the rules.

  Diego was always number one—the goal striker. He’d always had a good eye for hitting goals, so it made sense for him to play in that position. Alec and Mauricio traded off being number two, the forward, and number three, the pivotal player who switches between offense and defense. Then number four protected the goal. Malcolm was really good at that position and since they’d grown up playing with him, he knew everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.

  But when the third chukka ended, Alec knew his brothers and Malcolm weren’t pleased with his performance. It didn’t help that they were playing against Bart and his friends, who’d all played polo professionally at some point in their lives.

  Alec hung back from the others trying to search out Scarlet in the crowd. He finally spotted her standing with Zaria and laughing at something Bart’s sister had said. Scarlet’s head was thrown back and he felt a jolt of lust just seeing her happiness.

  “You’re not going to be in a state to even talk to her if you don’t get your head in the game,” Mo said, coming over to him.

  His twin was known for his hot temper, but since he and Hadley had gotten engaged, Mauricio hadn’t been giving in to it as often. For a while after Hadley and Mo had broken up he’d been getting into fights with everyone in town and drinking way too much. It had been Mo’s way of dealing with losing Hadley while not having to admit he’d pushed her away.

  “I’m trying,” Alec said. “I wasn’t expecting to see her today. Why is she here? And how am I going to make up for lying about being you?” he asked his twin. She’d thrown him and he wasn’t used to being caught off guard. Part of the reason he was so successful was that he could usually envision all the possibilities in a situation. But this was completely out of left field. He’d done some research on Scarlet—she was known for moving forward and rarely going back to anything or anyone.

  Mo sighed. “Dude, I have no clue but winning the game would probably go a long way to impressing her.”

  Alec knew the outcome of this match didn’t matter to her at all. “I think that would make you happy, not her.”

  “Maybe your right... But damn, you’re in trouble now.”

  “What?” he asked, glancing over at Scarlet and noticing that his sister, who was almost six months pregnant, and his mom had joined the group Scarlet was in.

  Oh crap. That was all he needed: Bianca and his mom over there talking to her. “I wonder if Dad wants to play for me for a minute.”

  “No. Don’t do it. There’s nothing you can say to make anything better. Plus, Dad hasn’t played in a couple of weeks and he’s taking care of Benito,” Mo said, referring to their little nephew. “Come on, time to finish the match.”

  Alec’s performance was as crappy in the last two chukkas as it had been in the first four. He gave his twin a wide berth when they were in the locker room, showering and changing. He wasn’t looking forward to joining his family, who were up on the second-floor balcony of the main barn area. When Diego and Alec had started designing and developing the polo grounds, they’d known they wanted a place for the family to hang out after matches. In fact, Diego was hiring an event manager to run the space as it had become popular with many of the townspeople in Cole’s Hill.

  When he left the locker room, he went to the barn instead of up to the balcony where everyone was waiting, including Scarlet O’Malley. He wished he had his laptop with him but instead he leaned against Dusty his polo pony’s stall, took out his phone, pulled up the internet and deployed the search algorithm that he’d developed to find all imprints left by a person on the web. It wouldn’t help him in time for the brunch he was having with Scarlet and his family, but afterward he’d have a better idea of who she was and why she was here.

  One night in her bed had whetted his appetite for her but he’d resigned himself to never seeing her or touching her again. There was just too much explaining to do, so he’d figured that she’d just be one of those women he thought about wistfully from afar. But now she was back and he wanted her, as badly as he had the first time he’d kissed her.

  Dusty lifted his head and looked toward the barn entrance. Alec turned and saw Scarlet walking through the doors toward him. He took a deep breath as he pocketed his smartphone.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, Alejandro. I was waiting for you upstairs,” she said.

  “Sorry. I wanted to apologize to Dusty for my poor playing today,” he said.

  She tipped her head to the side and studied him. She didn’t say anything, just crossed her arms over her chest and waited.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. But now I know what you look like when you lie.”

  He straightened away from the stall and walked toward her. “No, you don’t. That’s the truth.”

  “Are you sure? Because you have the exact same look on your face as you did when you introduced yourself to me as Mauricio.”

  Three

  He stood there in the middle of the stables looking more at home than he’d been at the gala in Houston. She wondered if she was glimpsing the real man now. But then how would she know? Since they’d been introduced, he’d done nothing but lie to her.

  “I’m sorry I lied to you, Scarlet,” he said. “If there had been a chance to tell you the truth I would have, but I got carried away and the last thing on my mind once we got to your hotel room was explaining the rather complicated fact that I had helped my twin out by pretending to be him.”

