“You’d have done something about it, taken action, whether I’d shown up or not.”
“Probably,” she agreed. “But I don’t think I’d have put it all together as quickly. And that might prove to be the difference in my keeping this place.” She was such a paradox. Here she was, admitting she needed him, that she was grateful for his help, the same woman who’d just about undone him in the shower…and yet there was still a wariness about her that had him wondering what it was going to take to win her over completely.
Which was insanity. Because winning her over was not the objective here. Solving her problem was the only goal that needed achieving, and when that was accomplished, he’d go home. And she’d stay here. So there was no point in winning anything. He’d tried to tell her that last night. He’d been trying to tell himself that since the moment he’d stepped onto her porch that first night.
And yet, he couldn’t manage to find any regret for what had just happened between them. Sure, it wasn’t going to end well. Shit happened in life, and some of it was no fun. But being with her was giving him something he’d never had or felt before. Sometimes when shit happened, it was good.
And sometimes, the good was so good, it was worth the bad that was sure to follow.
Mac finished his bowl and wiped his mouth with a napkin before crumpling it up and tossing it on the table. “So, here’s the plan, then.”
Kate pushed aside her half-consumed soup. “We have a plan?”
“The start of one. I’ll finish up installation tomorrow, so we can start to keep tabs on our uninvited guest or guests. I know several points of entry now, so I’ll keep an eye on those, specifically. When we get something—”
“When?”
He merely nodded. She smiled. “When we get something, we’ll take it to Gilby, push him into taking action. We’ll see what additional insight that might give us into the town mentality where you and your camp are concerned.”
“But—”
He raised his hand. “Hold on. The other thing we have to do is narrow down the list of possibles.”
“Possibles?”
“Possibly Shelby is involved, possibly Timberline is involved, possibly certain citizens of Ralston are involved. Other than Finn’s report on Timberline’s interest in the area, we can’t prove anything about anyone through normal channels.”
“So what do we do? Where do we start?”
“I start with trying to nab a vandal, and you start by tracking down your stepbrother.”
“And say what? ‘By the way, you don’t happen to be in discussions with a resort developer to sell my camp out from under me, do you? And would you perhaps be responsible for turning an entire town against me? Oh, and about that vandalizing…’ Whatever his involvement, if any, I doubt he’s just going to come out and tell me, or he’d have confronted me directly about it already.”
“So you question him about pulling a no-show, which he should be expecting anyway, and dig from there. He doesn’t have to know what you are digging for. Steer the conversation however you have to, but you’ll have the upper hand at least in this initial conversation, because he doesn’t know you suspect what might be going on here.”
“And he doesn’t know about you.”
Mac nodded. “As far as we know, anyway. And, if he is involved, that news will make it to him sooner rather than later.”
“I’m not sure what I’ll get from this, but regardless, we need to talk about the appointment and what he wants to do about rescheduling the contract signing.”
“Bingo. That right there is a perfect example of what I mean by digging. Any reticence on his part to reschedule? You attack. You have a perfectly legitimate reason to do so without raising undue speculation that you’re on to him in any way.”
“Assuming there’s anything to be on to in the first place.”
“I still don’t believe in coincidences.”
She shot him a considering look. “No? What do you call finding that article about me, then?”
“Serendipity,” he said instantly, then grinned. “Or karma.”
“Karma, the bitch? Or karma—?”
“Just karma,” he said, enjoying that combination of wary amusement he saw on her face. He liked that she fought her attraction to him, or at least questioned it. It meant she was taking this seriously. He didn’t examine why that part was so important to him. “The rest will sort itself out,” he went on. “Always does.”
She looked as if she were going to say something to that, but instead, chose to stay focused on the matter at hand. “Of course, this whole plan hinges on the idea that I’m actually going to be able to track Shelby down.”
“If you can’t, then that’s information to be considered, too. If he just doesn’t show, and doesn’t call to explain why, and then can’t be found, that’s telling. That isn’t typical behavior, and the workday is half over already today and no contact has been made, no apology delivered.”
Kate nodded. “True.”
“And if you do track him down, any information you can glean from him, even if it’s just gauging his mood, his tone, whether you think he’s lying to you—or not—with anything he says regarding his sudden change of plans, any of those things can help steer us toward the right path.”
She leaned back in her chair. “Okay.” She paused, sighed, then seemed to pull herself up a little. “Okay,” she repeated, with a bit more confidence and a little less weary resignation. “Do you want me to call him now?” She looked at the clock on the wall. “It’s possible he’s in his office—”
“Not yet.”
“But, you’re right, he’s probably expecting me to try and contact him today after what happened.”
“Don’t do the expected. Not yet, anyway.”
“The fact that I’ve waited this long is already not like me. So when do you want me to call? I’m confused.”
