His Convenient Virgin Bride (3 page)

He turned, then waited for Amber to start back to the house with him. Lights had come on in the staff cottages. The scent of freshly cut hay hung in the cooling air. And the diesel truck rumbled away down the ranch road, toward
the long hill that wound past the main ranch house to the highway.

“I was looking for a media file,” said Alec as the engine faded and the crickets took over. “A what?”

“That’s why I came to find you earlier. Do you have documentation of your jumping career publicity?”

She looked confused.

“I’ll need the background information to calculate the dollar value of the exposure,” he elaborated.

“I don’t understand.”

“What’s not to understand?”

“You can switch gears that fast?”

It was his turn to draw back in confusion.

“You just risked death to save Amber.”

“Risked death?” he chuckled, but then he realized she was serious.

“How did you know how to do that?” she asked.

“It’s not exactly rocket science.”

She peered at him through the dim glow of the yard lights. “Were you with the fire department or search and rescue?”

“No.”

“You pull a woman from a burning truck and carry her to safety only seconds before it explodes. How does that not rattle you?”

“That’s the Hollywood version.” He steered their course around the corner of the big barn, linking up with the path to her front porch. “I kicked out a windshield. I didn’t defuse a nuclear weapon.”

“You risked life and limb.”

“You know you tend to overdramatize, right?” He did
what needed to be done, and only because he was the closest guy to the wreck.

And, quite frankly, it wasn’t fear of the fire and for Amber’s safety that had stuck with him. The worst moment had been that split second before he’d pulled Stephanie out of the way of the truck.

“You saved a woman’s life, and just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “You’re working on some mundane report.”

“Correction. I’m
trying
to work on a mundane report. Do you maybe have a list or something?”

They’d arrived at the house and mounted the steps, heading in through the door.

Stephanie kicked off her muddy boots, socks and all. “I have a few scrapbooks down at the main house.”

“Can we pick them up tomorrow?”

“Sure.” She pulled the elastic from her ponytail and ran her fingers through her messy hair. The action highlighted its auburn shimmer, while the pose showed off the compact curves of her body.

It was a struggle not to stare. So, he moved further into the house to where his work was spread out on the dining room table. He dropped into a padded chair, reminding himself of where he’d left off.

“Alec?” she called, coming around the corner.

“Yes?”

When she didn’t answer, he couldn’t help but turn to look.

She’d stripped off her cotton work shirt and now wore a thin, washed-out T-shirt and a pair of soft blue jeans that hugged her curves. The jeans rode low, revealing a strip of soft, pale skin above the waistband. Her bare feet struck
him as incredibly sexy as she padded across the hardwood floor.

“What is it about your past life that led you to rush into a burning vehicle while everybody else stood there and stared in horror?”

“Let it go.”

She might look soft and sweet, but the woman had the tenacity of a pit bull.

“I’m curious,” she told him.

“And I have work to do.”

“It’s not a normal thing, you know.”

“It’s a perfectly normal thing. A dozen guys out there would have done the same.”

Stephanie shook her head.

Alec rolled his eyes and turned back to his spreadsheet.

“Let me guess,” she carried on. “You were in the marines.”

“No.”

“The army?”

“Go away.”

That surprised a laugh out of her. “It’s my house.”

“It’s my job.”

She pondered for a minute. “There’s an easy way to get rid of me.”

He slid a quizzical gaze her way.

“Answer the question.”

He wasn’t exactly sure what to say, but if it would get her out of the room and off his wayward mind, he was game to give it a try. “I was in the Boy Scouts.”

She frowned. “That’s not it.”

“Visited dangerous cities?”

A shake of her head.

“Had the occasional bar fight? Never started one,” he felt compelled to point out.

She braced her hands on the back of a chair and pinned him with a pointed stare.

“You’re not leaving,” he noted.

“That’s all you’ve got?” she demanded.

“What more do you want?”

“I don’t know. Something out of the ordinary. Something that taught you how to deal with danger.”

“I grew up on the south side of Chicago.”

“Seriously?”

“No, I’m making that part up.”

“Was it in a dangerous part of town?” she asked, leaning forward, looking intrigued.

Alec liked the way her pose tightened her T-shirt against her body.

“Relatively,” he told her. Crime had been high. Fights had been frequent. He’d learned how to read people and avoid situations, and how to handle himself when things went bad.

Her voice went low and intimate, as if somebody might overhear them. “Were you like a gang member? In rumbles and things?”

He reflexively leaned closer, lowering his own voice. “No gang. I was raised by a single father, a Chicago cop with very high standards of behavior.” Not that Alec had ever been tempted to join a gang. But his father most certainly would have stopped him cold.

