Also by Ruth Cardello
LONE STAR BURN
Taken, Not Spurred
THE LEGACY COLLECTION
Maid for the Billionaire
For Love or Legacy
Bedding the Billionaire
Saving the Sheikh
Rise of the Billionaire
Breaching the Billionaire: Alethea’s Redemption
Come Away with Me
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2015 Ruth Cardello
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle
www.apub.com
Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake Romance are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.
ISBN-13: 9781477821022
ISBN-10: 1477821023
Cover design by Kerrie Robertson
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014913783
To my friend Deb, for years of friendship and support. Oh, the places we will go.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Preview: Taken, Not Spurred
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter One
Whoever said time heals was full of it.
Melanie sat on her bed next to her one bag of luggage and laid a shaky hand on it. She could admit that time dulled the pain. Concealed it. But it sure as hell didn’t fix shit.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her jeans and faded blue plaid shirt were as worn as her leather cowboy boots. Her straight brown hair was long and healthy, but hadn’t been more than brushed and tied back in a ponytail for years. She regretted not borrowing concealer for the telltale shadows beneath her eyes.
Why am I even worried about how I look? Because of Charles? It’s not like there is any chance our paths will cross. New York is a big city.
Melanie frowned into the mirror.
Forget him.
Focus on what’s important.
Her inner reprimand went unheeded. Images of Charles—or Charlie, as his sister called him—flooded her mind and sent her heart racing. On paper, he wasn’t her type. Fancy limos, expensive suits, beautiful blue eyes hidden behind dark glasses as if he worked for some top secret government agency. The two times she’d met him he’d looked as out of place in her world as she was about to look in his.
Who wears a suit on a horse ranch?
Wall Street multimillionaires, that’s who. People who need to prove to everyone that they’ve made it. I don’t need a man like that. Neither does Jace.
She raised her chin and studied her reflection again. I used to be beautiful. At least, a younger me used to think I was.
When she’d first come to work at the Double C horse ranch, she’d wanted to be left alone, so she’d downplayed her looks. Apparently I’m very good at it since not one man here has ever so much as flirted with me.
She was tanned, but not from a spray bottle. Her color came from hours of chasing Jace beneath the hot Texan sun. Almost as soon as he could walk, he’d wanted to ride horses—a by-product of being raised on a horse ranch.
Horses and ranch life were all her son had ever known. At five he’d spent more hours in a saddle than most people would in their lifetime. Everyone said he had a natural talent with them. Another reason she was glad this upcoming New York trip was just that—a trip.
For a while, she’d been sure she’d have to move. Over the past summer, her solitary boss had met and fallen in love with a true Yankee—as green as pastures in the spring. Melanie didn’t believe in love, at least not the romantic kind, but she had to admit Tony Carlton was a better man for having met Sarah Dery.
Melanie had worked as a housekeeper and cook on the reclusive horse trainer’s ranch ever since her son was an infant. Tony had purchased the Double C after a deadly accident involving one of his clients. He’d closed the ranch off from outsiders and trained his horses in seclusion until he met Sarah.
It’d been easy to dislike Sarah in the beginning. Nearly everything made her smile and she spoke fast enough to make a person’s head spin. She was also a strikingly beautiful natural blonde, with a figure that made men trip all over themselves in her presence.
Which may have been why I threatened to poison her coffee the first time I met her. Who knew she’d stick around and get engaged to my boss?
Fortunately, Sarah forgave as easily as she smiled and they’d become close friends. Over the years of self-imposed isolation, Melanie had forgotten how good it felt to have a woman to talk to. Her friends from high school and college had tried to stay in touch in the beginning, but Melanie hadn’t answered their phone calls. She’d been angry and ashamed.
And when she’d surfaced from that dark place—she’d pushed everyone so far away, she didn’t know how to begin to piece the friendships back together. So she hadn’t tried.
“Are you ready?” David, the ranch manager, asked softly from the doorway. He was only nine years older than Melanie, but she and Sarah joked that he was an old soul. He was a true Texan gentleman, soft-spoken around women but also stubborn and opinionated. He’d offered to drive her to the airport and, given how shaky she was feeling right then, she was glad he had. He wouldn’t let her change her mind.
Which is good because I put this off too long already. I can’t hide here anymore.
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” she said. “Is Jace downstairs?”
“He said he’d meet you at the main house. He’s making cookies with Sarah.”
Melanie stood and buried her cold hands in her jeans pockets. “I’ve never left him before.”
“He’ll be fine—maybe a few pounds heavier the way Sarah keeps giving him treats, but none the worse for the time he’ll spend at the main house with them. And I’ll check in on him daily. Maybe take him out for a few rides. He won’t even notice you’re gone.”
