“As long as we’re both clear on the process.”

The flutter in her stomach told her there was way more to it than that. But she had to fight it. She couldn’t let herself be attracted to this man. She certainly couldn’t let herself kiss him, or worse.

They were adversaries. And this was her one chance to get her life back. And she couldn’t let any lingering sexual desire mess that up.

“You need to let me go, Zach.”

Four

After a long, sleepless night, and a lengthy heart-to-heart with Lindsay as they drove up the coast of Long Island, Kaitlin watched her friend browse through a tray of misshapen silver coins in a small beachfront antique shop.

“I never thought I’d hear myself say this.” Lindsay selected one plastic-wrapped item and read the provenance typed neatly on the attached card. “But, as your lawyer, I must strongly advise you not to sleep with your husband.”

“I am not sleeping with my husband,” Kaitlin reminded her. And she had absolutely no intention of going there. Desire and action were two completely different things.

Two women checking out a painting in the next aisle slid their curious gazes to Kaitlin, and their expressions shifted from smirks to bemusement.

Kaitlin leaned a little closer to Lindsay and whispered, “Okay, that just sounds stupid when I say it out loud.”

“He’s playing you,” said Lindsay, dropping the first coin and switching to another, turning it over to read.

“Neither of us meant for it to happen,” Kaitlin pointed out. Zach’s shock and regret had seemed as genuine as hers.

Lindsay glanced up from the coin, arching her a skeptical look. “Are you sure about that?”

“I’m sure,” Kaitlin returned with conviction. They’d both sworn not to let it happen again. It was as much her fault as his.

“And what were you doing right before you kissed him?” Lindsay gave up on the coin rack and meandered her way across the shop floor.

Kaitlin followed, only half paying attention to the merchandise. Lindsay was the one who’d suggested driving up the coast to visit antique stores. They’d never done it before, but Kaitlin was game for anything that would distract her.

“We were on deck,” she told Lindsay. “Fantastic boat, by the way.”

“You mentioned that. So, were you eating? Drinking? Stargazing?”

“Arguing art versus architecture.” Kaitlin took her mind back to the first minutes of the return trip. “He wanted to see my designs.”

“I rest my case.” Lindsay lingered in front of a glass case displaying some more gold coins. “Aha. This is what I was looking for.”

“What case?” asked Kaitlin. What was Lindsay resting?

Lindsay fluttered a dismissive hand, attention on the coins. “The case against Zach.” Then she tapped her index finger against the glass in answer to a clerk’s unspoken question. “I’d like to see that one.”

“I don’t follow,” said Kaitlin.

“The coin is from the Blue Glacier.”

“Yes, it is,” the clerk confirmed with an enthusiastic smile, unlocking the case and extracting a plastic-covered, gold, oblong coin.

“You were resting your case,” Kaitlin prompted.

Lindsay inspected the coin, holding it up to the sunlight and turning it one way, then the other. “You were arguing with Zach about art versus architecture. Which side were you on, by the way?”

“Zach’s afraid my renovation plans will be impractical,” explained Kaitlin. “I told him architecture could be both beautiful and functional. He’s stone-cold on the side of function.”

“Not hard to tell that from his building.” Lindsay put down her purse and slipped the coin under a big magnifying glass on a stand on the countertop.

“When did you become interested in coins?” asked Kaitlin. Lindsay was going through quite a procedure here.

“The two of you were fighting,” Lindsay continued while she peered critically at the coin. “I’m assuming you were winning since, aside from holding all the trump cards, you were right.” She straightened. “Then suddenly, poof, he’s kissing you.”

The clerk eyed Kaitlin with obvious interest, while Lindsay gave Kaitlin a knowing look. “Do you think there’s a slim possibility it was a distraction? Do you think, maybe, out of desperation to seize control of the project, your husband might be trying to emotionally manipulate you?”

Kaitlin blinked. Manipulate her?

“You know,” Lindsay continued, “if you gave away the fact you thought he was hot-”

“I never told him he was hot.”

“There are other ways to give yourself away besides talking. And you do think he’s hot.”

The clerk’s attention was ping-ponging between the two women.

Kaitlin realized she probably had given herself away. On numerous occasions. And while they were arguing on the boat, her attraction to Zach must have been written all over her face.

But what about Zach? Had he felt nothing? Could he actually be that good an actor? Had he pounced on an opportunity?

