Texas at Dusk Read online

  “No. It’s business. Well, mostly business,” she amended. “I work for his mother’s company, Texas Trends, a marketing company in San Antonio. I’m head of PR.”

  Ryland knew that. Well, he knew that Nova worked for the company. He hadn’t resorted to looking her up on social media, but his own mother hadn’t used any such willpower in that particular area. She’d mentioned that Nova was a public relations bigwig, and the awards that Nova had won had clearly impressed his mom. It had made Ryland wonder, though, why Nova had given up her dream of being a professional photographer.

  In fact, it was that dream that’d caused their breakup.

  In part, anyway. After plenty of arguments over her boring job at the town’s small weekly newspaper. After other arguments over them living in Coldwater and everybody knowing their business, Nova had told him she wanted to move. She’d wanted to attend college in Chicago, where she’d also gotten an internship. One that she had told him would keep her busy. Her bottom line was that he could either move with her or stay behind.

  He’d stayed.

  She’d filed for a divorce.

  “Barry, of course, works for his mother, too,” Nova went on, drawing his attention back to the present day. “She’s a widow, very devoted to her late husband and her family, but she hasn’t given Barry much power in the company. Unlike me,” she added in a near mumble. “She likes me.”

  Ryland was beginning to see the big picture here. “She pushed you to get together with her son?”

  “Yes, but Barry pushed harder. And once we started dating, his mom gave him a promotion. He doesn’t want to give up that promotion, and he figures the way to hang on to it is to hang on to me.”

  “Even if you don’t want him,” Ryland grumbled.

  “Even then. I don’t believe Barry actually wants to leak the pictures. That wouldn’t necessarily let him keep that promotion. Still, he’s using them as a threat. If he leaks these pictures, he believes his mother will fire me. And she probably would. Texas Trends is a very conservative company, and we handle wholesome accounts. Things like baby food.”

  “Well, somebody had to get at least partially naked to make those babies who use the products,” he grumbled but waved that off when she gave him a blank stare. Ryland moved on to his next question. “How the hell did Barry even get these photos?”

  “My personal laptop wasn’t password protected, and he must have gotten into it. They were in my old computer files.”

  Ryland frowned. Nova had kept these photos? After all this time?

  Nova must not have had any trouble seeing those questions in his eyes because he could see her mentally backpedaling. Rethinking her answer. “I forgot to delete them,” she said.

  Ryland wasn’t going to let her off the hook just yet. Though he should have. “And since you’re looking for hard copies, I’m guessing you also forgot to throw away any that you left here?” he pressed.

  She suddenly got interested in looking at everything but him. If her gaze drifted a little to the right, though, she was going to see that spider, and there’d be another round of screaming and pressing herself against him. While certain parts of his body thought that would be a stellar idea, it wasn’t.

  “What do you want me to do?” he came right out and asked.

  Nova came right out and answered, “Lie and say you photoshopped them and that we’re getting back together.”

  Obviously, she’d given this some thought. Strange thought. “Come again?” And yeah, there was plenty of confusion in his voice.

  “Barry might finally move on if he knows I’m with someone else.” Again, no hesitation.

  “And it just might piss him off even more than he already is,” Ryland pointed out.

  “I don’t think so. He believes in marriage, in committed relationships. You could tell him that you consider our divorce an abomination or such and that you want to make things right. Even if that pisses off Barry, his mother might be on my side and not fire me.”

  Ryland pushed his way through the shock. “So, you want me to pretend to be falling for you again?”

  Now she finally looked at him. “Yes.”

  He wasn’t sure why that riled him so much. And why it caused more of those stirrings behind the zipper of his jeans. He didn’t want to go another round of heart-crushing with Nova, but clearly his erection thought a round of sex would be just hunky-dory. However, that wasn’t what pissed him off the most. It was that Nova could just push away their past and assume they could pull off a scheme so they could save face.

  Or in her case, save her job.