“Your father’s a police officer?”

Alec sat back. “Not anymore. He’s owner and CEO of Creighton Waverley Security.”

“So, you work for him?”

Alec shook his head. Work for his old man? Not in
this lifetime. “I do occasional contract work for his company.”

“Like this?”

“This is a private arrangement between me and Ryder International.”

“There’s an edge to your voice.”

“That’s because you’re still asking questions.”

“Are you mad at me or your father?”

“Do you ever stop?”

“Do you?”

“I’m paid to ask questions.”

“Yeah?” The smile she gave him sent a rush of desire to every pulse point in his body. “I do it recreationally.”

They stared at each other in thickening silence, and he could hear the alarm bells warming up deep in the base of his brain. Both Royce and Jared were protective of their sister, and they would not take kindly to Alec making a pass at her.

Not that Alec would ever make a pass at a client.

He never had.

Of course, he’d never wanted to before, either.

So, maybe it wasn’t his high ethical standards that kept him on the straight and narrow. Maybe he’d simply never been presented with a client who had creamy skin, deep, cherry lips, perfectly rounded breasts and the wink of a navel that made him want to wrap his arms around her waist, drag her forward and press wet kisses against her stomach until she moaned in surrender.

A sudden rap on the door jolted him back to reality.

It couldn’t be Royce. He was still at the hospital. And Jared was in Chicago.

Stephanie hesitated but then turned from Alec and
moved into the alcove off the living room to open the front door.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Wesley’s eager voice carried clearly across the room.

Of course.

The soon-to-be boyfriend.

Wasn’t that a nice dose of reality.

B
rushing her teeth in the en suite bathroom, Stephanie couldn’t help but replay Alec’s rescue over and over in her mind.

In the moments after the crash, she’d been preoccupied with Amber’s safety. And then the helicopter arrived, and the tow truck, and the staff were all anxious and needing to talk. And later she’d been preoccupied with Alec.

But now she knew that Amber was safe. She was alone with her thoughts, and she found herself focusing on those seconds in Alec’s arms.

He was surprisingly strong, amazingly fast and obviously agile. His strength had given her a sense of security. Then later, while they’d argued, she’d felt a flare of something that was a whole lot more than security.

She couldn’t exactly put a name to it. But it was strong
enough, that when Wesley had showed up, he’d seemed bland by comparison.

She spat the toothpaste into the sink and rinsed her mouth. As she replaced the toothbrush in the charger, she paused, gazing at herself in the mirror.

Attraction, she admitted, glancing at the door that led from the opposite side of the bathroom into the guest room where Alec was sleeping.

She was attracted to him.

She wanted it to be Wesley, but it was Alec.

She gritted her clean teeth, dragged a comb through her curls, braided them tight and snagged an elastic before heading back into her bedroom.

The window was wide, a cool breeze sliding down from the craggy peaks, while the horses blew and snorted in the fields below. Thoughts still on Alec, roving further into forbidden territory, she dropped her robe onto a chair and climbed between the crisp sheets. Her laundry was still behind, and she was prickly warm, so she’d gone with panties and an old tank top, soft as butter against her skin.

She closed her eyes, but nothing happened.

Well, nothing except an image of Alec appearing behind her eyelids.

When he first showed up, he was just a good-looking city guy. There were plenty of those in magazines and on television. And she’d never been particularly attracted to men based on looks alone.

But now she knew his business clothes masked solid muscles. Worse, she’d learned he had a quick mind and a whole lot of courage. And he’d likely saved her life—which was probably a classic aphrodisiac.

Whatever the cause, she could tell she wasn’t getting to sleep anytime soon.

She tossed off her comforter, letting the breeze cool her skin, staring out at the three-quarter moon, trying not to think about Alec in the next room. So close.

No. Not so close. So far.

It was fine for her to lay here and fantasize, she told herself. It was perfectly normal and perfectly natural. In real life, it needed to be Wesley, but here in the dark of night…

She flipped onto her stomach. Then she fluffed her pillow and searched for a comfortable position.

She couldn’t find one. She flipped back again, reaching for the water glass on her bedside table. It was empty.

Sighing in frustration, she clambered from the bed and crossed the carpet to the bathroom. Opening the door, she flicked on the light.

That exact moment, the door from Alec’s room swung open. They both froze under the revealing glare, staring at each other in shock. Her hormones burst to instant attention, and she nearly dropped the glass.

