The Rebel
The Rebel
Joanne Rock
Temptation at any cost Marcus Salazar is determined to buy back control of his media empire. Only secretive Lily Carrington poses a threat to his ambition. Not even her engagement to another man can dim Marcus’s desire for her. But Lily has an agenda- one that doesn’t include the visionary mogul?
He’ll take what’s his—including the woman who stands in his way.
Marcus Salazar has come to Mesa Falls to buy out his half brother and gain control of the media empire that was his brainchild. But when COO Lily Carrington shows up, she poses a threat to his plan—and his libido. Not even her engagement of convenience to another man can dim Marcus’s desire for her, even as Lily fights for her own future at Salazar Media…and against her attraction to Marcus!
A Dynasties Novel
Where family loyalties and passions collide…
Visit Mesa Falls
JOANNE ROCK credits her decision to write romance after a book she picked up during a flight delay engrossed her so thoroughly that she didn’t mind at all when her flight was delayed two more times. Giving her readers the chance to escape into another world has motivated her to write over eighty books for a variety of Mills & Boon series.
Also by Joanne Rock (#u6755c014-e898-5250-8950-bf44d82c038d)
The McNeill Magnates
The Magnate’s Mail-Order Bride
The Magnate’s Marriage Merger
His Accidental Heir
Little Secrets: His Pregnant Secretary
Claiming His Secret Heir
For the Sake of His Heir
The Forbidden Brother
Wild Wyoming Nights
One Night Scandal
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
The Rebel
Joanne Rock
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09279-1
THE REBEL
© 2019 Joanne Rock
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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For Stephanie Hyacinth, Ann Thayer Cohen and Anne Martel. I’m so grateful for your support and kindness. I’m never parting with my gold star!
Contents
Cover (#u666e9530-7eb3-59b4-b5c0-3e5e88b1825e)
Back Cover Text (#u68ac1ec3-d429-5c97-a864-d4e639d097ef)
About the Author (#u6d5c1b08-0090-574e-b365-ef44b3a87a4e)
Booklist (#udbe693db-f396-5c0e-999b-38385d8911ba)
Title Page (#u60771dd2-7bc3-52df-9eb3-81726644a44e)
Copyright (#u4b0b981b-f618-5eb3-9ed9-5bd917e175b7)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#ue3a58b0b-f139-5e71-b501-c0cdd9f67a12)
One (#ud046cd2f-77e7-5ac7-8d5d-5354de4c1f38)
Two (#u25649de9-6498-5ab5-8cb0-5534ab14b856)
Three (#u7d8db4bb-c4ca-58c3-a6c2-a3a10d975c1e)
Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
One (#u6755c014-e898-5250-8950-bf44d82c038d)
Marcus Salazar would have enjoyed the afternoon trail ride a whole lot more if he’d left his cell phone back at the ranch.
He’d set the device to vibrate after ignoring two calls from the office, but he still found himself checking it. He couldn’t help it. He’d come to Mesa Falls Ranch, a Western-style luxury corporate retreat here in Montana, for the most important business meeting of his life: to hammer out a deal with his half brother, Devon, that would finally give Marcus full control of Salazar Media. Their negotiations couldn’t start soon enough to suit him.
When his phone began buzzing again, he plucked it from the breast pocket of his canvas jacket and saw that it was Devon calling. Maybe his brother had finally arrived. Marcus reminded himself to be civil and start things on a positive note. He and Devon might have opposing views on the future of Salazar Media—and just about everything else—but there was no need to revisit old ground this week. He’d simply discover how to buy out Devon’s investment and they could sever ties at last. He swiped the screen to answer the call.
“I can meet you in the great room in twenty minutes,” Marcus said without preamble, grateful for the cooperative Appaloosa who didn’t seem to mind his busy hands. He tried to keep a level grip on the reins with one hand while he held the phone in the other, remembering basic horsemanship from his prep school days. “I took one of the horses out while I waited for you, but we’re almost back to the main lodge now.”
Squinting into the late-afternoon November sunlight, Marcus could see the pine-covered ridge that sheltered the stables on the six-thousand-acre ranch. The acreage was situated close to the Bitterroot River, a place his father, Alonzo Salazar, had visited often, and he’d talked of bringing Marcus and Devon there for a trip on several occasions.
When they’d been kids, there’d been bad blood between their mothers that had made the trip too difficult to orchestrate. And later there’d been plenty of enmity between the men themselves. Now it was too late. Marcus and Devon had said their final goodbyes to Alonzo Salazar last summer after a battle with pancreatic cancer that was over far too quickly. Their father was gone, and he’d been the only reason the brothers had been civil to each other outside the family business.
They probably could have dissolved the rest of their ties without coming here, but they were fulfilling a deathbed promise to their father to meet at the ranch before they went their separate ways. For reasons Marcus still didn’t understand, their dad had been determined to get Marcus and Devon to this corner of western Montana.
“I’m not in town yet, unfortunately.” Devon’s voice competed with a lot of background noise. An announcement over a loudspeaker. The hum of other voices. “I’m still in the airport in Mumbai.”
“Mumbai?” Marcus leaned back in the saddle, stopping the horse on the trail so he could give the call his full attention. “As in the other side of the globe?”
Frustration simmered in his veins. His brother wouldn’t arrive for at least another day.
“I would have called sooner, but my phone and passport were both stolen and I was…detained by customs.” His brother sounded pissed. And exhausted.
“Did you recover the phone?” Confused, Marcus checked the caller ID and saw his brother’s face, only to realize Devon had contacted him through a social media messaging service, not a regular call.
“No. I bought a new one at an airport kiosk.” Devon’s voice rasped like a man who’d been talking for hours. “I’ve got a message in to the embassy to get some help returning to the States, but in the meantime, I—” there was interference on the call, as if Devon was walking through a wind tunnel “—should be in Montana soon.”
“I missed that.” Marcus nudged the Appaloosa’s flanks, wondering if the cell signal was weak in this heavily wooded section of the trail. The mare started forward again. “I just finalized the deal to bring on Mesa Falls Ranch as a client.” He’d been working on that angle with the ranch owners ever since he’d realized the trip here was inevitable, and he’d received a verbal agreement from one of them earlier in the day. “I can take an extra day to work on their account personally, but if you’re not here in forty-eight hours, I’m flying back to Los Angeles.”
Marcus handled the West Coast office. Devon was his copresident in New York. Only their father had outranked them, and he’d been a mostly silent figurehead CEO.
“There’s no need. I—” Devon’s words faded as the connection cut out again “—as an emissary. She can speak for me—”
A loud crackling noise hissed through the device.
“Who?” Marcus strained to hear what his brother was saying, the tinny voice over a loudspeaker drowning out some of Devon’s words and the poor call quality muting even more. “Is someone coming to the ranch for you?”
“—will message you. Sorry about this.”
The connection cut out completely.
Marcus glared down at his phone to see Devon’s social media photo staring back at him. How could Devon have waited until the last minute to get on a flight to Montana? Even on the company jet—and he didn’t have it in Mumbai—the trip would have been eighteen hours, give or take.
Although, having been detained in customs overseas himself, Marcus knew it wasn’t a picnic. Besides, maybe Devon’s guilt over not making their meeting would play into Marcus’s hands in helping him win control of Salazar Media for good. The company had been his brainchild, after all. His father and brother had only signed on for financial support, with their father assuming the CEO position simply because he’d been effective in brokering an accord between his warring copresident sons. With their father’s death, there was a power vacuum that Marcus planned to fill. As the creative founder, Marcus deserved the CEO role, and he planned to have it or he’d leave the company that he’d started.
Jamming the phone in his breast pocket, he urged his mount faster, racing hard toward the main lodge on Mesa Falls Ranch. The retreat had undeniable appeal. The fact that the mountains and the wide-open spaces could distract him from his frustration for even a moment was a testament to the place’s beauty. A consortium of owners—six in all—had maintained the lands and shared the cattle for the last eight years, with each of them having a home on the acreage. But the group had decided to open the land to guests a year ago, in an effort to fund their move to sustainable ranching. Sensing a business opportunity for Salazar Media, Marcus had opened a dialogue with the group, hoping to secure their account. The owners had made a verbal commitment to six months’ worth of social media advertising with Salazar, with an option for extending the contract if they were pleased. Marcus planned to set up a few appointments with key members of the ranching staff—to make his presence felt here—and then head back to LA once the finalized contracts were signed.
His conscience would be clear that he’d at least tried to meet Devon at the retreat. If Devon couldn’t bother showing up, that was on him.
As Marcus reined in behind the stables, he could see a shiny black Escalade pull up to the huge main lodge. A liveried driver hopped out and jogged around to the back, where tinted windows prevented Marcus from seeing inside. His brother’s words floated back to his brain—something about an emissary.
Could Devon have sent someone to the ranch in his place? It galled him to think his brother had managed to arrange for a replacement, because he would have had to make the arrangements hours ago. Clearly, phoning his own brother to let him know he was delayed hadn’t been his first priority.
He slid down to the ground and handed over the Appaloosa’s reins to a waiting stable hand. He thanked the guy and kept his eye on the Escalade as the back door opened and a decidedly feminine leg appeared.
A black high heeled boot. A slender calf. A sliver of gray pin-striped skirt.
She can speak for me…
The words blasted back into his mind as the only woman who was ever allowed to speak for Devon Salazar stepped fully into view.
Lily Carrington stood tall on the tarmac in a black overcoat left unbelted over her pale gray suit and lavender-colored blouse. A tiny patent-leather handbag dangled off her arm. She was the most perfectly proper woman Marcus had ever met. Never a silky dark hair out of place. Efficient. Articulate. Clients praised her up one side and down the other. She’d been Devon’s right hand in the business during the crazy years that it had doubled, then tripled in size, working her way up to the COO position, effectively the number two person in the New York office.
She was the antithesis of everything Marcus normally liked in a woman, cool and composed when he usually went for passionate, artsy types. Yet for some irritating reason, he’d always fought a fierce attraction to Lily.
Lucky for him, she was engaged to another man and safely off-limits.
Not so lucky for him, she still roused a surge of lust just standing in the driveway looking like a movie star in sunglasses that covered half her face.
“Marcus.” She gave a polite smile as she caught sight of him, edging past her driver to head toward him. “What an impressive property for a retreat.” Tipping up her sunglasses, she gestured toward the massive lodge-style building newly constructed as guest quarters. Her gaze swept over the pristine stables, the welcome center and attached paddock, and the rolling hills that turned into mountain vistas behind it. “It’s breathtaking.”
He found the view of her far preferable to the autumn landscape but kept that opinion on lockdown. He was already calculating how fast he could leave town without compromising his bargaining position with Devon. He’d done things he wasn’t proud of in his life, but indulging an attraction to a woman wearing another man’s ring was a line he wouldn’t cross.
“It should photograph well,” he acknowledged, turning his attention to the views instead of Lily’s pliable mouth or pale blue eyes. “Since Devon couldn’t bother to show, maybe we can spend our time here setting up the ranch account and gathering some on-the-ground intel the team can use to fine-tune the marketing approach. I’ll text you an agenda so we can both get back home as soon as possible.”
She was quiet for a long moment. For so long, in fact, he needed to turn and look at her again for a hint of what she was thinking.
“We could do that,” she admitted slowly, staring at him with newly wary eyes. “Or we could start a dialogue about how to fill the CEO position, since that was the original intent of this meeting. Maybe you and I can come up with some workable options for the future of Salazar Media—”
“That meeting was planned for Devon and me. Not you.” He wondered where she saw herself in this negotiation for power at Salazar Media. Was she hoping to carve out a better position for herself? Oust Marcus completely and take over the West Coast office?
If not for the fact that the Salazar brothers were on opposite coasts, the business might have tanked years ago. But they’d made it this far by operating as independently as possible from each other in New York and Los Angeles.
“I have a stake in the outcome, too,” she reminded him coolly. “And now that your father isn’t around to negotiate your differences, I hoped maybe I could facilitate a conversation about the future.”
“Did my brother ask you to talk me into rolling over on this?” He realized his thwarted sexual tension was making him speak more sharply than he might have otherwise. “Did he think you had a better shot at enticing me into doing what you want?”
Marcus had compromised his vision for the company too many times over the years, playing it safe while good opportunities passed them by because Devon had a different approach.
“Of course not,” she replied adamantly, shaking her head. “However, I am familiar with some of the frustration on both sides—”
“No, Lily,” he said, cutting her off, unwilling to walk down that conversational path with her. “You can’t possibly know the level of my frustration.”
Their gazes met and held for a long moment while he let those words sink in so she could chew on them for awhile. He guessed the moment when she suspected his underlying meaning. There was a soft intake of breath. An almost silent rush of her surprise before she gave a slow blink.
Had she truly been unaware of the attraction?
Not that it mattered either way. He had enough grievances involving his brother. He wasn’t going to try to wade through the haze of lust that Lily conjured for him. So instead, he tipped the driver who had delivered her to the ranch, sending the car on its way. When he turned back to Salazar Media’s COO, she seemed to have plastered a new mask of indifference on her lovely face.
