Harlequin Desire June 2020 - Box Set 1 of 2

by Maureen Child

  The day of the fire, Cam had been…essential. From the start, he’d held her hand, comforted her and offered support. He hadn’t tried to take over or tell her what to do or how to feel, but he had been a rock when it most mattered to her.

  “But since then…” She shook her windblown hair out of her eyes and gritted her teeth. Since that horrible day, she hadn’t seen or heard from Camden Guthrie.

  Not a word. Not even a phone call. He’d disappeared, much as he had fifteen years ago. For one day, he’d been there for her and then…poof. Gone. Did he think that the crisis had disappeared? Was he deliberately staying away to let her know that she couldn’t count on him? That nothing had really changed between them? Or was this the universe telling her to forget about him and move on? That nothing between them was ever going to last?

  She didn’t know anymore.

  * * *

  Sebastian was on the phone when Beth got home. She heard him all the way down the hall from their father’s study. He was furious, and though he wasn’t shouting, he was talking so loud the otherwise quiet house echoed with his voice.

  Wondering what new crisis had struck while she was out, Beth hurried down the hall, her heels tapping against the red tiled floor. She didn’t pass anyone else in the house and when she turned into the study, she knew why. Everyone was gathered there, watching Sebastian as if they were the audience studying an actor’s every move.

  Ava and Piper had the two guest chairs, and the guys were all standing in a semicircle behind them. The study was both familiar and foreign. When Beth’s father was alive, no one had been allowed in. He had liked his “alone” time and ran the many Wingate businesses from this well-appointed massive room.

  There were floor-to-ceiling bookcases on three of the walls and an elegantly tiled fireplace, big enough for a tall man to stand up in, on the fourth. The walls were dotted with framed photos of Trent Wingate alongside presidents and moguls, and two of Piper’s oil paintings of the house and grounds.

  Sebastian and Sutton shared this space now, though it had always seemed to Beth that Sebastian was the most comfortable in it. At the moment, Sebastian was practically growling into the phone as he paced furiously from one side of the room to the other.

  Beth sidled up to Zeke. “What’s going on?”

  “We got a report that the arson inspector can’t rule out the possibility that the fire might have been deliberately set.”

  “What?” Shock had made her voice a lot louder than she’d planned.

  Sebastian fired a hard look at her, silently telling her to be quiet. She waved one hand at him, unmoved by his impatience, then moved close to Piper and leaned down. “Is Zeke serious? There was an arsonist?”

  Piper shrugged and said, “No one’s sure yet. Apparently, the inspector said it was ‘unclear.’ They’re going to continue the investigation.”

  Sebastian shot her a glowering look now as he paced back and forth behind his desk.

  Piper made a face at him and kept talking, though she did lower her voice a little in deference to Sebastian’s blood pressure. “And that means we can’t get into the building yet. That’s driving Baz crazy of course, and Sutton’s right behind him.”

  “It’s making us all a little crazy,” Beth said. “Is Miles coming out soon?”

  “No word on that yet,” Piper told her. “Apparently he’s got plenty going on right now and can’t get away.”

  “Hey, he’s a Wingate, too.” A little pissy, Beth said, “Why does Miles get to choose to stay out of this?”

  “Believe me when I tell you Sebastian is with you on that.”

  “I bet.” Beth sighed and dropped to one knee while she watched Sebastian arguing with whichever poor soul was on the other end of the phone.

  “How’s Gracie doing?” Piper asked.

  “I think she’s in shock.” Beth smiled. “When I dropped her off, her mother was making margaritas to celebrate and her little brother was looking up Porsches online.”

  “That’s fantastic!” Piper laughed. “I’m so glad for her. But this is going to be hard on her, too.”

  “Oh, I know.” Beth was still worried about her friend and the bundle of cash that had dropped into her lap. “I don’t think she’s figured that part out yet. She’s going to be a big celebrity when word gets out and Gracie’s not going to like that.”

