Fake Marriage (Contemporary Romance Box Set) Page 4

  I inhaled a breath. “I’m urging you to stand together. I, personally, wholeheartedly support the effort to stop this prison.”

  Wyatt studied me. “Personally. So, you’re not here as deputy mayor?”

  Tightropes were hard to walk on, as I was discovering as I worked to navigate my personal interest along with that of the mayor’s office.

  “The mayor’s office is doing an impact study as a way to see how a prison would both help and hurt the community. But as with many important issues to members of a community, often it’s grassroots activism that makes a difference.”

  Wyatt sat back with a wide smile. “That’s the Sinclair I remember. Rebel with a cause.”

  “I didn’t realize you two knew each other that well,” Peggy said.

  “I’m Ryder Simms’ sister,” I said. I didn’t know if Wyatt still wanted our summer together to be a secret, but at this point, I wasn’t sure I wanted it out in the world.

  “Sinclair here was always stirring up trouble.” He laughed.

  “I was not,” I huffed out, but secretly I was pleased that he felt I was a strong independent woman.

  “When she wanted something, she went after it. And she got it.” His smoldering green eyes bore into mine and I knew we weren’t talking about farming or prisons, but instead the summer I went after him and won his heart.

  “Yes, well, this will take a community effort.” Feeling hot, too hot, I stood. “Thank you for the iced tea, Mrs. Jones.”

  “Please call me Peggy. Ryder was like family. That makes you like family.”

  My gut burned at her words. They were truer than she knew. “Thank you.”

  Wyatt rose from his chair. “I’ll walk you out.”

  No. God, please no. I had to get away. All of a sudden, the magnitude of my situation here bore down on me. Again, I couldn’t breathe.

  “Are you okay, dear? It’s frightfully hot out there. Maybe you need to sit a little longer,” Peggy said.

  “I’m fine. Really.” I started for the door in a haze. I made it to the car, vaguely aware of Wyatt behind me.

  Why is he here?

  “It was good to see you again, Sinclair,” he said, holding the car door open for me. I stared into his eyes, wondering if he knew my secret. I didn’t know how he could, unless Ryder had told him. But he promised me he wouldn’t, and I knew I could trust Ryder. He’d been a rock. My parents too, although they didn’t know everything. Not like Ryder did.

  “You too, Wyatt.” I got in the car and tried to smile.

  “Once again, I think I owe you an apology.” He stood with one hand on the door, preventing me from closing it.

  I swallowed and shook my head. “We were kids. Ten years is a long time.”

  His expression fell and he looked down.

  “I’ve got more families to visit,” I added, hoping he’d get a clue and let me go.

  “Right. Sorry.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but I was about to come apart.

  “Bye, Wyatt.” I pulled the door closed, started the car, and pulled away.

  I didn’t let out a breath until I reached the highway. Then everything inside me let loose. I had to pull over as tears threatened my vision and overwhelming emotion threatened to undo me.

  For ten years, I lived with a secret about him. A secret he didn’t know. A secret I only shared with Ryder when I was desperate and scared and looking for Wyatt. But Ryder hadn’t known where Wyatt had gone to or where to find him. Ryder had even gone to Mrs. Jones, but at the time, she didn’t know what had happened to Wyatt either. So, I went on. I managed to get through college. Found a job in the mayor’s office and worked my way up the ladder. Built my life.

  Now Wyatt was back. He seemed to be planning to stay, but he’d planned to stay before, and instead, he left in a huff when life got too hard. Yes, he asked me to go with him, but when I wasn’t willing to give up my goals and dreams, he abandoned me and the future we’d planned. So, I didn’t have any guilt.

  But now that he’s here, and intending to stay, what should I do?

  How did I tell the man who disappeared and abandoned me that he was a father?

  5

  Wyatt

  I really needed to buy my mother a new coffee pot, I told myself as once again I had to fiddle with the ancient contraption to get it on. It had been a long morning mending fences, and after lunch, dealing with paperwork. I needed a pick-me-up before I headed out to deal with the horses.

  Coming home had been a bigger culture shock than I’d anticipated, just as leaving it had once been. It was strange because nothing had really changed except that my asshole father wasn’t around. Life back on the farm, in the house I grew up in, shouldn’t have felt alien. The work came back to me easily, so it wasn’t that.