  “No one would believe we’re getting back together,” Ryland quickly reminded her.

  Her eyes brightened. “Sure they would. We could convince them.”

  Ryland was certain there was no such brightening in his own eyes, but he did roll them. Huffed. Then he thought of something that would prove her wrong.

  “Kiss me and I’ll do it,” he said.

  Her shoulders practically snapped back. “Wh-what?”

  “It’s a test to prove to you that we wouldn’t be able to pull this off. With our history, we won’t be able to even convince that spider that we’re getting back together—”

  With some fire and determination in her eyes, Nova stepped closer to him. Very close. And her attention went to his mouth. Of course, as the stirrings behind his zipper strengthened, Ryland wanted to hit himself on the head with a giant bag of ball-peen hammers. He’d been stupid to challenge her to a kiss. Especially in this room with all its naked, dirty picture memories.

  Nova laid her hand on his chest, leaning in, and Ryland knew then she was going to try to prove to him that her stupid plan wasn’t so stupid. That they could do it. He wasn’t nearly as interested in that, though, as how it would feel to have Nova back in his arms. To have her mouth against his. That would have happened, too.

  If the sound hadn’t stopped them.

  “Nova?” someone called out. Not Liddy Jean. This was a man. A man who caused Nova to curse, and this time she didn’t tone it down to her grandmother’s G-rated standards.

  “Barry,” Nova grumbled, using the same tone with his name as she had the cussing.

  Well, hell. Ryland hadn’t thought he’d get the chance to confront the jerkwad ex-boyfriend today, but apparently it was going to happen.

  Ryland and Nova turned toward the door, but Nova didn’t move away from him. She stayed close to Ryland. Arm to arm. Hip to hip.

  The tall, beefy, blond-haired man in khakis and a polo shirt came toward them. He grinned. Considering the circumstances, Ryland figured that made him either an idiot or cocky.

  “Nova,” Barry said. “And you must be Ryland Ross.” He stuck out his hand for Ryland to shake.

  Ryland only glared at him.

  Barry shrugged in a suit-yourself gesture, and with his smile still in place, he shifted his attention to Nova. “Well, I’m betting your ex-husband has convinced you there’s only one thing to be done about this situation?”

  The man reached into his pocket and pulled out an engagement ring. One with a diamond big enough to choke the Holstein heifer on Liddy Jean’s protest sign. As he’d done with his offered handshake, Barry did the same with the ring, thrusting it at Nova.

  “Now, put this on,” Barry insisted, “and let’s get the heck out of here so we can start planning our wedding.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  NOVA HAD WAY too many emotions hit her at once. Shock, embarrassment, dread and worry. But those were mostly overshadowed by the strongest feeling that soared through her.

  Anger.

  She wanted to take that ring from Barry and shove it up his left nostril. Of course, that wasn’t the usual place an enraged person wanted to shove things, but his nose was right there and easier to get to than another part of him.

  Nova reached out t
o push Barry’s hand away, but she got another jolt of shock when Ryland did it first. Barry must have seen it coming, too, because he pulled his hand away a split-second before Ryland knocked it with far more force than necessary. In the same motion, Ryland hooked his arm around her.

  “The ex-husband hasn’t convinced Nova that there is only one thing to be done about this situation,” Ryland said, paraphrasing Barry’s words.

  His voice was calm, but Nova knew there was a big ol’ storm brewing beneath the surface. Ryland had one look. The hot, charming cowboy. But he was definitely a “still waters run deep” kind of guy.

  And he was hot.

  No disputing that, and she didn’t think it was her imagination that there was a smear of green-eyed jealousy in Barry’s brown eyes when he looked Ryland over. Well, he wasn’t so much looking him over as he was noticing the placement of Ryland’s arm around her.

  “Despite that tender, romantic proposal,” Nova told Barry, and she didn’t bother to take out the sarcasm, “I’m not getting engaged to you.”