“In that case, I’ll wait to hear from you when you’re ready to meet.” She held her small purse in front of her now, which was a laughable defense. There could be a whole conference table full of people between them and he’d still feel the tug of desire.
Nodding, he turned on his heel to retrieve his horse, grateful as hell that he’d chosen to stay in a guesthouse separate from the ranch’s main lodge.
The more distance between him and Lily Carrington, the better. The woman was a serious threat to his concentration when the future of his company was at stake.
What had happened back there with Marcus?
Lily asked herself the question again as she sank deeper into the claw-foot tub in the bathroom of her guest suite, indulging in a post-travel soak that she hoped would clear her head. The suite was beautiful, with hardwood floors and reclaimed barn beams in a nod to the Western setting, but incorporating plenty of contemporary touches like the glass-encased tile shower next to the vintage tub. She’d clicked on the fire in the sleek hearth as soon as she’d arrived, even though it wasn’t all that cold outside. She wanted the whole mountain experience.
Lily brushed a hand through the bubbly, rose-scented water, upset that she couldn’t fully savor the beauty of Montana and the unexpected trip because suddenly there was something odd between her and Marcus Salazar.
Something hot and unexpected.
Closing her eyes as she breathed in the steam-drenched air, Lily thought back to those moments after she’d arrived in front of the huge lodge. She’d been glad to see Marcus, if a little wary. She knew about the long-standing estrangement between the half brothers, although she’d never fully understood it. If they disliked each other so much, why had they launched a joint business with the help of their father? Then again, their talents went well together. Marcus was the creative genius with expertise in the digital media world, while Devon had the business savvy that kept the company in the black.
Devon had been her friend as well as her direct supervisor for five years, but he’d never shared much about his personal life. And Marcus remained a mystery even though he ran the West Coast branch of the company.
Since she’d interacted very little with Marcus directly, she’d been cautiously optimistic when Devon had asked her to take his place at this meeting. She’d wondered—naively, perhaps—if she’d be able to generate a dialogue between the Salazar men now that their father was gone and the future of the company remained up in the air. The business was still privately held, jointly owned by the Salazar brothers, so there was no board of directors to please or strict timeline to fill the CEO slot. Yet as months had dragged on in stalemate, some of their clients were getting frustrated at the lack of a single decision maker in the company. The struggle for power between Devon and Marcus could hurt the whole company. The business needed strong, united leadership.
But whatever had happened in the driveway at her arrival was going to hamper her efforts to make that happen. Marcus had inspired something she had no business feeling as an engaged woman. His dark hair and even darker eyes were so unlike his brother’s. His tall, athletic build…
Swallowing, she halted her thoughts about his body, not letting herself linger on that path.
Wrenching her eyes open, she lifted her left hand from the bathwater to stare at the heavy Asscher-cut diamond on her ring finger, a family heirloom Eliot Winthrop had given her two years ago when he proposed. The five-carat piece was flawless, the facets catching the light from the bathroom sconces.
Until recently, she hadn’t really questioned the long engagement, since they were both busy building their careers—he with his family’s wealth management firm and she with Salazar Media. They’d been childhood friends; their families had both built their fortunes in the financial world and had always been close because of it. Eliot had also made her feel like less of an outsider after the scandal of her birth. Lily’s single mother had refused to tell her parents who the father was and ultimately had given up responsibility for her child altogether, leaving Lily with her grandparents when she was four years old. As a result, Lily had never really felt like she belonged in the opulent Newport world she grew up in.
Later, she and Eliot were high school sweethearts. When he’d gone to college, she’d assumed they’d both move on. But she’d been disappointed by the drunken frat boy atmosphere even at her high-tier school, so when Eliot had proposed, she’d jumped at the chance, knowing they would make a good team. Not necessarily a romance to set the world on fire, but a solid partnership grown in mutual understanding.
They’d talked about uniting their families’ respective businesses with a merger once they wed. She’d always taken strength from their friendship, certain it would grow into the kind of love her grandparents shared. But right now, with the memories of Marcus’s eyes on her stirring an unexpected heat, Lily wondered why she’d never felt that kind of pull with Eliot.
Drying her hands, she reached alongside the tub to retrieve her cell phone. Once she called her fiancé, she would put the incident with Marcus out of her mind. Hearing Eliot’s voice would remind her why they were right together—even if they still hadn’t set a date for the wedding.
Lily punched the heart icon on her phone—the image she’d tagged him with in her contacts—but the call went straight to voice mail. Somehow, hearing his prerecorded message didn’t provide the same reassurance as speaking to him personally. If anything, it only served to remind her of how often she checked in without getting ahold of him. Was that normal for a couple in love?
After leaving him a message, she ended the call and tried to put the worries out of her mind, settling the phone on the pile of towels near the tub. Whatever had happened with Marcus was surely a fluke. A fleeting feminine interest she wouldn’t dream of acting on.
Her mother had been the kind of woman who could be tempted into relationships based on physical attraction, a trait that had made Maggie Carrington choose a lover over her own daughter. Lily knew better than to count on something as temporary as lust. Chemistry was a smoke screen that only confused people, complicating the real factors that needed to be considered for a long-lasting relationship. Like shared values and goals. Mutual respect and affection.
Satisfied she could salvage this trip and put that moment with Marcus behind her, Lily stepped out of the tub and dried herself with one of the fluffy bath sheets, her body steaming with the scent of roses. When Marcus texted her with an agenda, she would be ready to work. Clearly, he wanted to keep things professional and focused on business as much as she did.
No doubt he would keep those long, sizzling looks to himself for the remainder of their time together in Montana. And if a tiny piece of her still craved the way that moment had made her belly flip, she would simply channel it where it belonged—into her relationship with her fiancé.
Professional armor in place the next day, Lily strode through the foyer of the main lodge on her way to meet with Marcus. The building where she was staying was strangely quiet since the property wasn’t open for a retreat this week. She was the only guest that she was aware of, yet there must be maids at work, since she’d had turndown service the night before when she went out for an evening walk in the moonlight. She’d also discovered on her walk that the stables were staffed and she was welcome to ride anytime.
She was curious to see some of the ranching operation itself. The lodge and welcome center looked like a luxe mountain resort, but she’d read up on Mesa Falls Ranch and knew they’d been successful raising cattle and sheep.
She stepped into the great room, where the tile floors were softened with colorful Aztec rugs, the reds and burnt oranges repeated in the throw pillows and framed prints on the natural log walls. A small bar held top-shelf liquors under the watchful eye of a stuffed American bison standing near the pool table. Bar stools padded in black-and-white cowhide were all empty save for the one where Marcus was seated.
She allowed her eyes to roam over him for a moment before he saw her. His dark hair was a shade deeper brown than his older brother’s, and he wore it longer, too. Dressed in a blue button-down, he typed fast on his tablet keyboard, a pair of earbuds tuning out the world while he worked. When he turned his brown eyes toward her, she steeled herself for whatever it was that had happened between them yesterday. But the thing that had sparked last time was shuttered now.
Tapping off his screen, Marcus withdrew the earbuds and shoved them in the pocket of his suit jacket resting on the back of the bar stool.
“I didn’t expect you so soon.” He stood and gestured to the bar.
“I’m here to work,” she reminded him, stopping next to a wooden game table and keeping her distance.
“Here to work, or here to gather information for Devon?”
“Any information I gather would benefit you both, since I work for Salazar Media and not exclusively for your brother.” She didn’t enjoy playing word games with him, but she planned to defend herself and her position. Her job was too important to her to get on the wrong side of a man who still owned half of the company.
“Right.” He acknowledged her point with a nod. “But you got your start in the business by being Devon’s right hand. I don’t think that instinct to look out for him is just going to disappear.”
Impatience and indignation squared her shoulders.
“Do you want to work or question my motives?” She set her laptop bag on the game table, unwilling to be cowed. “Just so I’m clear.”
Marcus took a step closer. “I prefer to work, but I don’t think I can relax enough to do that until I understand why Devon would send you to a meeting slated to determine future control of the company.”
His nearness brought trouble with it. She could see the bristled shadow along his jaw. Read the mistrust in his dark eyes. Feel a charge in the air that made her skin tighten. Lily drew a deep breath to set him straight, but she caught the scent of his aftershave, spicy and male.
“Devon wants to be here himself. You know that.” She scavenged for the right words that would make things go back to the way they used to be between them. “But after he found out his passport had been stolen, he asked me to be on-site in case you need help closing the deal with Mesa Falls.”
Her position allowed her to oversee the day-to-day operations in New York but gave her the flexibility to work directly with clients, as well. She’d learned two weeks ago that Marcus had approached Mesa Falls Ranch as a potential client, because he’d requested proposal material from her office. She’d researched the place immediately, liking to stay up-to-date on all their current and potential accounts. So she’d jumped at the chance to visit the ranch herself and escape her grandparents’ growing pressure to set a wedding date.
His eyebrows shot up. “In case I—” he tapped his chest “—need help sealing the deal? I got confirmation we won the account before you even arrived on the property.”
She suppressed a sigh of frustration. Men and their egos. She hesitated, unsure how much to share and wary of stepping on his toes again. “Devon didn’t know the deal was sealed at the time he called me. And quite honestly, he was afraid you would be on the first plane back to Los Angeles unless he showed you some kind of good-faith effort.”
“You’re the good-faith effort?” His voice hummed along her senses, suggesting things at odds with his surly words.
She restrained the urge to lick suddenly dry lips, confused by whatever seemed to be happening between them. “Like it or not, yes.”
He stood there, entirely too close to her. Assessing. Then his gaze shuttered, his expression revealing nothing.
“Unfortunately for both of us, Lily, I work more effectively on my own,” he informed her quietly. Then he turned and retrieved his tablet. “I suggest we divide and conquer the tasks for setting up Mesa Falls Ranch as a new account and leave it at that.”
Blindsided by the abrupt turn in the conversation, she didn’t even know what to say to that as he tapped open his screen.
“Do you care at all about this company?” She’d always had the impression that he didn’t trust her fully. But he’d never come out and admitted he didn’t want to work with her. “Because you’re doing it a grave disservice to cut me out of the loop.”
She could see the muscle in his jaw flex, his mouth flattening into a thin, determined line before he spoke again.
“That’s never been my intention. I can send daily briefs on everything that happens here. But I’d prefer we get the work done so we can fly back to our respective coasts, where we can turn our attention to our own projects.”
Anger simmered, but she locked it down to maintain professionalism.
“And I respectfully decline.” She gathered her things, knowing it would be wisest to retreat until cooler heads prevailed. But first, she leveled her gaze at him. “I plan do to my job right here, where my presence is clearly needed.”
Two (#u6755c014-e898-5250-8950-bf44d82c038d)
Braking to a stop in one of the ranch’s utility vehicles the next morning, Marcus switched off the ignition and hoisted himself up to lean on the roll bar for a better view. The ranch foreman had offered him the choice of horse or vehicle to tour the property today, and Marcus had opted for the two-seater with no cab and a little wagon in back. He hadn’t informed Lily of the tour, leaving before dawn. He knew that was a mistake. That he was hurting the company because he couldn’t keep his emotions under control. Right now, he needed space to clear his head and figure out his next move.
As the sun rose higher in the sky, he reached for his camera on the passenger seat and withdrew the wide-angle lens from his bag. He had a couple of possibilities for a shot from this vantage point, and he lined up the first one, focusing on some dried wildflowers in the foreground.
Taking photos of the ranch was the best distraction, a pleasure in an otherwise tense trip. Adjusting the settings for shutter speed and aperture, he calculated what images he still needed for the social media campaign before he could head home.
Devon had messaged him during the night, saying the US Embassy was working with him to get his credentials reissued but that no progress would be made over the weekend. Marcus had resisted the urge to fire back a scathing response, unwilling to alienate Devon when he needed to convince him to let Marcus buy him out of the company. Later today, he’d tell Devon they needed to reschedule the Mesa Falls Ranch trip for another time.
Without Lily Carrington.
Just thinking about her spoiled his first shot of the wildflowers. Because he suspected her of spying for Devon? Or because Marcus wanted her for himself? Both options messed with his head.
While he’d always been drawn to Lily—in spite of his concern that she owed her loyalties to his brother—he’d been able to rein it in since they worked on opposite coasts. Being with her in person, when he was already grappling with his frustration with Devon, brought an unwelcome fiery element into his emotions for her. That’s why he’d let her take the meeting with the ranch manager alone this morning while Marcus toured the place on his own. He got a better feel for clients by seeing what they had to offer—in the case of Mesa Falls, by exploring the ranch—than by listening to them. In his experience, customers were often too close to their product or service to be able to see the subtle facets of what made it unique. Long before Salazar Media became a national brand—and before Devon got his business school “best practices” involved with every aspect of the company—Marcus had excelled at finding his clients’ individuality.
