www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

       Before you start reading, why not sign up?

      Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

       SIGN ME UP!

      Or simply visit

      signup.millsandboon.co.uk

      Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

      For Mom.

       Chapter 1

       September 5th

      Eliza Harvey-Reed always felt better when she was busy planning parties. Just a day into her vacation and she already missed the hustle and bustle of Effervescent Events. She’d made a name for herself in Hollywood and had a reputation for delivering flawless, flamboyantly entertaining service. Fun. Exciting. Newsworthy. That was her business. She’d rather be back in California than in her hometown of Vengeance, Texas, climbing out of the rental car to visit her husband’s brother, the object of a teenage crush she’d never quite forgotten.

      Except, to her, it had been more than a crush. She hadn’t realized how much more until he’d ended their relationship. Things had grown hot and heavy between them. He had begun to rule her world. She’d had so much ambition back then. Still did. He had begun to feel like an anchor, a hot, hard, sexy anchor, but an anchor nonetheless. And then he’d dumped her. Out of the blue. She hadn’t seen it coming. If there was to be any dumping going on, she had thought it would have been her. He’d begun to matter more than he should.

      Sometimes she wondered if his rejection had elevated him to some unnatural level of importance. People always wanted what they couldn’t have. More expensive cars. Bigger houses. Better vacations. More chocolate. When denied these things, they became suspiciously more important. Brandon Reed had become too important.

      Walking toward the front porch of the Reed Ranch house on a wide stone circular driveway, Eliza noticed her husband, David, look behind him again. He kept doing that. When they’d turned onto the long dirt road leading to the ranch, he’d checked the rearview mirror more than once. When he’d gotten out of the car, he’d checked the road. Now he was doing it again.

      Her long, dark brown hair waved in the slight breeze as she looked toward the road. No cars. No people. No animals. It wasn’t dark yet. A winding dirt road disappeared over a hill several hundred yards away. The expensive copper fence lined one side; a carpet of green grass rolled to the edge of a thick stand of trees.

      “What’s the matter?” she asked.

      “Nothing.”

      His austere profile only stoked her concern. “Is Brandon expecting more company?”

      “No.”

      “Are you?”

      “Enough, Eliza.”

      That meant leave him alone. He’d changed since they’d run into each other at one of her parties and followed impulse to a quick Vegas wedding. He never talked to her about anything that bothered him. She tried to get him to open up, but he always responded with short answers. If there was one thing she’d learned about him in the short time they’d been married, it was that David Reed could keep secrets. Had those secrets gotten him into trouble?

      His dark brown eyes scanned the surroundings again. A couple of inches shorter than Brandon’s six-two, he was handsome and blonder but not as rugged as his brother. Why she always made those comparisons, she’d rather not examine.

      “You’re acting like Bruce Willis in one of his Die Hard movies.”

      “I’m not in the mood, Eliza.”

      “Did you piss off a hacker or something?” She couldn’t help her sarcasm. He was nothing like Bruce Willis.

      He scowled at her before stepping onto the porch. This was how they spoke to each other now. Why had she married him, anyway? She was afraid the answer was just on the other side of the door.

      Brandon Reed had captured her heart when she was sixteen. Try as she might to capture his all those years ago, she’d never succeeded. Absurdly, she thought marrying his brother would trip him up. Get him to realize what a mistake he’d made letting her go. Well, all she’d gotten was a terse congratulations over the phone and a question on where her next party was. He may have been jealous. He may have been unaffected. Eliza had no idea which. With him, reactions were never easy to ascertain. The man wore his personality like a sunken ship, hidden treasure locked away in a deep abyss. He and David had that in common. Except Brandon’s mysteries lured her more than David’s.

      David froze at the door.

      Eliza turned. At the top of the hill, a car had appeared. Instead of driving to the house, it made a U-turn and vanished. Who was that? Someone who was lost? Or was it David who’d attracted them here?

      “Is someone following you?” she