“I’m at the Ryder Ranch. Right now. I had dinner with Jared Ryder last night.”

Seth went silent.

“I need a few more days, Seth.”

“You had dinner with Ryder?”

“And his sister. And his brother’s just arrived.”

“How the hell did you-”

“They think I’m a stable hand.”

“You’re undercover?” There was a note of respect in Seth’s voice. “It’s an exposé?”

“Yes, I’m undercover.”

“What’ve you got?”

“A bunch of stuff. His family. His childhood. Their charitable foundation.”

“Ryder has a charitable foundation?”

“Yes. But I need a few more days. Can you give it to me?”

“You’re in a position to guarantee the story?”

“Yes.”

There was a long silence. “If I go to Everett and you don’t deliver, you know both our asses will be out the door.”

“I understand.”

“And you can still make the guarantee?”

“I can.” She didn’t have enough on the construction business yet. But she’d let Stephanie matchmake some more, and she’d find a way to meet Royce. She’d get what Seth needed or die trying.

“I have to have it Wednesday. Five o’clock. And the copy better be bloody clean. We’re not going to have time for much editing.”

“Five o’clock Wednesday,” Melissa confirmed.

“And, Melissa?” Seth’s voice was gruff. “Yes?”

“Lie to me again, and you’re fired.”

“Yes, sir.”

Seth hung up the phone, and she realized she was shaking. The stakes couldn’t be higher, and she barely had four days to pull it off.

“Have a good time with Melissa last night?” Stephanie asked as Royce’s pickup appeared in the distance on the ranch road.

“It was fine,” Jared answered, keeping his voice neutral. He fully expected Melissa to make herself scarce for the rest of the week.

He wasn’t sure what had gone wrong at the end of the evening, but he’d obviously made some kind of misstep. A woman didn’t go from crying out a man’s name to kicking him out of her bed in the space of two minutes if the guy hadn’t screwed up somehow.

He started down the stairs to meet Royce at the driveway.

“You going to see her again?” asked Stephanie, keeping pace.

“I expect I will. Since she’s living here.” Odds were that he’d run into her eventually.

“That’s not what I meant. Are you going to ask her out? I noticed you stayed down there for a while.”

“I bet you did.”

The sound of the truck’s engine grew louder. Mud sprayed out from the tires as Royce took a corner far too fast.

“Did you sleep with her?” asked Stephanie.

Jared shot his sister a glare of irritation. “What is the matter with you?”

She shrugged. “You were only gone an hour. Not a lot of time, but then maybe you weren’t very-”

“Young lady, you shut your mouth before you get yourself into a world of trouble. Where did you learn to talk like that, anyway?” Maybe he’d stayed away too long. Maybe leaving Stephanie here on her own was a mistake. Or maybe Gramps’s death had affected her more than Jared and Royce had realized.

“I’m just asking a question.”

“You’re out of line, little sister.”

Stephanie pursed her lips in a pout. “So are you going to ask her out again?” Jared frowned.

“That can’t be out of line. I’m not asking about sex.”

The truck skidded to a halt, and Jared walked forward. “Let’s just get through the weekend, all right?”

“I know I have to get through the weekend,” Stephanie muttered as they walked down the front pathway. “I was only hoping for something to look forward to at the end of it.”

Jared felt a pang of guilt. The whole reason he’d started the charade with Melissa was to keep Stephanie’s mind occupied. Sure, it had run way off the rails last night. But that wasn’t Stephanie’s fault.

He slung an arm around his sister’s shoulders, moderating his voice. “Fine. I’ll ask her out again. But I can’t guarantee she’ll say yes.”

Stephanie turned in to give him a tight squeeze. “I know she’ll say yes. I saw the way she looked at you.”

The words caused a sudden tightening in Jared’s chest. How she’d looked at him? What did that mean? He wanted to probe for more information. But Royce appeared across the hood of the truck, and Stephanie broke free to hug her other brother.

“Baby sister!” cried Royce, dragging Stephanie into his arms, lifting her off the ground and twirling her around.

Jared caught a glimpse of Melissa across the yard, and their gazes met. She was shoveling manure again, and for some reason, that made him angry. She was capable of so much more. She was intelligent, full of insightful opinions and thought-provoking questions.

It occurred to him that he could offer her a job in Chicago. She could work for Ryder International or even the Genevieve Fund. There had to be any number of things a woman with her intellect and curiosity could handle.

