by Box Set
That seemed to galvanize him, and Rider finally came to life. “We need to talk, Trish. Let me explain what’s going on here. It isn’t what you think.”
“It’s exactly what she thinks,” Thomas said. “You’re a jerk who only came on this ship to keep an eye on me. I bet Stacy told you to get close to Trish.”
Several emotions swept through Trish, and she didn’t know whether to scream, cry, or laugh. “Stay away from me.”
“Yeah,” Thomas said. “I’ll take care of her.”
She shook her head. “I was talking to you, Mr. Baker. Your wife didn’t need to worry about hiring me a boyfriend for the trip. I would never, ever be with you.”
Spinning away from both men, Trish fled down the hallway, determined not to cry until they could no longer see her.
For the first time in her life, she’d let herself trust someone, let herself hope for a future of the sort her sister had found.
And it was all a lie.
Rider glared at Thomas, wanting to rip into him. “What have you done? Trish might be a conquest to you, but I actually care about that woman.”
“Oh, did I spoil your fun?” Thomas smiled. “Good. It isn’t as if you haven’t done that to me plenty of times.”
“You are such a piece of shit.” Rider’s hands balled into fists, and it took all his control not to beat the smug smile off the man’s face. “Stay away from me and stay away from Trish. You touch her, and I will kill you.”
“Careful, dick,” Thomas warned. “I heard people on this ship are dying. Might not want to make threats. I’m sure I could convince people you’re dangerous and get you out of my way.”
Rider wondered how Thomas had heard about the missing passengers, but he realized he was wasting time arguing with the jerk. The most important person to come into his life in a very long time had just walked away from him, blinking back tears. He had to go to Trish. Maybe if he told her the truth, all of it, she’d find a way to forgive him.
This had gone way beyond a job or being blackmailed into tempting Trish into caring for him. This was his life, and he could see her easily being the best part of that life.
He marched past Thomas, not saying anything further to the lawyer. The man was complete trash and didn’t deserve his time. Anyone who would cheat on the woman they were supposed to love wasn’t worth anyone’s time.
Rider raced down the hallway of the singles’ portion of the ship, knocking people out of his way as he went. Ignoring the angry curses of the others, Rider made it to Trish’s door just as she closed it.
He banged on it. “You have to let me explain, Trish. Let me in.”
“Go away!”
“Please, please. Open up,” he yelled back.
“I can’t believe I trusted you!”
The people in the hallway all stared at him, most of them with knowing smiles. He heard murmurs of ‘lover’s quarrel.’ Suddenly, the people seemed to be on his side despite the fact that he’d ran into them.
“Trish, you can’t listen to what that man says,” Rider pleaded. “He’s not totally wrong, but you have to let me in so I can tell you why I’ve done things this way.”
“I thought you were falling in love with me!” Her words sounded strangled and choked, and Rider knew she was crying.
He pressed his head against the wood of the door, wishing he had a way to make her see what was in his heart. “I think I could be. This isn’t a job anymore for me. It hasn’t been since that first night.”
Suddenly, the door flung inward, making Rider stumble.
Trish’s cheeks were tear-stained, but the death glare she gave him didn’t invite him to offer her comfort. “Which first night?” she demanded. “The first night on the ship? Or was the first night back in Sayle with that man who robbed me and threatened to rape me? Did you and Stacy Baker set that up so I’d trust you?”
Gasps in the hallway followed her shrieked questions, and Rider knew the sympathy of the crowd had turned away from him.
“Let me in so we can talk. Please. Stacy did make me come on this trip, blackmailed me just as much as she blackmailed your sister, but—”
“Blackmailed my sister with a picture you provided!”
Rider nodded. “Yes. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true. I’ve been working for her for the past two years. She pays well, and I thought it was okay that I did it. Thomas is a dog. I thought I was helping her and doing a good thing. Right up until I found out what she did to your sister.”
“And then you didn’t quit your job.” Trish shook her head. “Is the money so good you couldn’t pass it up?”
“I’ll tell you everything,” he promised. “But this story is something I only want to share with the woman I believe I might be falling for, not everyone on this deck.”
Her face remained impassive for a few seconds, but then she shrugged and stepped back. “This should be good.”
Chapter 21
Trish looked at Rider expectantly, wondering what great story he could come up with about why he tried to break her heart.
Rider sat forward on the couch, clasping his hands between his knees with his forearms on his legs, not looking at her. “I told you about going to live in the mountains for a while, what I didn’t tell you is why.”
“You gave a reason,” Trish reminded him. “You said you didn’t know what to do with your life. Was that all bullshit too?”
He glanced up, making eye contact briefly before looking away. “I know you don’t trust me right now, and I don’t blame you. I wish I had told you all of this yesterday. I had planned to, but I didn’t want you to look at me the way you are right now. As though I’m some sort of liar instead of a man you could love.”
Rider truly did seem anguished, and Trish had trusted him to keep her safe the past several days from men like Thomas and Ryan and even pimple-faced Tyson on the elevator. She knew she was angry because she felt betrayed, and she would likely judge Rider more harshly than she ever would any of the other men here.
