by Helen Lacey
With someone like Valene...
It occurred to him that he’d never fallen so hard and so quickly before, and the realization made warning bells peal in his head. With Patrice, he’d spent high school desiring her, and when she had made her move, he had been flattered and a little relieved, thinking his search to find someone to share his life with was over. Of course, then she’d busted his heart into a thousand pieces and made a mockery of everything he’d believed they had.
“Wow,” Valene said as they entered the hallway, taking in the raked ceilings, polished floors and wood accents throughout the house. “This is incredible. Are you sure the owners won’t mind me looking?”
“Positive.”
“Are they here?”
“Not they. He,” Jake corrected. “And yeah, he’s around.”
“Well, if he ever wants to put this place on the market, let me know,” she said and grinned. “Not that I want to put you out of a job by selling the place. But it’s such a lovely home,” she said as she traced her fingertips along the edge of the walnut newel post at the bottom of the stairs. “How long before the renovations are finished?”
“Another month or so, I should think. Would you like to see the upstairs?”
She nodded. “Love to.”
Jake grasped her hand and led her up the stairway and down the hall. There were three bedrooms, one of which was a master suite with its own bathroom and small living area, and there was another bathroom that serviced both the other bedrooms. There was a balcony off the main bedroom that offered a fabulous view of the rear of the ranch, including the creek and the undulating pasture. The furniture was covered in sheets, and she lingered for a moment at the foot of the large four-poster bed. Jake stared at the intricately carved piece Patrice had insisted he pay a fortune for. He’d never liked it, thinking it too old-fashioned and heavy for his taste. Jake intended to ditch the bed, particularly since he’d discovered his ex-wife between the sheets with another man.
“This room doesn’t look like it’s been used in a while,” she said.
“It hasn’t,” he replied.
She glanced around the room. “I’m guessing there hasn’t been a whole lot of happiness in this house.”
“Not especially,” he replied. “Ugly divorce.”
“That’s sad,” she said and walked out onto the balcony. “You know, I can’t tell how many of those ugly divorces I’ve used to my advantage in the last year or so...you know, to get a client motivated for a quick sale. Sometimes I feel like a used furniture salesman scouring the death notices in the newspaper. What an amazing view,” Valene remarked as she wandered around the perimeter of the balcony. “Is that an orchard?” she asked, pointing to the left.
“Pecans,” he replied. “And not exactly an orchard, but there’s potential, I guess.”
When the cows began to bellow, she smiled. “It’s so peaceful here. I’m not sure I would ever sell this place if it was mine. You’re lucky to have spent so many years in such a beautiful spot. It must have been a wonderful experience to be raised here.”
“It was. That’s why I—”
“It’s why you quit school,” she said and turned to face him. “So that your mom and Cassidy could stay here. You did the job your dad used to do, so they wouldn’t have to leave.”
He shrugged. “This is home.”
She moved in front of him and settled her hands at his waist, linking her thumbs through the loops on his jeans. It was an incredibly intimate gesture and one that had the temperature of his blood skyrocketing. Jake kept his arms at his sides, even though all he wanted to do was haul her close and kiss her.
“And then you went back to college and your mom said you graduated with honors,” she said and sighed. “Jake, I’m sorry if I ever inferred that you were—”
“An uneducated hick more interested in peanut shells and beer than anything else?” he said, cutting her off. “No,” he assured her. “You haven’t. But I appreciate your apology.”
She pressed closer. “Sometimes I put my foot in my mouth and say inappropriate things.”
Jake wound his arms around her. “But I’ll bet you have pretty feet.”
She chuckled. “Actually, I do have nice feet. I’ll have to show you sometime.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
He kissed her and felt the breath sucked from his lungs like a vacuum. The moment her tongue wound around his, Jake was lost. She was like tonic, like air and food and everything he needed for sustenance.
“Jake,” she whispered against his mouth. “Would you like to make love to me?”
It was a sweet, tempting invitation. One he fully intended accepting. “Absolutely.”
“When?”
“Soon,” he promised. “But first, I need to tell you—”
His words were interrupted by the sound of a cell phone ringing. She sighed and stepped back, removing her hands from his belt before diving into her handbag for her phone. The call lasted less than a minute and then she slipped the cell back into her bag.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I have to go.”
“Everything okay?” he asked, seeing the furrow between her brows.
“A family thing,” she explained. “That was Maddie. She wants me to come to the office right away. Trouble at work.”
Jake nodded, understanding immediately. “If there’s anything I can do, let me know.”
“I will,” she assured him.
“And I’ll see you Saturday?”
“Yes,” she replied and kissed him softly on the mouth. “Thanks for the tour. And the kiss.”
“I’ll call you tonight,” he said once they were back at her car. “Take care.”
Jake watched her drive off, his heart unusually heavy. He hated seeing her out of sorts, and the phone call had definitely not been a good one. He was just about to turn on his heels when his mother stepped up beside him.
