I looked to Veronica, but she remained silent. She stared at the marble floor, her brows creased as though she was trying to figure out the discount price of a Versace.
“Right,” I said. “There’s definitely not going to be a honeymoon.”
“Well, we have a vacation home a little ways out of the city. We were going to go up there this weekend. We thought you might join us.” She must’ve seen the deer-in-the-headlights look on my face, because she waved a ring-covered hand. “Don’t worry. We will give you plenty of time to yourselves. It’s a large estate. You’ll barely see us, except maybe at meals. We have horses and everything. You can go for rides or walks and just relax on the property.”
The fact that Veronica still hadn’t spoken up worried me and I tensed my jaw. But she’d said we needed to see the Garcias again, that they were our best bet. And I kind of liked them. They reminded me of my parents. It was nice to be around a loving couple again. If Veronica didn’t want to go for the weekend, she’d have to speak up.
“That sounds wonderful,” I said. “We’d love to.”
I waited for Veronica to protest, but she only looked at me.
“Lovely!” Catia clasped her hands. “Give us your address, and we’ll send a car for you Saturday morning. It’s about an hour out, depending on traffic.”
“Oh, you don’t need to do that.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “You’re our guests. We won’t have you wasting gas money.”
I gave them my address and phone number, and they walked away after giving both of us a hug.
“Hey,” I shifted closer to Veronica. “You okay? You’ve gotten quiet.”
“I’m fine. I just thought I saw . . . someone I knew.” She blinked her long lashes a few times and snapped back into herself, spine straight and nose turned up. “But I must’ve been seeing things. Too much champagne.” She patted my shoulder awkwardly. “Good job, Bax. We got what we needed. We’ll bring up investing in your company when we’re away with them.”
“Okay . . .” I trailed her as we left the ballroom and followed the same twinkling lights back to the entrance. She moved as fast as her heels would allow, slowing only when we got outside. “And you’re okay with going away for the weekend?”
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” Her breath came out in white clouds, but she moved away before I could offer her my jacket again.
Veronica sped toward the long line of limos taking up the entire street. They all looked the same to me, but she somehow found ours and stopped.
“I just . . .” I fought with the thoughts in my head and thought better of saying what I wanted to. “Never mind.”
I took my seat beside her, leaving a respectful gap between us. As we left the lights of the gala, shadows played along the seats of the car, washing away her features. She babbled about estates and riding, and how we should approach the Garcias over a meal or a friendly card game. Not once did she bring up the kiss or the strange man with the bandaged nose.
So I didn’t either.
Veronica
The Garcias’ vacation estate was the kind of property I’d dreamed of living at as I’d grown up. A gray-brick structure so large you’d have to stand blocks away if you wanted a proper photograph stood in the center of sprawling lawns that remained green, even as winter crept into fall. The edges of the home were rounded, in a way reminiscent of Scottish castles, complete with turrets on the upper floors. The driveway leading to the entrance was longer than most streets in Washington, with perfect curves that would make Beyoncé jealous.
Beside me, in our black town car, Bax’s breath hitched as the mansion came into view. We’d barely spoken on the hour-long trip. In fact, we hadn’t said much to each other since that kiss at the gala. That didn’t mean I hadn’t thought about it, though.
Who would’ve thought the guy could kiss like that? My bottom lip still burned as I recalled the way he’d tenderly bitten it and traced it with his tongue. Heat rushed to my thighs. I’d only kissed him because we were losing the Garcias’ interest and I knew they’d be touched by a showing of our “love.” But I hadn’t been able to stop reliving that moment since I’d left the gala. How safe I felt in his arms, and the pleasure that radiated through me when he smiled. I could’ve kissed him longer, lost myself in his sweet coffee scent forever.
Then, along came Frank. I’d scanned the invitations online to make sure he wouldn’t be there. I never wanted to see him again. And maybe he hadn’t been there. He vanished so fast, he could’ve been a hallucination brought on by champagne and Bax’s lips.
Bax seemed to think my silence was due to the fact that I was mad he’d taken the kiss too far, and I let him believe that. There was no way I’d ever confide the truth in him. Besides, there was nothing to tell. What had happened with Frank was over. I’d moved on.
“This is their vacation home?” Bax asked as we pulled to a stop outside the white double doors. The chauffeur came around and opened my door.
“Impressive, huh?” I stretched my arms over my head, my back loosening after the drive.
“Where the hell do they actually live?”
“From what I’ve read, they own a penthouse downtown. And I think they have another house in the Caribbean.”
“Man, I missed my calling. I should’ve been an artist. Too bad I can’t draw for shit.”
I laughed. “So you chose blanket making instead?”
“Hey, anything is better than being an accountant.”
A butler grabbed our bags from the trunk. He shouldered Bax’s backpack and hefted my two suitcases up the stairs and into the house.
“Why did you need two suitcases for an overnight stay?” Bax asked.
“A girl can’t be too prepared. You never know with rich people. I once got whisked to Paris for a week by a film director.”
“I don’t think Catia and Herberto plan to take us to Paris.”
I shrugged. “You can’t be sure. That’s my point.”
