Loe raamatut: «A Fool's Gold Novel»
Praise for New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author SUSAN MALLERY
“Mallery’s prose is luscious and provocative.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Susan Mallery’s gift for writing humor and tenderness makes all her books true gems.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Romance novels don’t get much better than Mallery’s expert blend of emotional nuance, humor and superb storytelling.”
—Booklist
“Mallery sets up some very tough choices for her heroine, making this book compelling and intense.”
—RT Book Reviews on Finding Perfect
“[A]n emotional story with a beautiful happy ending! Another must read by Susan Mallery.”
—Good Choice Reading on Almost Perfect
“Warm, funny, and sexy, this lighthearted yet touching page-turner is a satisfying, rewarding read and the ‘perfect’ beginning for Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series.”
—Library Journal on Chasing Perfect
“As demonstrated in this compelling story, family doesn’t have to share blood, just emotions. Filled with emotional drama, devastating treachery and the power of love, this finale will delight fans.”
—RT Book Reviews on Hot on Her Heels
“One of the Top 10 Romance Novels of 2009!”
—Booklist on Straight from the Hip
And available from Susan Mallery and MIRA Books
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Only His
Susan Mallery
MILLS & BOON
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To my friends at Facebook.com/SusanMallery: You have helped shape Fool’s Gold. You’ve named characters, helped me brainstorm plots, and even served as the Fool’s Gold cheerleading squad. Thank you for your friendship and support!
CHAPTER ONE
NEVER AGREE TO A JOB INTERVIEW in which the interviewer has seen you naked.
Nevada Hendrix was confident that nugget of advice had been sewn on a pillow somewhere, or made into an inspirational poster. Unfortunately, no one had shared it with her before. Now, facing Tucker Janack for the first time in ten years, she discovered it was very, very true.
She’d had a plan. That’s what killed her. She’d polished her résumé, practiced her answers to different interview questions, had bought a new blazer and had even paid an extra seventeen-fifty to get some stupid gloss treatment to make her hair look shiny. She who avoided all things girly whenever possible. Done in by a formerly naked guy and gloss treatment.
“Hello, Nevada.”
“Tucker.”
She was careful to keep her game face in place—whatever that meant. All she knew was that having her mouth drop open and gape in astonishment wasn’t going to make her look capable.
“I was expecting your father,” she admitted. After all, the call she’d received about the final interview had specifically said she would be speaking with Mr. Janack. Not a name she associated with a guy she’d known back in college.
“I’m running the construction and doing all the senior hiring personally on this project,” he said, motioning for her to take a seat, which she did.
They were in a conference room at a hotel in Fool’s Gold. Ronan’s Lodge, known to locals as Ronan’s Folly, was a beautifully constructed building with hand-carved woodwork and elegant furnishings. Things she might have stopped to appreciate under other circumstances. As it was, she couldn’t see much past the man who’d taken a seat across the table from hers.
Time had been kind to Tucker. He was still tall—which shouldn’t be a huge surprise. So few men shrank these days. His hair was dark, with just enough curl to keep him from looking too pretty. The dark eyes, square jaw and hint of a smile on his kissable mouth were exactly as she remembered.
Um, no, she told herself firmly. Not kissable. Far from kissable. He was her potential boss. Or not, depending on how he remembered the past.
She swore silently and wondered why old man Janack couldn’t have kept control of just one more project. But when it came to Tucker, she’d never been able to catch a break.
“It’s been a long time,” he said, giving her that slow, easy grin of his. The one that had made her feel like the most special girl in the world. That had been a complete lie and had broken her heart to the point that it had almost not healed itself.
She drew in a breath, pushed all memories of a younger Tucker out of her brain and squared her shoulders. “As you can see from my résumé, I’ve been busy. After college I worked in South Carolina for a couple of years, learning all aspects of construction from the ground up, so to speak. We did mostly commercial spaces and, before I left, I was in charge of a five-story building.”
It may have sounded small to him, but it was something that made her proud. “We came in early and under budget, with the cleanest inspection record the company had experienced.”
He nodded as if he already knew all this. That, if he’d read her résumé, he did.
“Why didn’t you stay?” he asked. “They can’t have wanted to let you go.”
“They didn’t, but I wanted to come home.”
“Roots?”
