Living With Lies Trilogy (Books 1, 2, and 3 of The Dancing Moon Ranch Series)

by Watters, Patricia

  By then he had his pants unzipped. "I noticed you the first day you came to class," he said. "I wanted you then."

  I laughed, and replied, "I noticed you too." But when he started to shove the thing between my legs I felt sick. He could have been married, probably was. I stopped him and said, "You need to wear a condom. Did you bring one?"

  He slipped one out of his pocket. "I hate the things," he said, "but a professor needs to be responsible." He was laughing when he said it. I also knew he'd come prepared, and I wondered if other female students had raised their grades this way.

  He finished the job, and I got my A. My parents and Grace were there to hear me give the valedictorian speech, and afterwards, everyone commended me on what an inspiring speech I'd given, and the dean congratulated me and told my parents how much he admired me, and my parents were proud. And of course, being valedictorian led to job offers. When I started my first job out of college, I already knew how to make my way up the corporate ladder. It worked until I got to Sean Elliot. It never occurred to me that he'd threaten to frame me if I didn't step down. It's like the old adage goes. The higher the climb, the farther the fall."

  At last, Pandora's Box was empty. It felt good. No slithery, slimy, creepy, crawly creatures left inside. She waited for Brad's reaction. There was none at first. His face looked stony, and she knew he was as disillusioned as she'd expected him to be. She'd even described what happened in graphic detail, wanting him to be as disgusted with what she'd done as she was with herself.

  Then his brows drew together, and he said, "If you go to the College Board they'll want all the details. You'll have to describe to them what you told me, and they'll question the professor and he'll deny it. He might even threaten you for slander, and your family will he devastated. Are you sure you want to put yourself through this?"

  Justine looked at him steadily, and said, "I've never been more sure of anything in my life. The only thing I regret is that I didn't do it sooner."

  "Honey, come here," Brad said, shocking the hell out of Justine.

  "Why," Justine asked, eyeing his outstretched hand.

  "Because you're a remarkable woman."

  Justine moved across the pool, and Brad pulled her into his arms and held her. "Why aren't you disgusted with what I did?" she asked.

  "I am," Brad replied, "but I'm overwhelmed with what you intend to do about it, and tonight, after Sophie's asleep, I intend to make love to you and take a lot of time doing it."

  "There won't be a tonight," Justine said. "I'm moving to the lodge when we get back. Sophie needs a period of separation from me before I leave."

  Brad looked at her long and hard but said nothing, just took her head between his hands and kissed her lovingly while his arms closed around her, his actions saying more to her than words could. Unspoken words that said he loved her and was desperate for her but couldn't have her because he was the kind of man who put his daughter above himself and his desires, and Justine loved him all the more for it.

  But when the kiss ended, Brad looked at her closely, and said. "Do you regret any of what we've done in the past couple of weeks?"

  "No," Justine replied. "I regret what I did in the past. I can't undo it, and I can't fix it. All I can do is try to make things right in the future." That said, Justine made a personal vow to be the woman Sophie would want her to be. She only hoped Brad was up to the job of raising Sophie.

  "I thought about us while we were at the cabin." Brad said. "If we moved away from everyone you've known, maybe to the east coast, it might work. We'd be married so you'd have a different name and no one would know who you were."

  "Do you realize how simplistic that is," Justine said. "Have you forgotten you're an international best-selling author? Do you think the media would shrug, and say, 'Oh, by the way, Brad Meecham got married,' and go on their way like it was nothing? They'd quickly learn that he married Justine Page, the woman who... Well take your pick—screwed the boss at Elliot, Stratton and Tarlow and got shafted out of her job, or screwed her professor in college so she could become valedictorian, or screwed a half dozen other men for various reasons, none of which were admirable."

  "It was just a thought," Brad said.

  "Well, put it aside because Sophie needs a mother, not an object of ridicule," Justine replied. There wasn't much more to say, she realized, except perhaps to tell Brad she loved him, but that would only complicate things more. That, and the possibility that she could be pregnant. The time was right, and they'd just spent three days making love.