He wanted to bring the company back to that original goal—giving each account a distinctive voice and image that stood out from the rest of the media noise. And now, peering through the wide-angle lens to see a herd of elk step into the golden field, Marcus knew he could do that here. Swapping to a zoom, he zeroed in on the elk with video and stills, already seeing a way to set Mesa Falls Ranch apart in the marketplace.
He was almost finished when the hum of another nearby motor distracted him. He turned and saw a second utility vehicle approaching, a cowboy at the wheel, a tall, slender brunette dressed in dark jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt in the passenger seat.
It was Lily. She gripped the roll bar, her big sunglasses shielding her face from the sun now at its zenith. Her lips were pursed, her hair uncharacteristically flyaway, the dark strands dancing around her face as the vehicle picked up speed. When they braked to a stop near him, she stepped out with tense shoulders, her tall boots with high heels better suited to a fashion runway than a Montana meadow.
“Hello, Marcus,” she greeted him, impatiently swiping her hair away from her face. She kept her voice low, for his ears only. “You missed the morning meeting.”
“I left it in your capable hands,” he told her before turning his attention to the burly rancher dressed in worn jeans and a dark Stetson who strode at a more leisurely pace behind Lily. “You must be Coop?”
“Cooper Adler, at your service.” He tipped his hat and shook Marcus’s hand.
They’d spoken on the phone a few times while Marcus had been planning the trip. The ranch manager was responsible for the environmentally friendly practices taking root here, and they’d discussed how a social media campaign to document Mesa Falls’ move to green ranching would hold a lot of appeal for potential guests.
“I was just taking some photos to inspire the creative team when I return home. We’re going to start work on a company narrative next, and I’ll send a team out here to take more footage once we firm up our approach.”
Lily hovered at his elbow as he spoke. Every now and then the breeze stirred a long strand of her hair to brush against his shoulder. A silky, barely there touch.
“Just let me know whatever you need.” Coop nodded but didn’t seem all that interested in the whys and wherefores of the social media profile for the ranch. “I drove out here to see you in person since Ms. Lily told me you might be leaving soon?”
“My brother couldn’t make it, so I’m afraid—”
“The ranch owners really wanted to have a welcome reception to meet you and your brother. Weston Rivera has asked to firm up a date with you both.” Coop frowned, his forehead wrinkling as his eyebrows knitted. “And, more importantly, Weston wanted me to let you know that he has papers to deliver to you and your brother. But he says he needs to give them to the two of you together.”
“Papers? From who?” Marcus was surprised the man had never mentioned it in their preliminary phone conversations. Beside him, he felt Lily tense.
Had she known about this? And, more importantly, did she know what was in those papers?
Coop scratched a hand along his jaw. “From your father. He left them with Gage Striker—one of the other owners—the last time he was up here.”
Lily cleared her throat, softly drawing Coop’s attention before Marcus could demand answers.
“Cooper, did Alonzo Salazar spend time here very often?” she asked, her expression perplexed.
Marcus found himself wanting to know the answer, too. And why the hell had his father entrusted documents that belonged to him to one of the owners of Mesa Falls Ranch before his death? At least it appeared that Lily didn’t know about the documents, though his rising anger eclipsed any relief he might have felt.
The rancher tipped his face toward the sun. “As often as he could once he found out about the cancer. Before that, maybe twice a year.”
Marcus missed whatever Lily said in reply, his brain too stuck on that revelation. His father had always been a man of mystery, disappearing in his study for days on end when Marcus had been a kid, or traveling to destinations unknown for work he’d never shared anything about. To the outside world, Alonzo had been a teacher at a private school, until he retired and took the role of CEO at Salazar Media. But privately, even before Salazar Media took off, he’d always seemed to have another source of income. In the last few years, Marcus had asked his dad to visit him in Los Angeles plenty of times, but his father hadn’t wanted to travel much after the cancer diagnosis. Or so he’d said. Apparently he’d had enough energy to fly to Montana.
Had Devon known about those trips? Could he have accompanied their father? But Lily seemed caught off guard by the news, too, and he suspected she would have been privy to Devon’s schedule.
“I was unaware Dad left anything for me here.” He would have thought any paperwork would have gone through the lawyer, but then again, Alonzo Salazar had never been a rule follower. Devon’s mother had left him when Alonzo had argued a marriage certificate was no more than a “piece of paper,” and Marcus’s mom had discovered sharing a child with Alonzo didn’t mean sharing a life with him. “I’ll stop by your office when I get back to the ranch and pick up whatever my father wanted me to have.”
Overhead, a low-flying plane stirred the treetops, creating a rustle all around.
“Your dad was very specific about the paperwork, I’m afraid.” Coop gave a wave to the plane, as if he knew the pilot. “Gage left it in a safe, but he won’t share the code until you’re both here together.”
Marcus stifled a curse, realizing his business in Montana wouldn’t be as brief as he’d hoped. And he wondered how long Lily would remain at Mesa Falls, regretting the way his thoughts wandered right back to her.
“In that case, I’ll see what I can do to expedite my brother’s trip.” He chucked his camera into the open bag on his passenger seat, wishing he could get in the vehicle and drive until he was off the ranch and far away from the mystery of what his father wanted. And even farther away from the tempting woman on his left.
But before Marcus could indulge that plan, even in his mind, Cooper Adler jumped in his own vehicle and bade them both a good day, leaving Lily standing on the hillside with Marcus.
He glanced over to see her glaring at him, sunglasses perched on her head, her arms crossed.
“What?” he asked, curious why she’d be upset with him already.
“You left me to handle the meeting with the ranch manager on my own this morning, even though yesterday you said you’d be there.” She tugged the glasses from her head and stuffed them inside her leather handbag. “They’re trying to plan a welcome reception to introduce Salazar Media to the owners, and I didn’t know anything about it. I would have appreciated being better briefed on the client.”
“Bear in mind we’re both having to deal with unexpected circumstances this week.” He had no desire to cross swords with her now, not when he was still angry with his brother for being a no-show, and with himself for not knowing how important the ranch had been to their father. “The next time Devon sends you on a spying mission, Lily, just tell him no.”
“I’m not a spy,” she retorted, her blue eyes taking on a darker hue now that she was upset. “We’ve been over this. When I filled in for Devon, I foolishly hoped I could help the two of you reconcile and maybe save the company in the process.”
“If you represent his interests and not mine, how are you a good choice to negotiate a reconciliation? And either way, that’s not happening.” Marcus was taking the company, end of story. He moved around to the driver’s side of the utility vehicle and slid into the seat. “Why don’t you get in touch with Devon and ask him to send you back to New York?”
She hesitated then, after a moment, moved toward the passenger seat and sat down. It was a good thing the vehicle had no doors, excusing Marcus from ushering her in and out in a gentlemanly fashion, because her nearness got under his skin.
Whenever she moved, that damn diamond ring on her finger refracted light beams into his eyes like a weapon of deflection.
“I asked him that already.” She reached down to one side of the seat and retrieved the safety belt, tugging it around her narrow waist. “He refused.” When the latch clicked, she glanced up at him, her blue gaze sliding right past his defenses. “So it looks like you’re stuck with me.”
Lily was grateful Marcus didn’t try to talk to her on the ride home.
Sulking about her job felt like the right thing to do on this day when nothing had gone right. Her fiancé had awoken her with a text message at three in the morning to let her know that his obligations to the family business in the UK were going to continue into spring, so unless she wanted to come to London for the holidays, they wouldn’t be seeing each other anytime soon. Another time, she might not have been so upset, since she had a lot of new work obligations herself, but in light of how hard this trip was testing her, the blasé tone of Eliot’s message had filled her with doubts. Wouldn’t he miss her? Did he have any plans to ever discuss the wedding date her grandparents kept pushing her for?
Of course, when she fell back asleep, she had wildly inappropriate dreams about Marcus, which filled her with guilt and left her exhausted. Then there had been the morning meeting Marcus had skipped to take a private tour of the ranch, and her message exchange with Devon, who had told her in no uncertain terms he needed her in Montana this week.
Not to spy, obviously. But like his father, Marcus could be a bit of a wild card. He was a charismatic leader, and she guessed that Devon worried he might try to start his own company and take “his” clients with him. Lily guessed that, aside from helping Marcus set up the new account, she was also on-site to keep a dialogue open between the Salazar men. To remind Marcus that the branches of the company had worked together effectively in the past, and could do so again.
After indulging her frustrated thoughts for ten minutes, Lily forced herself back to the present, only to realize that Marcus wasn’t heading back to the main lodge. The scenery around them had changed, going from sweeping vistas to dense fir trees. The earthy scent of damp leaves and pine needles filled the air as small brush snapped under the vehicle tires.
“Where are we?” She sat straighter in her seat, trying to see through the network of branches.
She’d seen hints of the ranch pastures earlier on her ride with Coop, but this looked very different.
“We should see the Bitterroot River soon.” Even as he said it, the vehicle broke into a clearing, and a wide expanse of water came into view. “You looked like you needed a breather as much as I did.”
“I—” She didn’t know how to respond to that. They were the first words she could remember him speaking to her on this trip that weren’t confrontational. “Thank you.”
He braked to a stop close to the river’s edge, along a narrow strip of rocky beach. The water glittered in the sunlight like a jeweled ribbon winding through the land.
“I could use a few shots of this.” He reached alongside her leg, his brief touch startling her for a second before she realized he was retrieving the camera bag at her feet. “Do you mind spending a few minutes here?”
His attention was fixed on his camera, where he turned dials and adjusted settings. She watched him for a moment, intrigued. She tried not to think about the fact that her knee still tingled from the barest contact with his knuckles. She’d never thought of Marcus in that way until yesterday, and now she wasn’t sure how to ignore the attraction that lurked too close to the surface. Something strange had happened between them yesterday. Something more than just Marcus accusing her of spying for his brother.
“Sure.” She told herself to go for a walk along the water’s edge. Anything to put physical distance between them. But she couldn’t seem to stop watching him as he lined up a shot of the river partly framed by a wavy tree branch. She could see the whole image on the screen that took up most of the camera’s back. “That’s a great shot. You have a really good eye for composition.”
His hands stilled on the camera for a moment. Then he turned his gaze her way.
“My brother once informed me that I have a talent for art because I only have to please myself, whereas he has the better disposition for business because he cares what other people think.” He went back to work on his camera, shifting a few dials to take the same picture with different settings.
She knew Devon could be cold. Calculating, even. But she’d always appreciated his levelheaded practicality. She was wired the same way.
“Do you think there’s any merit to that idea?” Lily knew she’d never have any hope of helping these two warring siblings reconcile their interests unless she understood Marcus better. She told herself that’s why she wanted to know.
Overhead, a bird wheeled in circles before diving into the water with a splash. The air was cold today, but the sky was a perfect, unspoiled blue in every direction.
“I agree Devon is a people pleaser, and I’m not. That doesn’t necessarily mean he possesses a better head for business.” He clicked the shutter a few times, capturing new images of the water before refocusing on another bird searching for a meal.
It was interesting to watch him work. Salazar Media had its roots in the digital world, with the brothers on the forefront of engaging online audiences in constantly changing ways.
“Devon excels at pitching our services to big business. You drive the creative side.” She couldn’t understand why he didn’t see that the two of them needed each other. “That gives the company balance.”
“But I’m not interested in balance.” He shot images in fast succession as the bird dived to the water. “I don’t care about generating the biggest possible bottom line. I care about challenging myself and finding new outlets that interest me. That’s what keeps art vibrant. That’s what puts our business on the cutting edge.”
Setting the camera on the seat between them, he turned toward her, giving her his undivided attention.
“But the business shouldn’t be all about you,” she said softly. The company had grown rapidly in five years, and they now had satellite offices around the country. They were talking about going global.
She’d climbed the ladder fast at her job, and she owed much of that to how quickly Salazar Media had expanded.
“Why not? It was my brainchild. My work that started it. The company wasn’t meant to be a business opportunity for the whole family, just an outlet for my art. Now I can afford to buy my brother out.” He leaned closer, warming to the topic. “I’m done compromising my vision for his.”
In the river, a fish jumped and splashed in the slow-moving water.
“Salazar Media isn’t just you and Devon anymore. There are whole offices full of employees whose livelihoods would be hurt if you scaled back.” She wondered if he’d thought this through.
“You think I should let Devon buy me out of Salazar Media and start over on my own?”
That’s what he’d taken away from her comment? She’d never met anyone who thought like him before.
“Of course not. You’ve earned a strong reputation and the respect of industry professionals. You wouldn’t want to walk away from that.”
“Which isn’t a problem for someone who doesn’t care what other people think, remember?” He leaned back against the door, studying her from farther away. “Maybe you’ve got too much in common with my brother to understand that. You’re a people pleaser, too.”
She stiffened.
“It’s not a matter of pleasing others.” She wasn’t sure why they were talking about her. She wasn’t the one threatening to break up the family business. “But I do care how my choices affect others.”
“An artist can’t afford to care about that. I have to be impervious to criticism in order to keep creating art.” His knee bumped hers as he shifted, reminding her of that keen awareness she had for him. “I have to passionately believe in my choices in spite of what anyone else says.”