“Yes.” She did her best not to remember that he’d never experienced what it was like to settle in one place. He’d grown up all over the world. After all, Janack Construction was multinational. She remembered Tucker talking about summers in Thailand, winters in Africa.
She sensed the danger of getting personal and reminded herself she really wanted the job.
“Since returning to Fool’s Gold, I’ve handled mainly smaller projects. Some residential. I have experience working with crews of different sizes and understand state and local building codes.” She continued talking, giving examples of her various skills.
“The team that will be working here is one of our best,” Tucker told her. “They’ve been together a long time and they don’t take well to outsiders.”
“Do you mean outsiders or do you mean women?”
Tucker leaned back in his chair and flashed that killer smile again. “Janack Construction is an equal opportunity employer who complies with all state and federal employment guidelines.”
“How very politically correct. I’m not afraid of a team of men, if that’s what you’re getting at. I grew up with three older brothers.”
“I remember. How is Ethan?”
“Good. Married. Happy. If you’re going to be around for a while, you should look him up.”
However, if the powers that be actually liked her, then Tucker was only in town to hire and would soon be jetting off to another part of the world.
“I will. I’m going to be here through the initial phase of the construction.”
Damn. So much for being liked by a higher power.
“You work for Ethan,” Tucker said. “Why do you want to come work for me?”
She didn’t. She wanted to work for his father, but that wasn’t an option. “I’m looking for a challenge,” she said, admitting the truth.
“You’ve seen the scope of the project?”
She nodded. Janack Construction had bought over a hundred acres north of town. They were building a resort and casino complex on tribal land. The company had leased additional acres to a developer that specialized in outlet malls—a fact that had the female population in the area quivering in anticipation.
“We should talk about it,” he said quietly.
Nevada stared at him, wondering why the project could warrant the slightly furrowed brow. And then she knew. The “it” in question wasn’t work related.
“No, we shouldn’t.” She fought against the urge to stand and possibly back up, putting more space between them. “It was a long time ago.”
“Nevada,” he began in a low voice.
“Don’t. It’s over and done. It was meaningless.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
Why couldn’t he be like every other guy on the planet and want to avoid talking about anything remotely uncomfortable? Did they have to rehash the past?
“Tucker, it was ten years ago. Five difficult, awkward minutes out of my life. Seriously, it doesn’t matter.”
He shifted in his seat. “Is that how you think of it?”
“That’s what happened. You were drunk, I was …” She pressed her lips together. No way was she going to say the words “a virgin” during a job interview. “Let it go.”
“It wasn’t five minutes. I’ve never—” “Oh, my God!” Unable to stop herself, she stood. “This is about your ego? You can’t handle the fact that our brief sexual encounter a decade ago was a bad memory? Grow up, Tucker. It’s not important. I don’t think about it. I came here to have a job interview, not….” She stopped herself, but had a feeling it was a little too late. “We were friends then, too. Can’t we remember that instead?”
He stood, as well. “You didn’t think of us as friends. Not after.”
She wasn’t a screamer, which was the main reason she didn’t shriek at him. Instead she forced herself to sound completely calm and in control. “Did you have any other questions about my work experience?” “No.”
“Then it was great to see you again, Tucker. Thank you for your time.”
With that, she turned and walked out of the conference room. She kept her head high and her shoulders back. No one looking at her would guess that on the inside she was both humiliated and defeated.
Having to relive that embarrassing night with Tucker was bad enough, but to lose the chance at her dream job was even worse. She’d wanted the opportunity to work with Janack Construction. They were a great company and she would have been able to stretch herself professionally without having to leave Fool’s Gold. Life didn’t get much better than that.
Instead he was going to dismiss her without considering her qualifications, which was just like a man. Talk about unfair.
She spun on her heel and marched back to the conference room. The door was still open. She saw Tucker slipping a folder into his briefcase.
Her folder, she thought grimly. Sheets of paper representing her hopes and dreams.
“I’m good at what I do. I work hard and I know this town,” she told him when he looked up and saw her. “I understand the people and I could have been an asset to you. But that’s not going to happen, is it? All because of a meaningless act that took place years ago. So much for integrity.”
Tucker watched Nevada turn her back on him for the second time in less than a minute and walk away. The door closed firmly behind her, cutting off his view of her cropped blond hair and stiff back.
“Not a bad exit,” Will Falk said, coming through a side door. “When did you two have sex?”
Tucker glared at the other man. “It’s none of your business.”