Alec’s chest was bare, the top button of his slacks undone. His hair was mussed, and his chin showed the shadow of a beard. As she’d guessed from his embrace, his shoulders were wide, his biceps bulged, and the pecs on his deep chest all but rippled under the light.

His gaze flicked down her body, stopping at her panties, and tension flicked in the corners of his mouth. “Is that from today?”

Her heart pushed hard against her ribs, knowing the skimpy outfit was very revealing.

“Did I
hurt you?
” he demanded.

And then she realized he wasn’t salivating over her
bare legs, her skimpy top or the high-cut panties. His gaze had zeroed in on the bruise from where she’d fallen off Rosie-Jo.

She couldn’t decide whether to feel relieved or disappointed. “It wasn’t you,” she assured him. “I fell off my horse.”

He took a step forward. “Have you seen a doctor?”

“It’s just a bruise.”

“It looks deep. Do you need some ice?”

I’m standing here nearly naked.
“No.”

He moved closer still, and a hitch tightened in a band around her chest, while her hormones raced strategically around her body.

“It’ll take the swelling down,” he went on. “I can run to the kitchen and—”

“Alec!”

“What?”

“I’m standing here in my underwear.”

He blinked. “Right.” Then his eyes darkened to charcoal. “Right,” he said, his gaze skimming her from head to toe.

She wished she could tell what he was thinking, but his expression gave away nothing. After a long minute, he drew a breath. “Sorry.” He took a step back.

“Alec—”

He shook his head, holding up his palms. “Let’s just forget this ever happened.”

He was right, of course. But she couldn’t seem to stop the thick layer of disappointment that slid its way through her stomach. Did he not find her even remotely attractive?

She guessed not, since he hadn’t even noticed how she was dressed until she’d pointed it out.

He might have saved her life. He might care about
her physical safety. But apparently it was in a purely platonic way.

“I wasn’t—” He took another backward step. “I didn’t—” He shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he repeated. Then he shot through the doorway to firmly click the door shut behind him.

Stephanie was sorry, too. But she suspected it was for an entirely different reason.

Alec spent the next few days working as fast as humanly possible and avoiding Stephanie as much as he could—which didn’t turn out to be difficult, since she was an early riser, and she worked long hours.

Keeping himself from thinking about her proved a considerably tougher challenge. The picture of her in her tank top and panties was permanently seared into his brain stem.

Her face had been scrubbed and shiny, not that she ever seemed to wear makeup. Her shoulders were smooth and lightly tanned, her breasts were perfectly shaped, barely disguised under the thin, white fabric of the well-worn top. Her legs were long and toned, accented by the triangular, flat lace insets of her panties. And her waist was nipped in, stomach flat and smooth.

It had taken all of his willpower not to surge across the tiny bathroom and drag her into his arms.

He drew a shuddering breath, pulled the borrowed ranch truck transmission into fourth gear, and sped up on the final stretch of the road between Stephanie’s equestrian stable and the main cattle ranch.

Business Consulting 101, he ruthlessly reminded himself.
Keep your hands off the clients’ sister.
His business had been built on integrity. His clients trusted him with sensitive
problems that were often high stakes and high risk. If he tossed his principles and made a pass at a client, no one would ever be able to trust him again.

In a self-preservation move, rather than talk to Stephanie face-to-face about her publicity history, he’d mentioned the scrapbooks to Amber. Amber had helpfully offered to hunt them down.

He’d already developed a comprehensive picture of the Ryder Equestrian Center from a business perspective. Not that he was under any illusion that the Ryder brothers wanted to learn the truth about their sister’s profitability.

In any event, once he finished with the scrapbooks, he’d head back to the safety of his Chicago office, away from the temptation of Stephanie. The report would stand on its merits. Jared and Royce could use it or ignore it. It was completely up to them.

The main ranch house came into view, and he geared down to control the dust, bringing the truck to a smooth stop on the circular driveway between the house, the barns and the corrals.

Like Stephanie’s place, the original ranch house was set on the Windy River. Groves of trees and lush fields stretched out in all directions. There was a row of staff cabins accessed by a small bridge across the river. Working horses were corralled near the house, while clusters of brown and white cattle dotted the nearby hillsides.

Jared Ryder appeared on the porch, coffee cup in hand, and Alec drew a bracing breath as he exited the truck.

He waved a greeting, slammed the door and paced across the driveway. “Didn’t know you were in Montana,” he said to Jared as he mounted the front steps.

“Just overnight,” Jared returned. “Melissa and I wanted to check on Amber.”

“How’s she doing?”

“She’s good. Thanks again, by the way.”

“Not a problem.”

Despite Stephanie making such a big deal about it, Alec suspected her brothers were both the kind of men who’d rescue anyone in need without a lot of fanfare.