Wiping away an uncharacteristic tear, Melanie said, “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
David slapped his hat against one thigh. “It sounded good in my head.” He cleared his throat. “I know it’s none of my business, but I’m glad you’re going. It’s time you faced whatever brought you here.”
Melanie shook her head and looked down at her boots. “If I were braver, I would tell you.”
“No need. You and Tony, you’ve both spent way too many years on this ranch. Life is meant for living, not for hiding.”
Lifting her head and raising an eyebrow, she said, “I’m not too sure you weren’t hiding along with us. Sarah said you went up to help her friend with her ranch, but you hightailed it right back here. That doesn’t sound very brave to me. I saw a picture of Lucy.
She sure is pretty.”
David lowered his gaze. “She’s all right. Tony sent me there because he thought she was having some financial troubles. She found a solution, though.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t stick around to make sure it worked out.”
A flush spread across his cheeks. “It wasn’t my area of expertise.”
He looked so uncomfortable, Melanie kindly dropped the subject. Sarah had told her that her friend Lucy had taken a quick liking to David, but what he did about it was entirely his own concern. He, Tony, and Melanie had lived side by side for a long time without getting into each other’s business. It was a mutual understanding that had kept peace on the ranch. “Well, I’m sure she was grateful for your help.” Melanie turned and lifted her bag off the bed. When David moved to help her, she clutched it tighter. “No, thank you. This is something I need to do myself.”
He nodded and silently led the way out the door and down the stairs of her home to the car. Once they were both settled, with her bag tucked into the backseat, they drove together in comfortable silence to the main house.
As soon as Jace saw the car approaching, her son ran down the stairs of the home she’d cleaned for years. It would be strange to work anywhere else, but that was another step she’d take as soon as she returned home.
Jace threw his arms around her waist. “Mama, we made cookies with raisins and M&M’S. Can you believe we put both? Do you want to try one?”
She hugged him to her stomach and ruffled his dark brown hair. “Sure, Jace. Pack me a couple for the road. I’ll take them with me.”
He ran off to retrieve the cookies. Sarah met her on the stairs of the porch while David went to speak with someone in the barn. Sarah threw her arms around Melanie and gave her a tight hug. “I’m happy to take care of Jace for you, but I wish you’d let me go with you. I hate that you’ll be alone.”
It was impossible not to hug Sarah back. “I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure he’s in New York?”
Sarah was the only one in the world Melanie had ever told about Jace’s father. Part of her regretted doing so. It made it all real.
It is real. That’s what this trip is about, facing the past and doing the right thing.
With all the changes that were going on at the ranch and the talk of Tony and Sarah getting married, Jace had started asking the questions Melanie had feared he one day would: Do I have a Daddy? Where is he? Why doesn’t he come see me?
Melanie didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. Your daddy doesn’t know about you because Mommy was too much of a coward to tell him you existed.
She’d only been a junior in college when she’d gotten pregnant with Jace. His father, Todd, had been the classic college player—Mr. Love ’Em and Leave ’Em. Melanie had never thought she’d fall into the leave ’em category.
Melanie cleared her throat. “His family is. Last I heard he moved there to be closer to them. I’ll find him.”
Sarah hugged her again. “Call or text me when you land.”
Melanie gently untangled herself from her friend’s embrace. “I will.”
“You’re all set with your hotel? You know how to get there?”
Uncomfortable in the face of Sarah’s gushing concern, Melanie shrugged awkwardly. “I’m sure the taxi will be able to find it.”
“Do not shower in any strange places.”
A reluctant smile tugged at Melanie’s lips. Only Sarah would say that and mean it. “I’ll be fine.”
She watched Sarah bite her lip, struggling to keep her opinion to herself. But Melanie knew she wouldn’t be able to. It only took a minute for Sarah to burst forth with, “Are you sure you don’t want one of your sisters to go with you? Or your mother? Any of them?”
“I appreciate how you’ve tried to smooth things over with my family. I can even take Jace to see them now. But things are as good as they’re going to get with them. We all said what we had to say a long time ago.”
Sarah held out a hand, then let it drop to her side. “I just wish—”
Melanie cut her off. “I know. And I appreciate that you care.”
“If you need anything, my brother lives in New York City.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Melanie said. As if that small fact hadn’t been tumbling through her head all day.
Jace rushed out of the house and down the stairs with a bag of treats in his hand. He threw his arms around his mother and said, “I put in seven. One for every day you’ll be gone. Sarah says we can Skype every night. If you eat one and I eat one, it’ll be like we’re eating them together.”