“That makes sense.” She crossed her ankles, giving him more room. Only to be polite, of course, and not because she was worried about the way his touches affected her. “But you don’t need to become so completely self-absorbed that you discount the preferences of others.”
“But creating work that I’m proud of requires me to be relentlessly honest with myself.” His dark eyes seemed to laser in on hers. Challenging her. “If the court of public opinion fell away, and there was no one else in the world to approve or disapprove of what I’m doing, would I still make that same choice?”
His gaze seemed to probe the depths of her soul as he spoke. As though his words, somehow, applied to her.
The people pleaser.
“If you’re suggesting that Devon and I both make our decisions based on larger factors than personal desire, I couldn’t agree more. Your brother tries to do what’s best for Salazar Media.” She felt defensive. Of herself. Of Devon.
“What about you, Lily?”
“I don’t own a stake in the company,” she reminded him.
“I realize that,” he said, more gently. “Consider it a hypothetical question to help put yourself in my shoes.” He stared out at the Bitterroot River again, perhaps sensing that the conversation was getting under her skin. “If you weren’t worried about other people’s opinions, would you still make the same choices?”
No.
The answer was immediate. Definitive. Surprising her with its force.
She had made so many decisions based on people’s expectations of her that it would be difficult to point to those few that she’d made purely for herself. Though her job was one of them.
Still, she would never be able to discount what her grandparents wanted. They’d raised her, taking her in when her mother had quit caring about her. And she would always owe them for that.
But she couldn’t deny that she may have given them too strong of a voice in her future—in everything from her job and her education to, yes, her pick of fiancé. That didn’t make it a mistake, did it? They wanted what was best for her.
In the quiet aftermath of Marcus’s question, she didn’t like the new lens he’d given her to view her own decisions. Because what she saw through his eyes was not the woman she wanted to be.
The autumn breeze off the water suddenly brought a deeper chill, and Lily was grateful when Marcus turned the vehicle back toward the ranch.
Three (#u6755c014-e898-5250-8950-bf44d82c038d)
Just because Marcus had made a valid point didn’t mean she needed to reassess her whole life, did it?
Lily wrestled with his words while she repacked her bags late that night, determined to fly back to New York despite Devon’s insistence that she remain in Montana. Devon might be the person she reported to in the New York office, but his directives held equal weight with his brother’s since they were copresidents. And Marcus wanted her gone. Hadn’t he made that clear from the start? She’d just have to tell Devon that she’d received an order contradicting his. Another reason why the brothers needed to settle their battle themselves.
But that wasn’t her problem. She couldn’t stay here when Marcus had deliberately caused her mental anguish. Accusing her of spying. Stirring an unwelcome attraction.
And then, to top it all off, intimating she’d chosen her fiancé for convenience. For ease. Because Eliot checked all the right boxes.
Not that Marcus had said it in so many words.
She rolled her socks together, lining them up in neat pairs along the bottom of her suitcase, taking no comfort from a ritual that usually helped her feel more in control before she traveled.
“Damn you.” Stressed and out of sorts, she chucked the final pair of socks at the steer horns mounted above the queen-size bed in her suite.
Was she cursing herself? Marcus? Her fiancé, who hadn’t answered the last three messages she’d left for him? She didn’t even know. But it bothered her that Marcus’s words resonated so deeply inside her, even hours after their talk at the river’s edge.
She needed to get away from him and all the feelings he stirred. That had been half the reason she’d started packing. But would that even do any good?
Truth be told, Marcus Salazar didn’t know much about her or her life outside work. He certainly didn’t know anything about her romantic relationship. So she needed to take some ownership of the fact that she’d interpreted his words today as some kind of judgment about her engagement. She’d pulled the meaning out of that conversation.
Which meant…
She was the one with doubts.
Her knees folded, and she dropped down to sit on the edge of the bed.
Staring down at Eliot’s ring on her finger, Lily wondered how long she’d been questioning her decision to marry a man who’d always been more of a friend to her than a romantic partner. Maybe that’s why neither of them had been able to commit to a date. Why it had always been easy to extend their time apart from each other, the way Eliot had done the day before. Perhaps her initial acceptance of four more months apart was another important clue that he was not the right man for her. And that was something he needed to know sooner rather than later. No delays.
She needed to call Eliot again. And keep calling until she got through. Because the engagement had gone on long enough. It was time for them both to move forward with their lives and give up the pretense that a marriage was ever going to happen. She hoped he would see that, too, because she truly didn’t want to hurt him. They’d been friends for a long time before the engagement, and she hated the idea of causing a friend pain. But she knew this was the right thing to do. She slid the heirloom diamond off her finger and placed it on the nightstand, at peace with her decision.
Picking up her phone, she hit the button to contact him through the video call app.
He answered on the first ring, his dark blond hair and gray eyes flickering to life on the screen. “Just the woman I wanted to speak to. Hello, Lily.”
He wore a tuxedo shirt and black bowtie, though he looked thoroughly rumpled as he sat in an unfamiliar setting. A hotel lobby, perhaps? She saw a few other people in the background, but no one else was dressed like him. His eyes were sleepy and a little unfocused, reminding her it was roughly five in the morning on his end of the world. Was he just returning to his hotel? The dark shadow of bristle on his jawline suggested as much.
Nerves surged as she paced a circle around her suite.
“Hi,” she managed after an awkward pause, surprised to have him suddenly on the line. “I really need to talk to you.”
“Are you upset that I had to extend my stay here?” he asked wearily. “You know I can’t ignore my dad’s wishes when it comes to this stuff.” He plucked at his bowtie, loosening the knot that had already been crooked.
“I’m not upset, Eliot,” she assured him, pausing her pacing to ensure her video image was still and focused on his end. “But I’ve been thinking about our engagement. About our mutual willingness to delay it inevitably. And I really think it’s a sign that we need to call it off.”
He seemed to shake off the weariness, his gray eyes widening as he leaned forward in the seat and shoved a hand through his hair.
“End the engagement?” he asked, a new urgency in his voice, still wrestling with the knot in his tie.
“Yes.” She knew it was the right thing to do, but her stomach tensed anyway. “I’m so sorry to do this long-distance but—”
“What about the merger?” he blurted, forgetting all about the bowtie as he gestured with his hand. Then, as if hearing the way that sounded, he shook his head. “I mean, as much as it hurts to think about ending the engagement, we have more at stake here than just our personal happiness.”
Frustration mingled with wariness and a touch of wounded pride. But, in all that tangle of emotions, she felt relief that “heartbreak” didn’t seem to be an issue for either of them.
“I realize that.” Releasing a pent-up breath, she sank into the window seat, careful not to crush the drawn damask curtains. “But marriage is too big of a commitment for us to make it just for business reasons.”
“We make a great team, though, Lily.” His gaze shifted to something beyond his phone. Or someone. Because he held up a finger as if to say one more minute to a person she couldn’t see. His gaze flicked back to her. “We should at least consider other options before we walk away from the engagement.”
A hurt deeper than wounded pride surprised her. Perhaps it was because Eliot didn’t seem remotely concerned about the loss of love or companionship in his life—just the merger. Maybe he’d never felt anything deeper for her than friendship and fondness.
It didn’t help matters that her intuition told her he was gesturing to a female companion. Not that it mattered now.
“Either we want a real marriage or we don’t.” Lily articulated the argument she’d been having with herself—quietly—for months. “After this conversation I feel certain that you’re not any more ready for that step than I am.”
In the background, she heard a woman’s tinkling laughter. Eliot glanced up in the direction of the sound—aggravated—before refocusing on Lily.
“Lily, please—”
“Rest assured, I’ll return the ring next week. And I’d like to wait until then to break the news to our families.” She wouldn’t keep a priceless family heirloom. Especially from a man whose interest in her seemed more mercenary by the moment.
“They’re not going to be happy with this decision,” Eliot warned her. “Not your family or mine.”
“Which is why I’m going to wait to discuss it with my grandparents until I’m back home next week.” Swallowing hard, she didn’t want to think about that talk yet. “Thank you for understanding.”
“I’m not sure I do.” His eyes went back to whomever he was with. “I’ve got to go, though, Lily. We can talk about this later.”
“That won’t be necessary,” she assured him, grateful to have the conversation over. “Goodbye, Eliot.”
She felt no guilt about punching the disconnect button. If he was actually with a woman, Lily was a little surprised he’d taken the call at all. But she was relieved, more than anything, to have ended things with him.
As Lily felt the weight of the engagement fall away, a new burden settled on her shoulders. Eliot was right that her grandparents were going to be upset with her. Disappointing them was something she’d avoided her whole life, and she knew without question that they would disapprove of the broken engagement. Furthermore, a little voice in the back of her head reminded her, they definitely wouldn’t be happy about how this might endanger the merger of the family businesses.
As she shut off her phone for the night, she began unpacking her suitcase. Maybe staying in Montana a little longer wasn’t such a bad idea. Just until she figured out how to handle things on the home front.
It wasn’t that she was hiding from them. Just…weighing her options for the future. Besides, she had a job to do at Mesa Falls Ranch. If things really fell apart with her family and the worst happened—if they disowned and disinherited her the way they did her mother—then Lily would need her job more than ever to pay her bills and secure her future. So right now, keeping Salazar Media intact seemed like the best use of her time.
Even if it meant facing Marcus again.
Enjoying the access to the stables at Mesa Falls Ranch, Marcus found himself on horseback for the third time in as many days. He’d attended a private boarding school where his father had taught, and horses had been an integral part of the program. Incoming freshmen bonded over a three-day trail ride, and the students’ relationship with the school’s animals grew from there. Every day at the Dowdon School, there’d been riding.
So he was comfortable enough on the Appaloosa as he filmed video footage of a team stringing a portable electric fence on a new patch of pasture for the ranch’s cattle. Besides, this excursion took him away from the main lodge, where he’d be sure to run into Lily. To hedge his bets, he’d left at dawn again, shadowing the ranch manager all day.
Coop had explained that moving the animals more frequently, to smaller patches of grass, was a key element in the green ranching model. In the years that Mesa Falls had been adhering to the practices, they’d seen a strong increase in the health of the grasslands and the wetlands. This model involved changing the grazing areas and, of course, stringing fence a whole lot more often. Marcus was filming whatever parts of the process interested him.
When his cell phone vibrated, he shut off the camera and grabbed for it fast, seeing it was a call from his brother. He’d left messages for Devon an hour ago, following up on a long email he’d sent the day before about the paperwork their father had left for them.
“Any idea what the hell kind of papers Dad would have left with a Montana ranch owner instead of giving to his lawyer?” Marcus asked, not even bothering to say hello first.
“I wish you’d come straight to the point for a change,” his brother deadpanned. “But no. I don’t have a clue. And it seems strange—even for Dad—to keep the whole thing a secret.”
“He was so careful laying out all his wishes for divvying up the property and his assets.”
Devon gave a sarcastic laugh. “He had to be, since he knows you and I don’t spend more than five minutes in a room together unless a client is involved.”
In the background of the call, there were shouts and horns honking, completely out of sync with the yellowed field surrounding Marcus, where the only sounds he heard were dry grasses rustling in the cold air and the creak of saddle leather.
“Maybe the papers pertain to his mystery business,” Marcus mused. “And we’ll finally learn something about his unidentified sources of revenue.”
Although Alonzo Salazar had taught English literature at the high school level, he’d always had a lifestyle that suggested he had a sideline, even long before he collected a paycheck with his sons’ company.
“If the will didn’t reveal anything, there’s no way some musty papers in Montana are going to contain any surprises. It’s something more sentimental. A letter to his grandkids or something.”
The idea punched him in the gut, since Marcus had zero intentions of marrying, let alone fathering children. He’d seen firsthand how fast a family could disintegrate.
“No matter.” Despite his father’s failings, Marcus hated to think he’d died disappointed. But Devon was the last person he’d share his regrets with. “At least this explains why he made us promise to come to the ranch together. Clearly it’s something he wants us both to learn at the same time.”
“I’m working on getting there, believe me,” Devon muttered. “In the meantime, can you lay off Lily? She does a hell of a job for the company, and she’s got enough on her plate without you making her feel unwelcome.”
Marcus wondered how tough the life of a pampered Newport heiress could be, but he didn’t voice that thought.
“I’m giving her a wide berth. I can’t promise I’ll do more than that.” He was doing her a favor by staying away, remembering how he’d gotten under her skin the day before. He genuinely hadn’t set out to make judgments about her or her life when they’d gotten into the discussion at the river’s edge. But he’d seen in her eyes when he’d struck a nerve.
All the more reason for him to let her be.
“While you’re at it, you could stop accusing her of spying for me. If I wanted some kind of secret updates on you, I think I’d send someone who doesn’t…stand out as much as Lily.”
