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Vicki set her empty glass on the coffee table. “How did Chandler take this ‘being married and not divorced’ thing?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“You haven’t told him yet?” Her friend looked more shocked about that than any revelation so far.
“No.”
“Keeping important details to yourself is starting to form a disturbing pattern. Why haven’t you told him?”
“It just happened a few hours ago,” Rose protested.
“You called me. It’s not a stretch that you could have clued Chandler in on this.”
“I needed to wrap my head around it before dumping this kind of news on him. And—” Rose loved her friend, but this rational side could be annoying. Mostly because Vicki was right. “The situation got even more complicated.”
“I don’t see how.”
“Linc offered me a job decorating his condo. A very high-profile project that will generate a lot of attention and publicity.”
“There’s more, right?” her friend asked suspiciously.
“If it goes well, there’s a chance I could get more work in the area. These guys—the Holdens—are building a hotel and resort, all of which will need decorating. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“Obviously you didn’t say no.”
“You’re a lawyer. If someone offered you a case that was the equivalent of this, would you walk away from it? No matter who was doing the asking?”
“I see your point,” Vicki reluctantly agreed.
“This could be really lucrative. A career maker.” She filled in even more details about the development and the area with luxury homes cropping up. “We both know if I don’t get a break Tucker Designs is finished.”
“Maybe not—”
Rose’s look stopped the words. “I’m going down, Vee. You’re my attorney. You’ve seen my financials. I don’t even want to think about that loan from the small business association. And then there’s my mom. She raised me completely by herself and worked so hard all her life to take care of me. Waitressing isn’t easy and I’d like her to be able to cut back. Enjoy herself more. You know?”
“Yes, but—” Vicki stopped and shook her head.
“How do you think Chandler would take it?” Rose asked.
“Let me think about this.” Vicki hummed the Jeopardy theme. “You tell the man you’re all but engaged to that you’re going to Montana with the man you married ten years ago and aren’t quite divorced from to do a job in order to save your business.”
Rose nodded. “Yes.”
“I think any man’s head would explode given that scenario.”
“That’s what I figured, too.” This was what Rose really wanted to talk to her friend about. She’d revealed her history with Linc because it had a direct bearing on her decision. As Linc would say—context. “What do you think I should do?”
It didn’t take Vicki very long to come up with an answer. “Tell Chandler and don’t take the job.”
Rose nearly choked on her wine. That’s not what she’d expected. “What? I thought you understood.”
“I do. But I also saw your face when you talked about Lincoln Hart.” There was sympathy in her friend’s expression. “I’ve known you for a long time and you’ve never looked like that before. Tell me I’m nuts but whether you’re willing to admit it or not, you have feelings for the man.”
“Of course I do. All of them bad.”
“Take it from me. Accepting that job will dredge up more feelings and all the crap comes up, too. Just leave it alone. You’re doing fine. Don’t give him a chance to hurt you again.”
“He can’t.”
“Okay.” Vicki’s tone was full of “if you say so but I think you’re wrong.” “For what it’s worth, my advice is to talk this over with Chandler. I’m sure he’ll tell you the same thing. Do not take this job.”
“Wow, don’t hold back. Tell me how you really feel.”
“I always do.” Her friend smiled. “And just so you know, I want to look over those divorce papers before you sign anything. This time things will run smoothly or you’ll know why.”
“Thank you, Vicki.”
“So you’re not mad at me?”
“Why would I be?” Rose protested.
“For telling you what I thought. I know you didn’t want to hear that.”
“I count on you.”
“So we’re okay?” her friend asked.
“Absolutely.”
That was completely true and Rose valued this woman’s opinion more than she could say. But she was going to break the unbreakable rule about automatically taking your best friend’s advice. Rose just hoped there wouldn’t be an “I told you so” in her future.
Chapter Two (#u47d1e089-baa1-55be-9aa5-91ac3764f12a)
“So you’re really moving to Blackwater Lake, Montana?”
Linc was standing by the side table in his office, where there was a bottle of exceptional single malt Scotch, and glanced over his shoulder. It was precisely six thirty and Mason Archer, his attorney, stood in the doorway. Right on time.
“Would you like a drink?” Linc asked.
“Yes.” The other man walked closer, passing the desk piled with papers, and went directly to the conversation area with its leather furniture and sleek glass-and-chrome coffee table.
After handing Mason the tumbler of Scotch, Linc said, “You know my sister, Ellie, lives there, right?”
“I do.”
Linc grinned because there was no missing his friend’s clipped tone. “Don’t take her rejection personally.”
“How do you take it when a woman says there’s nothing that could compel her to have dinner with you?”
“That was a bad time. She’d been burned and swore off men,” Linc said. Mason had worked for Hart Industries while Ellie was still there. The man once had a thing for her but that was before she met her husband. However, bringing it up never failed to get a rise out of his friend. Linc liked to get a rise out of him because it almost never happened. “Trust me, it wasn’t personal.”
“Okay.”
“That’s it? You’re a lawyer who makes arguments for a living. It’s like air to you.”
“Knowing when not to argue is just as important. Ellie is happily married and has a child. I’m glad for her.”
“So you’re over her,” Linc persisted.
“There was never anything to get over.”
“If you say so.”
Mason sighed before taking a sip of his drink. “There are many, many other clients I could work for.”
“You’d lose a lot of money if you left me,” Linc reminded him.
“The peace and quiet would be worth it.” Tough words but the other man was smiling.
“You’re going to miss me when I’m in Montana.”
“Tell me again why it is that you’re going,” his friend said.
