Her face went white and she let him go to hug her waist as she edged back from him. “So you know...”
Know that someone had mistaken his girlfriend for a socialite. There had to be a mistake. Jess was more observant than he was, since he hadn't recalled anything out of the ordinary. He hit search on the browser. “I’ll sue the hotel… let me see what the damage is first.”
She took a backward step toward the door as she shook her head. “Let’s not. Let’s forget about this.”
"What?" And then he saw the picture of Jess, but that wasn't her name. Her real name made his stomach knot.
Catherine Morgan.
The same smile. The same overbite. The same eyes.
Catherine was Jess. He was an idiot. Again.
Photos of some random guy with a big face was also in the story, but he focused on the headline. “Catherine Morgan’s New Boyfriend. The party girl went country.”
Without meaning to he asked, “Who's Catherine Morgan?”
But it was clear from the photo that the article was talking about Jess.
She spoke in a small voice behind him, “Oh no.”
He continued to read. Catherine Morgan was being blackmailed for ten million dollars and a sex tape had been released. Her family was in the middle of a lawsuit with Brock. Maverick asked on autopilot, “So this is Brock Letterman?”
But the answer was obvious. Brock was why she was hiding. The twenty second video clip the news showed was from high school and grainy. He turned toward her and tears rolled down her eyes as she shook her head wildly, “I didn't want you to see that. I’m so sorry.”
A thought came to him as he stood from the computer. He crossed his arms and asked, “Jess, have you been here spying for Colt Collins?”
Her tears stopped and her blue hues held his. “Wait. What? No.” She nibbled her lower lip.
He walked closer as his heart beat wildly and his mind didn’t quite focus. “You’re more of a bad girl than Alicia ever dreamed of being.” He had the worst luck.
“Me? I’d never hurt you, Maverick. You and Carter gave me a home when I hadn't had one in years, not since my adopted father died. I'd hoped we were falling in love…” She hugged her waist tighter as she swallowed back sobs. “I might have been wrong, but don’t you see? Alicia probably figured out who I was and told the news stations.”
Yeah he saw that. Alicia spilling the beans on his life made sense. She’d wanted more money than she was worth, but at least he'd understood her. Catherine was the mystery. “She showed me the truth. I have to give her credit for finding a way to twist her knife.”
A shrill wail came from behind Jess, who had the monitor in her back pocket. She reached behind her, avoiding his gaze. “Stop, Maverick. Carter is crying.”
His son. He needed to do a better job protecting him. “Jess--or should I say Catherine?”
She pressed her hand to her heart and then turned toward the hall and the nursery as she said over her shoulder, “Jess. I like being her better. I’ll be right back.”
Maybe he should stop her. But his heart was still running that marathon. He ran his hand behind his head and pressed against his skull, unsure how to explain any of this to anyone. He said, “I…”
But his voice trailed off. This didn’t make any sense, at all. The buzz in his veins from the walls closing around his heart made everything worse, but he stared at the empty room and turned back to his computer.
This time he’d get more information and speak from a place of knowledge rather than react. He finished the story and his hands were into fists as he read about Brock’s rap sheet and how he'd targeted Catherine.
He’d dated her and set her up.
Clearly Catherine had horrible taste in men.
Even if she was a Morgan, she deserved to be treated with respect, and it sounded like even in high school he'd collected evidence against anyone he ever met, in case he’d one day need it.
Brock was the one in the wrong and the reason she was here.
Another report caught his eye and he read, Catherine Morgan has been hiding out on Maverick Appleton’s farm, headquarters of Agri International. Are the Morgans intending to combine Agri International within the House of Morgan holdings? Our investigators are working hard to find out.
His heart sank into his chest. Had Jess been targeting him all along, and used her unfortunate situation as an excuse to spy?
Had she blabbed to Colt about his deal that he’d stupidly told her a little about? He hadn’t mentioned peaches or where he was looking but one search on his computer would have pulled up all the information.