He muttered something under his breath as we entered the house and the butler closed the door behind us, cutting off the outdoor chill. The interior of the mansion was as impressive as its exterior. We huddled in an expansive foyer with a black and white marble floor that sparkled under a chandelier of crystal teardrops. Staircases curved upward on either side, plush red carpet enveloping the wooden steps.
“Baxter! Veronica! Welcome!” Catia entered the foyer and threw her arms around me, pinning my own limbs to my sides. I almost caught a mouthful of coconut-scented hair but closed my lips at the last second. She embraced Bax in the same fashion, and the way he blew out a breath, I could tell he hadn’t been so lucky.
“Come.” Catia ushered us down a hall toward the back of the house. “Lunch is ready. We have sandwiches and tea. I trust you had a good trip?”
“Very good,” Bax said, his eyes on me. “Quiet.”
“Oh, yes,” Catia said. “We love the peace out here compared to the city.”
I knew Bax meant the quiet of the car as opposed to that of the country, but I said nothing. We entered a bright conservatory, lined with windows. Even the ceiling was clear, letting in the odd glimpse of sun from between the gray clouds.
The table had already been set with china, mugs, and silverware. Herberto sat at one end, a newspaper spread before him. He closed the pages when we arrived.
“Hello, young friends!” he said. “We’re happy to have you here.”
“We’re happy to be here.” The butler pulled out my chair, then spread my napkin on my lap after I took a seat. He tried to do the same for Bax, but Baxter waved him away with a red face. Those furrowed brows again. The guy really didn’t know how to live it up without guilt.
“Tea?” A woman in an apron appeared at my side and held up a white teapot.
“Yes, please.”
She filled our cup
s with steaming liquid as another woman brought out two platters of sandwiches. The Garcias must’ve thought we hadn’t eaten since the gala. Ham and cheese, egg salad, cucumber, smoked salmon, and turkey sandwiches filled the plates. There was enough food on the table to feed twelve of me.
I glanced to my left in time to see Bax’s lip twitch, and looked down at my plate so I wouldn’t giggle.
“Dig in,” Herberto said, reaching for a ham and cheese. “We aren’t formal when it comes to food here.”
I plopped a turkey sandwich onto my plate. “This looks wonderful.”
“Fill up all you want,” Catia said. “After, you’re free to roam the estate on your own. We have the horses all saddled in case you wanted to go for a ride. It’s the nicest way to see all of the grounds. And”—she winked—“it’s quite romantic.”
Bax almost choked on his egg salad.
“That sounds perfect,” I said, slapping him on the back.
“I’ve had Randall, our butler, take your bags to your room. It’s on the west side, at the end of the hall. We’re in the east wing. We wanted to give you plenty of privacy. After all, we know this is your honeymoon.”
Bax met my eyes. Our room? We hadn’t talked about sleeping arrangements. It hadn’t even occurred to me they’d room us together. Of course they would. They thought we were married. I shrugged a shoulder at him. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like this was a rom com or an awkward teenage prom night. We were adults. We could handle it.
As I’d instructed him in the car, Bax shied away from all talk of his business during lunch. I didn’t want them to think that was the only reason we’d accepted their invitation, even if that was the case. We’d bring it up at breakfast tomorrow, before we left.
After lunch, I changed into the riding clothes I’d purchased the day before and met Bax at the stables. He’d chosen to remain in blue jeans and beige boots with a black, puffy coat. When he wasn’t looking, I shivered under my Prada poncho. I knew it would look amazing when I mounted the horse, but it wasn’t exactly weather-smart.
A stable hand led two horses to us—a brown gelding and a black mare—and I gravitated toward the latter. Something about the way her onyx mane shimmered and how high she held her head called to me. She was elegant and beautiful. She took my breath away.
“You’re a gorgeous one, aren’t you?” I whispered to her, stroking her side. I slipped my boot into the stirrup and swung myself onto her back. She took a few steps, getting used to my weight, then settled.
“You’ve done this before,” Bax said.
“Of course.”
“Right, your rich paramours. Don’t tell me one of them bought you a horse.” He tried to mount his own animal, but the gelding was having none of it. It whinnied and shook him off. Bax scooted back with a grunt.
“That’s just silly. What would I do with a horse? No, but I have taken riding lessons for moments like these.” Bax reached for the brown horse, and the animal stepped out of his range. “You need to get him to trust you first. Move toward him with the intention of petting only. Talk to him, reassure him you don’t want to hurt him. Don’t even think of climbing on until he’s gotten used to your scent and the sound of your voice.”
Bax did as I said, moving slower this time, muttering a greeting to the gelding. This time, the horse let him stroke his neck.
“Good,” I said. “Now, don’t make any sudden movements, but go for the saddle. Let him know what you’re doing as you do it. Don’t take him by surprise.”
The horse didn’t buck or protest as Bax swung onto his back. Bax gave me a smile that made him look like a ten-year-old who’d just discovered his mom’s hidden candy stash. “I did it!”
“You did.” I talked him through the series of clicks and motions to make the horse walk, trot, halt, and slow down, and we left the stables.
It had been a while since I’d ridden, and I’d forgotten how incredible it felt to be so high off the ground, a powerful animal holding my life on its back.