“I’m buying in to my brother-in-law’s construction company. It needs an infusion of capital to expand in Blackwater Lake. The town is one of the fastest growing places in the country and there’s a lot of opportunity.”
The one at the top of his list was getting out of the Hart family shadow. He’d insisted on being treated as an employee of the company and not an heir apparent, like his half brothers. In the last ten years he’d worked his ass off, partly to prove himself to them and partly to stay too busy to think about how his personal life had imploded. The other day he’d seen the anger and resentment in Rose’s eyes but that was better than having her grow to despise him because he wasn’t a Hart.
He didn’t tell her because she would have said she fell in love with the man and not his last name. But the truth was it would have been like marrying the prince who would be king, then finding out he’d been switched at birth for the peasant who owned a pigsty. Walking away saved her from having to deal with that. It was the right thing to do but that didn’t get him off the restitution hook for how he’d treated her.
The upside of keeping too busy to brood over lost love was making a lot of money. And he was going to take that money to Blackwater Lake and build more success on his own terms.
Linc remembered telling Rose that it was about to be on the “rich and famous” radar. A place for her to build success too but he had yet to hear from her. It was amazing how much that bugged him. And it’s not like he hadn’t known there was a better-than-even chance she would tell him to stick his offer where the sun didn’t shine.
“Opportunity in rural Montana?” Mason drained the rest of the Scotch in his glass. “There’s nowhere to go but up when you’re in the sticks.”
“It has an airport now.” A thought popped into Linc’s mind. “You should think about opening a law office there.”
“I’m not licensed to practice in Montana.”
“You could be. It’s probably not a big deal to make that happen.” Linc sat on the leather love seat. “There’s no competition right now. Could be a good move for you, my friend.”
“Not so bad for you, either.” The attorney’s tone was wry.
This man was an outstanding lawyer. Principled, meticulous, conscientious and smart. They’d met while working for Hart Industries, then Mason had opened his own law firm. When Linc’s personal attorney passed away Mason was the guy he wanted. “I’ll admit having legal counsel close by would be convenient, but your success and happiness are a concern.”
Mason laughed. That was worth mentioning because it didn’t happen often. He was far too serious. Linc figured a woman would find him good-looking and wondered what Rose would think. For a split second there was a white-hot flash of jealousy. Not unlike the feeling he’d experienced when she’d mentioned dating someone and that it was getting serious. Again he had a flicker of annoyance at her not getting back to him about the job offer.
“Seriously?” The other man set his empty glass on the silver tray beside the Scotch bottle. “My happiness?”
“Blackwater Lake is a great place. Nice people. Beautiful scenery. Lots to do all year round with the lake and the mountains. You could have a hand in shaping its growth in a positive way. And do something good for yourself at the same time.”
Mason’s eyes narrowed. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you once call it Black Hole, Montana?”
“That was a different time.”
Linc remembered it well. Ellie had called him, upset because she was pregnant and things were not going well between her and the baby’s father, Alex McKnight. The man had eventually won over Linc as well as Sam and Cal. He married Ellie and they had a daughter, Leah, who was two. Moving to the small town in Montana was the best thing ever, she often said to him. Now he was going to see whether or not she was right.
“So, Mason, before we grab dinner, you’re probably wondering how the meeting went.”
“I’m assuming you’re talking about the one with your wife,” the attorney clarified.
That took Linc by surprise. The wife part. It had been ten years and as Rose had pointed out, they were married for fifteen minutes. Not nearly long enough to think about her being his wife. Regret about that coiled inside him. And in the decade that had passed no woman had gotten close to him again. Ellie had said more than once that he used women like cocktail napkins and threw them away because he’d never fallen in love. The truth was exactly the opposite. Because he’d loved so deeply and had to let her go he wouldn’t ever risk it a second time.
“Linc?”
“Yeah. Right. How did it go with Rose.” He shook his head to clear it and thought for a moment. “Better than I expected.”
Mason waited, then finally said, “Care to give me the highlights?”
“She didn’t throw anything.”
“You were at her place.” It wasn’t a question.
Since Linc hadn’t given him the when and where, he asked, “How did you know?”
“She didn’t want to break any of her stuff.”
“Ah.” He hadn’t thought of that when picking the venue for his bombshell. His only thought had been that the last thing she’d ever said to him was that she never wanted to see him again. There wouldn’t have been a meeting if he’d tried to set one up. Surprise had been the only option. And it worked, sort of. He’d expected to feel nothing and got a surprise of his own at the flood of emotion, the explosion of memories that was like being pelted with hail.
“And after she didn’t throw anything?” Mason prompted. “What did she say?”
“She didn’t believe it.” Linc had revealed everything to his attorney, including the fact that Hastings Hart was not his biological father. “I explained what happened and convinced her it was true. Of course she wanted to know how the divorce screwup happened.”
“You get what you pay for.” There was an ironic tone in the other man’s voice.
“I already told you that was before your time. Rose seemed...sympathetic after I told her about what happened.”
Sympathy was so much more palatable than pity. And he would never be sure whether or not his standing in a financial dynasty mattered to her because he’d taken that choice out of her hands. It was impossible to know for sure if she fell in love with him, or the him that was part of the Hart family fiscal package. But in the last ten years he’d learned women were attracted to money even when it came from a bastard.
“What did she say?”
Linc met the other man’s gaze. “That I should have told her what was going on.”
“You have no idea how hard it is for me not to say ‘duh.’”
“Don’t think I didn’t notice you just did.” Linc sighed. “No one is disputing the fact that I’m an ass.”
“It’s not too late to change.”