  It was her last hope of having Brad.

  It was also a trap.

  ***

  Brad stood at the back of the great room in the lodge while making his calls, but while he was talking on the phone, he could see Justine sitting on the couch, head bent over a magazine while waiting for him to finish. Although she'd told him at the hot springs that she'd be moving into her room in the lodge when they returned, as they were approaching the stable, she said she wanted to stay in the cabin with him one more night so she could tuck Sophie in bed. Sophie was used to them sleeping together, so she'd assume they'd be in separate sleeping bags.

  Brad's attorney came on the line and said he had nothing new to tell him, but while Brad was ringing his PI, he saw a man come into the lodge. Tall, well-built, blond, mid-thirties. A man in his prime. Confident. At the ranch for a reason. The man walked up to the front desk and started talking to Sam, and after a couple of minutes, reached into his pocket and pulled from his wallet what Brad suspected was a large bill and slapped it on the desk, and Sam handed him a key.

  Hayden Russell, the PI, came on line and told Brad he had a lead that could link Harrison Patel with Yvette's death. It was a long shot, but a definite link. The car that hit Yvette had been reported stolen that night, and it belonged to a company owned by Patel's brother-in-law. Brad considered the possibility that Elsa Moroz might have been Yvette's sister-in-law instead of her sister, and that she was, or had been married to Harrison Patel's brother, whose company owned the car that killed Yvette. That would explain why the woman referred to herself as Yvette's sister. He told Russell to look into that possibility and get back with him, then cut the conversation short.

  For now, his mind was on other things, specifically, the blond-headed man, whose eyes were fixed on Justine. The man moved toward Justine, and was not more than eight feet away when she looked up and saw him. It was clear she knew the man, and that she didn't want to see him. She stood and started to walk away from him, but he caught up and stepped in front of her, blocking her exit. Brad started to walk over to position himself between the man and Justine, but decided to stand back and watch, and listen, and see what Justine would do.

  The fish moving back into the water...

  Justine looked at the man intently. Brad remembered that look. A long, fixed stare that would make most men back down. This man did not. He knew Justine, and he knew her well. Too damn well. He'd slept with her. Brad could see it written all over the man. The way he eyed Justine possessively, his gaze moving to her breasts, not the kind of breasts men lusted after, but the kind men got to know after they had Justine in bed.

  "What are you doing here, Sean?" Justine said in a sharp voice.

  "I came to talk to you," Sean Elliot replied.

  Justine folded her arms. "Talk about what?" Now it was her eyes that roamed the length of the man. She pursed her lips and looked disgusted.

  "To talk about you, us. Look, baby, I'm sorry. I've been a total prick." Elliot reached for Justine's arms.

  And Brad flinched and balled his hands into fists.

  Justine shrugged off Elliot's hands. "You can put that into present tense," she said. "You are a total prick."

  Elliot took a long hard look at Justine, and Brad got the impression he was seeing the new Justine for the first time. The expression on his face was curious, then appreciative, as it should well be. Justine looked stunning in her white wool slacks and white and blue Nordic sw
eater. Her cheeks had high color from the days they'd spent outdoors while at the cabin on the mountain, and her hair was cropped, like an ordinary woman, although there was still nothing ordinary about Justine.

  "You look good, baby," Elliot said. "Really good. You've done something to your hair."

  Justine just stood and stared at the man. Brad could only hope she wasn't buying into the crap the guy was handing her. Granted, she did look good, but the man wanted her expertise at his company and her person back in his bed.

  "When you give me that look, baby, it makes me want to do this." Elliot took Justine's arms again, this time more firmly, and moved toward her as if about to kiss her, and when he tried, Justine turned her head to the side, and said, "Don't expect to pick up where we left off." When she allowed Elliot's hands to remain on her arms, it was all Brad could do to keep from rushing up and ripping the guy away from her and giving him a dose of what he'd given the man he found on top of Jen when he came home from Iraq. Sean Elliot wouldn't be so damn confident and self-important if he had only one ball.