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Joanne Rock
Temptation at any cost Marcus Salazar is determined to buy back control of his media empire. Only secretive Lily Carrington poses a threat to his ambition. Not even her engagement to another man can dim Marcus’s desire for her. But Lily has an agenda- one that doesn’t include the visionary mogul?
He’ll take what’s his—including the woman who stands in his way.
Marcus Salazar has come to Mesa Falls to buy out his half brother and gain control of the media empire that was his brainchild. But when COO Lily Carrington shows up, she poses a threat to his plan—and his libido. Not even her engagement of convenience to another man can dim Marcus’s desire for her, even as Lily fights for her own future at Salazar Media…and against her attraction to Marcus!
A Dynasties Novel
Where family loyalties and passions collide…
Visit Mesa Falls
JOANNE ROCK credits her decision to write romance after a book she picked up during a flight delay engrossed her so thoroughly that she didn’t mind at all when her flight was delayed two more times. Giving her readers the chance to escape into another world has motivated her to write over eighty books for a variety of Mills & Boon series.
Also by Joanne Rock (#u6755c014-e898-5250-8950-bf44d82c038d)
The McNeill Magnates
The Magnate’s Mail-Order Bride
The Magnate’s Marriage Merger
His Accidental Heir
Little Secrets: His Pregnant Secretary
Claiming His Secret Heir
For the Sake of His Heir
The Forbidden Brother
Wild Wyoming Nights
One Night Scandal
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
The Rebel
Joanne Rock
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09279-1
THE REBEL
© 2019 Joanne Rock
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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For Stephanie Hyacinth, Ann Thayer Cohen and Anne Martel. I’m so grateful for your support and kindness. I’m never parting with my gold star!
Contents
Cover (#u666e9530-7eb3-59b4-b5c0-3e5e88b1825e)
Back Cover Text (#u68ac1ec3-d429-5c97-a864-d4e639d097ef)
About the Author (#u6d5c1b08-0090-574e-b365-ef44b3a87a4e)
Booklist (#udbe693db-f396-5c0e-999b-38385d8911ba)
Title Page (#u60771dd2-7bc3-52df-9eb3-81726644a44e)
Copyright (#u4b0b981b-f618-5eb3-9ed9-5bd917e175b7)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#ue3a58b0b-f139-5e71-b501-c0cdd9f67a12)
One (#ud046cd2f-77e7-5ac7-8d5d-5354de4c1f38)
Two (#u25649de9-6498-5ab5-8cb0-5534ab14b856)
Three (#u7d8db4bb-c4ca-58c3-a6c2-a3a10d975c1e)
Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
One (#u6755c014-e898-5250-8950-bf44d82c038d)
Marcus Salazar would have enjoyed the afternoon trail ride a whole lot more if he’d left his cell phone back at the ranch.
He’d set the device to vibrate after ignoring two calls from the office, but he still found himself checking it. He couldn’t help it. He’d come to Mesa Falls Ranch, a Western-style luxury corporate retreat here in Montana, for the most important business meeting of his life: to hammer out a deal with his half brother, Devon, that would finally give Marcus full control of Salazar Media. Their negotiations couldn’t start soon enough to suit him.
When his phone began buzzing again, he plucked it from the breast pocket of his canvas jacket and saw that it was Devon calling. Maybe his brother had finally arrived. Marcus reminded himself to be civil and start things on a positive note. He and Devon might have opposing views on the future of Salazar Media—and just about everything else—but there was no need to revisit old ground this week. He’d simply discover how to buy out Devon’s investment and they could sever ties at last. He swiped the screen to answer the call.
“I can meet you in the great room in twenty minutes,” Marcus said without preamble, grateful for the cooperative Appaloosa who didn’t seem to mind his busy hands. He tried to keep a level grip on the reins with one hand while he held the phone in the other, remembering basic horsemanship from his prep school days. “I took one of the horses out while I waited for you, but we’re almost back to the main lodge now.”
Squinting into the late-afternoon November sunlight, Marcus could see the pine-covered ridge that sheltered the stables on the six-thousand-acre ranch. The acreage was situated close to the Bitterroot River, a place his father, Alonzo Salazar, had visited often, and he’d talked of bringing Marcus and Devon there for a trip on several occasions.
When they’d been kids, there’d been bad blood between their mothers that had made the trip too difficult to orchestrate. And later there’d been plenty of enmity between the men themselves. Now it was too late. Marcus and Devon had said their final goodbyes to Alonzo Salazar last summer after a battle with pancreatic cancer that was over far too quickly. Their father was gone, and he’d been the only reason the brothers had been civil to each other outside the family business.
They probably could have dissolved the rest of their ties without coming here, but they were fulfilling a deathbed promise to their father to meet at the ranch before they went their separate ways. For reasons Marcus still didn’t understand, their dad had been determined to get Marcus and Devon to this corner of western Montana.
“I’m not in town yet, unfortunately.” Devon’s voice competed with a lot of background noise. An announcement over a loudspeaker. The hum of other voices. “I’m still in the airport in Mumbai.”
“Mumbai?” Marcus leaned back in the saddle, stopping the horse on the trail so he could give the call his full attention. “As in the other side of the globe?”
Frustration simmered in his veins. His brother wouldn’t arrive for at least another day.
“I would have called sooner, but my phone and passport were both stolen and I was…detained by customs.” His brother sounded pissed. And exhausted.
“Did you recover the phone?” Confused, Marcus checked the caller ID and saw his brother’s face, only to realize Devon had contacted him through a social media messaging service, not a regular call.
“No. I bought a new one at an airport kiosk.” Devon’s voice rasped like a man who’d been talking for hours. “I’ve got a message in to the embassy to get some help returning to the States, but in the meantime, I—” there was interference on the call, as if Devon was walking through a wind tunnel “—should be in Montana soon.”
“I missed that.” Marcus nudged the Appaloosa’s flanks, wondering if the cell signal was weak in this heavily wooded section of the trail. The mare started forward again. “I just finalized the deal to bring on Mesa Falls Ranch as a client.” He’d been working on that angle with the ranch owners ever since he’d realized the trip here was inevitable, and he’d received a verbal agreement from one of them earlier in the day. “I can take an extra day to work on their account personally, but if you’re not here in forty-eight hours, I’m flying back to Los Angeles.”
Marcus handled the West Coast office. Devon was his copresident in New York. Only their father had outranked them, and he’d been a mostly silent figurehead CEO.
“There’s no need. I—” Devon’s words faded as the connection cut out again “—as an emissary. She can speak for me—”
A loud crackling noise hissed through the device.
“Who?” Marcus strained to hear what his brother was saying, the tinny voice over a loudspeaker drowning out some of Devon’s words and the poor call quality muting even more. “Is someone coming to the ranch for you?”
“—will message you. Sorry about this.”
The connection cut out completely.
Marcus glared down at his phone to see Devon’s social media photo staring back at him. How could Devon have waited until the last minute to get on a flight to Montana? Even on the company jet—and he didn’t have it in Mumbai—the trip would have been eighteen hours, give or take.
Although, having been detained in customs overseas himself, Marcus knew it wasn’t a picnic. Besides, maybe Devon’s guilt over not making their meeting would play into Marcus’s hands in helping him win control of Salazar Media for good. The company had been his brainchild, after all. His father and brother had only signed on for financial support, with their father assuming the CEO position simply because he’d been effective in brokering an accord between his warring copresident sons. With their father’s death, there was a power vacuum that Marcus planned to fill. As the creative founder, Marcus deserved the CEO role, and he planned to have it or he’d leave the company that he’d started.
Jamming the phone in his breast pocket, he urged his mount faster, racing hard toward the main lodge on Mesa Falls Ranch. The retreat had undeniable appeal. The fact that the mountains and the wide-open spaces could distract him from his frustration for even a moment was a testament to the place’s beauty. A consortium of owners—six in all—had maintained the lands and shared the cattle for the last eight years, with each of them having a home on the acreage. But the group had decided to open the land to guests a year ago, in an effort to fund their move to sustainable ranching. Sensing a business opportunity for Salazar Media, Marcus had opened a dialogue with the group, hoping to secure their account. The owners had made a verbal commitment to six months’ worth of social media advertising with Salazar, with an option for extending the contract if they were pleased. Marcus planned to set up a few appointments with key members of the ranching staff—to make his presence felt here—and then head back to LA once the finalized contracts were signed.
His conscience would be clear that he’d at least tried to meet Devon at the retreat. If Devon couldn’t bother showing up, that was on him.
As Marcus reined in behind the stables, he could see a shiny black Escalade pull up to the huge main lodge. A liveried driver hopped out and jogged around to the back, where tinted windows prevented Marcus from seeing inside. His brother’s words floated back to his brain—something about an emissary.
Could Devon have sent someone to the ranch in his place? It galled him to think his brother had managed to arrange for a replacement, because he would have had to make the arrangements hours ago. Clearly, phoning his own brother to let him know he was delayed hadn’t been his first priority.
He slid down to the ground and handed over the Appaloosa’s reins to a waiting stable hand. He thanked the guy and kept his eye on the Escalade as the back door opened and a decidedly feminine leg appeared.
A black high heeled boot. A slender calf. A sliver of gray pin-striped skirt.
She can speak for me…
The words blasted back into his mind as the only woman who was ever allowed to speak for Devon Salazar stepped fully into view.
Lily Carrington stood tall on the tarmac in a black overcoat left unbelted over her pale gray suit and lavender-colored blouse. A tiny patent-leather handbag dangled off her arm. She was the most perfectly proper woman Marcus had ever met. Never a silky dark hair out of place. Efficient. Articulate. Clients praised her up one side and down the other. She’d been Devon’s right hand in the business during the crazy years that it had doubled, then tripled in size, working her way up to the COO position, effectively the number two person in the New York office.
She was the antithesis of everything Marcus normally liked in a woman, cool and composed when he usually went for passionate, artsy types. Yet for some irritating reason, he’d always fought a fierce attraction to Lily.
Lucky for him, she was engaged to another man and safely off-limits.
Not so lucky for him, she still roused a surge of lust just standing in the driveway looking like a movie star in sunglasses that covered half her face.
“Marcus.” She gave a polite smile as she caught sight of him, edging past her driver to head toward him. “What an impressive property for a retreat.” Tipping up her sunglasses, she gestured toward the massive lodge-style building newly constructed as guest quarters. Her gaze swept over the pristine stables, the welcome center and attached paddock, and the rolling hills that turned into mountain vistas behind it. “It’s breathtaking.”
He found the view of her far preferable to the autumn landscape but kept that opinion on lockdown. He was already calculating how fast he could leave town without compromising his bargaining position with Devon. He’d done things he wasn’t proud of in his life, but indulging an attraction to a woman wearing another man’s ring was a line he wouldn’t cross.
“It should photograph well,” he acknowledged, turning his attention to the views instead of Lily’s pliable mouth or pale blue eyes. “Since Devon couldn’t bother to show, maybe we can spend our time here setting up the ranch account and gathering some on-the-ground intel the team can use to fine-tune the marketing approach. I’ll text you an agenda so we can both get back home as soon as possible.”
She was quiet for a long moment. For so long, in fact, he needed to turn and look at her again for a hint of what she was thinking.
“We could do that,” she admitted slowly, staring at him with newly wary eyes. “Or we could start a dialogue about how to fill the CEO position, since that was the original intent of this meeting. Maybe you and I can come up with some workable options for the future of Salazar Media—”
“That meeting was planned for Devon and me. Not you.” He wondered where she saw herself in this negotiation for power at Salazar Media. Was she hoping to carve out a better position for herself? Oust Marcus completely and take over the West Coast office?
If not for the fact that the Salazar brothers were on opposite coasts, the business might have tanked years ago. But they’d made it this far by operating as independently as possible from each other in New York and Los Angeles.
“I have a stake in the outcome, too,” she reminded him coolly. “And now that your father isn’t around to negotiate your differences, I hoped maybe I could facilitate a conversation about the future.”
“Did my brother ask you to talk me into rolling over on this?” He realized his thwarted sexual tension was making him speak more sharply than he might have otherwise. “Did he think you had a better shot at enticing me into doing what you want?”
Marcus had compromised his vision for the company too many times over the years, playing it safe while good opportunities passed them by because Devon had a different approach.
“Of course not,” she replied adamantly, shaking her head. “However, I am familiar with some of the frustration on both sides—”
“No, Lily,” he said, cutting her off, unwilling to walk down that conversational path with her. “You can’t possibly know the level of my frustration.”
Their gazes met and held for a long moment while he let those words sink in so she could chew on them for awhile. He guessed the moment when she suspected his underlying meaning. There was a soft intake of breath. An almost silent rush of her surprise before she gave a slow blink.
Had she truly been unaware of the attraction?
Not that it mattered either way. He had enough grievances involving his brother. He wasn’t going to try to wade through the haze of lust that Lily conjured for him. So instead, he tipped the driver who had delivered her to the ranch, sending the car on its way. When he turned back to Salazar Media’s COO, she seemed to have plastered a new mask of indifference on her lovely face.