Jared’s matter-of-fact nod told Alec he was right.

“I should be done at the Equestrian Center tomorrow,” Alec offered. With some hard work, he could wrap things up tonight.

“Glad to hear it. The sooner you get started in Chicago, the better.” Then his expression turned serious, voice going lower as he glanced around them. “I hear Royce told you about our little issue.”

Alec lowered his own voice in response. “About the blackmail?”

“Yeah.”

“He did,” Alec confirmed. “And I advised him to come clean with Stephanie.”

Jared scoffed out a laugh. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“That’s exactly what Royce told me.”

“He thought you might help?”

“If I can.”

Jared gave another considered nod. “Personally, I suggested we hunt him down and—”

“That’s not the kind of work I do,” Alec quickly put in, on the off chance Jared was serious.

“I wasn’t going to suggest we harm him. Though I can’t deny the idea has merit. I was thinking more along the lines of explaining to him in excruciating detail what each of us has to gain by ending this, and what each of us has to lose if he keeps it up.

“But it’s a moot point anyway. We can’t do anything until we find him. And, so far, we haven’t been able to find him.” Jared gave Alec a significant look.

A moment of silence passed.

“You want me to check into his whereabouts?” asked Alec.

“Amber’s friend Katie says you have contacts.”

Katie Merrick was a lawyer working for Alec’s father’s firm, Creighton Waverley Security. Where Creighton Waverley was conservative and by the book outfit, Alec had contacts who could be a little more creative.

“His name is Norman Stanton,” Jared offered. “Frank Stanton, Stephanie’s biological father, was his brother. The blackmail payments are all tied up in some off-shore company called Sagittarius Eclipse. That’s pretty much all we know.”

“That’s a start.” Alec nodded decisively. He’d be more than happy to help track down the man who had targeted Stephanie.

Stephanie needed to purge her wayward fantasies once and for all. And Wesley was the key. Across the arena, he was calling her name, making his way toward her through the soft, deep dirt.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he gasped, as he grew close enough to speak. He ducked through the rails, rising up beside her.

Stephanie was observing Brittany, one of her youngest students, in the starting area of the jumping course.

She smiled briefly at Wesley then nodded to Brittany’s trainer, Monica, where she held the bridle of Brittany’s horse. Monica stepped back and gave the start signal,
and Brittany cantered her horse toward the first two-foot plank.

“How was California?” Stephanie asked Wesley, glancing his way again.

He truly was a fine looking man. His blond hair curled around his ears. He had bright blue eyes and an aristocratic nose. And his quick sense of humor and easy laugh had made him friends throughout the stable.

“It was a long three days,” he responded with a warm smile. “My sister has boyfriend trouble. My mother cooked five meals a day. And I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” Stephanie told herself it wasn’t really a lie, since she wanted so much for it to be true. She rested her elbow on the second rail, tipping her head to look at him.

Truth was she hadn’t thought much about him while he was away. Her only excuse was that she’d been busy training. The Brighton competition was coming up in a few short weeks, and it was the unofficial start of qualifying for the Olympic team.

Training was important. It was hard to find time to think about anything else.

Well, except for Alec.

She clamped her jaw down hard, ordering herself to forget about Alec. He’d been skulking around the stable all week, asking questions, printing financial reports, and generally making a nuisance of himself.

Wesley did his part. He took a step closer to her, his shoulder brushing against her elbow.

Brittany turned her horse and headed for jump number four.

Wesley brushed his fingers along Stephanie’s bare forearm, easing closer still. He touched the back of her
hand, turning it to feather his fingertips across her palm, before cupping her hand and giving her a squeeze.

It was a gentle touch. A pleasant touch. She forced herself to concentrate on enjoying it.

“We need to talk, Stephanie.” His blue-eyed gaze went liquid.

“About?”

His smile widened. “About us, of course. I’m dying to kiss you.” He moved her hand from the rail and turned her, tugging her toward him, voice going breathy. “I’ve been thinking about you for three long days.”

Stephanie opened her mouth, but the words she wanted to utter wouldn’t come out. She hadn’t been thinking about Wesley for three long days. And she wasn’t dying to kiss him.

Okay, she wasn’t exactly opposed to kissing him. But the rush of excitement she’d felt the last two times they’d come close was decidedly absent.

“Tell me how you feel,” he breathed.

Brittany cantered past. The clomp of her horse’s hooves tossed sprays of dirt, while the
whoosh
of its breathing filled the air. Stephanie used the instant to pull back.

“I really like you, Wesley,” she told him.