  "The condo's clear," Elliot said. "It's all yours again. I want you to come back." Still, his hands were on Justine's arms, and she wasn't shaking the bastard loose.

  "What's in it for me, besides you?" Justine asked, looking directly at him, like she was reconsidering things.

  I don't intend to settle at all. I can, in fact, go through life without a man...

  Can, but wouldn't, Brad realized. There was still that glass ceiling staring down at her, and she wasn't a woman to give up.

  "You'll get your old position back, and I've been talking to Tarlow about making you a partner in the firm," Elliot said. "Jim Stratton's leaving and if you come back it could be Elliot, Tarlow and Page."

  Justine raised her chin a notch. "How about Page, Tarlow and Elliot?" she said. "I like the sound of that better."

  "We can talk about it tonight."

  "Where?"

  "In my room. I'm staying here and have to fly back in the morning."

  "And you want me to sleep with you."

  "I want you to take your job back."

  "And sleep with you."

  "Baby, I said I was sorry. What we had was good. We were good together," Elliot said, his hands kneading Justine's arms, the action sending adrenaline pumping through Brad's veins and his jaws clenching...

  "I tell you what," Justine said, shrugging off Elliot's hands. "You go back to your room and play with yourself, and tomorrow morning we'll talk business."

  "Is the Jag running okay?" Elliot asked, shifting subjects. "Has it been serviced?"

  Justine gave him that glare again. "Yes, and no," she said.

  "Then I take that to mean it's running right, and it hasn't been serviced. Here's my VISA." He slipped his wallet from his pocket and pulled out a credit card and handed it to Justine. "Take it to a dealer the first chance you get and have it serviced."

  Justine took the card, and said, "What else can I put on this."

  "Whatever you want, baby. Things will be like they were," Elliot said, his expression confident. His cock was up, and he intended to have Justine take care of it.

  "I tell you what," Justine said, returning the card, "Make it Page, Tarlow and Elliot, include a condo for me to live in at company expense, and I'll sleep alone."

  Elliot's face darkened. "You drive a hard bargain, Justine," he said.

  "Not nearly hard enough," Justine replied. She turned and started up the stairs to the balcony and the bedrooms lining the hallway.

  Brad glared at her. She'd promised to come to the cabin their last night together. "Where are you going?" he called out to her, while walking to the foot of the stairs.

  Justine paused and glanced back. "To my room," she said, and continued up the stairs.

  Sean Elliot looked at Brad. "You're the author, Brad Meecham, aren't you?"

  Brad nodded, while looking up the stairs as Justine went into Room 5 and shut the door.

  "You know Justine?" Elliot asked.

  "Yeah, I know Justine," Brad replied, with an edge to his tone. Doesn't everyone? He wanted to add. But what did he expect? He'd given her no reason to leave Seattle and move to San Francisco, and Sean Elliot had just pissed a circle around her and offered her the glass ceiling.

  ***

  Justine awakened sometime after midnight to find Brad in her room. She hadn't heard him come in, and for a few hazy minutes she thought it was Sean, who she knew was staying in a room down the hallway. She wondered now why she hadn't locked her door, especially knowing Sean was nearby. It wouldn't have been surprising for him to come crawling into her bed.

  Brad clicked on the light and walked over to sit on the side of the bed, and she scooted up to sit with her back against the pillows. "Why are you here?" she asked.

  Brad's eyes moved over her, as he said, "You're wearing a gown."

  "Do you find that so surprising?"

  "I thought you slept in the nude."

  "I guess you haven't really figured out that I'm not that woman anymore. Is that why you came, because you knew I'd be nude?"

  "No, I came to find out why you didn't come to the cabin, since time for us is running out."

  "Time for us ran out in the spring. I told you then that I'd be moving to my room."

  "Then you told me afterwards that you'd be coming to the cabin. It's that man. He changed your mind."

  "No, I decided Sophie needs a couple of days of separation from me. She thinks I'm her new mommy who'll be going to San Francisco to marry her father. She needs to be told the truth."