  As close as he stood to her she couldn’t help but inhale the spicy, outdoorsy aftershave he wore. She closed her eyes. The scent wasn’t unpleasant, but she was pregnant and it bothered her the slightest bit.

  Damn.

  If she got sick in front of him, she was going to throw the biggest, ugliest fit anyone had ever witnessed. She needed the advantage here. She wanted to find out what kind of man he was before she told him about the baby.

  She took a few steps back and turned toward the horse stalls that held the polo ponies. She didn’t mind horses but hadn’t really ever bee
n a great rider. Tara had been the rider in their family. And since their father always insisted on making a competition of everything the two of them had done, they’d quickly decided not to pursue the same passions.

  The queasiness subsided as soon as she stepped away from him.

  She turned to look back at him over her shoulder. She’d left her sunglasses on when she’d entered the stables and now it was hard to see him. The lenses were very dark, and she couldn’t make out his expression.

  Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. She skimmed her gaze down his body. He wore a pair of white jeans with a black belt that emphasized his narrow waist and the strength of his legs. He also wore a light-colored button-down shirt and gray blazer. She wished he appeared unkempt or wrinkled. But instead he looked like the sophisticated man she’d thought him to be.

  “So you’re a tech guy?” she asked.

  One side of his mouth lifted in a sort of half smile. “You could say that.”

  “I just did,” she quipped. Something she’d learned from a lifetime of dealing with her father—a man she’d never understood and still didn’t really know—was to always stay on her toes.

  “Touché.”

  “What do you do?” she asked.

  “I’ll be happy to tell you about it over brunch,” he said. “Should we go and join the rest of my family?”

  “Not yet,” she said. “I want to know more about you, Alejandro.”

  “Fair enough. I want to know more about you as well, Scarlet. I want to know the woman behind the headlines.”

  She shook her head. No one knew that woman... Well, maybe Tara had, but she was dead. And Billie and Siobahn saw what she wanted them to see. She had never felt comfortable letting someone all the way in. She doubted this man who’d lied to her when they’d first met would be the one.

  “That’s not how it’s going to work,” she said. “It’s not a tit-for-tat thing. You lied about who you are. I didn’t.”

  He came over and reached out, taking her hand in his. When he lifted it to his mouth and kissed it, a shiver went up her arm and awareness spread throughout her body. Here was a reaction she could understand. Lust. Pure and simple.

  “I did lie. I’m incredibly sorry about that. If I could do it over, I would have told you who I was right away. But everything else about that night was me. I wasn’t acting like Mo. He’s much duller than I am.”

  He was inviting her to see the humor in the moment and if she hadn’t been pregnant, if her family hadn’t been the biggest mess on the planet and if she hadn’t thought he was a better man, she might be able to laugh. But there was too much riding on this. She didn’t want to give birth to another tragic little human who was doomed like Tara or her mom, or to be fair, like herself. And this man had been a ray of hope until she’d realized he wasn’t who she thought he was.

  “Are you ever going to be able to forgive me?” he asked.

  Sincerity radiated from every inch of his body. He might be a great guy. She just didn’t know him.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “At least meet the rest of my family. I think you’ll see that I’m not as big of an asshole as you take me for.”

  He dropped her hand and turned away from her, but she stopped him with her hand on his shoulder. She couldn’t help letting her fingers flex against the rock-hard muscles.

  “Did you do it because of who I am?” she asked. It was one thing she needed to have answered before she could move forward.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Did you and your brother believe that lying to me didn’t matter because you think I’m morally bankrupt?” she asked. It was one of the nicer ways her critics had put it over the years.

  “Dios mio, Scarlet. Mo and I never discussed you until after it happened. I told him you were enchanting, beautiful and the kind of woman who made me forget everything but being by your side.”

  She caught her breath. She wanted to believe him. When she looked into his dark chocolate-colored eyes, she hoped it was truth she saw there. But she didn’t know him.

  She could only reserve judgment for now and tuck that sentiment away. Time would tell if Alejandro Velasquez was a man of honor.

  * * *

  Given that he’d done nothing but think about Scarlet since she’d shown up at the polo match, Alec was glad to be back in the company of his family. Everyone, including Bart and his sister, was milling around by the bar. Normally they’d be seated at the table and eating by now.

  They’d waited for him, or more precisely for Scarlet.

  As soon as they walked onto the balcony, Bianca and her sisters-in-law, Kinley and Ferrin, turned toward them.