  Barry hesitated, for a long time, while the muscles started to twitch in his jaw. “What’s going on?” he finally snapped, but he didn’t give Nova a chance to answer before his gaze slashed to her. “Are you forgetting what’s at stake here?”

  “No. Because you won’t let me forget,” she jumped to say before he could interrupt her again. “And now you’ve involved Ryland in this.” She would have launched into a verbal blast about how much it’d pissed her off for him to do that, but Ryland let go of her.

  And he took one step toward Barry.

  Nova wasn’t sure how one step managed to seem so menacing, but it did. Ryland ditched his trademark charm and gave Barry a look that she was surprised didn’t cause the man to wet his khakis. Even though the two were about the same height—around six two—and close to the same build, it was as if Barry had shrunk. However, he didn’t back away or go running.

  Barry swallowed hard, but he managed to hike up his chin. “You got the pictures?” he said to Ryland.

  “I got the photoshopped pictures,” Ryland answered.

  Despite the tension being thicker than the scent of Raid, the relief washed through her. Ryland was going to help her. He was lying for her.

  “Photoshopped?” Barry challenged, shaking his head. “They’re real. They were on Nova’s computer.”

  “Yeah,” Ryland verified as if that were old news. “And being the dick that you are, you snooped around and found them. But they were a joke. A private one between Nova and me.”

  Barry’s eyes widened as he considered that, and then he shook his head. “You’re lying.”

  Ryland took another step forward, and this time Barry did step back. “I’m not lying.” Ryland offered it like a challenge. As in, Go ahead, disagree with me and I’ll rip your face off.

  Since Nova didn’t want this situation to come to blows, she also stepped closer, and she put her arm around Ryland as he’d done to her. Unlike her, Ryland’s muscles were as hard as rocks.

  “The pictures did have one benefit.” Nova hoped she didn’t get attacked by a swarm of spiders for what she was about to say. “When Ryland and I saw them, it made us realize how much we had when we were together. We want to give our marriage another try.”

  Clearly, Barry had not been expecting that. Judging from the hard glance Ryland gave her, neither had he. Even though she had run this idea past him just minutes earlier, he apparently wasn’t on board with it. She prayed, though, that he would stay quiet until they got rid of Barry, and then she could try to make Ryland understand why she was asking him to do this.

  “Your mother will be pleased about this,” Nova went on. “You know how important marriage is to her, and she was always bothered by the fact that I was divorced.”

  That last part wasn’t a lie. Barry’s mother, Roxanne—or Ro as everyone called her—had brought up the divorce multiple times, and in the early days, Ro had even offered to pay for marriage counseling.

  “My mother felt that way about your divorce before you and I started dating,” Barry quickly argued.

  That was true. Ro hadn’t recently mentioned her divorce, but Nova was certain she could reconvince Ro that staying married was the way to go. Of course, once this mess with Barry had blown over, Nova would again have to convince Ro that her marriage to Ryland wasn’t going to work after all. Then she would go celibate and never get involved with anyone again.

  “If you release the photos,” Nova went on, “I’ll have to tell your mother that you did it and that it has put undue stress on my reconciliation with Ryland.”

  Barry stared at them a long time. “I don’t believe you,” he said. Since he could have been talking about several points for his disbelief, Nova just waited for him to continue. “You two aren’t really getting back together.”

  “Believe it,” Ryland snarled.

  Barry kept up the staring, and she could see the debate he was having with himself. A debate he obviously didn’t like because his expression turned to a glare.

  “This isn’t over,” Barry warned her, and he turned to storm out. Unfortunately, he knocked into one of Liddy Jean’s protest signs that she’d propped up against the wall.

  Give a Gopher a Hug Day.

  The foam board got tangled in Barry’s legs, and he nearly face planted on the floor. That sure didn’t improve his mood, and he tossed them another glare before kicking the sign and finally leaving.

  Ryland and she stood there, waiting until they heard Barry slam the door. That didn’t mean today’s battle was over. Nope. This was just round one, and Nova had no idea who’d won. Now she was going to have to deal with Ryland.