The horses were obviously used to having riders. They trotted at a leisurely pace down dirt paths and past babbling streams on the property.
“It’s like it goes forever,” Bax said. His voice bounced with the motion of his horse. “I know you said they come from humble roots, but it’s hard to believe. I mean, who has butlers and stableboys when they used to live on the streets?”
“People who want to create job opportunities for as many others as they can?”
Bax stared at me. “I never thought of it like that.”
“I know. You see these things as unnecessary and wasteful. But I know places like this well. See this property and all the buildings on it?” I gestured to the second small, gray house we’d spotted since leaving the main estate, its chimney puffing white smoke. “This place houses the employees year round. They live here with their families and are paid well. Sure, they serve the Garcias. But Catia and Herberto are a kind couple, and they’re only here a few weeks a year. The rest of the time, their employees have the run of the house and the property. How is this a terrible thing?”
Twin blond girls who couldn’t have been more than eight exploded out of the tiny house, giggling and holding hands. They spotted us and waved. We waved back. The girls lost interest and began to skip around the yard, the wind carrying their singing voices in our direction.
“I guess it isn’t so awful,” Bax admitted.
“Exactly. You hate when other people judge the poor, Hero. But you do the same to the rich. Yes, there are rich people who are terrible people, but there are poor who are the same. Your financial situation doesn’t necessarily dictate the type of person you are.”
“Okay.” He held up the reins. “I give in. I’ll stop judging everyone and everything here this weekend.”
“That’s all I ask.”
Bax sniffed. “Maybe we should head back. It smells like snow.”
“Don’t be silly. You can’t smell snow.”
“I can. Try it.”
I inhaled. The air smelled like ice, cut grass, and horse. “I don’t smell anything,” I lied. “Let’s keep going. I want to see how far the property extends.”
“Fine. But don’t blame me if you get cold and wet in that poor excuse for fabric you’re wearing.”
“It’s a poncho. And it’s very warm,” I fibbed again.
We trundled along the paths for another hour, trying to note landmarks so we could find our way back.
The first white flake of the season landed directly on the end of my nose. Within moments, it was joined by others, filling the sky with sparkling, opal ice.
“You know,” Bax said, “I’m not a guy who likes to say, ‘I told you so,’ but I’ll make an exception for you. I told you so.”
“Whatever.” I tossed my snow-flecked hair over my shoulder. “A little snow never hurt anyone.”
Within ten minutes, the snowflakes had multiplied by ten. In twenty minutes, I was pretty sure they’d multiplied by one thousand. The paths and lawns were nothing but expansive white land, and the ice stung my cheeks and numbed my gloveless fingers. Bax and his horse were a brown and black blur ahead of me.
“Do you know where you’re going?” I called.
“Pretty sure I recognize those trees up there.”
My teeth chattered, and I clamped my mouth shut in an attempt to stop them. I shivered so hard on the horse, she must’ve thought she was transporting a broken washing machine.
“Bax, stop!”
He pulled on his reins and I trotted to his side. “What is it?”
“I think we’re going in circles. Those are the same trees we saw ten minutes ago.”
“No, these trees are a bit shorter.”
“They really aren’t.”
He shook his head and the snow from his hair drifted to his shoulders. “Are you sure?”
>
“Yeah. I think we’re lost.”
“How the hell can we be lost in someone’s backyard?”
“Because their backyard is acres of property?” My body quaked and I jerked on the horse.
“Holy crap, Veronica. You’re freezing. You’re going to get hypothermia if we don’t get back to the house soon.”
“I’m f-f-fine,” I stuttered.
A squirrel chose that moment to dart through the hooves of my horse, startling her. She whinnied and reared up. My numb fingers tried to cling to the reins, but everything had become slippery with snow, and I found myself falling. One of my boots slid out of the stirrup, but the other caught as I went down, and my ankle screamed as it ripped away from the strap. My mare took off at my cry, her hooves thudding against the earth.
The ground greeted me with a hard welcome, thankfully somewhat softened by the fresh powder.
“Oof.” The breath hissed out of my lungs and I lay on the cold grass, stunned.
“Veronica!” Bax jumped off his horse and kneeled at my side. “Are you okay?”
“I think so.” I pushed myself up with my elbows, taking a gulp of air when I could move my back and legs. “Mostly just stunned.” I swiveled my ankle and winced as pain shot up my calf. “And I think I twisted my ankle.”
“Can you move it?”
“Yes.” I rotated my foot, biting down against the pain. “It hurts like a bitch, but I can move it.”
“Okay, we have to get you back to the house now. You’re soaked.”
“Wasn’t that what we were already trying to do?”
“Yes, but now you’re hurt.”
“And my horse is gone.”
We both stared at the trees where she’d disappeared. Shit. The Garcias probably wouldn’t be happy about that one.
“You’ll just have to ride with me. The saddle’s huge. We can both fit on here, easy.”
I squinted at the horse and shook my head. “Not a chance. I barely stayed on when there was one of me. I can walk.”
“Don’t be stupid, Veronica. You can’t walk on a twisted ankle.”
Dealing in Deception Page 13