She took a deep breath, trying to ease away some of the anger. If she was going to give him a chance to explain, she needed to truly listen to his reasons. Maybe there was a rational explanation for him to spy on her sister and ruin Lucy’s chances at a new job. Maybe there was even a good reason he’d gone along with Stacy Baker and duped Trish.
The question was whether Rider was still trying to dupe her in order to do whatever job he’d been hired to do, or if what he told her in the next little while was the truth. How could she know? As she pointed out several times while looking at who might be the killer, some people were great at lying, they were convincing. Sometimes they lied so well they even believed it. How would she know if Rider was that sort of person?
She sat on the edge of the bed, breathing in and out deeply until she felt more centered. “Fine. What’s your truth?”
His head snapped up, and his brown eyes pierced into hers. “It’s not my truth, it’s the truth.”
Trish shrugged. “Tell me.”
“First off, I didn’t know that Stacy would use that picture to threaten Lucy, okay? Let’s get that straight. I thought she’d take it to Thomas to show him that Lucy was off limits because she was so passionate with her husband.”
“You had worked for the woman a year by that time,” Lucy said, skeptical. “You had no inkling what she was doing with the evidence you brought her?”
“Maybe I didn’t want to know.” Rider ran a hand through his hair, truly looking as though he felt miserable. “The money she paid was great, and the only thing I thought about was how horrible it must be to have a husband she constantly had to worry about cheating. I’d never been in love, but it seemed to be another reason not to give my heart away. People can’t be trusted. I’ve known that for a long time.”
Although the anguish in his voice sounded real when he said that, Trish knew she couldn’t be swayed. Plenty of people were able to put on a good show once they were caught doing something wrong. Trish
had dealt with enough people who were guilty to know that.
“What about that first night we met?” she asked. “The man on the street who robbed me. Was that a set up so you could gain my trust?”
“At the time, I didn’t know about it. I learned later that Stacy set that up. Yes, so I could gain your trust.” He stared at her, not looking away this time. “But I swear I thought I was protecting you, and from what Stacy said last week, I truly was. She didn’t care if that guy ended up killing you. It would have saved her the trouble of worrying whether her husband would sleep with you.”
She didn’t want to believe him, but she thought back to that night. Rider had certainly seemed as shaken as she was. At least up to the time when she told him she had broken up with her fiancé. That’s when he got all weird and gave her the creeps, causing her to stop trusting him.
“Why were you there if it wasn’t all a setup on your part?” she asked.
“I was following you,” he admitted, still not breaking eye contact. “Stacy hired me to find out why you got promoted to partner so quickly. I had been tailing you since the moment Andrew Lutz told her they planned to promote you.”
She tilted her head, wondering what he thought about her, even though she knew she shouldn’t care at this point. “What did you decide?”
“You got the promotion because you’re great at your job, Trish. You aren’t some hussy sleeping your way to the top like Stacy made it sound. I think I started caring about you before we even spoke that first time, just seeing what a great person you are.”
A great person... There weren’t many people who saw her in that light. Ambitious, driven, and bitchy were the nicest things most people said. It had only been in the past year she’d even made peace with her sister.
“You obviously saw something others don’t.”
He shook his head. “If people don’t see how wonderful you are, they aren’t looking very closely.”
“Stop.” She held up a hand, knowing she couldn’t be swayed. “Flattery isn’t going to fix this. Tell me why you’re on this ship.”
“Once I found out about Stacy setting up that robber, I tried to quit. I told her you wouldn’t touch Thomas no matter what, that you weren’t that type of woman. I said I was done, and she needed to leave you alone.”
Trish simply waited for him to continue, knowing he’d have a reason as to why he didn’t end up truly quitting. Whether it was true or not, that was what she had to decide. Could she ever bring herself to trust Rider again?
“Stacy told me that I was going on this cruise, that I had to make you fall in love with me before it was over, or else.”
Despite her normal ability to stay impassive when questioning people, Trish’s mouth dropped open. “You only wanted to date me and have sex with me because she—”
“No!” He shook his head violently. “I was already so attracted to you. When you didn’t return my calls after the attack, I spent all my time daydreaming about you and hoping you would change your mind and go on a date with me. Stacy may have forced me into this, but I haven’t done anything with you that I didn’t want to. I care about you, Trish. Something real’s going on between us, and I—”
“Enough,” she said. “You don’t get to say those things right now. I’m not sure this is real. Just finish your story. What was the ‘or else’ she threatened you with?”
“Fine. You can stop me from saying it, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about you,” he said. “What she threatened was a trifecta, one I couldn’t ignore. She would destroy us all—me, you, and your sister.”
“But Lucy already paid for the picture you took by giving up the better job,” Trish protested. “What more could Stacy do?”
“Follow through with the threats she’d made to destroy Blake’s career and ruin Lucy’s family by using the picture.”
Trish’s stomach twisted with anger, but she didn’t doubt that Stacy would do something like that. She threatened Lucy last year with that very thing. “And what about you and I. What could she possibly do to us?”