“In that case, I’ll wait to hear from you when you’re ready to meet.” She held her small purse in front of her now, which was a laughable defense. There could be a whole conference table full of people between them and he’d still feel the tug of desire.
Nodding, he turned on his heel to retrieve his horse, grateful as hell that he’d chosen to stay in a guesthouse separate from the ranch’s main lodge.
The more distance between him and Lily Carrington, the better. The woman was a serious threat to his concentration when the future of his company was at stake.
What had happened back there with Marcus?
Lily asked herself the question again as she sank deeper into the claw-foot tub in the bathroom of her guest suite, indulging in a post-travel soak that she hoped would clear her head. The suite was beautiful, with hardwood floors and reclaimed barn beams in a nod to the Western setting, but incorporating plenty of contemporary touches like the glass-encased tile shower next to the vintage tub. She’d clicked on the fire in the sleek hearth as soon as she’d arrived, even though it wasn’t all that cold outside. She wanted the whole mountain experience.
Lily brushed a hand through the bubbly, rose-scented water, upset that she couldn’t fully savor the beauty of Montana and the unexpected trip because suddenly there was something odd between her and Marcus Salazar.
Something hot and unexpected.
Closing her eyes as she breathed in the steam-drenched air, Lily thought back to those moments after she’d arrived in front of the huge lodge. She’d been glad to see Marcus, if a little wary. She knew about the long-standing estrangement between the half brothers, although she’d never fully understood it. If they disliked each other so much, why had they launched a joint business with the help of their father? Then again, their talents went well together. Marcus was the creative genius with expertise in the digital media world, while Devon had the business savvy that kept the company in the black.
Devon had been her friend as well as her direct supervisor for five years, but he’d never shared much about his personal life. And Marcus remained a mystery even though he ran the West Coast branch of the company.
Since she’d interacted very little with Marcus directly, she’d been cautiously optimistic when Devon had asked her to take his place at this meeting. She’d wondered—naively, perhaps—if she’d be able to generate a dialogue between the Salazar men now that their father was gone and the future of the company remained up in the air. The business was still privately held, jointly owned by the Salazar brothers, so there was no board of directors to please or strict timeline to fill the CEO slot. Yet as months had dragged on in stalemate, some of their clients were getting frustrated at the lack of a single decision maker in the company. The struggle for power between Devon and Marcus could hurt the whole company. The business needed strong, united leadership.
But whatever had happened in the driveway at her arrival was going to hamper her efforts to make that happen. Marcus had inspired something she had no business feeling as an engaged woman. His dark hair and even darker eyes were so unlike his brother’s. His tall, athletic build…
Swallowing, she halted her thoughts about his body, not letting herself linger on that path.
Wrenching her eyes open, she lifted her left hand from the bathwater to stare at the heavy Asscher-cut diamond on her ring finger, a family heirloom Eliot Winthrop had given her two years ago when he proposed. The five-carat piece was flawless, the facets catching the light from the bathroom sconces.
Until recently, she hadn’t really questioned the long engagement, since they were both busy building their careers—he with his family’s wealth management firm and she with Salazar Media. They’d been childhood friends; their families had both built their fortunes in the financial world and had always been close because of it. Eliot had also made her feel like less of an outsider after the scandal of her birth. Lily’s single mother had refused to tell her parents who the father was and ultimately had given up responsibility for her child altogether, leaving Lily with her grandparents when she was four years old. As a result, Lily had never really felt like she belonged in the opulent Newport world she grew up in.
Later, she and Eliot were high school sweethearts. When he’d gone to college, she’d assumed they’d both move on. But she’d been disappointed by the drunken frat boy atmosphere even at her high-tier school, so when Eliot had proposed, she’d jumped at the chance, knowing they would make a good team. Not necessarily a romance to set the world on fire, but a solid partnership grown in mutual understanding.
They’d talked about uniting their families’ respective businesses with a merger once they wed. She’d always taken strength from their friendship, certain it would grow into the kind of love her grandparents shared. But right now, with the memories of Marcus’s eyes on her stirring an unexpected heat, Lily wondered why she’d never felt that kind of pull with Eliot.
Drying her hands, she reached alongside the tub to retrieve her cell phone. Once she called her fiancé, she would put the incident with Marcus out of her mind. Hearing Eliot’s voice would remind her why they were right together—even if they still hadn’t set a date for the wedding.
Lily punched the heart icon on her phone—the image she’d tagged him with in her contacts—but the call went straight to voice mail. Somehow, hearing his prerecorded message didn’t provide the same reassurance as speaking to him personally. If anything, it only served to remind her of how often she checked in without getting ahold of him. Was that normal for a couple in love?
After leaving him a message, she ended the call and tried to put the worries out of her mind, settling the phone on the pile of towels near the tub. Whatever had happened with Marcus was surely a fluke. A fleeting feminine interest she wouldn’t dream of acting on.
Her mother had been the kind of woman who could be tempted into relationships based on physical attraction, a trait that had made Maggie Carrington choose a lover over her own daughter. Lily knew better than to count on something as temporary as lust. Chemistry was a smoke screen that only confused people, complicating the real factors that needed to be considered for a long-lasting relationship. Like shared values and goals. Mutual respect and affection.
Satisfied she could salvage this trip and put that moment with Marcus behind her, Lily stepped out of the tub and dried herself with one of the fluffy bath sheets, her body steaming with the scent of roses. When Marcus texted her with an agenda, she would be ready to work. Clearly, he wanted to keep things professional and focused on business as much as she did.
No doubt he would keep those long, sizzling looks to himself for the remainder of their time together in Montana. And if a tiny piece of her still craved the way that moment had made her belly flip, she would simply channel it where it belonged—into her relationship with her fiancé.
Professional armor in place the next day, Lily strode through the foyer of the main lodge on her way to meet with Marcus. The building where she was staying was strangely quiet since the property wasn’t open for a retreat this week. She was the only guest that she was aware of, yet there must be maids at work, since she’d had turndown service the night before when she went out for an evening walk in the moonlight. She’d also discovered on her walk that the stables were staffed and she was welcome to ride anytime.
She was curious to see some of the ranching operation itself. The lodge and welcome center looked like a luxe mountain resort, but she’d read up on Mesa Falls Ranch and knew they’d been successful raising cattle and sheep.
She stepped into the great room, where the tile floors were softened with colorful Aztec rugs, the reds and burnt oranges repeated in the throw pillows and framed prints on the natural log walls. A small bar held top-shelf liquors under the watchful eye of a stuffed American bison standing near the pool table. Bar stools padded in black-and-white cowhide were all empty save for the one where Marcus was seated.
She allowed her eyes to roam over him for a moment before he saw her. His dark hair was a shade deeper brown than his older brother’s, and he wore it longer, too. Dressed in a blue button-down, he typed fast on his tablet keyboard, a pair of earbuds tuning out the world while he worked. When he turned his brown eyes toward her, she steeled herself for whatever it was that had happened between them yesterday. But the thing that had sparked last time was shuttered now.
Tapping off his screen, Marcus withdrew the earbuds and shoved them in the pocket of his suit jacket resting on the back of the bar stool.
“I didn’t expect you so soon.” He stood and gestured to the bar.
“I’m here to work,” she reminded him, stopping next to a wooden game table and keeping her distance.
“Here to work, or here to gather information for Devon?”
“Any information I gather would benefit you both, since I work for Salazar Media and not exclusively for your brother.” She didn’t enjoy playing word games with him, but she planned to defend herself and her position. Her job was too important to her to get on the wrong side of a man who still owned half of the company.
“Right.” He acknowledged her point with a nod. “But you got your start in the business by being Devon’s right hand. I don’t think that instinct to look out for him is just going to disappear.”
Impatience and indignation squared her shoulders.
“Do you want to work or question my motives?” She set her laptop bag on the game table, unwilling to be cowed. “Just so I’m clear.”
Marcus took a step closer. “I prefer to work, but I don’t think I can relax enough to do that until I understand why Devon would send you to a meeting slated to determine future control of the company.”
His nearness brought trouble with it. She could see the bristled shadow along his jaw. Read the mistrust in his dark eyes. Feel a charge in the air that made her skin tighten. Lily drew a deep breath to set him straight, but she caught the scent of his aftershave, spicy and male.
“Devon wants to be here himself. You know that.” She scavenged for the right words that would make things go back to the way they used to be between them. “But after he found out his passport had been stolen, he asked me to be on-site in case you need help closing the deal with Mesa Falls.”
Her position allowed her to oversee the day-to-day operations in New York but gave her the flexibility to work directly with clients, as well. She’d learned two weeks ago that Marcus had approached Mesa Falls Ranch as a potential client, because he’d requested proposal material from her office. She’d researched the place immediately, liking to stay up-to-date on all their current and potential accounts. So she’d jumped at the chance to visit the ranch herself and escape her grandparents’ growing pressure to set a wedding date.
His eyebrows shot up. “In case I—” he tapped his chest “—need help sealing the deal? I got confirmation we won the account before you even arrived on the property.”
She suppressed a sigh of frustration. Men and their egos. She hesitated, unsure how much to share and wary of stepping on his toes again. “Devon didn’t know the deal was sealed at the time he called me. And quite honestly, he was afraid you would be on the first plane back to Los Angeles unless he showed you some kind of good-faith effort.”
“You’re the good-faith effort?” His voice hummed along her senses, suggesting things at odds with his surly words.
She restrained the urge to lick suddenly dry lips, confused by whatever seemed to be happening between them. “Like it or not, yes.”
He stood there, entirely too close to her. Assessing. Then his gaze shuttered, his expression revealing nothing.
“Unfortunately for both of us, Lily, I work more effectively on my own,” he informed her quietly. Then he turned and retrieved his tablet. “I suggest we divide and conquer the tasks for setting up Mesa Falls Ranch as a new account and leave it at that.”
Blindsided by the abrupt turn in the conversation, she didn’t even know what to say to that as he tapped open his screen.
“Do you care at all about this company?” She’d always had the impression that he didn’t trust her fully. But he’d never come out and admitted he didn’t want to work with her. “Because you’re doing it a grave disservice to cut me out of the loop.”
She could see the muscle in his jaw flex, his mouth flattening into a thin, determined line before he spoke again.
“That’s never been my intention. I can send daily briefs on everything that happens here. But I’d prefer we get the work done so we can fly back to our respective coasts, where we can turn our attention to our own projects.”
Anger simmered, but she locked it down to maintain professionalism.
“And I respectfully decline.” She gathered her things, knowing it would be wisest to retreat until cooler heads prevailed. But first, she leveled her gaze at him. “I plan do to my job right here, where my presence is clearly needed.”
Two (#u6755c014-e898-5250-8950-bf44d82c038d)
Braking to a stop in one of the ranch’s utility vehicles the next morning, Marcus switched off the ignition and hoisted himself up to lean on the roll bar for a better view. The ranch foreman had offered him the choice of horse or vehicle to tour the property today, and Marcus had opted for the two-seater with no cab and a little wagon in back. He hadn’t informed Lily of the tour, leaving before dawn. He knew that was a mistake. That he was hurting the company because he couldn’t keep his emotions under control. Right now, he needed space to clear his head and figure out his next move.
As the sun rose higher in the sky, he reached for his camera on the passenger seat and withdrew the wide-angle lens from his bag. He had a couple of possibilities for a shot from this vantage point, and he lined up the first one, focusing on some dried wildflowers in the foreground.
Taking photos of the ranch was the best distraction, a pleasure in an otherwise tense trip. Adjusting the settings for shutter speed and aperture, he calculated what images he still needed for the social media campaign before he could head home.
Devon had messaged him during the night, saying the US Embassy was working with him to get his credentials reissued but that no progress would be made over the weekend. Marcus had resisted the urge to fire back a scathing response, unwilling to alienate Devon when he needed to convince him to let Marcus buy him out of the company. Later today, he’d tell Devon they needed to reschedule the Mesa Falls Ranch trip for another time.
Without Lily Carrington.
Just thinking about her spoiled his first shot of the wildflowers. Because he suspected her of spying for Devon? Or because Marcus wanted her for himself? Both options messed with his head.
While he’d always been drawn to Lily—in spite of his concern that she owed her loyalties to his brother—he’d been able to rein it in since they worked on opposite coasts. Being with her in person, when he was already grappling with his frustration with Devon, brought an unwelcome fiery element into his emotions for her. That’s why he’d let her take the meeting with the ranch manager alone this morning while Marcus toured the place on his own. He got a better feel for clients by seeing what they had to offer—in the case of Mesa Falls, by exploring the ranch—than by listening to them. In his experience, customers were often too close to their product or service to be able to see the subtle facets of what made it unique. Long before Salazar Media became a national brand—and before Devon got his business school “best practices” involved with every aspect of the company—Marcus had excelled at finding his clients’ individuality.
He wanted to bring the company back to that original goal—giving each account a distinctive voice and image that stood out from the rest of the media noise. And now, peering through the wide-angle lens to see a herd of elk step into the golden field, Marcus knew he could do that here. Swapping to a zoom, he zeroed in on the elk with video and stills, already seeing a way to set Mesa Falls Ranch apart in the marketplace.