  “She’s got friends—like you. That’s going to help.”

  “I hope so.”

  Sebastian hung up and the sudden silence in the room was deafening. His features were tight and grim, and there was a dark gleam in his green eyes. He looked at the family, set both hands on his hips and said, “You heard most of that. The investigation’s ongoing. They’re not saying it was arson, but they’re not saying it wasn’t, either.”

  He rubbed one hand through his hair. “If it was arson, that could make the insurance coverage problematic unless we can prove who did it and that we didn’t have a hand in it.”

  “No one would think we would burn down our own plant,” Luke argued.

  “No sane person,” Sebastian agreed. “But it would put us in the bizarre position of having to prove we didn’t do it. Hard to prove a negative.”

  “What happened to innocent until proven guilty?” Zeke wondered aloud.

  “Good question,” Sebastian snapped.

  “What does Nathan say?” Ava spoke up suddenly. Not surprisingly, Keith was standing behind her.

  “Nate can’t do anything about this,” Sebastian said. “This is all the fire marshal and the arson inspector.”

  “Which means we’re screwed…for now,” Sutton put in. “Is Miles coming out?”

  Sebastian frowned. “He’s busy, he said. But I’ll get him out here.”

  “I can do that,” Ava offered.

  Beth thought that was probably the best way to go. No way could Miles stand against their mother.

  Sebastian nodded at her. “Good, Mom. That might work. If it doesn’t, I’ll call him again.” His gaze swept the people in the room, one by one. “Anyone have something to add?”

  “Well…” Everyone turned to look at Zeke. He smiled, swiped one hand across his jaw and shrugged. “I do have something. Not about the fire, though.”

  “Good,” Sutton said. “I can use other news.”

  “This qualifies then.” Zeke looked over at his twin, then announced, “I’m engaged to Reagan Sinclair.”

  TEN

  Zeke was engaged?

  “Since when?” Beth had just seen them dancing together at the fund-raiser. She knew the two of them had been good friends for a long time, but this was the first she’d heard about a romance.

  “Since today,” Zeke said, and held up one hand when the questions started flying from every corner of the room. “It’s sort of an engagement of convenience,” he explained with another casual shrug. “To claim her inheritance from her grandmother, Reagan has to be married. So…we’re hoping the engagement announcement will do the trick for the lawyers.”

  “Seriously? A fake engagement?” Luke shook his head at his twin.

  “Hey, we’re the only ones who will know it’s a fake,” Zeke said. “To everyone else, it’s the real deal. I even bought her a ring.”

  “Uh-huh,” Sutton interrupted. “And if being engaged isn’t enough to fulfill the demands of the will?”

  Zeke grinned. “Then we’ll get married.”

  “You’re crazy,” his twin muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

  “We’re twins,” he pointed out. “So if I am, you are, too. Anyway, Reagan’s a good friend, and I want to help her out. If she can’t get the inheritance without a wedding, we’re going to have one.”

  Okay. Beth stood up. There had just been way too many big announcements in the last week or so. The fire. The lawsuit. Gracie. Zeke. And don’t forget Cam, her m
ind whispered.

  If only she could.

  While the family talked about Zeke’s engagement and the fire inspector, Beth slipped out of the study. She’d had more than enough for the day, and all she really wanted now was a hot bath and bed.

  But she wasn’t going to get it right away.

  “Beth…”

  She stopped at the foot of the sweeping staircase leading to the second floor. With one hand on the glossy walnut banister, Beth turned to watch Piper approach.

  “What’s going on with you and Cam?”

  “Nothing.” Short conversation, but what else could she say? As far as she knew, there was nothing real between her and Cam. Beth loved him, she could acknowledge that to herself. But given the fact that she hadn’t heard from him in a week, she suspected that his feelings for her stopped at the bedroom.

  “Come on, sweetie.” Piper tipped her head to one side. “We both know that’s not true.”