“For you, she said she’d plant evidence inside some case files that would prove you’d tried to commit fraud. She’d get you disbarred and laughed out of town.” He pressed his lips together, sorrow in his eyes. “I couldn’t let her ruin you. Not when I already found you so remarkable.”
She shook her head, trying to block out the compliments. “And what about you?”
He blew out a long breath, closing his eyes. A myriad of emotions flickered across his face, and Trish knew whatever he was about to tell her, it scared the life out of him.
“Tell me,” she said softly.
“As for myself, she knew about Samantha.”
“Samantha?” Thoughts raced through Trish’s mind, wondering who Samantha might be and why Rider looked so scared.
“She’s the reason I spent four years in juvie, right before I headed to the mountains to figure out my life.”
“In juvie?” That was the last thing Trish had expected him to say. “What were you convicted of?”
He opened his eyes, and the pain flickering behind them was something Trish thought would be hard to fake.
“Killing Samantha,” he whispered.
Chapter 22
Rider looked down again, unable to handle seeing the shock and judgment on Trish’s face. “I see that look. It’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”
“How am I supposed to look?” she snapped. “I find out you’ve done nothing but lie to me since we met, and now you say you killed someone?”
He couldn’t blame her. If he’d told her the truth on his own before Thomas forced the issue, he might have had a chance. Now, she had no reason to believe him.
“I was a coward for lying to you. I know that. I didn’t expect to feel anything for you, but everything changed as soon as I realized I actually want a future with you.”
“If you wanted a future with me, you wouldn’t work for a woman you say is trying to destroy my life.”
“And mine!” He looked back at Trish, praying she could see how much she meant to him. “If she tells people about my past, everything I’ve worked for will be over. And I couldn’t let her frame you and get you disbarred. I had no choice but to take the job. I came here with the sole intention of protecting you from Stacy and helping myself. It’s a happy side effect that you’re a woman I see myself ending up with over the long term.”
She sighed, at least seeming a bit less hostile. “So this woman you killed...” She shook her head. “Unless you’re the sociopath killing people and being fine with telling lies, I’m going to guess Samantha’s death was an accident. I don’t think you’re the type of man to hurt others on purpose.” Her eyes narrowed, and she looked away from him. “Except you did provide the pictures for Lucy to be blackmailed so maybe—”
“Don’t start that,” Rider said. “Did I screw up and hurt your sister? Yes. That doesn’t mean I’m a killer or you can’t trust me. What happened with Samantha was indeed an accident, but I plead guilty to a lesser charge and spent time locked up in order to avoid a murder conviction, even though what happened wasn’t entirely my fault.”
“So?” She quirked an eyebrow and folded her arms across her stomach, seeming to form a barrier between them.
“So I was a freshman in high school, and I made quarterback for the varsity football team even though I should have played on JV.” Rider thought back to that time in his life. He’d been so proud of himself, beating out older kids for the most important position on the team. He’d thought he was hot shit. Even his parents had been proud. “We had just won our homecoming game, and the guys invited me to a bonfire out in the country. They’d accepted me as one of their own, even though I was so much younger. They promised booze and chicks, and I couldn’t wait to have my first real party.”
She snorted. “Like all dumb kids. At least this part is believable.”
Whether she believed it or not, it was the truth. “The party was g
reat. I was completely drunk and loving life. That’s when a senior girl told me it was my lucky night, and she was about to rock my world.”
It was like he’d won the football game all over again when Samantha approached him. He’d never even touched a girl’s boobs before, but Samantha was pretty clear that she wanted to be the one to make him a man.
“She took me outside, saying she didn’t want anyone walking in on us and that she’d always wanted to do it in the forest.”
“And I suppose you were only too willing?”
He nodded. “Anything to get with a girl, especially one as hot as Samantha.” He thought back to that night again, remembering all too well the excitement flooding through him despite the alcohol that still made complete details fuzzy. “We walked for what felt like forever, but she said she knew of an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods. I had sobered up a bit by the time we found the thing, and it was a real shithole. However, it was better than the dirt and I followed her inside, practically ready to blow my wad before she’d even touched me.”
Trish shifted on the bed, seeming uncomfortable. “I don’t need all the details.”
He snorted. “There aren’t many others to give. Samantha pulled something from her pocket, giggling and telling me how hot I made her. She popped something in her mouth, then handed me the bag.” He remembered that small baggie. It had brought back flashes when he’d seen Ryan trying to put something in Trish’s drink that first night here, even though he’d tried to suppress the memories. “I asked what she took, and she told me to man up and pop a few, that the sex would be out of this world. Considering I’d never had sex before, I didn’t think I needed anything extra. I told her I wasn’t into drugs and tried to give it back.”
He would never forget the way Samantha had tossed her long brown hair over her shoulder and flashed him a pout. “Please,” she’d begged, “for me.”
“She wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I finally shoved the pills in my pocket and advanced on her. Once we started kissing, she totally forgot I didn’t take the drugs.”