“Which is the exact state we want him to be in. Doing the unexpected jars the framework. It did yours, right? When you don’t behave as predicted, it forces the other players to adjust their planning. It ups the chances that something or someone might slip up, at least enough to give us another piece of the puzzle. Your reaction to his jarring the framework is the one thing you can control in this situation right now, so use what little leverage you have to your best advantage.”
She nodded again, but her gaze was more intent on him, her thoughts seemingly not as inward now.
“What?” he asked, when she continued to regard him in silence.
“Nothing. I just…” She trailed off, lifted a shoulder. “You’re so focused in all this, clearly in your comfort zone, very confident and methodical. On the one hand, it reassures me, makes me feel like I can trust you.”
“You can,” he said automatically. “Always.”
She nodded right away, and it was almost ridiculous how good that made him feel. “I know that, in ways that aren’t necessarily rational or even proven.” She held his gaze. “But I do know that.”
“Good,” he said, trying like hell to keep it business. Which was hard to do when his heart was celebrating what felt like an important milestone in their relationship. A relationship that didn’t exist, because it had nowhere to go, he reminded himself.
“On the other hand,” she went on, “it scares me. You so clearly see this as a bigger-than-life drama, and there is a part of me still resisting that, even though I know, or think, anyway, that you’re probably right.”
“That’s perfectly normal. No one wants to believe that the things most dear to them are truly being threatened. What matters is that you’re doing something about it anyway.” He leaned his elbows on the table, would have reached for her if he could. “One way or the other, it’s all going to get resolved now. The truth will out itself eventually.”
“And then?” She sank down a little in her seat. It was the first time he’d seen her look truly vulnerable. “What if the truth is I’m going to lose this place no matter what I do?
”
He wished he could outright guarantee her that wouldn’t happen. That he’d win every battle, slay every foe for her. But he couldn’t do that. She trusted him, and that meant telling her the truth, even when it was a truth she didn’t want to hear. “Then we’ll deal with that reality when or if it happens.”
She held his gaze for a long moment, then nodded. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“Being straight with me.”
“Always,” he said, again, automatically. Only this time the response didn’t sit as well with him. He was absolutely being straight with her where her camp’s future was concerned. And he’d tried to be up front with her on a personal level as well. He’d admitted he might not be able to keep their personal interaction from affecting him on a more serious level. He was only now really beginning to realize just how deeply it already had. Even before their little shower interlude. But telling her that would be confessing it to himself. And he wasn’t ready to deal with the repercussions on either front.
“So, when do I call?” she said, mercifully pulling his thoughts back to business.
“Ideally, I’d like you to track him down when he’s not in a business environment, not on his own turf, so to speak. Do you know his socializing habits well enough to know when he’d most likely be out to dinner, or with friends?”
“What makes you think he’d talk to me in that situation? It’s doubtful he’d be able to talk freely.”
“Exactly. Which gives you a chance to do most of the talking.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“He’ll be thrown a little, being as he’s not in a situation where he can talk freely. If he can think on his feet, he’ll likely cover himself well, but on the chance that he can’t, you keep pressing. It’s possible he’ll slip.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“You inform him that he’ll agree to meet when and where you say, or you’ll park yourself in Louisa’s offices—the very offices he wants legal control over—until he agrees to see you and discuss the situation with the contract.”
“Sounds…convoluted. Why don’t I just ask him outright?”
“It’s kind of like a dance. If he’s not involved, he’ll just come right out and tell you whatever you want to know anyway. Case closed, you go sign papers, and we move on from there. But if he is involved, you have to play things just right if you want to maintain any leverage at all.”
“I technically own Louisa’s entire empire. That’s not leverage enough?”
“Not if he wants that and your camp, too.”
Her face lost a little color.
“Both of those things are imperative. One, that he’s risking losing everything, all over this property, is rather telling. And you could set up camp anywhere, but you just made a deal to give him a fortune for this specific property. He’s banking on that, too.”
She blew out a long sigh, then pushed wayward strands of drying hair out of her face. “I’m really hating this. I’m not cut out for espionage. I just want my damn camp. My God, he can have freaking everything else.” She looked over at him. “Why does this have to be so damn complicated?”
“Money. Best complicator in the world.”
She nodded, looking more defeated than he’d like to see her. “He doesn’t even want this place.”
“I’m betting he might if Timberline wants to develop it into some top-notch resort. It’s possible he’ll want to retain ownership, much as Louisa did while it suited her. At the moment, it’s not worth a whole lot, other than to the developer, but not enough to screw the deal he has with you, just to sell it off. But after it’s developed? It’s worth a whole lot more zeros then. It would be worth multiple millions, millions that would keep coming in if the place is managed properly.”
“You think he wants to be, what, a partner? But partnerships take money.”
“He owns the property.”
She shook her head. “I just don’t see it. Not the money part, that screams Shelby. But the maintaining ownership part. He and my mother both willingly let this place go to seed in order to focus on other business ventures. I’m frankly surprised they didn’t sell it off a long time ago.”