  No, what was off was not seeing Sinclair on a regular basis. Or Ryder for that matter. Since coming home, I hadn’t ventured out to see old friends or make new ones. Anything I needed in town, my mother went out to get. If it was for the farm, one of our hired hands picked it up.

  I couldn’t explain why I was resistant to return to all parts of my life in Salvation. Except for how I left my family, Sinclair and Ryder, I hadn’t burned any bridges. There was no reason for the town in general not to accept me back.

  Then again, my mother, Sinclair and Ryder had been the center of my life, so maybe I was afraid to face them. My mother had forgiven me. Sinclair… Well, I wasn’t sure what she thought but she didn’t seem to have any animosity. During her visit, she sometimes seemed nervous, but mostly she seemed indifferent. I hadn’t gone out to see Ryder. I hadn’t even asked Sinclair if he was still in town. I shook my head as I realized I was whining when this was all my fault.

  A knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts.

  “I’ll get it,” my mother called from the living room.

  Just as well. I wasn’t in the mood for visitors. Unless of course it was Sinclair. She’d always haunted my dreams, but lately her appearances were more frequent and vivid. It had livened up my libido, which was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I’d thought that part of me had died years ago from lack of opportunity and interest. A curse because the only way to deal with it was in the shower stroking myself to images in my head of Sinclair riding my dick by the old oak tree. I had to admit, my morning orgasms to thoughts of Sinclair were a nice way to start the day, but oh, what I’d do to have the real thing. I knew for a fact that my imagination fell way short of reality.

  A raised man’s voice had me abandoning my thoughts and the coffee to see what was going on. I strode into the living room to find two men in fancy suits trying to intimidate my mother. One looked smooth in a smarmy oily way. The other could moonlight as a bouncer. Both of them looked like they’d stepped out of a casting call sheet for bad guys in a b-move; they were a joke.

  “Back away,” I barked out. “What’s your business here?”

  “We’re from Stark Associates and are giving you warning to vacate the premises.”

  “There must be a mistake.” I looked at my mother to see if she had any clue as to what was going on. “We’re not selling.”

  “But your father is.”

  “I tried to tell them that your father doesn’t have the right-”

  “He owns this property,” the second man said.

  “I own this property.” I said it with all the authority I could muster, even though I wasn’t sure I was right. My mom had said there was some deal about how the house could be sold or passed on, but was it legal?

  “He’s right. Frank can’t sell it because he abandoned it,” my mother said.

  “Well, we have paperwork that says differently,” Joker number one said.

  “Go ahead, toss my drunk father some money, but you won’t get the title to the land. Stark will be wasting his money. Or you’ll be wasting Stark’s money and end up in court. I wonder how he’ll feel that two of his goons royally fucked up?”

  The two jokers looked at e
ach other, showing the first sign that perhaps they believed us.

  I laughed. “Surely you did the proper public record searches?” I shook my head. “You didn’t give my dad a down payment, did you? You won’t be getting that back if you did.”

  Joker number two puffed up. “This isn’t over. One way or another, Mr. Stark will buy this land.”

  “Stop harassing my mother and get off our property.”

  “We have every right to come out here and-”

  “Since I told you to leave, every second you stay means you’re trespassing. I can call the sheriff, but I’m pretty sure I could toss you both out on your asses. I’m happy to send you back with matching broken faces.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Joker number two said. He was large but soft. He’d probably hurt himself trying to take a swing.

  “Call the sheriff, Mom. Tell them I’m dealing with two trespassers… Actually, they’re intruders.”

  “It’s not worth it.” Joker number one put his arm out to stop Joker number two from advancing on me. “Eventually they’ll change their mind. Mr. Stark always gets his way.”

  The two jokers left. Once I heard their car leave, I turned to my mom. Shaken, she sank onto the chair.

  “Maybe we should sell.” She pressed her hands over her face.

  I went to her, kneeling in front of her. “Don’t be intimidated by them, Mom. What I need to know is if Dad can sell this place out from under us?”

  She shook her head. “No. But you’re right in that we’d need to go to court.”

  I sat back to think about what we could do.

  “If those goons are making the rounds, someone needs to know. I’m going to report it and stop by the mayor’s office to see if there is more he can do. He can’t possibly condone this mob-mentality. And I can’t imagine the people of Salvation would want their kind moving in.”

  I went to the kitchen and turned off the coffeemaker, worried that it might be a fire hazard. Maybe I’d stop by to get a new coffee maker while I was at it.