Humiliation washed over her. Lindsay was right.

“Darn it,” Kaitlin hissed under her breath. “He was faking?”

Lindsay patted her arm in sympathy, her tone going gentle. “That’d be my guess.”

Kaitlin scrunched her eyes shut.

“I’ll take this one,” Lindsay told the clerk. Then she wrapped a bracing arm around Kaitlin’s shoulders. “Seriously, Katie. I hate to be the one to say this. But what are the odds he’s falling for you?”

Lindsay was right. She was so, so right. Kaitlin had been taken in by a smooth-talking man with an agenda. He didn’t want her. He wanted her architectural designs, so he could shoot holes in them, talk her out of them, save himself a bundle of money. His interests were definitely not Kaitlin’s interests.

How could she have been so naive?

She clamped her jaw and took a bracing breath.

Then she opened her eyes. “You’re right.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it. I’m fine,” Kaitlin huffed. She caught a glimpse of the hefty price tag on the coin and seized the opportunity to turn the attention from herself. “You know that’s two thousand dollars?”

“It’s a bargain,” said the clerk, punching keys on the cash register.

But Lindsay wasn’t so easily distracted. “I think he’s trapped. I think he’s panicking. And I think he thinks you’ll be more malleable if you fall for him.”

“How long have you been interested in antique coins?” Kaitlin repeated. Notwithstanding her desire to change the subject, it really was a lot of money.

“I’m not interested in coins,” Lindsay replied. “I’m interested in pirates.”

Oh, this was priceless. “You’re fixating on Dylan Gilby?”

“Wrong. I’m fixating on Caldwell Gilby. I’m proving that smug, superior Dylan does, indeed, owe his wealth to the ill-gotten gains of his pirate ancestor.”

“The Blue Glacier was sunk by pirates,” the clerk offered as she accepted Lindsay’s credit card to pay for the purchase.

“By the Black Fern,” Lindsay confirmed in a knowledgeable and meaningful tone. “Captained by dear ol’ Caldwell Gilby.”

The clerk carefully slid the coin in a velvet pouch embossed with the store’s logo. “The captain of the Blue Glacier tried to scuttle the ship against a reef rather than give up his cargo. But the pirates got most of it anyway. A few of the coins were recovered from the wreck in 1976.” The clerk handed Lindsay the pouch. “You’ve made a good purchase.”

As they turned for the door to exit the pretty little shop, Lindsay held up the pouch in front of Kaitlin’s face. “Exhibit A.”

Kaitlin searched her friend’s expression. “You have got to get back in the courtroom.”

“Weren’t we talking about you?” asked Lindsay. “Kissing your husband?”

“I don’t think so.” Kaitlin was going to wallow through that one in private.

Lindsay dropped the coin into her purse and sobered. “I don’t want you getting hurt in all this.”

Kaitlin refused to accept that. “I’m not about to get hurt. I kissed him. Nothing more.” That was, of course, the understatement of the century.

Still, they’d come to their senses before anything serious had happened. Or maybe Kaitlin was the one who’d come to her senses. Zach hadn’t been emotionally involved on any level. Even now, he was probably biding his time, waiting for the next opportunity to manipulate her all over again.

“He’s only after one thing,” Lindsay declared with authority.

Kaitlin struggled to find the black humor. “And it’s not even the usual thing.”

Lindsay gave Kaitlin’s shoulder another squeeze. “Just don’t let your heart get caught in the crossfire.”

“My heart is perfectly safe. I’m fighting for my career.” Kaitlin wouldn’t get tripped up again. She couldn’t afford it. She was fighting against someone who was even less principled than she’d ever imagined.


Dylan showed his disagreement, backing away from Zach’s office desk. “I am not stealing corporate secrets for you.”

Zach exhaled his frustration. “They’re my corporate secrets. You’re not stealing them, because I own them.”

“That’s the Harper family style,” Dylan sniffed in disdain. “Not the Gilbys’.”

“Will you get off your moral high horse.” It was all well and good for Dylan to protect his family name, but it had gotten completely out of hand the past few weeks.

“I have principles. So, sue me.”

“I give you the key to my car.” Zach ignored Dylan’s protests and began to lay out a simple, straightforward plan.

Dylan folded his arms belligerently across the front of his business suit. “So I can break in to it.”

“So you can unlock it. There is no breaking required.”

“And steal Kaitlin’s laptop.”