His pulse raced in his body as he took his phone out of his back pocket and called the one man he still depended on. The second he heard the click, he swallowed and didn’t wait for a hello. “Bob.”
Bob sighed and said, “I wasn't sure I'd hear back from you.”
He collapsed into his office chair and let his head hit the desk, hoping the action would knock him out and make him forget. “I need you to tell our investors to hold tight and that the Morgans are not going to buy us out.”
Bob flicked a lighter like he’d lit a cigarette. “Okay, boss. But a percentage of the investors are hoping for an increase in their stock portfolios if you merge.”
Some of his company investors were turn-coats out for a fast buck. Investors were like locusts that destroyed the crops. If he didn’t merge, he’d lose some investors he’d never met anyhow, and more would buy stocks in the open market as his company would remain stable. He nodded and sat straight. “Spread the word that we’ll stop any potential takeover. Agri International is still a name the world can trust for organic produce.”
Jess’s smiling face beamed at him from the computer screen and he turned it off. He let out a breath, unsure what had just happened, but this was why he refused to take a chance on love. When he opened his heart to a woman, she found an emotional tool to rip pieces of his soul from him.
Jess might seem like she was the perfect woman, but she was the master manipulator in his life.
She topped everyone.
A surge of electricity in his body had his hairs standing on edge as he thought about how she'd lied to him.
Bob asked, “What about Jess?”
Maverick jumped out of his chair and paced his office while he thought of his mistakes. “Clearly I’m a fool when it comes to women.”
Bob let out a sigh. “We all are. But she seemed interested in you, genuinely.”
"Interested" left his business vulnerable, and business was all he had to offer his son. The Appletons worked the land and produced without chemicals the best produce in the world. They had for generations now and profited while promoting health for all.
Carter had a legacy that was up to Maverick to grow for him.
Maverick needed to protect it, and no woman was worth ruining the future for. “Alicia was here earlier. I had a side by side comparison with Jess and neither one of these women are anything like my sainted mother.”
“Which is what you said you initially liked about Alicia. You could read her and she was easy to understand.”
Fair. Alicia had never broke his heart. She hadn’t ruined his business, either, though she'd tried to lay a lifetime claim on his money.
That was child's play, as it turned out. Jess had found all his information and fed her family potential deals. She'd told him with confidence what a good accountant she was.
Her family traits outshined the outward picture of maternal perfection he’d seen in her. He continued to pace as he said, “I was a fool.”
“All men are over a woman at some point.”
How could Bob still defend Jess… err... Catherine. The idea was laughable. He’d opened up to Jess and once again he’d been played a prize fool, only this time Jess had the power to steal Carter’s entire future away if he didn’t find a way to neutralize her family's threats. “No, she’s clearly smart, intelligent and a cool, confident liar.”
> Bob asked, “Have you talked to her? That business with Letterman sounds stupid.”
If the Brock situation was true and it probably was… no woman would lie about a sex tape, would she? But then that was his problem. He made assumptions about women. And he was a fool. “I haven't had a chance yet.”
“Well, she’s nothing like your last girlfriend. I still think you should marry her,” Bob said. “The Morgans have deep pockets that could would make Agri International the biggest organic producer in the world.”
The words were more than laughable, but his lips were too dry to even chuckle as he asked in a higher pitch, “Marry a Morgan?”
Bob burst out laughing. “A last name doesn’t change the person and if she married you then she’d be an Appleton.”
She'd have a lifetime of finding ways to destroy him. Jess was a fictional ideal of a perfect woman, but fiction was just that. He knew better than to go there. He shook his head and stopped pacing as he heard Jess’s footsteps on the floorboards. “You’re reaching, Bob. I’ve got to go. Jess is coming back.”
Bob quickly said, “Don’t hold Alicia’s many faults against Jess. Listen with an open mind.”