In a split second he realized what he was doing. He was working out ways to keep her close, ways that he could see her again, maybe sleep with her again. Though, judging by the expression on her face, the latter was unlikely. But what did it say about him? Was he buying into Stephanie’s fantasy?

He could almost feel a debate going on inside Melissa’s brain. She’d seen him, and she knew he knew. Did she duck her head and go back to work? Did she avoid him, or get the first, awkward moment over with?

While he waited, she squared her shoulders, leaned the manure fork against the fence and determinedly marched toward him. Good for her. He couldn’t help a surge of admiration, and he moved to meet her in the driveway.

“Melissa!” Stephanie’s voice surprised him. “Come and meet Royce.” Hand in Royce’s, Stephanie tugged him to intersect Melissa’s pathway. The four of them met up off the hood of the truck.

“Royce, this is Melissa,” said Stephanie. “She’s dating Jared.”

Melissa’s eyes widened slightly, but she held her composure.

Royce turned to stare at Jared.

Jared gave his brother an almost imperceptible shake, and Royce immediately held out his hand to Melissa. “Great to meet you. I’m the black sheep of the family.”

Stephanie laughed, while Melissa accepted Royce’s handshake. “Melissa Webster. I’m the black sheep in mine.”

“She has five older brothers,” Stephanie put in.

“Worse off than you,” Royce teased, arching a brow at his sister.

“I’d better get back to work,” said Melissa. Her gaze darted to Jared just long enough to let him know she wished they’d been able to talk. Well, so did he. He felt like he owed her an apology of some kind. At the very least, he wanted to make sure things were okay between them.

“Can you come and help me with Rosie-Jo?” Stephanie asked Melissa.

Since Rosie-Jo had half a dozen grooms, Jared recognized the ruse for what it was. Stephanie wanted to pump Melissa for information. But from what he’d seen of Melissa so far, she’d be up to the task of sidestepping anything too personal.

“Dating?” Royce asked as the two women walked away.

“More like flirting,” said Jared. “But I didn’t have the heart to disillusion Stephanie this weekend.”

“Are you going to disillusion poor Melissa?”

Jared shook his head. “She knows the score. She’s leaving in a few days, anyway.”

Royce reached into the back of the pickup truck and retrieved his duffel bag. “How’s Stephanie holding up?”

“Too cheerful,” said Jared. “You just know she’s going to crack.”

“Maybe going up to the cemetery isn’t such a good idea this year. Gramps’s grave is awfully fresh.”

“Go ahead and suggest we skip,” said Jared as the two men headed for the house. Quite frankly, Jared would rather avoid the cemetery. He wanted to pay tribute to his grandfather, but the anger at his parents hadn’t abated one bit. His whole life, he’d admired and respected them both, never doubting their morals and integrity. But he couldn’t have been more wrong. He wanted to yell at them, not lay flowers beside their headstones.

But he couldn’t let on. Bad enough that he knew the truth. He couldn’t drag Royce, and certainly not Stephanie, into the nightmare. At the moment, he wished his grandfather had taken the knowledge to his grave.

“She’d never go for it,” said Royce, yanking Jared back to the present.

“Of course not,” Jared agreed as they crossed the porch. Stephanie considered herself tough. She’d never admit how much visiting the cemetery hurt her.

“I hear there’s a debate over Sierra Benito.” Royce tossed his duffel on a low bench in Stephanie’s foyer.

“There is. You’re the deciding vote.”

“You going to try talking me out of the project?”

“I am. I don’t want another death on my conscience.” An image of Jared’s father sprang to his mind. There was no excuse. No excuse in the world for what his father had done.

Royce paused and peered at his brother. “Another death?”

“Slip of the tongue,” said Jared, turning away to move into the great room. “I don’t want anyone to die on a Ryder project.”

He also didn’t want to keep lying to his brother, about his parents, about Melissa, about anything.

Eight

Under the small light above the cottage’s kitchen table, Melissa typed furiously on her laptop. She’d composed and discarded at least five openings to her article. She knew if she could get the beginning right, the rest would flow. It was always that way.

But she needed to capture Jared’s essence. No small feat. Every time she thought she had him pegged he’d show her another side of himself, and she’d have to rethink the package.

Maybe it would be easier if they hadn’t made love. Maybe if she hadn’t seen him naked, or gazed into the depths of his eyes, or felt the strength and tenderness of his caress.