Melanie hugged him to her and leaned down to kiss his forehead. “That sounds like a lot of sugar. Don’t go driving Sarah crazy by running around her house. You be good for her, you hear?”
He straightened in her embrace. “Mama, I’m all grown up. I know how to behave.”
“I’ll be back in a week.”
“I know,” Jace said and stood as proudly as a man. He’d spent very little time around other children, and until recently it hadn’t been something Melanie had worried about. If leaving the ranch was scary, leaving Jace at his school on the first day of kindergarten had been downright terrifying. He’d gone in bravely and come home smiling.
I can be brave for him.
She knelt down in front of him. “You understand why you can’t come with me, right?”
Jace nodded and parroted. “This is about a job and you’ll be working the whole time. It wouldn’t be any fun.”
It was a lie, but he never would have been okay staying behind if he’d known the truth. “That’s right. And I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Maybe I can go with you next time, when I’m bigger,” he said.
Melanie swallowed hard and stepped away from him. “Maybe, Jace. Maybe.”
She waved to David, who met her at the car, then forced herself to smile as she waved good-bye to her son,
“He’ll be fine,” David assured her as they pulled out of the driveway.
“I know,” Melanie answered thickly, hating that her eyes filled with tears. She blinked them away, refusing to let them spill down her cheeks.
I am strong enough to do the right thing this time.
Charles Dery leaned forward in his office chair, addressing the man on the speakerphone as aggressively as if he were right there before him. He laid his hands flat on the table. “Wilmington is your safer choice. I understand why you’ve been with them so long. They’ve kept your investments at a stable profit margin through some global financial upheavals. You feel like you owe them. I’d ask you if loyalty is worth what it’s costing you every year.”
John Rawlings, the sixty-six-year-old billionaire and CEO of a network of manufacturing companies spread around the world, was silent for a moment. “You’re one cocky son of a bitch, Dery. Are you as good as you think you are?”
And now to close. “My track record speaks for itself. I don’t seek out new clients because I don’t have to. You came to me, John. A contract was sent over to you yesterday. Hold on to it if you’re not ready to make the move now. I have a meeting in five minutes. We can talk about this next week if you’d prefer.”
But Charles knew a man like Rawlings wouldn’t wait for anything.
He’ll cave in five, four, three . . .
“I’ll have that contract over to you within the hour, but you’d better have a full portfolio plan on my desk by tomorrow morning.”
Charles reached toward the phone and said, “Welcome to Dery Investments, Mr. Rawlings.” He hung up on him before the man had a chance to say anything in response.
Charles turned his leather chair parallel to his desk. A heavy rain beat against the floor-to-ceiling windows of his Midtown Manhattan office, blurring a view that wordlessly announced his level of success to his clients.
The rush of euphoria he’d expected didn’t come. At least not as it had in the past when he’d reached a goal he’d set for himself. C
onfirmation that Rawlings would sign a client contract meant Charles’s personal income would soon breach ten digits—a ceiling he’d been hovering just below.
He should celebrate.
Or at least want to.
Instead, Charles was drawn to the darker corners of his mind. Ever since his sister, Sarah, had moved to Texas and decided that facing the past was her path to happiness, memories of his childhood in Rhode Island had surfaced and choked all pleasure out of his achievements. Ripping open old wounds and confronting the festering guilt had worked well for his sister, but it was slowly tearing down the life Charles had built for himself.
When he’d left his hometown to attend Stanford, he’d sworn he’d exceed everyone’s expectations. As the son of a man who had built a marginally profitable construction company without the benefit of wealthy parents or higher education, Charles had never been afraid of hard work. He’d hit the ground running in New York City, taken an entry-level position at the prestigious Wilmington Investment Company, and quickly built up a reputation for impressing even their wealthiest clients. He was gifted at using statistics to predict financial trends, and his track record for increasing a company or individual’s net worth was becoming as legendary as his rise through the ranks at Wilmington had been.
He’d refused an offer to become a partner, something that had previously been unheard of for someone of his age and background, and had broken away instead to start his own company. Wilmington had tried to thwart him, of course. Tried to utilize noncompete clauses to stop their top clients from following Charles, but when the wealthy want something, nothing stands in their way. And they’d wanted him.
Ten years later, Dery Investments had amassed both domestic and international clout. And now he had Rawlings, arguably the richest man in the Northern Hemisphere, on his roster. In terms of his personal goals for his business, there was no bigger fish to catch. No higher mountain to climb.
I’ve made it.
The achievement rang empty and meaningless through him, which was surprising since the only life he’d allowed himself to have was at work. It consumed him, calmed him, kept the past where it belonged—distant and forgotten.