Peyton flinched. “All those jobs will be lost,” she whispered. “Vilette, isn’t there anything we can do to salvage this?”
“Possibly. That will depend on whether Mr. Shurley, once we’ve verified his claims that his father was the real inventor of the Olwen solar-panel system, is amenable to a similar deal with Electryone.”
“Possibly,” Gabriel said. “I’d want Belinda out—”
“She will be out of Electryone in the next few hours.” Vilette cut him off. “And likely arrested by the end of the day. I’ve already texted our publicity department, and they’re drafting a public statement as we speak. Belinda’s part in all this will not be swept under any rug, especially any owned by Electryone. We will see this is put right, Mr. Shurley.”
“Thank you.” He ducked his head, nodded. “I know I didn’t go about this properly. I know I shouldn’t have let her goad me into trying to scare you into quitting.”
Peyton snorted and glanced at Matteo, who grinned. “Fat chance of that happening. Obviously she doesn’t know me at all.”
“I’m ready to accept whatever charges you or Mr. Josiah want to file against me,” Gabriel said. “I got caught up, let my emotions take over, but when I saw her meeting with the higher-ups at Crossroads even after she told me she had nothing to do with the deal, I knew something wasn’t right. Thank you, Peyton, for listening to me.”
“Next time?” Matteo pushed to his feet. “Maybe make an appointment with her?”
The Blackwell brothers chuckled and began filing out.
“You need an attorney,” Ben said to Gabriel before he left. “To deal with the computer theft and hacking charges, not to mention making sure you get what you and your family are owed. I’m not the right one, but I know a few in central California who can help you out and not charge you into the poorhouse.” He handed Gabriel his card. “Call my office once you’re home, and I’ll put you in touch.”
“Uh, thank you.” Gabriel didn’t look entirely sure what to do or say. “What about...” He looked back at Peyton. “What about the sheriff? And charges—”
“I’m not pressing charges,” Peyton said and earned a flash of nodding approval from Matteo. “There’s no point, and you’ve already got enough to deal with. Besides,” she said as she walked him to the door, “because of you I was able to come out to Montana and deal with my own family issues. And get my first dose of Big Sky Country. I’d say we’re even.”
“I spent the last of my money on a guest cabin here. I hadn’t planned on approaching you so soon.” Gabriel slipped Ben’s card into his pocket. “Do you mind if I stay?”
“Only if you promise to get some sleep and start making solid plans for the future,” Peyton said. “I’m sure the detectives in my case will want to talk to you, and Vilette will need you to make an official statement, but all of that can wait.”
“Sure. Whatever you need.” He touched a hand to his watch. “I did this for him, you know. I didn’t want his life’s work to go unnoticed. I didn’t want him to be forgotten.”
“And he won’t be,” Peyton assured him, and closed the door behind him.
She sagged back on the door. “Well, that wasn’t how I planned to spend the day. Oh, hang on.” She held up her hand and returned to the sofa. “Vilette, you still there?”
“I am.” Vilette sipped hot liquid out of an octopus coffee mug. “You can consider yourself released from your prison. The jet is ready when you are.”
“Oh.” Peyton sank onto the sofa. “Well, actually...” She cleared her throat. “I’ve got a lot of vacation time stored up, and I was thinking maybe I’d take a few days? Maybe celebrate Halloween out here with my family and...” She glanced up at Matteo, who was carrying coffee mugs to the sink. “And friends. If that’s all right?”
“It is more than all right.” Vilette gave her a slow nod of approval. “I’ll take care of Belinda and the fallout. You enjoy your...friends. Matteo?”
“Ma’am?” He popped in behind Peyton.
“I’ll wire you your bonuses and pay this afternoon. I’ll also be contacting your employer to let them know I’d like to keep them on retainer for any future security needs, with you as our liaison if you wouldn’t mind?”
“Wouldn’t mind at all, ma’am. Thank you.”
“Excellent. If you’ll excuse me, I have criminal charges to file against one of my VPs. Have a good rest of your trip, Peyton. See you when you get back.”