He was almost finished when the hum of another nearby motor distracted him. He turned and saw a second utility vehicle approaching, a cowboy at the wheel, a tall, slender brunette dressed in dark jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt in the passenger seat.
It was Lily. She gripped the roll bar, her big sunglasses shielding her face from the sun now at its zenith. Her lips were pursed, her hair uncharacteristically flyaway, the dark strands dancing around her face as the vehicle picked up speed. When they braked to a stop near him, she stepped out with tense shoulders, her tall boots with high heels better suited to a fashion runway than a Montana meadow.
“Hello, Marcus,” she greeted him, impatiently swiping her hair away from her face. She kept her voice low, for his ears only. “You missed the morning meeting.”
“I left it in your capable hands,” he told her before turning his attention to the burly rancher dressed in worn jeans and a dark Stetson who strode at a more leisurely pace behind Lily. “You must be Coop?”
“Cooper Adler, at your service.” He tipped his hat and shook Marcus’s hand.
They’d spoken on the phone a few times while Marcus had been planning the trip. The ranch manager was responsible for the environmentally friendly practices taking root here, and they’d discussed how a social media campaign to document Mesa Falls’ move to green ranching would hold a lot of appeal for potential guests.
“I was just taking some photos to inspire the creative team when I return home. We’re going to start work on a company narrative next, and I’ll send a team out here to take more footage once we firm up our approach.”
Lily hovered at his elbow as he spoke. Every now and then the breeze stirred a long strand of her hair to brush against his shoulder. A silky, barely there touch.
“Just let me know whatever you need.” Coop nodded but didn’t seem all that interested in the whys and wherefores of the social media profile for the ranch. “I drove out here to see you in person since Ms. Lily told me you might be leaving soon?”
“My brother couldn’t make it, so I’m afraid—”
“The ranch owners really wanted to have a welcome reception to meet you and your brother. Weston Rivera has asked to firm up a date with you both.” Coop frowned, his forehead wrinkling as his eyebrows knitted. “And, more importantly, Weston wanted me to let you know that he has papers to deliver to you and your brother. But he says he needs to give them to the two of you together.”
“Papers? From who?” Marcus was surprised the man had never mentioned it in their preliminary phone conversations. Beside him, he felt Lily tense.
Had she known about this? And, more importantly, did she know what was in those papers?
Coop scratched a hand along his jaw. “From your father. He left them with Gage Striker—one of the other owners—the last time he was up here.”
Lily cleared her throat, softly drawing Coop’s attention before Marcus could demand answers.
“Cooper, did Alonzo Salazar spend time here very often?” she asked, her expression perplexed.
Marcus found himself wanting to know the answer, too. And why the hell had his father entrusted documents that belonged to him to one of the owners of Mesa Falls Ranch before his death? At least it appeared that Lily didn’t know about the documents, though his rising anger eclipsed any relief he might have felt.
The rancher tipped his face toward the sun. “As often as he could once he found out about the cancer. Before that, maybe twice a year.”
Marcus missed whatever Lily said in reply, his brain too stuck on that revelation. His father had always been a man of mystery, disappearing in his study for days on end when Marcus had been a kid, or traveling to destinations unknown for work he’d never shared anything about. To the outside world, Alonzo had been a teacher at a private school, until he retired and took the role of CEO at Salazar Media. But privately, even before Salazar Media took off, he’d always seemed to have another source of income. In the last few years, Marcus had asked his dad to visit him in Los Angeles plenty of times, but his father hadn’t wanted to travel much after the cancer diagnosis. Or so he’d said. Apparently he’d had enough energy to fly to Montana.
Had Devon known about those trips? Could he have accompanied their father? But Lily seemed caught off guard by the news, too, and he suspected she would have been privy to Devon’s schedule.
“I was unaware Dad left anything for me here.” He would have thought any paperwork would have gone through the lawyer, but then again, Alonzo Salazar had never been a rule follower. Devon’s mother had left him when Alonzo had argued a marriage certificate was no more than a “piece of paper,” and Marcus’s mom had discovered sharing a child with Alonzo didn’t mean sharing a life with him. “I’ll stop by your office when I get back to the ranch and pick up whatever my father wanted me to have.”
Overhead, a low-flying plane stirred the treetops, creating a rustle all around.
“Your dad was very specific about the paperwork, I’m afraid.” Coop gave a wave to the plane, as if he knew the pilot. “Gage left it in a safe, but he won’t share the code until you’re both here together.”
Marcus stifled a curse, realizing his business in Montana wouldn’t be as brief as he’d hoped. And he wondered how long Lily would remain at Mesa Falls, regretting the way his thoughts wandered right back to her.
“In that case, I’ll see what I can do to expedite my brother’s trip.” He chucked his camera into the open bag on his passenger seat, wishing he could get in the vehicle and drive until he was off the ranch and far away from the mystery of what his father wanted. And even farther away from the tempting woman on his left.
But before Marcus could indulge that plan, even in his mind, Cooper Adler jumped in his own vehicle and bade them both a good day, leaving Lily standing on the hillside with Marcus.
He glanced over to see her glaring at him, sunglasses perched on her head, her arms crossed.
“What?” he asked, curious why she’d be upset with him already.
“You left me to handle the meeting with the ranch manager on my own this morning, even though yesterday you said you’d be there.” She tugged the glasses from her head and stuffed them inside her leather handbag. “They’re trying to plan a welcome reception to introduce Salazar Media to the owners, and I didn’t know anything about it. I would have appreciated being better briefed on the client.”
“Bear in mind we’re both having to deal with unexpected circumstances this week.” He had no desire to cross swords with her now, not when he was still angry with his brother for being a no-show, and with himself for not knowing how important the ranch had been to their father. “The next time Devon sends you on a spying mission, Lily, just tell him no.”
“I’m not a spy,” she retorted, her blue eyes taking on a darker hue now that she was upset. “We’ve been over this. When I filled in for Devon, I foolishly hoped I could help the two of you reconcile and maybe save the company in the process.”
“If you represent his interests and not mine, how are you a good choice to negotiate a reconciliation? And either way, that’s not happening.” Marcus was taking the company, end of story. He moved around to the driver’s side of the utility vehicle and slid into the seat. “Why don’t you get in touch with Devon and ask him to send you back to New York?”
She hesitated then, after a moment, moved toward the passenger seat and sat down. It was a good thing the vehicle had no doors, excusing Marcus from ushering her in and out in a gentlemanly fashion, because her nearness got under his skin.
Whenever she moved, that damn diamond ring on her finger refracted light beams into his eyes like a weapon of deflection.
“I asked him that already.” She reached down to one side of the seat and retrieved the safety belt, tugging it around her narrow waist. “He refused.” When the latch clicked, she glanced up at him, her blue gaze sliding right past his defenses. “So it looks like you’re stuck with me.”
Lily was grateful Marcus didn’t try to talk to her on the ride home.
Sulking about her job felt like the right thing to do on this day when nothing had gone right. Her fiancé had awoken her with a text message at three in the morning to let her know that his obligations to the family business in the UK were going to continue into spring, so unless she wanted to come to London for the holidays, they wouldn’t be seeing each other anytime soon. Another time, she might not have been so upset, since she had a lot of new work obligations herself, but in light of how hard this trip was testing her, the blasé tone of Eliot’s message had filled her with doubts. Wouldn’t he miss her? Did he have any plans to ever discuss the wedding date her grandparents kept pushing her for?
Of course, when she fell back asleep, she had wildly inappropriate dreams about Marcus, which filled her with guilt and left her exhausted. Then there had been the morning meeting Marcus had skipped to take a private tour of the ranch, and her message exchange with Devon, who had told her in no uncertain terms he needed her in Montana this week.
Not to spy, obviously. But like his father, Marcus could be a bit of a wild card. He was a charismatic leader, and she guessed that Devon worried he might try to start his own company and take “his” clients with him. Lily guessed that, aside from helping Marcus set up the new account, she was also on-site to keep a dialogue open between the Salazar men. To remind Marcus that the branches of the company had worked together effectively in the past, and could do so again.
After indulging her frustrated thoughts for ten minutes, Lily forced herself back to the present, only to realize that Marcus wasn’t heading back to the main lodge. The scenery around them had changed, going from sweeping vistas to dense fir trees. The earthy scent of damp leaves and pine needles filled the air as small brush snapped under the vehicle tires.
“Where are we?” She sat straighter in her seat, trying to see through the network of branches.
She’d seen hints of the ranch pastures earlier on her ride with Coop, but this looked very different.
“We should see the Bitterroot River soon.” Even as he said it, the vehicle broke into a clearing, and a wide expanse of water came into view. “You looked like you needed a breather as much as I did.”
“I—” She didn’t know how to respond to that. They were the first words she could remember him speaking to her on this trip that weren’t confrontational. “Thank you.”
He braked to a stop close to the river’s edge, along a narrow strip of rocky beach. The water glittered in the sunlight like a jeweled ribbon winding through the land.
“I could use a few shots of this.” He reached alongside her leg, his brief touch startling her for a second before she realized he was retrieving the camera bag at her feet. “Do you mind spending a few minutes here?”
His attention was fixed on his camera, where he turned dials and adjusted settings. She watched him for a moment, intrigued. She tried not to think about the fact that her knee still tingled from the barest contact with his knuckles. She’d never thought of Marcus in that way until yesterday, and now she wasn’t sure how to ignore the attraction that lurked too close to the surface. Something strange had happened between them yesterday. Something more than just Marcus accusing her of spying for his brother.
“Sure.” She told herself to go for a walk along the water’s edge. Anything to put physical distance between them. But she couldn’t seem to stop watching him as he lined up a shot of the river partly framed by a wavy tree branch. She could see the whole image on the screen that took up most of the camera’s back. “That’s a great shot. You have a really good eye for composition.”
His hands stilled on the camera for a moment. Then he turned his gaze her way.
“My brother once informed me that I have a talent for art because I only have to please myself, whereas he has the better disposition for business because he cares what other people think.” He went back to work on his camera, shifting a few dials to take the same picture with different settings.
She knew Devon could be cold. Calculating, even. But she’d always appreciated his levelheaded practicality. She was wired the same way.
“Do you think there’s any merit to that idea?” Lily knew she’d never have any hope of helping these two warring siblings reconcile their interests unless she understood Marcus better. She told herself that’s why she wanted to know.
Overhead, a bird wheeled in circles before diving into the water with a splash. The air was cold today, but the sky was a perfect, unspoiled blue in every direction.
“I agree Devon is a people pleaser, and I’m not. That doesn’t necessarily mean he possesses a better head for business.” He clicked the shutter a few times, capturing new images of the water before refocusing on another bird searching for a meal.
It was interesting to watch him work. Salazar Media had its roots in the digital world, with the brothers on the forefront of engaging online audiences in constantly changing ways.
“Devon excels at pitching our services to big business. You drive the creative side.” She couldn’t understand why he didn’t see that the two of them needed each other. “That gives the company balance.”
“But I’m not interested in balance.” He shot images in fast succession as the bird dived to the water. “I don’t care about generating the biggest possible bottom line. I care about challenging myself and finding new outlets that interest me. That’s what keeps art vibrant. That’s what puts our business on the cutting edge.”
Setting the camera on the seat between them, he turned toward her, giving her his undivided attention.
“But the business shouldn’t be all about you,” she said softly. The company had grown rapidly in five years, and they now had satellite offices around the country. They were talking about going global.
She’d climbed the ladder fast at her job, and she owed much of that to how quickly Salazar Media had expanded.
“Why not? It was my brainchild. My work that started it. The company wasn’t meant to be a business opportunity for the whole family, just an outlet for my art. Now I can afford to buy my brother out.” He leaned closer, warming to the topic. “I’m done compromising my vision for his.”
In the river, a fish jumped and splashed in the slow-moving water.
“Salazar Media isn’t just you and Devon anymore. There are whole offices full of employees whose livelihoods would be hurt if you scaled back.” She wondered if he’d thought this through.
“You think I should let Devon buy me out of Salazar Media and start over on my own?”
That’s what he’d taken away from her comment? She’d never met anyone who thought like him before.
“Of course not. You’ve earned a strong reputation and the respect of industry professionals. You wouldn’t want to walk away from that.”
“Which isn’t a problem for someone who doesn’t care what other people think, remember?” He leaned back against the door, studying her from farther away. “Maybe you’ve got too much in common with my brother to understand that. You’re a people pleaser, too.”
She stiffened.
“It’s not a matter of pleasing others.” She wasn’t sure why they were talking about her. She wasn’t the one threatening to break up the family business. “But I do care how my choices affect others.”
“An artist can’t afford to care about that. I have to be impervious to criticism in order to keep creating art.” His knee bumped hers as he shifted, reminding her of that keen awareness she had for him. “I have to passionately believe in my choices in spite of what anyone else says.”
