Chapter 17
NOLAN
After scanning through the old security records on my computer, I finished off my third cup of coffee as I awaited Bobby’s arrival. Since my confession to Val a few days ago, I’d renewed my investigation—starting with the staff interviews.
Right on time, a knock sounded at my door.
“Come in.”
The older maintenance man poked his head inside, looking unsure. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes. Have a seat.”
Wringing his hat, Bobby sat across from me. “Me and the boys are working as fast as we can, but with the weather and the holiday, the repairs are taking longer than—”
“This isn’t about that,” I said. “You’re doing fine.”
“Oh,” he replied, deflating in relief.
Smoothing my jacket lapels, I said, “I wanted to ask you about the ski lift malfunction back in January 2004.”
“Ah,” he said with a nod. “I wondered when you’d ask about that. I’ll tell you what I told the police. When I inspected the equipment the night before, everything was in tip-top shape. There was no reason that chair lift should have let go like it did. A real tragedy.”
“And you don’t know what could have caused it?” I asked. “An excess of snow or arctic temperatures?”
“The lift is built to withstand extremes like that. If I’d been able to inspect the chair after the accident, maybe I could have figured out what happened. But the police removed it from the scene, and it was replaced almost immediately.”
Interesting. Was the haste due to wanting to get the resort back in full operation, or did someone have something to hide?
In any case, I believed Bobby. If he’d had anything to do with it, why would he have stuck around at the scene of the crime for years?
“Thanks, Bobby. Send in Mr. Huxby. He should be waiting outside.”
Ducking his head, he left, to be replaced by a jittery-looking Barney. “I trust you’re enjoying your stay?” Barney asked, fingers tapping his pant leg in a staccato rhythm.
“Bobby told me something interesting just now about the defective equipment being removed before he could inspect it. You were the general manager at the time, were you not?”
“Yes, but I was boxed out of the investigation entirely. I had no control over what happened once law enforcement stepped in.” Sweat broke out across his forehead, but then again, the man was always a nervous wreck in my presence. I stared at him for a beat longer before moving on.
“I need more security footage sent to Jason. From the week following the accident as well. Can you do that?”
“Right away, sir,” he said. I stared at him, waiting. “Oh. You mean now. Yes, of course.” He tripped over himself in his rush, which I appreciated. Mr. Huxby was nothing if not accommodating.
Before heading home for the evening, I stopped by the bar for a quick drink.
Nothing made me crave a good scotch more than the current stew of emotions boiling to the surface.
But at least I had a lead—someone had made sure Bobby never got a chance to inspect the broken chair lift.
And I intended to find out who it was. It felt good to be making progress and to have something to dwell on besides Val.
“A secret for a secret.”
After opening up to each other in the greenhouse, we were toeing that precarious line again, a line that was becoming all too thin the more time we spent together.
At home, sharing a meal or bumping into each other in the hallway wasn’t uncommon, but Val mostly kept to herself.
I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t want anything to do with me, or because she did, and she was avoiding the temptation.
Whatever the reason, while things between us were thawing, an even bigger secret still hung over our heads.
In the greenhouse, I’d been seconds away from revealing the real reason I was here at Hale’s Peak—to sell my fake engagement to the media and sell the resort itself—but I’d held back out of fear Val would think I was using her to further my own purposes before discarding her.
Why do I even care what she thinks? Hale’s Peak was my property, my decision.
But that answer came all too easily. Spending time with Val was no longer just about appeasing Arthur and securing the sale, if it had ever been about that.
I wanted to be near her. That night when I’d heard her thrashing in her room, I’d thought someone had broken in.
The thought of her hurting or in pain, it turned me murderous.
And when I saw her sitting there in that bed with her tear-stained face, so small and vulnerable, my heart took a nosedive off a cliff.
In that moment, a fierce need to protect her roped me in and had yet to abate.
No one had ever captured my attention like Valeria López, and I didn’t know what to do about it.
Selfishly, I wanted to keep us in this safe bubble of exploration, however artificial and temporary it may be.
But I’d have to find a way to tell Val the truth—about everything—if I ever hoped to have any kind of genuine relationship with her.
Friendship, I corrected. Because that’s all she could ever be to me.
Even if I was honest with her, it wouldn’t change anything.
I was selling the resort, and I was marrying Cressida.
Bitterness coated my thoughts and turned my mood sour.
All this inner turmoil over a woman I can’t even have in the way that I want.
The impossibility of our situation sparked the fuse of my ever-shortening temper.
I needed that scotch.
Claiming a seat at the rapidly filling bar, I flagged down Hugh. He already held a glass of my usual order and set it in front of me. “Here you are, sir.”
I raised my glass to him before taking a sip. “Thanks, Hugh. How are things living in the village?”
Wiping his hands on a towel in his back pocket, Hugh said, “They’re good. The Medfords really appreciate the stipend, although they say it’s not necessary.”
I waved away his remark. “It is the least we can do. It’s kind for so many people to help us.”
Hugh smiled through his beard. “That’s what Hale’s Peak is all about. We’re a family. I’d do the same for any of them.”
I nodded in thought as Hugh bustled off to tend to his customers.
Such a feeling of community and camaraderie was so foreign to me.
The Kellers were ruthless, constantly looking for backs to lodge knives into.
But here, nobody had such concerns. If someone had a problem, everyone pitched in to help.
Something strange and warm flickered in the dim chambers of my heart—and then was swept away by an overwhelming frigid frost.
Val sat at the opposite end of the bar, deep in conversation with a mop of curly hair.
Austin. A dark, ugly feeling unfurled in my chest, spurred on by my earlier agitation.
In the greenhouse, something had changed between Val and me.
We knew each other’s private darkness, our most closely held secrets—or she knew one of mine. And here she was, laughing with him.