“Okay.” The screen went dark, and Peyton settled against the sofa, reaching out with her bare foot to close her laptop. “I guess that means we are officially free now.”
Matteo leaned in and rested his folded arms on the back of the sofa. “I guess we are. What do you want to do?”
She tilted her head up to look at him. Her gaze dropped to his mouth, to those lips of his that seemed to have been made just for her. She reached up, brushed her thumb over his mouth. “I can think of a few things.”
“What’s going on?” A sleepy Gino was standing in the bedroom doorway, his hair sticking up in mussy tufts, rubbing his eyes. “What did I miss?”
Instead of answering, Matteo walked over and scooped up Gino, holding him in his arms as Peyton joined them. “You have a decision to make, young man.”
“I do? ’Bout what?”
“Only the most important decision a six-year-old will ever make.”
Peyton caught on to Matteo’s train of thought immediately and tugged Gino’s too small pajama top down over his tummy. “What on earth are you going to be for Halloween?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“ARE YOU SURE about this, Lily?” Matteo watched as Peyton’s sister smoothed her hand down the nose of the horse he’d come to love. “I don’t want to take advantage.”
“You aren’t,” Lily assured him. “Conner and I agree, this lady and Goldie need a good, calm, peaceful environment, and as wonderful as the ranch is, there’s a bit too much energy for them here. We’ll take good care of them. Promise.”
“Of that I have no doubt.” He hated to part with the horse, but what was he going to do with her in an apartment in California?
“I hope you know you and Gino are welcome to come back and visit her anytime you want. Seems the least we can do after all you’ve done for Peyton.”
It was how she said it, with that overly lilting, singsong voice that had his ears perking up. “Something on your mind?”
Lily shrugged. “Just wondering if my sister’s smart enough to realize how good a man you are. How good you are for her. You know, I haven’t seen her go this long without having her nose stuck in a spreadsheet in...well, forever.”
“She’s feeling free because she’s finally taking a vacation,” Matteo said. “Nothing to do with me.”
“Somehow I think it’s more than that.”
He had enough of an ego to silently agree. In the days following the revelation her stalker wasn’t so much stalking as he was trying to figure out how to explain his side of things, Peyton had been on a tear where ranch activities were concerned. Trail rides, barbecues, games, activities, decorations for Halloween: she was a one-woman whirling dervish. He’d even heard her lamenting the fact that Hadley Blackwell was too good at her job as a resort wedding planner because there was nothing for Peyton to do to help her sister other than assure Lily she would most definitely be back at the ranch for the Christmastime ceremony. “Don’t go counting on anything happening between us just yet, Lily. Peyton and I are still...” What? Figuring things out? Deciding if there was something close to a future together?
He knew what he was leaning toward, what he wanted, but he’d been down this road before with a professionally determined woman.
Would he and Gino ever be enough for Peyton Harrison? If it was just himself he had to worry about, it would be one thing, but with Gino’s custody hanging in the balance, not to ment
ion his future, there weren’t a lot of chances Matteo was willing to take. Still. It was definitely mood-elevating to consider a future that included Peyton.
“Speaking of my sister, where’s she gotten to this morning?”
“She wouldn’t tell me,” Matteo said. “She and Gino are on a secret shopping trip. Probably something to do with the Halloween bash tonight. They still won’t tell me what he’s going to be dressed as.”
“What are you going as?” Lily teased.
“The scariest thing I could think of.” He grinned. “I’m gonna be a cowboy.”
Lily laughed. “Oh.” She snapped her fingers. “Just one more technicality where the horse is concerned. What’s her name?”
“Beauty.” No other name suited. No other name came close. And no other name would do. “Her name is Beauty.” He moved closer and held out his hand for the horse to nuzzle. “And she’s going to have a wonderful life as a Blackwell.”
* * *
“COME ON, HURRY UP!” Gino’s entire body vibrated as he stomped his feet while Peyton knotted his little black necktie. “The party’s already happening!”