  “Fine. Do I love him? Yes,” Beth admitted. “Does that change anything? No.”

  “Oh, Beth,” Piper said, sighing. “It changes everything.”

  “Not always.” She had thought that they were finding their way back to each other, but in the last week Beth had realized she was wrong. A relationship couldn’t survive if only one of the people involved was in love.

  “He hasn’t even called me, Piper.” Her fingers tightened on the balustrade. “In a week. Nothing. And he knows what’s going on with us right now. With me. If he gave a flying damn, wouldn’t he have come by or phoned, just to check in? See how I’m doing? Say hello?”

  “You’re right,” Piper said. “He does know what’s going on. But he could think that calling would be intruding on a family situation.”

  “No.” Beth laughed at the idea and shook her head. “Cam’s never had trouble ‘intruding’ if he was going after something he wanted.”

  “Fine. Then maybe he’s waiting for you to call him.”

  Surprised, Beth looked at her aunt. “You think I should be calling Cam? I should be the one to go to him?”

  “Would it kill you?”

  “It might,” Beth argued. “He’s the one who left me, remember?”

  “Of course I do. I also remember that it was fifteen years ago.”

  “Oh, is there a time limit on betrayal that I wasn’t aware of?” Beth’s eyes went wide with faux shock. “Someone should have told me.”

  “That’s not what I meant and I think you know it.”

  “Okay, do you remember how well I handled it when Cam left?” Beth hated the memory of how losing him had practically destroyed her. Hated even thinking about it.

  With her heart shattered, Beth had gone off to college and become someone she didn’t even know. She drank too much. Slept around. Drove too fast, laughed too loud and damn near flunked out of college. And then her father had arrived out of the blue. She’d fought him of course because she hadn’t wanted advice. Hadn’t wanted to think of anything but the next adventure she could use to bury her pain.

  But Trent Wingate wasn’t a man you could easily ignore. He’d given her one of his famous sit down, shut up and listen talks and, thankfully, it had gotten through to her. Especially the part where he’d told her that he was disappointed in her, letting a man dictate how she acted.

  He was right. And oh, how she’d hated to admit it. Because of what Cam had done, she’d completely lost herself. That was the day she had realized that her future was up to her to design. She’d turned it all around, graduated at the top of her class with a business degree and had come home to Royal to join Wingate Enterprises.

  “I let my own life go to hell because Cam left me,” she admitted, though it cost her a ding to her pride. “It was pitiful, Piper. I needed him so much that without him, I was completely lost. I never want to be that way again.”

  Piper grabbed her hand and held on. “I know how hard it was, sweetie. But do you really think you could ever let that happen to you again?”

  “Not a chance.” She wasn’t that naive young girl pinning all of her dreams on the boy she loved. Now she stood on her own. She was strong enough to sway with the wind, not break. Beth had learned that she could make it on her own and that sharing her life with someone was a choice—not a necessity. She’d never really thought about it before, but without the pain of losing Cam, would she have discovered who she really was?

  “Then what’s the problem?” Piper shook her head. “Beth, everyone wants to be needed. Even the strongest man needs to be loved as much as anyone else. And so do you. You’re right. You did fall apart when Cam left. But you also pulled yourself back together.

  “You’re the one who made the choices for your life. You built a career you can be proud of. You became a terrific woman with friends and family who love you. All of that happened because Cam left, too.”

  That was probably all true, she thought, knowing that if Cam had stayed, she would have made different choices because she’d have had different opportunities. Would that life have been better? She’d never know.

  What she did know was that she liked who she was. Liked her life.

  “Beth, what if Cam’s waiting to see if you need him?”

  She hadn’t considered that, but she wasn’t convinced. If he was waiting for her to call him, why hadn’t he told her that? And that thought didn’t even make sense to her.

  Rubbing the spot between her eyebrows in a futile attempt to ease a budding headache, Beth heard Piper say, “If you don’t make a move, you’ll never know what you could have had. Are you willing to live with that kind of regret?”