Listen. Right. He could do that. And then he’d point her toward her fancy brand new car, hand over her suitcase and wave her off. Once she was gone, maybe he’d be safe again and he’d find a better way to protect his heart. He had to. Carter depended on him. Tomorrow he’d hire another nanny, but this time he’d be smart with his business like he’d been trained by his Appleton parents. No other woman was going to make a fool of him, ever again.
And then he saw Jess’s tears as she stepped back into his office. His heart raced as he wasn’t sure how to begin, as this was now clearly the end.
The last thing in the world Jess wanted was for Maverick to hate her. But she was probably too late. Being Catherine Morgan meant she wasn’t able to follow her heart.
Not like she wanted.
She soothed Carter as he sniffled, not quite awake. She rocked him and hugged the little boy tight, hoping his baby-fresh scent would linger.
Maverick might not let her near him again. His hard face had a firm chin that suggested she’d never get a second chance. Not that she blamed him. Catherine was… a bored coward. She lay Carter back down with a gentle kiss.
Her heart clenched as she walked down the hall toward Maverick’s office. The door was open and she could see him pacing.
Words were never her expertise. She wasn’t a smooth talker. Her heart hammered as she came closer to the door.
She loved him--which came as a surprise--and should have told him who she was.
Who knows what he believed now? The tabloids and e-news had never been kind.
Brock might not be here, but he'd completed his quest. He'd ruined her life because she refused to pay him.
And she’d embarrassed her family days before Peter’s wedding. Hiding at Maverick’s hadn’t solved that either.
Now she needed to put the pieces of her heart on the line and beg for forgiveness. She knocked on the door. His gaze lifted, his body hard and uncompromising.
She swallowed and hoped for the best as she said, “Maverick, I can explain.”
He leaned on the back of his desk. The computer faced her, with a picture of her at the Oscars in a ball gown designed by the House of Morgan that she’d worn a few months ago. Her pulse quickened as he tapped his finger to the desk. “Explain? You’re Catherine Morgan and I’m a sucker.”
No. This wasn’t good. She lowered her lashes and wished she’d started out calmer as she crossed her arms and said, “You’re not. I wanted to tell you sooner.”
Again that tapping on the desk. It was the click, click, click that made her heart freeze. He asked, “So why didn’t you?”
Tears threatened to form in her eyes. She hugged herself as she walked closer to him and then brushed his knee. “I wasn’t sure you’d understand. You don’t like my brother-in-law and you told me what he and my brothers had done to you.”
He finally stopped that tapping but now sat on the desk, forgoing a chair, glowering at her. “If you were really in trouble, I’d have helped you.”
Her pulse quickened. “I wanted to tell you who I was since the cotillion.”
He sat straighter though his gaze seemed more focused. “Guess we’ll never know what might have happened if you had, Ms. Morgan.”
No. She brushed her hand against his thigh. “Jess.”
He reached out and for a moment their skin touched but then he gently moved her hand off his jeans as he said, “I’ll care for my son for the rest of the night. Thank you for your help these past few days, but it’s time for you to leave.”
Her heart was on the floor and it was like his boot just stomped all over it. Her eyes watered as she said, “Just like that, Maverick?”
He stood. “Did you expect anything else?”
Maybe that he cared for her and could forgive her. She ignored the heat in her face as she wished she had the drama gene from her birth mother. “That maybe you’d let me talk.”
He glared down his nose. “Talk. No one is stopping you.”
Except him, who seemed like a huge unmoving giant beside her. She reached for his hand. He stared at the door and she mentally said a prayer as she spoke out loud, “Maverick? Please look at me.”
He turned toward her and continued to hold her hand for a moment before he let go of her fingers. “Fine. What do you need to say?”
The physical loss of his touch was like a slap. His brown eyes blazed the message for her to ‘stay away’ but she couldn’t. She pressed her hand against the side of his face. “When I arrived here, I told you the truth. I was being blackmailed. I didn't want to pay but I also don't want my name to be in the news right when my brother is getting married. Peter has invited his investors from all over the country.”
