Chapter 18
ROXY
‘Ican pull up to Rosedale Manor under the guise of checking on my mum,’ I suggested, as we cleared the dinner plates and took them into the kitchen. ‘I’ll hunt for evidence in Reese’s private office.’
Angel paused as he loaded the dishwasher.
‘That’s a high-stakes play, Rox. You sure you’re ready to risk it?’
‘I lived in that fortress for years, remember?’ I shot back, lifting my chin. ‘I can get into his workspace and run rings around his security detail.’
Without warning, he reached out and stroked my cheek, which made my pulse glitch for a beat.
‘Be careful, babe. Your dad plays dirty.’
‘Babe’ was back, sending tendrils of sensation down my spine.
‘I’ll make certain to go when he isn’t home.’ I said, tilting my head back to gaze into his eyes. ‘Now how about we wipe out all bad memories of Reese with late-night ice cream and a movie?’
Angel’s eyes lit up.
‘Now you’re talking darlin’.’
He released me, and we raided the freezer and headed out with our individual cartons of delicious goodness.
‘So wrong scoffing ice cream after dessert,’ I muttered, licking salt and caramel vanilla off my spoon.
‘Who cares?’ Angel grinned, downing another spoonful of chocolate fudge.
This man.
We moved to the living area and selected ‘Knives Out’ with Daniel Craig.
We chuckled at the antics of the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc as he sifted through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies.
Soon, Angel set aside his empty carton and nestled into the pillows on the divan.
In minutes, he fell fast asleep against the cushions, crashing out.
I leaned my chin on my palm, observing his resting features in the dim glow of the television screen.
It still struck me as surreal that this magnificent, rugged man was my actual husband.
His thick eyelashes cast long shadows across his cheekbones, his jawline looking carved from granite even when he was dead to the world.
At eleven o’clock, when the movie ended, I shook his shoulder.
‘Hey, honey. Wake up. Time for bed.’
He blinked, rubbing his face as he stood up.
‘Yeah sure.’
He prowled by my side down the quiet corridor toward our bedrooms.
We halted outside my door and locked eyes.
His were sleepy-sensual-heated, and I got hit with a wave of need.
He raked me from head to toe and then caged me into the door, one palm flat on the surface.
The proximity sent a current of heat straight to my toes.
He lifted a hand and traced it from my temple to the fluttering heartbeat at my neck.
At my waist I got the sensation of his rising cock straining from his trousers, and my pussy convulsed.
He bent his head as if to kiss me, then, with a groan, Angel set his jaw, retreating.
‘Good night, Rox,’ he rasped.
I bit my lip as he stalked away before stepping into his own primary suite.
The lock clicked.
‘Stubborn man,’ I gritted under my breath, turning my own doorknob and heading inside, tamping down my yearning for him.
The next morning, I called my mother, found out if Reese was home; he wasn’t, and secured an invitation to tea.
After my Pilates and core conditioning class at my local gym, I drove over to Rosedale Manor, the massive Georgian estate looming behind iron gates like a gilded prison.
Elsa’s shadow came in the form of a cruel-looking thug named Bull.
The burly security guard met me at the grand entrance.
His narrowed eyes scanned me from head to toe with a sneer before he grunted for me to follow him.
He led me through the marble halls to the glass conservatory where my mother waited.
As always, Elsa greeted me, dressed in a crisp white linen dress.
Reese’s French chef, Fabian, appeared to set down a silver tray of Earl Grey tea, buttery biscuits, and exquisitely cut cucumber sandwiches.
‘How’s Angel?’ my mother asked in her soft English accent as she poured the steaming liquid from a Royal Doulton hand-painted teapot.
Her eyes softened as she spoke my husband’s name.
I shrugged. ‘He’s going OK, I think.’
‘Always such a lovely boy, and now a magnificent man. Can I tell you a secret, honey?’
‘Yes, Mother, out with it,’ I said, bracing.
She offered a sly, knowing expression.
‘I always wanted him for you. Evangeline treated that beautiful man like shit.’
I arched a brow because Elsa never cursed.