  She looked at her aunt. “Shouldn’t you be telling Cam the same thing? Shouldn’t he be the one to come to me?”

  “Is this about winning?” Piper asked. “Or about love?”

  “Maybe it’s both.”

  “No, it can’t be. If you’re both trying to win, then you both lose.”

  Beth frowned at her aunt because she just might have a point. But wasn’t it supposed to be the guy who did the chasing? The groveling, if necessary?

  “Mmm-hmm.” Looking completely pleased with herself, Piper added, “I’m glad you’re willing to think about it, anyway. All I’m saying is, if you want something badly enough, you find a way to make it work.”

  Really hard to argue with something that made sense, and Beth was just too tired to try.

  “Okay, that’s enough of the well-meant lecture portion of our evening.” Beth turned and headed up the stairs. “I want a bath.”

  “A bath is a good time to do some serious thinking…” Piper called after her.

  Beth should have brought a bottle of wine with her.

  * * *

  The following night, the Texas Cattleman’s Club was crowded with members coming in for the monthly meeting. The outside of the place hadn’t changed too much while Cam had been gone. The building had been there forever, a piece of Royal history.

  The TCC was a large, rambling single-story building made of dark stone and weathered wood, and boasted a steep slate roof. Once women had been welcomed into the club, the interior had undergone some major changes, according to Tony. The walls were painted a cream color that softened all the heavy dark beams lining the walls and the high ceilings.

  Polished dark wood floors carried the marks of generations, with more than a few scars made by indiscriminate spur-wearing by the members. Hunting trophies and historical photos and artifacts hung on the walls, and heavy brown leather furniture invited people to sit and talk for a while.

  Here in one of the big meeting rooms, though, banquet style, straight-backed chairs were set out for the members attending the meeting. Cam decided to stand against the wall and Tony was right beside him.

  “How’s Beth?” Tony asked.

  “No idea,” Cam answered through gritted teeth. She hadn’t called him once
all week. She’d been glad enough to have him with her the day of the fire. But since that day, nothing. It was as if she was deliberately shutting him out because she’d been vulnerable the last time they were together.

  “Why the hell not?” Tony asked.

  Cam looked at his old friend. “She hasn’t called.”

  Tonight was the vote on new members and Cam had wanted to be there. Maybe a stupid decision, but if he was voted out he didn’t want someone having to make a sympathetic phone call to let him know. Besides, he wanted to see who supported him and who didn’t. Might be a masochistic move, but he’d always believed that knowing was better than guessing.

  Sliding his gaze across the room, he spotted Burt Wheeler in a black blazer thrown on over his jeans and a blue-and-white-striped shirt. His cowboy hat was balanced on his upraised knee, and the frown on his face told Cam exactly how Burt was feeling about the upcoming vote.

  “And you haven’t bothered to call her,” Tony said, “even though you know what crap she and her family are going through right now.”

  Yeah, he did know. Everyone in Royal was talking about the Wingates. There were stories online, reporters streaming in and out of town and theories about the fire—lots of theories. Some made sense, and others were as outlandish as saying space aliens started the blaze.

  Through it all, Beth had not once reached out to him. Clearly she believed she didn’t need him around, so Cam had kept his distance. But he was about done with that. Tomorrow, he and Beth were going to talk. Whether she liked it or not. He’d find a way to convince her that he was here now and he wasn’t going anywhere. “No, I didn’t. Because if she wanted me there, she’d have told me.”

  “How the hell did you two ever get together in the first place?” Tony asked, astonished. “Two harder heads I’ve never seen.”

  “Thanks for the support, pal.” He looked away and watched James Harris move slowly to the front of the room, stopping to shake hands and chat along the route. He envied James’s easy, comfortable manner. The man was where he belonged and he knew it. Cam was still feeling like an imposter. The son of a couple of horse trainers becoming a member of the TCC? How his father would have laughed at the notion.