“They might have tried, you don’t know. Probably let it go too far to hell to get any interest. Out here, who’s going to want this place?” He smiled. “Besides a child psychologist looking to build a camp for kids, I mean?”
That did elicit a small smile from her. “I guess it would take something on the scale of a huge resort to make it worthwhile.”
“And lo and behold, just when he thought he was dumping a white elephant to keep an empire, someone comes along wanting to turn his elephant into an empire in and of itself.”
“And you think that was just coincidence?”
Mac gave her a dry look. “We can’t prove who contacted who first, but what do you think?”
“Why would Shelby hunt for a developer now?”
“Remember what you said? About him being pissed off at having to give any of Louisa’s holdings away? He thinks he’s entitled to all of it. All. So maybe he’s trying to find a way to keep it all and nudge you out.”
Kate buried her head in her hands and dug her fingers into her hair. “I don’t know, Donovan. It all sounds pretty far-fetched. Even for Shelby.” Mac stilled momentarily, again affected by the way she said his name. All soft and vulnerable like that…made his body stir. And something inside his chest as well.
Just as he was thinking how badly he wanted to drag her across the table and into his lap, she straightened and pasted a brave smile on her face. “I guess we’ll find out more when I talk to him later on. So…what do we do in the meantime?”
Mac’s body leapt fully to life, and he knew he should probably fight the urge, but he was already grinning and pushing his chair back. “Now we put business aside for a few minutes.”
A smile ghosted her lips, and a spark returned to her eyes. “I thought we just did that.”
He circled the table and came to stand behind her.
She didn’t tense or shift away when he put his hands on her shoulders and bent low so his mouth was next to her ear. “Is there a rule that says we can’t take another break?”
“Break? Is that what we’re calling it?”
“I believe I bartered lunch in trade for help with a few tight muscles. Besides, it’s too wet outside, so I can’t put the gear up. Shelby needs to percolate for a few more hours.” He glanced over at Bagel. “And the dog clearly needs his beauty sleep.”
Kate glanced over at Bagel’s prone body, ears akimbo and belly exposed to the world, as he snored softly. “If only life were so simple for all of us.”
Mac pulled her up from her chair and turned her around to face him, trapping her between the table and his body. “It can be. For whole hours at a time, even.”
She wiggled her eyebrows teasingly. “Whole hours, huh? Pretty cocky.”
“What, you don’t think I can back it up?” He braced his hands on the table on either side of her, pushing her back. “Don’t think you can keep up?”
She giggled, and his heart sang, hearing that sound come from her again. In that moment he hated that life really wasn’t simple, then shut the thought out completely. Here and now. That was what life was truly composed of. The here and now. And right here, right now, he had Kate in his arms again. He pushed dishes and mugs out of the way and kept pressing her back onto the table.
Besides, simple was for sissies.
Chapter 16
Kate knew the instant her back hit the table and his chest pressed against hers that she was never going to get tired of feeling his weight on top of her. She’d thought having him drive her literally up the wall in the shower had been pretty damn intense, but there was something even more primal in feeling him on top of her.
A spoon clattered to the floor as she gripped the front of his shirt and pulled him closer, praying the table wouldn’t splinter beneath them.
His grin widened, and the spark that flared to life in his eyes almost undid her right then. “I like it when you get demanding.”
“Do you?” she queried, pulling him close enough to nip his chin. The growl of approval sent little shock waves all through her body. He triggered responses in her she didn’t even know she was capable of feeling. It was crazy how badly she wanted him again. She felt like she was in heat.
“You know,” she said, nipping her way along his jaw, “I do have a perfectly good, very soft mattress, just in the other room.”
He pushed against her, sending the napkins flying. “We’ll get there.” Leaving her prone, he raised up and tugged at the waistband of her sweats, pulling them down and off as he crouched between her legs, sliding her thighs over his shoulders. “Eventually.”
If this was his idea of tight-muscle relaxation, she’d be willing to barter a hell of a lot more than regular meals. Too busy gasping at the sudden invasion of his warm breath and soft tongue between her legs to form a single, coherent thought, she instinctively grabbed at the edges of the table. Arching into him, heedless now of where the dishes and silverware ended up, she was unable to keep the gradually louder whimpers from slipping out. Whimpers turned to moans, loud moans, as he continued his devastating assault on her most sensitive spot. Bagel was barking somewhere in the background, but the house could have been burning down and she doubted she’d have been able to stop Donovan. She didn’t want to stop him, stop this stunning intoxication of her senses, until every last delicious tremor shuddered through her.
Her hips thrashed wildly when she came, and she was pretty sure that rafter-rattling scream that accompanied it actually came from somewhere inside of her.
Blinded by her need for him and unable to focus on anything except the overwhelming need to have him buried deep inside of her as soon as humanly possible, to continue the assault on her deliciously sensitive nerve endings in the most intimate manner possible, she grabbed at his hair, his shoulders, tugging him back up.
The Black Sheep and the Princess Page 23