“It’ll be happening all night, little man. You can be a bit late.” How could one small boy cause such havoc in one two-bedroom cabin? He’d been beyond excited from the second he woke up this morning and had only gotten more energetic as the day wore on. Probably, she figured, due to the bottomless bowls of candy Hadley had all around the ranch. Candy corn, marshmallow ghosts, candy-coated apples, cotton-candy spiderwebs... If there was any sugar left in Montana, Peyton would be shocked. Every cabin porch was strewn with twinkling lights, stacks of carved pumpkins and wispy, gauzy ghosts billowing in the October breeze.
“I told Rosie I’d be there now,” Gino whined. “Aren’t you done yet?”
“Hang on.” Peyton reached behind her for the plastic star and clipped it to his belt. She’d convinced him to forego the toy gun he’d had his heart set on and instead talked him into a fluorescent-green water pistol. “And one last thing.” She pushed the pair of sunglasses onto his face and watched his face split into a huge grin.
“How do I look?”
“See for yourself.” She steered him over to the mirror. “Well?”
“Awesome! It’s perfect! Just like you said.”
“I happen to be a genius for Halloween costumes.” She’d always loved her and her sisters’ tradition of dressing up as a group with a common theme. One year they’d donned costumes of mother nature, each representing an element. Another they’d chosen their favorite TV cartoon characters. One of their last Halloweens together they’d each chosen a female scientist—Peyton had gone with Marie Curie despite the less than happy ending the woman had endured. “What’s Rosie coming as?”
“A witch.” Gino scrunched up his face. “She said it’s a witch who wears pink, but I told her I didn’t think there was such a thing. She said I’m wrong and that she’ll prove it tonight. Do witches wear pink, Peyton?”
“Witches wear whatever they want to wear,” Peyton told him. “I doubt Rosie’s often wrong about such things.” Talk about a bundle of energy. Katie and Chance’s little girl definitely gave Gino competition in that department. “You ready to show your dad?”
“Yeah! Let’s go!” he slammed out of the room. “Dad! I’m ready! Come see!” He jumped into a frozen pose that had Peyton snort-laughing as Matteo emerged from his bedroom, cowboy hat, boots, flannel shirt all in place.
What weeks before had been a slight flutter and zinging in her heart had, in the past few days, settled into a constant, buzzing, thrilling hum. There was something about this man—a man who had every reason to run far and fast from anything cowboy, yet here he’d donned the perfect costume to have fun with his son—and it made her heart stand up and take notice.
Matteo stared at Gino, confusion V-ing his brows. “Well, you look pretty professional. Who are you? A character from Men in Black? An FBI agent?”
“No.” Gino looked stunned that his father didn’t see it.
Peyton shook her head, just enough for Matteo to notice. “He’s you,” she mouthed before Gino caught her.
“I’m Protector Man!” Gino struck another pose. “Like you protect Peyton and all those other people with your job. See? I’ve got the suit and the gun and everything. I even have a badge!”
“I don’t wear—”
Peyton cleared her throat.
“Right.” Matteo nodded and walked over to his son, flipped his glasses down his nose. “You look amazing, Gino. I’m very flattered.”
“Peyton said you would be. I wanna be just like you when I grow up, Daddy. Peyton said I could, so can I?”
Matteo nodded. Peyton pressed a finger to her trembling lips. He really had no idea how absolutely amazing he was with that boy.
“You can be anything you want to be, G.”
“Well, right now I want to be at that party because I’m starving!” Peyton grabbed her own cowboy—or was it cowgirl?—hat, one she’d borrowed from Lily, and boot-scooted over to the door. “Let’s see how these Blackwells throw a party.”
* * *
“I MAY JUST die from the cute.” Peyton stuffed another marshmallow ghost into her mouth and tilted her head back to grin at Matteo, hand clasping her hat to her head. “Look how cute they all are!”
Matteo wasn’t one to throw the word cute around, but he had to admit, glancing at the smorgasbord of costumed children of all ages, cute seemed a pretty apt description.