“She’s a nice girl.”
“I know,” he remarked.
“But you don’t trust her?”
Guilt hit him between the shoulder blades. “I’m not sure what I feel.”
“She’s not Patrice,” his mother reminded him. “And I don’t think she’s the mercenary type. She comes from a wealthy family, so I’m pretty sure she isn’t after your money.”
“It’s not that, Mom.”
“I know,” his mother said. “But you need to tell her the truth, before someone else does.”
* * *
The first thing that Valene noticed when she returned to the office was the fact that the secretary at reception looked frazzled and barely acknowledged her. Maddie’s earlier phone call had been fraught with tension and urgency, demanding her presence. She headed straight for the conference room and was stunned to see Schuyler standing by the window.
And her parents!
They weren’t due back for another week, and Val immediately wondered what had happened to make them abort their vacation so abruptly.
“Mom! Dad!” she exclaimed and rushed directly toward them, delighted to see them both.
They embraced her affectionately, and she was certain her father clung to her longer than usual. When she stepped back, she noticed that Maddie and Zach were also in the room, along with her brother-in-law Carlo and her brother Everett, who looked particularly grim.
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
“Trouble,” Maddie said and sighed. “We lost the Butterworth account.”
Val knew what that meant. Fortunado had been selling Butterworth property for close to two decades. Laurence Butterworth had been a family friend for just as long. Butterworth Industries was responsible for most of the residential development on the outskirts of the city—affordable, middle-class real estate that turned over quickly and was highly profitable for both the dev
eloper and Fortunado—as well as the commercially zoned development in the heart of town, which included Fortunado’s exclusive listing for most of the shopping malls.
It was a huge blow. Butterworth was Fortunado Real Estate’s most important client.
And the loss was one they might not recover from.
Val winced when her father thumped his fist on the conference table. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to let decades of work go down the drain overnight. Someone is responsible for this.”
“But who?” It was Schuyler who voiced what they were all thinking.
“I don’t know,” Kenneth replied, red faced. “But I’m sure as hell going to find out.”
“We’ve hired a private detective to do some digging,” Zach said and dropped a stack of files on the table. “These are the clients we’ve lost in the last three months. These,” he said, dropping another stack of files, “are all the clients we think might be at risk. And this,” he said for dramatic effect as he held up a piece of paper, “is a list of anyone we think might be worth investigating. Feel free to add names to it. The more people we look at, the better chance we have of finding out who is responsible.”
Val wasn’t interested in any cloak-and-dagger subterfuge, but she did want to know who was trying to ruin the family business. She also wanted to remain positive. “We’ve signed on a few new clients in the past couple weeks, like the Messer Group account, so surely that will help with the loss of Butterworth.”
“Of course,” Zach said. “But I don’t think we can ignore the fact that someone is deliberately doing damage to this company. Which is why everyone we know needs to be put under the microscope.”
“Like who?” Val asked.
“Like your new boyfriend.”
Maddie’s voice was filled with suspicion, and Val saw that her father was frowning. “Jake has nothing to do with this. We were losing clients a long time before I even met Jake. He works on a ranch, for goodness’ sake, and he’s certainly no threat to Fortunado Real Estate.”
“You can’t know that, Val,” Zach said gently. “We can’t leave anything or anyone to chance.”
“Maybe he sought you out because he wants to get close to the family,” Everett suggested. “You know, to get information.”
Val was shocked by the intimation. The very idea that her family believed Jake might be using her for information about her family or be responsible for any of the disasters that had landed in the company’s lap lately made her seethe. They didn’t know Jake and they had no right to make assumptions.
“Please don’t do this,” she implored and then looked at her father. “Daddy, I’m asking you to respect his privacy and believe me when I say there is no way he is involved in this.”
“Sorry, Val, everyone is a suspect,” her father said calmly. “With everything that has been happening with us and with the Fortunes, we need to investigate everyone. Particularly after the fire at the Robinson estate and the fact that Ben Robinson was nearly killed. This is serious...too serious to waste time worrying about what your new beau might think is his right to privacy. I’m not taking any chances when it comes to my family.”
Val’s heart sank. She knew her father was relentless when it came to family matters. And since the business was part of the family, it became very clear that he believed they were in the middle of a full-on attack. It was made worse by the fact that she was still reeling from what she’d learned about Jake that afternoon, and she certainly didn’t want her family poking around in his business. Jake was a private man and would not appreciate being investigated. On the other hand, there was no way she could tell him what was happening without being disloyal to her family.
She was at an impasse.
Which was exactly what she told her brother Connor when she called him at his home in Denver later that evening.
Out of all her siblings, Connor was the one she always leaned on for advice. He was a straight-talking, no-nonsense kind of man, and one who could be trusted implicitly.