“You think I wanted to hear all that? Based on what she said about your performance, you need to do something.” Will, a forty-two-year-old friend of the family and Tucker’s assistant, grinned. “Five minutes? Pretty humiliating.”
Tucker ground his teeth together. “Thanks for the recap.”
He wanted to shout that it had to have been longer than five minutes, even though, technically, he couldn’t remember much about the evening. As Nevada had pointed out, he’d been drunk. Not to mention out of his mind, lost in a tempest named Caterina Stoicasescu. Unfortunately, Nevada had also been caught up in the hurricane of Cat’s life, however briefly.
“You really blew it,” Will offered helpfully. “I thought she had potential.”
“She does. I’m not done with her.”
Will chortled. “Seriously? You think she’ll come work for you now?”
“She wants the job.”
“No. She wanted it. Past tense being the key here. Now she knows it means working for you. Hell, Tucker, five minutes?”
“Would you let go of that?”
“I guess I’m going to have to. Still, you were a smart kid, not ugly enough to crack a mirror. I figured some woman somewhere would take pity on you and show you the ropes. Guess I was wrong.”
Tucker pointed to the door. “Out.”
“Or what? Going to pull my hair?”
Will was still snickering when he limped out of the room.
If it had been anyone else making fun of him, Tucker would have been pissed. But Will was practically family. Barely ten years older than Tucker, Will had been working for Janack Construction since he’d left high school, and Tucker had always thought of him as the older brother he’d never had. Will had quickly moved up the ranks, until an accident six years ago had broken both his legs and fractured his back.
The company medical insurance had taken care of the bills, and Tucker’s father had kept Will on the payroll. Even after a year of healing, Will hadn’t been able to go back to working at a site.
Right about then Tucker had started running projects on his own. He’d offered Will the job as his right-hand man and they’d been working together ever since. They were a good team, which was why Tucker was willing to take so much crap from his friend. All of which was interesting, but didn’t solve the Nevada problem.
The casino-resort project was huge. The biggest one he’d ever run. He needed a good team in place and Nevada brought a lot to the table. The fact that he knew her and trusted her made him unwilling to let her simply walk away. But how to convince her to let go of the past and come work for him?
As he followed Will out of the conference room, he realized once again the trouble in his life could be traced back to Caterina Stoicasescu. Cat had always been hell on wheels. Those around her had the choice of ducking out of the way or being run over and left broken and bleeding on the side of the road. He’d been run over plenty of times, until he’d realized he was done being a fool for love. The emotion wasn’t worth the trouble. Unfortunately, Cat had left him one more mess to clean up.
NEVADA STOOD OUTSIDE of the hotel and wondered where to go next. If she returned to work, Ethan, her brother, might be there. He would want to know how the interview had gone, which was a pretty reasonable question, given the circumstances. Unfortunately, the answer wasn’t easy. What, exactly, was she supposed to say? Ethan might consider Tucker a friend, but there was no way he was going to take kindly to the fact that Tucker had slept with his baby sister when she was an eighteen-year-old virgin.
With work out of the question, she searched for another retreat. Going home was an option, but she didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts. That way lay madness, or however the quote went, she thought grimly as she started down the street.
Ten minutes later, she entered Jo’s Bar. As always, the open bar was well lit and female friendly. Until recently, Fool’s Gold’s guilty secret had been the town’s lack of men. Jo’s Bar took advantage of that fact and catered primarily to women. The appetizers came with listed calorie counts, the TVs were tuned to reality shows and shopping channels, and low-calorie versions of drinks were offered whenever possible.
At a little after three, in the middle of the week, there weren’t many customers. Jo Trellis, the owner of the bar, had moved to Fool’s Gold about four or five years ago. She’d redone the place, ignoring conventional wisdom that said bars should cater to men, and opened her doors to great success.
No one knew very much about Jo’s past. She was tall and muscular, pretty, in a quiet way. The only thing everyone knew for sure was that Jo kept a shotgun behind her bar and she knew how to use it.
Jo came out from the back room and spotted Nevada sliding into a booth.
“You’re here early,” the bartender said.
“I know. It’s been one of those days when getting drunk seemed like a sensible option.”
“You’ll pay for it in the morning.”
While the advice was sound, right now morning seemed a long time away. “Vodka tonic. A double.”
“Want anything to eat?” Jo asked, sounding more like a concerned parent than a woman who made her living serving liquor.