  “I should warn you that everyone here is going to be very curious about you,” he said to Scarlet. “Also, I’m not sure if you’ve ever been in a small town before, but it’s pretty much like being on a reality TV show without the cameras. Everyone will know who you are in less than a day and they’ll want to know why you’re here.”

  “Nice. I’m used to it. You saw how TMZ published those pics of us kissing before we’d even left the ballroom.”

  “Fair enough. I will say that generally most people are pretty nice here.”

  “I’ll wait and see. I tend to bring out extreme reactions in people,” she said.

  “What kind—”

  “Alec, where have you been? I’m starving but Mom wouldn’t let us start eating until you were here with your date,” Bianca said, coming up to them. “And it’s not nice to keep a pregnant lady away from food.”

  “Sorry, Bia,” he said, leaning over to kiss his sister’s cheek. “Have you met?”

  “We did earlier. I’m glad you’re here,” Bianca said to Scarlet. “Now, how about if we mosey over to the buffet line.”

  She looped her arm through Scarlet’s and drew her toward the food. As the two women walked away, he realized that it might be in his best interest to step back and let his family do their thing. Maybe their warmth and kindness would help convince her that he wasn’t a total jerk.

  “Mom would scold me if I didn’t make sure you’re eating, too,” he heard Bianca announce as they walked away.

  As soon as Bianca and Scarlet were at the buffet table, most of the crowd shifted from their conversations to line up. Mo held back and Alec went over to join his brother.

  “So?”

  “What?”

  “Did you make things right with her?” Mo asked.

  “In twenty minutes? It’s a wonder that you got Hadley back. I mean you have no clue about women,” Alec said.

  Mo punched him in the shoulder a little harder than was necessary, but Alec knew his brother was still mad about losing the match to Bart.

  “I think I have a bit more than a clue, Alec. After all, one of us will be going home with the woman he loves today, and the other one...”

  “Will still be trying to figure out how he screwed up so badly. I don’t know what it was about that night,” Alec said. “Don’t listen to me. I’m tired and have to leave for Seattle in the morning to meet with one of my clients. I’m a little distracted by that.”

  Mo shook his head at him. “It’s not fatigue that made you say that. I get it. It’s hard when you screw up. It took me a long time to get past my own anger and realize that I had to change if I wanted Hadley back in my life.”

  “But you knew she wanted you back,” he said.

  “Not really,” Mo said. “You’ll figure this out. Be yourself and see what happens. It’s not like all your hookups show up in Cole’s Hill. She must be back for a reason.”

  A reason?

  Well, that showed how screwed up he was that he’d never stopped to think about why she had sought him out. Was she in trouble?

  She was an heiress with her own reality show and an A-list lifestyle. He doubted she’d
come looking for him to solve a problem for her. Maybe she hadn’t been able to write off their night together as a onetime thing.

  By the time he got his plate of food, there was only one chair left at the table, conveniently between Scarlet and Hadley. He took the seat and noticed that a woman he didn’t know was seated across from him. He guessed she must be Scarlet’s assistant. She had midnight-black hair that she wore in a ponytail and large sunglasses pushed up on her forehead. When their gazes met, she glared at him.

  She was definitely Scarlet’s friend. He didn’t need to guess how she felt about him. “I’m Alejandro.”

  “I know,” she said.

  “And you are?”

  “Billie Sampson,” she said. “I’m here with Scarlet.”

  “I guessed,” he said. “So are you from New York originally?”

  He had learned a long time ago that if he kept asking questions eventually whoever he was talking to would relax.

  “No. I’m originally from Maine.”

  “I have some business interests in Maine,” he said. “I need to plan a visit. Can you recommend a time of year?”

  “Yes.” But she didn’t say anything more.

  He almost smiled. She was stubborn and he could tell she wasn’t going to give him an inch. He respected that. He’d lied to her friend. He liked that Scarlet had someone like Billie in her life.

  From what he’d read online, it seemed like her life was a big chaotic mess, but this interaction with Billie and his earlier conversation with Scarlet showed him how little he knew of the real woman.

  Billie turned to talk to Ferrin. Alec took a bite of his food before glancing at Scarlet, who was watching him.

  “You have a good friend in her,” Alec said.

  “I know. It takes a lot to tick her off and even more to win her over,” Scarlet said.

  “Like you?”

  “Yes, just like me. It’s just that so many people think they know everything about me that I hold my close friends to a different standard,” she said. “They really have my back.”