“I don’t know what to tell you, kid. You know how complicated this family is now,” Connor said and laughed a little. “With the Fortune connection, we’re bound to be a target for some unscrupulous characters. And if you think this new guy of yours has nothing to hide, what are you worrying about?”
“Because it’s invasive and completely unnecessary.” She sighed heavily. “I wish you were here to help sort this mess out.”
“I will be,” he assured her. “I’ll be back in Houston in a few weeks.”
Val made an excited sound. “Wonderful. I miss you. Mom and Dad miss you. But what brought on this upcoming visit?”
“I just need to talk to everyone in person about something.”
“What?” Val asked, instantly suspicious. “Is something wrong? Are you okay? Should I be worried?”
“No, yes and no,” he replied, answering her three questions. “You see, that’s why I don’t tell you and Maddie and Schuyler anything. You all jump to conclusions. I’m perfectly fine.”
“I thought you might be getting married or something,” she teased.
“Not a chance,” he flipped back. “You know I’m not the marrying kind.”
“You might be,” she ventured, “if you meet the right girl.”
“You’re the one all caught up in this romance thing,” he shot back and laughed. “Not me. This cowboy of yours has got you all hot and bothered.”
“You’re making fun of me.”
“A little. Good night, kid. See you soon.”
She ended the call, took a shower, fed Bruce and then heated up soup for herself. She played with the dog for a while, thinking that she had been ignoring him too much lately and hadn’t been as strict about his walking and grooming. The truth was, she was out all day, every day, and she knew he must be lonely. Maybe he needed a friend. She had the room, and the yard was certainly large enough for another pet. She hopped onto her laptop and sent an inquiry email to the breeder she’d purchased Bruce from, and by eight o’clock, Jake called. They talked for about twenty minutes, about everything and anything and nothing in particular, and Val avoided saying anything about Fortunado Real Estate. He seemed unusually distant, and she wondered if he was annoyed that she’d dropped in unexpectedly at the ranch but was too polite to say anything. But when she asked him, he quickly brushed off her concerns. And when she reminded him that he’d said he wanted to tell her something before they were interrupted by Maddie’s phone call earlier that day, he said they’d talk on the weekend.
As she drifted off to sleep later that night, Val tried not to make a big deal out of his evasiveness, or the guilt pressing down between her shoulders because she knew her father and Zach were about to start snooping into his life.
On Friday morning, the day before Valentine’s Day, she received a box of heart-shaped cookies from the local bakery and knew immediately they were from Jake even though there was no note attached. An hour later, a bouquet of flowers arrived for her via a delivery service. They were cottage-garden flowers, the kind you would find in an English garden and not the kind ordered from a florist. The fact that he’d picked them himself and arranged for a courier to drop them off filled her heart with happiness. Again, there was no note or card, but she knew they were from Jake and she couldn’t have imagined a more romantic gesture even if she’d tried. Realizing he knew she would prefer the wildflowers to something flashy and store bought, like roses or oriental lilies, amplified every feeling she had for him. It was turning out to be the perfect Valentine’s Day weekend.
She stepped out of the office at midday, at Schuyler’s insistence. After her sister had snooped around and noticed the flowers and cookies, she insisted Valene reciprocate and get Jake the perfect Valentine’s Day gift. She loved spending time with her sister and was touched to know Schuyler always made time for her when she was in town.
“It’s cute that he’s sending you gifts today,” her sister said. “I’ll have to get Carlo to up his game. So, what do you think of this?” Schuyler queried, holding up a dark Aran sweater. “For my handsome husband? Or your hot cowboy?”
“Nice,” Val said as she wandered around the small and exclusive men’s boutique. “But it doesn’t help me. I can’t buy Jake a sweater. It’s too soon for that. Besides, I don’t know his size.”
Schuyler raised her brows provocatively. “You will once you get his clothes off.”
Val waved a hand, walked around the leather goods cabinet and spotted a tray of tie pins and slides. One of the slides caught her attention, and she asked the sales clerk if she could take a closer look. It was perfect, fine platinum edged in gold and engraved with a horse standing on its hind legs. She purchased the item immediately and had it gift wrapped while Schuyler went on behind her about how boring she was.
“So, where is soon-to-be lover boy taking you tomorrow?” Schuyler asked once she’d paid for the sweater.
“I have no idea,” Val replied as they left the store. “He just said we’d be spending the day together.”
“He certainly is romantic.”
Val’s skin warmed. “I know.”
“Have you told him about the private investigator?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Divided loyalties, huh?”
She sighed. “It’s difficult.”
Schuyler nodded. “I imagine it would be. I remember when I was falling for Carlo, I was so wrapped up in him, so completely in lust, I don’t think I would have been able to keep that kind of secret. But then, you’ve always been better at keeping your feelings under wraps than I have.”
“You mean I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve. I know, I’m uptight like Maddie.”