“No, thanks. I don’t want to slow the process.” If she drank enough, she would forget. Right now, forgetting seemed really smart.
Jo nodded and left, only to return seconds later with a large glass of water.
“Hydrate,” she growled. “You’ll thank me later.”
Nevada dutifully sipped the water until her drink arrived and then carefully gulped about half the contents. Now it was just a waiting game, she thought. Waiting for the vodka to cloud her brain and make her awful afternoon fade away.
As a rule, she was a big believer in facing her problems head-on. Figure out what was wrong, come up with several solutions, pick the best one and act. She’d always been a doer. She did her best to keep her complaining to a minimum and to be a team player. That meant exactly jack shit when it came to Tucker Janack.
She couldn’t fix the past. There was no game plan for going back in time and undoing a bad decision. The reality was, she’d been crazy in love with the man and she’d acted rashly. The fault was hers. She could accept that. What really fried her was having to pay for it now.
She finished her drink and motioned for another. Before it arrived, the door to the bar opened and her sisters walked in. A quick glance at her watch told her that less than fifteen minutes had passed since she’d sat down in the booth.
“Impressive,” she called to Jo.
Her friend shrugged. “You know how I feel about people drinking alone.”
“It’s medicinal.”
“If I had a nickel for every time I heard that.”
Nevada turned her attention to the two women walking toward her. They were exactly her height, with the same blond hair and brown eyes. Hardly a surprise, considering they were identical triplets.
When they’d been kids, telling them apart had been a nightmare for nearly everyone, including family. But they’d since cultivated distinct differences, including how they dressed and their personal style. Montana wore her hair long and curly, favored flowy dresses and all things soft. Dakota went the more tailored route, although the fact that she was currently pregnant would make identification even easier.
Nevada had always considered herself the more sensible sister—her present condition notwithstanding. She spent much of her days on job sites, where jeans and work boots were a requirement rather than a fashion choice. She made smart decisions, thought things through and did her best to avoid having regrets. Tucker was the biggest bump on the otherwise smooth, slightly lonely course that was her life.
“Hey,” Dakota said, sliding into the booth across from her. “Jo called.”
Montana slid next to Dakota and tilted her head. “She said you were drinking.”
Nevada waved her empty glass toward Jo. “Maybe a quesadilla, too,” she called.
“I thought you didn’t want to eat.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Good.” Jo walked toward her and grabbed the empty glass, then took orders from Dakota and Montana. “If only you were smart enough to stop while you could still avoid a hangover.”
“Sorry, not happening.” Nevada waited until Jo had left, then looked at her sisters. “You two got here faster than I expected.”
“It’s this new invention called a phone,” Montana told her. “It speeds up communication.”
Dakota placed both her hands on the table. “What’s going on? This isn’t like you. You don’t drink in the middle of the day.”
“Technically, it’s past the middle.” Nevada squinted. Ah, there it was. The faintest of buzzes moving through the back of her brain.
“Fine. Normally you would be at the office, but instead …” Dakota sighed. “Your interview. That was today.”
“Uh-huh.” She glanced toward the bar, wishing Jo would hurry.
“It had to have gone well,” Montana said, loyal as always. “Didn’t Mr. Janack realize how qualified you are? He needs someone with your experience to deal with the local factor. Plus, you look really nice.”
Nevada inhaled the scent of grilling tortillas and cheese. Her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten lunch—nerves about her interview had caused her to work instead.
“What happened?” Dakota asked, apparently less interested in Nevada’s appearance than her sister was. “Why do you think the interview didn’t go well?”
“What makes you think I believe that?” Nevada asked, the buzz getting stronger by the second. Even so, when Jo brought the second drink, she took a big gulp.
“The drinking was my first clue.”
Having a trained psychologist as a sister was a double-edged sword, Nevada thought. “I don’t want to talk about it. If I did, I would have come to see you both. But I didn’t. I’m here, getting drunk. Leave me alone.”
Her sisters exchanged a glance. If Nevada put her mind to it, she could probably figure out what they were thinking. After all, they were genetically the same. But right now all that concerned her were the smells drifting back from Jo’s small kitchen.
“Nevada,” Montana began, her voice gentle.
That was all it took. A single word. Nevada shook her head. Why couldn’t she be like other people and hate her family? At the moment, a good estrangement sounded like the perfect plan.