“Look at all those Blackwells over with Gino.” Peyton sighed and moved closer to Matteo. “All dressed up like Wizard of Oz characters. There’s Rosie as Glinda because pink, obviously.”
“I think the two Totos are Jon and Lydia’s twins. What were their names again?” Matteo was having trouble keeping everyone straight.
“Marshall and Brendan. They’re just so... I just want to squeeze their cheeks!”
“Resist,” he teased. I see Abby and Gen over there by the ghoul punch. Scarecrow and Tinma—”
“Woman,” Peyton corrected him. “And sweet Poppy is Dorothy. Look at her terrific red shoes!”
“Where’s the lion?” Matteo craned his neck. “This is like some weird Halloween bingo game.”
“There.” Peyton pointed to Ethan’s son Eli, who was stealing the show with his golden mane of yarn and a cute black button nose.
They continued making comments and pointing out the various costumes, worn by both kids and parents, grandparents and Falcon Creek residents alike.
“I bet the entire town showed up to this thing.” Matteo slipped an arm around Peyton’s waist and drew her closer. “Pop said they would.”
“Hadley’s been working so hard on this. It’s nice to see everyone having such a good time.”
Strobe lights in orange, yellow and white pulsed and spun into the night sky. The picnic tables had been decked out with lights similar to the ones strung around the porches. Even the fence around the paddock displayed carved pumpkin heads and bushels of red, ripe apples.
Game booths had been set up, too, from bobbing for apples to ring toss onto traffic cones painted to look like giant candy corn. Darts to pop white-balloon ghosts and a fishing pond where frogs were chosen for a jumping contest.
“I like how everything’s cheery and fun.” Peyton rested her head on Matteo’s upper arm. “None of that übercreepy zombie stuff.” She shuddered. “That freaks me out.”
“Kids get scared enough these days,” Matteo agreed. “No need to add the same to holidays. Oh, look. Wonder what those are.” He sniffed the air and drew Peyton with him as he checked out the freshly baked handheld pies.
“Oh, good.” Hadley handed them each one with a look of relief. She was dressed to the nines as Little Bo Peep, complete with bright red cheeks and ringlet curls. “You two test these out for me. New recipe. I was trying for t
hose English pasties. These are potato and cheese with a little bit of heat from chipotle peppers.”
Matteo had a bite, nodding in approval the second the treat hit his tongue. “It’s good.” He covered his mouth as he laughed. “When do you get to take a break and enjoy yourself?”
“Ah, good question.” Hadley pressed her hands into her spine and arched her back. “Junior here is currently doing practice kicks, preparing for his professional soccer career, so...never?”
“You can’t have anything else to do,” Peyton said, biting into her savory pastry. “And wow, Matteo was right. This is yummy. What can we do to help?”
“Honestly, you don’t have to—”
“Hadley,” Peyton said in that familiar, no-nonsense tone of hers. “What can we do to help?”
“The punch bowls need refilling, and so do the candy bowls. I’ve got another two trays of these things in the oven and then there’s the dessert table. I think the chocolate fountain—”
“We’re on it,” Matteo said before she got lost in the details. “Go find Ty and have fun. Get off your feet if you can.” He plucked up a nearly empty bowl of apples as Peyton retrieved more bowls and platters to top up from a nearby table.
“You guys are the best. Thanks.”
Thanks to Hadley’s impeccable organization skills, it didn’t take them long to replenish the food and get back to enjoying the party themselves. “I have to admit, this is all pretty great.”
“Why are you surprised?” Peyton asked. “Something told me this family knows a thing or two about parties.”
“Maybe with a surprise guest?” Matteo glanced toward the headlights heading along the driveway, jostling and bumping down the road toward the main house. “Is that an RV?”
“A rather ancient-looking one,” Peyton said. “I wonder who—”
“It’s Great-grandpa!” Rosie squealed before she hiked up her poofy pink gown and ran toward the vehicle. By the time she got there, her oversize crown was tipping precariously to one side. The rest of the kids trailed behind, Gino further away as he clearly was assessing the situation.
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