It should be me.
No. Leave it alone. Just go home.
But when it came to Val, the rational part of my brain had taken its leave a long time ago.
Finishing my drink, I navigated through the crowd and walked up to the two of them.
Raking my eyes over Val, I took in her powder blue sweater that clung to every sweet curve of her body.
The sweater that I had picked out for her new closet, because I knew it would look hot as fuck.
And it did. Austin might as well have been invisible for all the attention I paid him.
“Hello, Val,” I drawled, keeping my posture and expression neutral in case there were any tabloid journalists skulking about. I wasn’t sure where I was going with this, but it was too late to back out.
At my tone, Val’s back stiffened and she darted a look at Austin. “Mr. Keller,” she said carefully. Jesus. Did she have to call me that? “Do you—can I help you with something?”
Oh, that’s a good idea. “Yes. I need you to rearrange my schedule for tomorrow. I have…meetings. New ones. Very important.” She was supposed to be my personal assistant now, and I definitely needed her to personally assist me far away from this fucking guy.
She blinked at me. “Um, okay. And you need me to do this right now?”
“Right now.”
With a puzzled expression, she turned to Austin and said, “I’ll see you later. But sign me up for that trip to Whistler next fall.”
“You got it,” he said with an easy grin.
At that, something must have shown on my face because now Val was openly glaring at me. But meeting her temper with mine would only cause a clash of epic proportions—like in my office. Not here. I reined in my emotions and ushered us outside, away from prying eyes.
Once inside my cabin, we reconvened in the kitchen, facing off across the center island. “I thought you said Daphne was still handling your schedule,” she noted, eyes narrowed.
“She is,” I conceded.
“So why am I here?”
“I…” I could lie, come up with some work excuse. But Val wasn’t stupid. “I don’t like seeing you with him.”
Several emotions sprinted across her face—surprise, confusion—desire?
But then she fastened her hands to her hips, a flinty spark in her eyes and a notch forming in her forehead.
The woman looked ready to kick my ass, and I fucking loved knowing she was comfortable enough with me to be mad as hell and show it.
Zeroing in on me, Val asked, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Oh, she was very pissed—she hardly ever swore, and I’d never heard her say fuck before. Was it sick that I liked bringing out this side of her? But she didn’t give me a chance to answer before plowing onward.
“Look, I don’t know what that masculine display of marking your territory was about, but I am not your territory.
Austin is my friend, so you can cool it with trying to intimidate him.
Although, it didn’t work anyway. He isn’t ruffled by much, unlike someone.
” She crossed her arms and lifted her eyebrow in a challenge.
She knows exactly what she’s doing. Prowling around the counter, I closed the distance between us.
I shouldn’t care about any of this. Val was free to do whatever with whoever she wanted.
I was the one with the problem. “Does Austin know he’s just your friend?
Because friends don’t spend entire conversations staring at the other friend’s ass. ”
Val rolled her eyes. “Are you sure you’re not talking about yourself?” Her breath caught as she realized what she’d just said. We were treading in risky territory.
A small step across the line can’t be worse than what I’ve already done to us.
“Let me take you out,” I said.
Val snapped her mouth shut. She didn’t outright reject me, and my blood pressure spiked as she scrutinized me. “Like a…date?”
Unable to help myself, I reached out and twisted one of her curls around my finger. “Do you want it to be a date?”
Her pupils flared as she held my gaze, and I had my answer. “You’re engaged, so it doesn’t matter what I want.”
We were so close, our breaths mingled. Her perfume clouded my senses, filling my head with thoughts of her, thighs wrapped around me, lips at my ear, shouting my name for everyone to hear. “It matters to me,” I said.
“What about Cressida?” she asked.
“We’re—” Damn it. The truth danced just behind my lips.
I wanted her to know about my situation with Cressida but not like this.
Not in the middle of a fight. She needed to know exactly what she was getting into before this went any further.
I’ll tell her. Soon. Because I can’t stay away from her, and I’m done trying.
“I’ll clear it with her. And nothing will happen.
Not like…in my office.” Val’s mouth twisted into a slight frown before going back to neutral.
I hadn’t wanted to push her or scare her off but…
Is she disappointed? “You’ve shown me all around Hale’s Peak. Let me show you around. For one night.”
The front door banged open, interrupting us, and Cressida sashayed into the kitchen with an armful of plastic bags.
“I brought dinner again. Hope you guys are feeling bar food. I asked Hugh what was best and he loaded me up with your favorites, Val.”
“Thanks. That’s really kind of you,” said Val with a wobbly smile as she stepped away from me.
Cressida waved away her thanks. “Come, sit! I want to hear about what you’ve been up to with Nolan this week.”
Pink tinged Val’s cheeks as she joined Cressida and cracked open a to-go container of nachos.
I leaned against the island and picked my way through some waffle fries.
As Val regaled her with nervous chatter, I didn’t miss the way Cressida’s eyes slid between the two of us.
She knew exactly what she’d interrupted.
Proving me right, Cressida shot a smirk in my direction before she cut into Val’s verbal deluge.
“What do you think about having a little Christmas-y girls’ night this weekend?” Cressida asked. “I’ll have Daphne and my sister Cora fly in, and we can invite Frankie. No boys allowed, Nolan, so you’ll have to ask Mr. Huxby where he can put you up for the night. What do you say?”
I narrowed a glance at Cressida, but she only had eyes for Val, that mischievous smirk still playing at her lips.
Val gaped at me, looking for direction. Cressida had something in mind, and I wanted to see how it would play out. After a moment, I gave Val a slow nod, and she said, “I…think it sounds nice?”
Cressida’s grin widened. “Excellent.”
What the hell are you up to, woman?