“Fine,” she grumbled. “The interview wasn’t with Mr. Janack, aka Elliot, the father. It was with Tucker.”
“That’s the guy who was friends with Ethan all those years ago?” Dakota asked. She sounded as if she wasn’t completely sure of her facts. That was reasonable, considering her only encounter with Tucker would have been over a summer, back when they were kids.
“I don’t get it,” Montana said. “He’s in charge now?”
“Running the whole project,” Nevada said, still watching the door leading to the kitchen.
“Why is he a problem?” Dakota asked.
Nevada abandoned her hope for food anytime soon and faced her sisters. “I know Tucker. When I went off to college, Ethan told me to look him up, which I did.”
“Okay,” Montana said, sounding confused. “But isn’t knowing him a good thing?”
“I slept with him. Let me just say, that makes for an awkward interview.”
Jo appeared with the quesadilla and several napkins. She set herbal tea in front of Dakota and gave a diet soda to Montana. After placing a basket of chips and bowl of salsa in the middle of the table, she left.
Nevada picked up a slice of the quesadilla and took a bite, ignoring her sisters’ wide-eyed stares.
“Not today,” Montana said in a whisper. “You’re not saying you slept with him today.”
Nevada finished chewing and swallowed. “No. I didn’t have sex during my interview. It was before. Back in college.”
She ate some more while her sisters stared at her expectantly. Montana cracked first.
“What happened?” she demanded. “You never told us this.”
Nevada wiped her hands on a napkin, then took a sip of her drink. The buzz was stronger now, which would make exposing her secret easier.
“When I left for college, Ethan asked me to look up Tucker. He was working in the area.”
Although she and her sisters had been extremely close, they’d made the decision to go to three different colleges. The four years apart had given them the chance to solidify their identities, or some such crap, she thought hazily. While it had seemed like a good idea at the time, now she wondered if things would have gone better with one of her sisters around.
“I wasn’t especially interested in spending time with a friend of his,” she continued, “but he kept bugging me, so I did. I called Tucker and we agreed to meet.”
She still remembered walking into the huge open room in the industrial complex. The ceilings had probably been thirty feet high, with light spilling in from all the windows. There’d been a huge platform in the middle and a beautiful woman wielding a blowtorch. But what had caught Nevada’s attention was the man standing by the platform. The grown-up Tucker was very different from the kid she’d remembered.
“It was one of those things,” she said, taking another bite of the quesadilla, chewing and swallowing. “I took one look at him and fell head over heels. I didn’t have a chance.”
Montana leaned toward her. “That’s not a bad thing, right?”
“It is when the guy in question is madly in love with someone else. He had a girlfriend.” If one could give Cat such a pedestrian title. “I was crazy about him, and he was wild over her and she wanted to be my friend.
It was hell.”
“Who was she?” Dakota asked. “Another student?”
Nevada shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.” No way was she going to say the name. There was a chance they would recognize it and Cat wasn’t anyone Nevada wanted to talk about.
“I hung out with them a few times,” she said. “Then I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I pulled back. One night I heard they broke up and I went to see Tucker. He was seriously drunk and we had very bad sex.”
She didn’t mention that she’d basically thrown herself at him. And that, looking back, she was a little surprised he’d even remembered it was her. After all, he’d called Cat’s name at the crucial moment.
She sighed. “It was a mess. They got back together, I was crushed and that was it. I never saw either of them again. Until today.”
There was so much more. The fact that Tucker had chosen Cat over her. Not a surprise, really. Cat was beautiful and larger than life and they’d been together first. Still, Nevada had been heartbroken and humiliated. Plus, the sex really had been awful. So bad that she’d waited nearly three years before risking getting intimate again.
“I wanted the job,” she said, picking up her drink. “I wanted the chance.”
“You don’t know he won’t hire you,” Montana told her. “You’re the best candidate.”
“I don’t think that’s a deciding factor.”
Dakota sipped her tea. “Was it hard to see him again?”
“It was a shock. I was expecting his father. But that’s not what you’re asking, is it?” “No.”
Nevada considered the unasked question. “I’m over him. It was a long time ago and I was young and foolish. Everything is different now.”
“There aren’t any lingering feelings?” Dakota asked.
“Not even one.”
Nevada spoke as firmly as a nearly drunk person could. The good news was, she was pretty sure she wasn’t even lying.