  As she usually did when she turned to Ryland, she had to steel herself up a little. That was because Nova knew that looking at him, really looking, would make all the air in Texas vanish.

  Yep, that was exactly what happened.

  Her chest went tight. Her heart decided to skip a few beats and then launch into a happy dance. Even after all these years, she hadn’t figured out how to make herself immune to him. Of course, few women had, what with his thick brown hair and sizzling blue eyes. It was always a surprise to her that some woman hadn’t already snatched him up, but that was likely her fault. All of this was her fault.

  Nova stared at him, bracing herself and waiting for whatever backlash Ryland was about to dole out to her.

  “You actually dated that clown?” he asked.

  As backlashes went, it was a mild one, and Nova doubted she could make him understand. “Barry was part of the picture. There were lots of social functions that we both had to attend, and it just sort of happened that we started attending them together. Then we started going to movies, dinners and such. I’ve never slept with him, though,” she added.

  She winced and wished she’d held back that bit of info. Talking about sex with Ryland was the very definition of TMI. And it gave her a poke of a reminder that sex with him had happened many, many times in this very house. On that very bed that was only a few feet behind them.

  Nova silently cursed for having such lustful thoughts about Ryland, and she reminded herself of other things that had gone on between them—also right here in this house. Sex and lust, yes, but also the arguments and the divorce. Now that some of the heat from those arguments had cooled down, she knew where most of the blame lay for that.

  On her.

  She’d been so desperate to shake off the dust from this small town that she had latched onto the internship in Chicago. And then the job with Texas Trends. It had taken her a while to realize that Ryland had also gotten shaken off in that dust. Ryland no doubt knew that as well, which was why it was even more surprising that he’d helped her out. Of course, he was between a rock and a hard place, too, since he didn’t want the pictures released. Which led Nova to the next part of her plan.

 
“If Barry thinks we’re together, that might hold him off in releasing the photos,” Nova spelled out. “He’ll be worried about the backlash from his mother if I tell her that he not only released them but that it spoiled our reunion. But Barry can be, well, an idiot. Soon, his temper might get the best of him, and he might release the photos anyway. That’s why I have to find and delete all copies of the pictures.”

  “And how do you intend to do that?” Ryland asked.

  “I’m not the only person who didn’t password protect my computer. Neither did Barry. I got access to his storage cloud, but he has so many files there that I haven’t had time to go through them all. However, I did go through his office at work and didn’t find anything there.”

  She’d searched every nook and cranny, too, and Nova knew if there’d been something to find there, she would’ve dug it out. The computer files, however, were different. There were plenty of cyber ways to hide things.

  “Making Barry believe we’re reconciling will maybe buy us some time to find those pictures on his computer,” Nova continued. She was about to add another “I’m sorry” and a “Thank you” to that, but Ryland spoke first.

  “What if Barry has hard copies?” he asked.

  “It’s possible, but I think if he’d had them, he would have sent them to you. They would have made more of an impact.” And she hoped that theory held. “Plus, he doesn’t have a photo printer at his house. Of course, there are several at Texas Trends he could have used, but they’re monitored carefully to prevent employees from printing out personal stuff. He wouldn’t want to risk his mother finding out what he’d done.”

  Again, Nova hoped that theory held. While she was hoping, she added that hopefully Ryland wouldn’t catch any flak from this.

  “Just how bad would it be for you if those photos are released?” she pressed.

  He gave her a flat look. “This is Coldwater.”

  In other words, there’d be gossip aplenty. “Would it hurt your business? Your ranch?”

  He lifted an eyebrow, maybe surprised that she knew he now owned a ranch. One where he raised and boarded quarter horses. But it was funny how details about Ryland just seemed to stick in her mind. It wasn’t as if Liddy Jean gossiped a lot when they chatted on the phone, but whatever her aunt mentioned about Ryland went straight into Nova’s long-term memory.