“That makes sense.” She crossed her ankles, giving him more room. Only to be polite, of course, and not because she was worried about the way his touches affected her. “But you don’t need to become so completely self-absorbed that you discount the preferences of others.”
“But creating work that I’m proud of requires me to be relentlessly honest with myself.” His dark eyes seemed to laser in on hers. Challenging her. “If the court of public opinion fell away, and there was no one else in the world to approve or disapprove of what I’m doing, would I still make that same choice?”
His gaze seemed to probe the depths of her soul as he spoke. As though his words, somehow, applied to her.
The people pleaser.
“If you’re suggesting that Devon and I both make our decisions based on larger factors than personal desire, I couldn’t agree more. Your brother tries to do what’s best for Salazar Media.” She felt defensive. Of herself. Of Devon.
“What about you, Lily?”
“I don’t own a stake in the company,” she reminded him.
“I realize that,” he said, more gently. “Consider it a hypothetical question to help put yourself in my shoes.” He stared out at the Bitterroot River again, perhaps sensing that the conversation was getting under her skin. “If you weren’t worried about other people’s opinions, would you still make the same choices?”
No.
The answer was immediate. Definitive. Surprising her with its force.
She had made so many decisions based on people’s expectations of her that it would be difficult to point to those few that she’d made purely for herself. Though her job was one of them.
Still, she would never be able to discount what her grandparents wanted. They’d raised her, taking her in when her mother had quit caring about her. And she would always owe them for that.
But she couldn’t deny that she may have given them too strong of a voice in her future—in everything from her job and her education to, yes, her pick of fiancé. That didn’t make it a mistake, did it? They wanted what was best for her.
In the quiet aftermath of Marcus’s question, she didn’t like the new lens he’d given her to view her own decisions. Because what she saw through his eyes was not the woman she wanted to be.
The autumn breeze off the water suddenly brought a deeper chill, and Lily was grateful when Marcus turned the vehicle back toward the ranch.
Three (#u6755c014-e898-5250-8950-bf44d82c038d)
Just because Marcus had made a valid point didn’t mean she needed to reassess her whole life, did it?
Lily wrestled with his words while she repacked her bags late that night, determined to fly back to New York despite Devon’s insistence that she remain in Montana. Devon might be the person she reported to in the New York office, but his directives held equal weight with his brother’s since they were copresidents. And Marcus wanted her gone. Hadn’t he made that clear from the start? She’d just have to tell Devon that she’d received an order contradicting his. Another reason why the brothers needed to settle their battle themselves.
But that wasn’t her problem. She couldn’t stay here when Marcus had deliberately caused her mental anguish. Accusing her of spying. Stirring an unwelcome attraction.
And then, to top it all off, intimating she’d chosen her fiancé for convenience. For ease. Because Eliot checked all the right boxes.
Not that Marcus had said it in so many words.
She rolled her socks together, lining them up in neat pairs along the bottom of her suitcase, taking no comfort from a ritual that usually helped her feel more in control before she traveled.
“Damn you.” Stressed and out of sorts, she chucked the final pair of socks at the steer horns mounted above the queen-size bed in her suite.
Was she cursing herself? Marcus? Her fiancé, who hadn’t answered the last three messages she’d left for him? She didn’t even know. But it bothered her that Marcus’s words resonated so deeply inside her, even hours after their talk at the river’s edge.
She needed to get away from him and all the feelings he stirred. That had been half the reason she’d started packing. But would that even do any good?
Truth be told, Marcus Salazar didn’t know much about her or her life outside work. He certainly didn’t know anything about her romantic relationship. So she needed to take some ownership of the fact that she’d interpreted his words today as some kind of judgment about her engagement. She’d pulled the meaning out of that conversation.
Which meant…
She was the one with doubts.
Her knees folded, and she dropped down to sit on the edge of the bed.
Staring down at Eliot’s ring on her finger, Lily wondered how long she’d been questioning her decision to marry a man who’d always been more of a friend to her than a romantic partner. Maybe that’s why neither of them had been able to commit to a date. Why it had always been easy to extend their time apart from each other, the way Eliot had done the day before. Perhaps her initial acceptance of four more months apart was another important clue that he was not the right man for her. And that was something he needed to know sooner rather than later. No delays.
She needed to call Eliot again. And keep calling until she got through. Because the engagement had gone on long enough. It was time for them both to move forward with their lives and give up the pretense that a marriage was ever going to happen. She hoped he would see that, too, because she truly didn’t want to hurt him. They’d been friends for a long time before the engagement, and she hated the idea of causing a friend pain. But she knew this was the right thing to do. She slid the heirloom diamond off her finger and placed it on the nightstand, at peace with her decision.
Picking up her phone, she hit the button to contact him through the video call app.
He answered on the first ring, his dark blond hair and gray eyes flickering to life on the screen. “Just the woman I wanted to speak to. Hello, Lily.”
He wore a tuxedo shirt and black bowtie, though he looked thoroughly rumpled as he sat in an unfamiliar setting. A hotel lobby, perhaps? She saw a few other people in the background, but no one else was dressed like him. His eyes were sleepy and a little unfocused, reminding her it was roughly five in the morning on his end of the world. Was he just returning to his hotel? The dark shadow of bristle on his jawline suggested as much.
Nerves surged as she paced a circle around her suite.
“Hi,” she managed after an awkward pause, surprised to have him suddenly on the line. “I really need to talk to you.”
“Are you upset that I had to extend my stay here?” he asked wearily. “You know I can’t ignore my dad’s wishes when it comes to this stuff.” He plucked at his bowtie, loosening the knot that had already been crooked.
“I’m not upset, Eliot,” she assured him, pausing her pacing to ensure her video image was still and focused on his end. “But I’ve been thinking about our engagement. About our mutual willingness to delay it inevitably. And I really think it’s a sign that we need to call it off.”
He seemed to shake off the weariness, his gray eyes widening as he leaned forward in the seat and shoved a hand through his hair.
“End the engagement?” he asked, a new urgency in his voice, still wrestling with the knot in his tie.
“Yes.” She knew it was the right thing to do, but her stomach tensed anyway. “I’m so sorry to do this long-distance but—”
“What about the merger?” he blurted, forgetting all about the bowtie as he gestured with his hand. Then, as if hearing the way that sounded, he shook his head. “I mean, as much as it hurts to think about ending the engagement, we have more at stake here than just our personal happiness.”
Frustration mingled with wariness and a touch of wounded pride. But, in all that tangle of emotions, she felt relief that “heartbreak” didn’t seem to be an issue for either of them.
“I realize that.” Releasing a pent-up breath, she sank into the window seat, careful not to crush the drawn damask curtains. “But marriage is too big of a commitment for us to make it just for business reasons.”
“We make a great team, though, Lily.” His gaze shifted to something beyond his phone. Or someone. Because he held up a finger as if to say one more minute to a person she couldn’t see. His gaze flicked back to her. “We should at least consider other options before we walk away from the engagement.”
A hurt deeper than wounded pride surprised her. Perhaps it was because Eliot didn’t seem remotely concerned about the loss of love or companionship in his life—just the merger. Maybe he’d never felt anything deeper for her than friendship and fondness.
It didn’t help matters that her intuition told her he was gesturing to a female companion. Not that it mattered now.
“Either we want a real marriage or we don’t.” Lily articulated the argument she’d been having with herself—quietly—for months. “After this conversation I feel certain that you’re not any more ready for that step than I am.”
In the background, she heard a woman’s tinkling laughter. Eliot glanced up in the direction of the sound—aggravated—before refocusing on Lily.
“Lily, please—”
“Rest assured, I’ll return the ring next week. And I’d like to wait until then to break the news to our families.” She wouldn’t keep a priceless family heirloom. Especially from a man whose interest in her seemed more mercenary by the moment.
“They’re not going to be happy with this decision,” Eliot warned her. “Not your family or mine.”
“Which is why I’m going to wait to discuss it with my grandparents until I’m back home next week.” Swallowing hard, she didn’t want to think about that talk yet. “Thank you for understanding.”
“I’m not sure I do.” His eyes went back to whomever he was with. “I’ve got to go, though, Lily. We can talk about this later.”
“That won’t be necessary,” she assured him, grateful to have the conversation over. “Goodbye, Eliot.”
She felt no guilt about punching the disconnect button. If he was actually with a woman, Lily was a little surprised he’d taken the call at all. But she was relieved, more than anything, to have ended things with him.
As Lily felt the weight of the engagement fall away, a new burden settled on her shoulders. Eliot was right that her grandparents were going to be upset with her. Disappointing them was something she’d avoided her whole life, and she knew without question that they would disapprove of the broken engagement. Furthermore, a little voice in the back of her head reminded her, they definitely wouldn’t be happy about how this might endanger the merger of the family businesses.
As she shut off her phone for the night, she began unpacking her suitcase. Maybe staying in Montana a little longer wasn’t such a bad idea. Just until she figured out how to handle things on the home front.
It wasn’t that she was hiding from them. Just…weighing her options for the future. Besides, she had a job to do at Mesa Falls Ranch. If things really fell apart with her family and the worst happened—if they disowned and disinherited her the way they did her mother—then Lily would need her job more than ever to pay her bills and secure her future. So right now, keeping Salazar Media intact seemed like the best use of her time.
Even if it meant facing Marcus again.
Enjoying the access to the stables at Mesa Falls Ranch, Marcus found himself on horseback for the third time in as many days. He’d attended a private boarding school where his father had taught, and horses had been an integral part of the program. Incoming freshmen bonded over a three-day trail ride, and the students’ relationship with the school’s animals grew from there. Every day at the Dowdon School, there’d been riding.
So he was comfortable enough on the Appaloosa as he filmed video footage of a team stringing a portable electric fence on a new patch of pasture for the ranch’s cattle. Besides, this excursion took him away from the main lodge, where he’d be sure to run into Lily. To hedge his bets, he’d left at dawn again, shadowing the ranch manager all day.
Coop had explained that moving the animals more frequently, to smaller patches of grass, was a key element in the green ranching model. In the years that Mesa Falls had been adhering to the practices, they’d seen a strong increase in the health of the grasslands and the wetlands. This model involved changing the grazing areas and, of course, stringing fence a whole lot more often. Marcus was filming whatever parts of the process interested him.
When his cell phone vibrated, he shut off the camera and grabbed for it fast, seeing it was a call from his brother. He’d left messages for Devon an hour ago, following up on a long email he’d sent the day before about the paperwork their father had left for them.
“Any idea what the hell kind of papers Dad would have left with a Montana ranch owner instead of giving to his lawyer?” Marcus asked, not even bothering to say hello first.
“I wish you’d come straight to the point for a change,” his brother deadpanned. “But no. I don’t have a clue. And it seems strange—even for Dad—to keep the whole thing a secret.”
“He was so careful laying out all his wishes for divvying up the property and his assets.”
Devon gave a sarcastic laugh. “He had to be, since he knows you and I don’t spend more than five minutes in a room together unless a client is involved.”
In the background of the call, there were shouts and horns honking, completely out of sync with the yellowed field surrounding Marcus, where the only sounds he heard were dry grasses rustling in the cold air and the creak of saddle leather.
“Maybe the papers pertain to his mystery business,” Marcus mused. “And we’ll finally learn something about his unidentified sources of revenue.”
Although Alonzo Salazar had taught English literature at the high school level, he’d always had a lifestyle that suggested he had a sideline, even long before he collected a paycheck with his sons’ company.
“If the will didn’t reveal anything, there’s no way some musty papers in Montana are going to contain any surprises. It’s something more sentimental. A letter to his grandkids or something.”
The idea punched him in the gut, since Marcus had zero intentions of marrying, let alone fathering children. He’d seen firsthand how fast a family could disintegrate.
“No matter.” Despite his father’s failings, Marcus hated to think he’d died disappointed. But Devon was the last person he’d share his regrets with. “At least this explains why he made us promise to come to the ranch together. Clearly it’s something he wants us both to learn at the same time.”
“I’m working on getting there, believe me,” Devon muttered. “In the meantime, can you lay off Lily? She does a hell of a job for the company, and she’s got enough on her plate without you making her feel unwelcome.”
Marcus wondered how tough the life of a pampered Newport heiress could be, but he didn’t voice that thought.
“I’m giving her a wide berth. I can’t promise I’ll do more than that.” He was doing her a favor by staying away, remembering how he’d gotten under her skin the day before. He genuinely hadn’t set out to make judgments about her or her life when they’d gotten into the discussion at the river’s edge. But he’d seen in her eyes when he’d struck a nerve.
All the more reason for him to let her be.
“While you’re at it, you could stop accusing her of spying for me. If I wanted some kind of secret updates on you, I think I’d send someone who doesn’t…stand out as much as Lily.”
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Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 23.04.2024
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О книге: Temptation at any cost Marcus Salazar is determined to buy back control of his media empire. Only secretive Lily Carrington poses a threat to his ambition. Not even her engagement to another man can dim Marcus’s desire for her. But Lily has an agenda- one that doesn’t include the visionary mogul?