‘I was aware of how you looked at him over the years,’ she confessed. ‘It was obvious you cared for him. I knew you’d do a far better job than your spoiled sister.’
She stared into her cup, her composure slipping.
‘I know more about unrequited love than you realize, Roxy.’
‘I know mother.’
Years ago, she shared the true story of my biological father.
His name was Javier, an American-Chilean horseman whom she loved with her entire soul.
My mum first met him after Evangeline’s birth, when Javier landed a contract on the Rosedale estate staff as a horse trainer.
Their secret affair resulted in my birth.
‘I was wrong to cheat on Reese; I know it now. Hell, I paid for it for most of my life. When Reese discovered the truth, his fury was explosive. He banished me to Tabitha’s farm in Leiper’s Fork to deliver you away from high society.
By the time I returned to Nashville, Javier had vanished with no trace. ’
‘Mama,’ I whispered, sympathizing with the pain in her eyes.
‘I raised you, looked into Javier’s eyes on your face, saw his exact smile on you,’ she murmured, a tear escaping down her cheek. ‘I kept going because of you, and that he was part of you. Which is why you moving out of this house killed me. I no longer had a piece of him with me each day.’
A profound sadness washed over me.
I abandoned my chair, kneeling beside her to wrap my arms around her.
‘Reese has punished me every single day since,’ she choked out against my neck. ‘I have no freedom. I can’t even leave this property without his goons trailing me. If I refuse his demands, he dangles Javier’ memory in my face, threatening a public scandal.’
‘He’ll never expose the truth,’ I countered, rubbing her back. ‘It’ll taint his own precious reputation too.’
‘Never underestimate what that monster is capable of,’ she warned.
I smoothed my jumpsuit, hardening my resolve. ‘On that note, where is he today?’
‘He’s in the city,’ she said, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. ‘A marathon onslaught of meetings to finalize the thoroughbred division sale.’
‘Is he now? Good. Please excuse me, Mother, but I need the ladies’ room,’ I declared, standing up.
Turning to the doorway, I spotted my mother’s shadow.
‘Bull?’
The burly security guard stepped into the glass room.
‘Please fetch us a fresh fruit platter from the kitchen,’ I stated.
The man’s mouth twitched with an ugly sneer, but still he gave a curt nod and exited toward the back of the house.
‘What are you up to, honey?’ Elsa asked in a sotto voce whisper, her keen mind catching my sudden energy shift.
‘Not sure yet,’ I said, winking at her.
‘Be careful,’ she murmured, eyes glinting with a conspiratorial gleam, straightening her spine. ‘I’ll keep him distracted if he returns too quickly.’
I shot her a grateful smile, and then darted down the east wing, slipping into the auxiliary security monitor room.
My fingers flew across the digital control panel, turning off the closed-circuit camera feed to my father’s private office.
Next, I glided down the hallway and entered Reese’s wood-paneled study.
I dropped to my knees behind his massive mahogany desk, hunting through the brass-locked drawers.
In the bottom cabinet, tucked beneath a set of property deeds, I found a legal letter from one of the country’s largest primary lenders.
I scanned the document, my eyes widening, my lips quirking.
‘Huh!’
I stuffed the folded paper down the front of my silk blouse, into my bra.
Hurrying back outside to the monitor station, I flipped the camera feed back to live status before anyone detected the glitch.
Stepping out into the corridor, my heart thudded just as Bull rounded the far corner, fruit platter in hand.
He glared at me, suspicion rolling off his massive shoulders.
‘We women have such terrible periods,’ I purred, flashing a sweet, patronizing smile as I brushed past his bulk. ‘I always keeps running to the loo!’
The sudden expression of horrified disgust on his face was priceless.
It took all I had to keep from bursting out in loud peals of laughter as I walked away.
That evening, Angel and I sat down to a dinner of garlic-herb steak and roasted sweet potato wedges.
We ate in silence until I reached into my jacket and slid the folded paper over the table.
He opened the document with a curious, narrowed expression, his eyes scanning the legal font.