  "Are you going back to Seattle?"

  "Can you think of a reason why I shouldn't?" When Brad said nothing, Justine added," No, I didn't think you could. Who's with Sophie right now?"

  "No one. She's sleeping. I didn't plan to be gone for more than a few minutes."

  "Even if you'd found me naked in bed?"

  "With us it doesn't take long."

  "You sound like Sean Elliot and all the others. Screw Justine and leave. It doesn't take long."

  "Hell, Justine, you know what I meant."

  "No, actually I don't," Justine said. "Did you mean that it wouldn't take long because you're in love with me? Or maybe now that I'm a respectable woman, sleeping in a night gown, and wearing a bra and Mary Poppins briefs and modest clothes, and telling Sean Elliot I wouldn't sleep with him or any other man again, that I'd be ready for you?" When Brad was again silent, she said, "Never mind, you don't have to answer, but you do need to get back to the cabin. What if it caught fire or Sophie woke up and you weren't there and she ran out into the night looking for you? You can't just leave a child alone like that."

  "I didn't think," Brad said. "I was only going to be gone a few minutes."

  "Well, you have a child to raise so you'd better start thinking," Justine said. "Now please go. I have to be up early to start packing."

  Brad reached for her, but she shrugged off his hand and said, "Turn off the light when you leave," then turtled under the covers and pulled them up around her face.

  A few moments later, the light went out and the door closed behind Brad. And Justine knew her stay on the ranch was over. But now she couldn't leave soon enough. That glass ceiling had finally opened for her to go through, and she would. But the victory was bittersweet.

  CHAPTER 15

  The following morning, Justine closed the trunk of the Jaguar and headed for Brad's cabin. She wanted to explain to Sophie what was happening, but knew she'd leave behind a very sad little girl. But there was nothing she could do about it. Things were as they were.

  As she approached the cabin, she saw Brad look out the window. He opened the door, and said, "I'm glad you didn't drive off without telling Sophie goodbye."

  "You know I wouldn't have done that," Justine replied, walking past him, when she wanted to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him. But it wasn't only ties with Sophie that had to be broken. If she'd spent the night in Brad's arms, she might have begg
ed him to take her with him to San Francisco, then lived in regret. She had enough regrets. She didn't need to feel regret over forcing herself on a man with a child, and dragging her past along with her.

  "Actually no, I had no idea what to expect from you," Brad said. "I sure as hell didn't expect you to stay in the lodge our last night together, but that was before your ex-lover slithered into your life again."

  "He's not in my life," Justine corrected. "He offered me a business deal."

  "He's offering you the keys to his condo, but before he gives you those, he's offering you whatever it takes to get you there."

  "There's nothing Sean Elliot can do to get me to move in with him again," Justine said. "If he wants me back, it will be on my terms."

  "What if he offers more?"

  "There is no more. He offered me partnership in the company, I tossed in the condo and sleeping alone, and he all but agreed."

  "I know. I was there."

  "Where?"

  "In the room. I heard it all. I also know the man was looking at you differently."

  "Differently how?"

  "Like he was seeing a woman he might want to take home to Mama."

  "Sean Elliot wanting to tie the knot with Justine Page? Ha! That's rich. I assure you, that was the farthest thing from Sean's mind. He's definitely not the marrying kind."

  "Neither were you before you came here."

  "And now you think I am?"

  "You said you'd marry me if it weren't for Sophie."

  "I would."

  "And if Sean Elliot asked you to marry him? Would you consider it?"

  Justine studied Brad's serious face. He'd presented a very unlikely scenario. Men like Sean didn't ask women like her to marry them. "It's a moot point because hell would freeze over before Sean would ask me to marry him."

  "I think you might be surprised," Brad said. "I saw the way he was looking at you."

  "Look, I'm going to Seattle to see if there's anything to what Sean offered. If there is, I'll accept, but it will be on my terms or not at all, and I will sleep alone, which precludes marriage to Sean or anyone else. Are you satisfied?"