Maverick didn’t move a muscle. Her heart soared with hope that he would listen. Then he asked, “And you couldn’t go to one of your countless family estates across the globe? Why did you drive onto my farm?”
Perhaps her story sounded silly to him, but it was still the truth. She ignored the rapid beat of her heart. “I told you the truth. I read your ad.”
His jaw clenched and he stepped away from her. “Bob’s mistake was convenient for you to get onto my farm and spy on my deal.”
She flinched and tightened her hands to fists so she wouldn’t let herself cry. “No. I swear it. I'm not a spy.”
He created more distance and put his hands in his back pockets. “It makes more logical sense than anything else.”
Maybe, but that wasn’t the truth. She exhaled and refused to cry. Her eyes welled with unshed tears. “I haven’t spoken to my brother-in-law in weeks. His wife runs the fashion empire and I only see them at family gatherings.”
Maverick had stopped moving, but he pressed his lips together and stared at her like she was someone else as he said, “I thought your brother Peter was getting married and he'd invited the world’s richest people.”
If he thought that she was a spy then he couldn't love her. Her heart shriveled. She wiped her still dry but very hot face and was thankful she hadn’t cried as she said, “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I was here to spy for them. I was in trouble.”
He took his hands out of his pockets but they were in fists as he shook his head. “You said yourself you were a great accountant and understood numbers. But I didn’t realize that meant you were here to assess my own net worth so you could get the Morgans to swoop in.”
A tear stung against her cheek. Her entire body steamed and the tear almost boiled as it fell. How could he believe this? She wiped her tear away as she said, “Maverick, I didn’t lie about any of that. I’m not a spy.”
His stance widened, his arms crossed. “How else did Colt suddenly know about my peaches deal?”
Her lips trembled. Jess’s mistakes hurt way worse than Catherine’s. She hadn’t had a shield up near Maverick and n
ow she didn’t know what to do with this pain. More tears flowed as she lifted her chin, “I don’t know. Maybe because he’s smart. And David wasn’t trustworthy. But I can tell him to back off right away. Morgans don’t fight with Morgans publicly.”
The censure in his gaze made her entire body buzz--her ears pulsating as he asked, “Is that a family motto? Screw the rest of the world but honor each other?”
There was no chance he’d forgive her. Her mind screamed to stop caring, but her heart whispered to try. She stuck out her chin and said without a filter, “Maverick, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was Catherine.”
He nodded like she'd just admitted her guilt. “You say your name like you’re not yourself.”
Maybe she should have gone to law school like Valentina, but she wasn’t good at arguing. This was clear as she lowered her head and closed the gap between them. She smelled his almond-scented shampoo and said, “I told you. I like being Jess here. I’ve not been Jess in a while and it was nice just being my old self.”
He didn’t budge but his face was so close, her lips ached for a kiss like they could make up and hold each other. “Were you Jess or Catherine when you were with that Brock guy?”
More tears. She knew better than to give her heart to anyone who didn’t want it. She’d known it but hadn’t followed that advice. She sighed as she said, “Jess. I was a kid.”
Again his nearness made her body aware in a way she wished she didn’t understand as he asked, “And he knew you were also Catherine Morgan?”
“My upcoming job at the bank was announced in the news weeks ago.” Catherine Morgan was photographed like she was something important when the truth was the opposite. Catherine was vapid and Jess hated the woman who stared back in the mirror, though she met Maverick’s sexy brown eyes. “I’m mentioned in the newspapers. My family has money. My brothers are movie stars, rock stars and business men the world knows.”
His muscles were tense and his shoulders tight as he said, “So you went out and found the one guy who didn’t know who you were, making me a fool.”
This wasn’t fair. She hadn’t known anything might happen between them, ever. She met his gaze, without tears, and reached out to touch his face. His soft whiskers bristled against her palm. “That wasn’t my intention. I wanted to help you. I still do. I’ve been falling in love with you.”
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