‘What’s this?’ he rasped.
‘I went to Rosedale Manor and helped myself to it in Reese’s office. It’s our first shot over the bow.’
Angel gave me an impressed nod.
‘Read it.’
He did, scanning the page.
‘So Reese’s primary lenders have conducted a comprehensive physical inspection, and fewer than five horses were found across his Nashville operations?’ Angel muttered, shaking his head. ‘Huh.’
‘It’s what I suspected,’ I said. ‘We once owned a stable of almost fifty championship stallions and mares. The question is, what happened to the rest of them?’
Angel stared at the text, his thumb rubbing his jawline.
‘Are you OK if I pass this over to the investigation team at Waring and Associates? Brian can have his guys dig into Reese’s finances.’
‘It’s the whole reason I risked my neck today,’ I murmured.
‘Thanks for the sleuth work, Rox. It’s ace.’
We locked eyes across the empty dishes.
Angel pushed his chair back, stepping around the table until he stood over me.
He reached a hand out, and I took it.
He lifted me from the chair, a warm, calloused hand encircling my waist as he gazed down into my face.
His other hand cupped my jaw, his thumb stroking my cheek.
‘My heart’s a fucking disaster zone, Rox,’ he confessed in a rough whisper.
‘It’s the reason I’m keeping my distance.
I need to process my shit, and it’s not easy to walk away from my catastrophe of a life spent loving Evangeline.
It wouldn’t be fair to lead you on until I get things sorted inside myself. ’
An ache blossomed in my chest, threatening to choke me.
I nodded against his palm.
If you love him, let him go, I thought.
Angel narrowed his eyes, tracking the movement of my lips.
I felt a hot flush creep up my neck, realizing I’d just made the statement out loud.
‘You know the old saying,’ I muttered, scrambling to maintain a nonchalant facade.
‘I know it,’ he rasped, his grip on my waist tightening for a fraction of a second.
We remained frozen, our breath mingling.
Until he bent his head, pressing a soft, lingering kiss against the corner of my mouth.
‘Sleep tight, babe,’ he whispered.
He straightened his massive frame and prowled away, leaving me standing alone by the dining table, aching with a profound yearning for more.
ANGEL
I enlisted Jude’s support to help me map out Reese’s issues with our lawyers and me.
Jude and I drove into the city the morning after Roxy handed me the bombshell letter, navigating the brutal Nashville traffic.
As we arrived at the offices of Waring Partners, Brian welcomed us in the lobby.
‘Good to see you, Angel.’
‘Thanks for taking the meeting,’ I muttered as we swept past the front desk into the boardroom.
Brian and his team settled around the mahogany table opposite Jude and me.
‘Talk to us,’ our legal eagle drawled, clicking his pen.
I laid out Reese’s threats, explaining how he targeted my family and terrorized Roxy and her mother.
‘Angel needs a firewall between those he cares for and Reese,’ Jude stated.
‘Rosedale sounds like he’s reaching hard for leverage any way he can get it,’ Brian noted, rubbing his chin.
‘It could be in part because he owes a ton of money and his lenders are getting jittery,’ I added. ‘He’s desperate for the Saudi deal to go through.’
I slid the envelope containing the letter Roxy retrieved across to Brian.
The head lawyer opened it up with an arched brow and read the contents, letting out a whistle when he reached the final paragraph.
‘Well, that’s a hot potato covered in jalapeno sauce. What do you require us to do?’
‘We’re commissioning your firm to investigate Reese Rosedale in secret.’
‘Find a way to make him back off for good,’ Jude growled, leaning forward over the table. ‘He has to be neutralized.’
Brian grinned with anticipation, his eyes lighting up at the challenge.
‘It’d be an honor to go up against one of Nashville’s oldest snakes and corporate thieves. Consider it done.’
The lawyer nodded and pulled out a digital tablet. ‘How hard do you want us to go?’
‘Dig up each piece of dirt,’ I growled. ‘Look under every single stone. Crawl into the graveyards of the business partners he’s burned over the decades. Find me any financial fraud to nail that man to the wall.’