  I grabbed my keys and then headed back out. “You’re sure Dad has no legit claim at this moment?”

  “Yes, but-”

  “I’m going out for a bit, and when I get back, we can discuss this more. Hopefully I’ll have news from the mayor’s office that will help.”

  I walked out the door and down to my truck, my mother’s voice saying something, but I was on a mission. She could tell me when I got back.

  I got in the truck and drove out to the highway. At first, I played through my head what I wanted to say to the mayor. He was going to have a problem if he was okay with Stark’s strong-arming tactics. But thinking of the mayor inevitably had me thinking of Sinclair.

  In truth, nearly everything had me thinking of her. I was bothered that she hadn’t been back by the property to give us an update…or hell, just to see me. Perhaps she meant what she said. Ten years is a long time. She’d moved on. I’d moved on too. Well, from everything except her. Now that I was back, she was the one thing I wanted that wasn’t here for me.

  I needed to remember that our estrangement was my fault. Yes, I’d given her an ultimatum and she’d made a choice. She was likely pissed I’d made her choose. I was angry for so long that she didn’t choose me, but now, I understood. I was an asshole to put her in that situation. Especially since she didn’t know about my home life. Not really. She didn’t know my father abused my mother. He’d abused me too until I was too fast to catch or big enough to defend myself. I wasn’t sure if knowing that would have changed her mind, but maybe she’d have understood that I’d reached the end of my rope at home.

  As I entered the town limits, I wondered how she’d react if I told her all that. If I opened up and explained my childhood and why I had to get out when I did. I could tell her how much I loved her and wanted all those plans we’d made, because based on how I left, she probably thought I’d been lying to her. Jesus, I fucked up more than I realized.

  I rubbed my hand over my heart, wishing I could go back and redo that night. At the same time, I knew if I’d stayed that night, I’d have left another day or risked becoming just like my old man. Now I had a chance to make amends. If I was lucky, maybe I could regain her trust. Perhaps we could have another chance to see if that summer wasn’t just a sweet teenage romance, but something with substance.

  I knew she wasn’t married, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t seeing someone. If she was, I hated him. Didn’t matter who it was, to me, he was a fucking dick. She was mine. She’d been mine even before she made the first move. And no matter what happened, I was sure that in my heart, she’d always be mine.

  6

  Sinclair

  I was sitting at my desk going over budget reports, wishing I could be working on finding a way to kick Stark Associates out of town when Trina poked her head in.

  “You’ll never guess who’s here to see the mayor.”

  I held up my hands in an “I don’t know” gesture.

  “Wyatt Jones! God, I had such a crush on him in high school. Like everyone else.”

  My heart did somersaults in my chest. “He asked for the mayor?”

  “Yes.” Trina’s eyes narrowed. “Why? Are you expecting him?”

  I shrugged nonchalantly. “I made a visit out to his place a few days ago.”

  “No!” She stepped inside my office and shut the door. “Do tell.”

  I rolled my eyes. “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “Then why didn’t you mention it to me?”

  “Because there’s nothing to tell. Stark has targeted their property. It was on the list you gave me.”

  “Oh. Right.”

  There was a knock on the door. Trina turned and opened it. “Mr. Jones.”

  She opened the door and Wyatt walked in looking like he was a cowboy fantasy come to life. Those worn jeans, dark t-shirt pulled taut over his chest. Every neuron in my body fired with a universal “yum”.

  He looked at Trina and I could tell he was trying to place her.

  “Katrina Lados,” she said. “We went to high school together. With deputy mayor Simms too.”

  “Oh right.” He gave her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I do remember you. You used to like to bug Ryder.”

  She smirked. “He’s a slacker. Always was one. Always will be one.”

  “Someone has to do it,” Wyatt said affably.

  Trina laughed. “You sound just like him. The mayor isn’t back yet, but if you’d like to wait out here, I’ll get you a cold drink.”

  I had this crazy notion that maybe Trina was flirting with my man. Well, no, not my man, but…Ugh!

  Wyatt followed her out to the waiting area. I should have gone back to work. After all, except for a lingering glance in my direction, he didn’t ask to see me.

  Crap. I tossed my pen down, rose from my chair and headed to the main lobby area of the mayor’s office.

  “Is there something I can help you with, Mr. Jones?”

  He was sitting in one of the hard chairs flipping through a hunting magazine. His brows lifted like he thought it was weird for me to call him Mr. Jones. It was weird. But we were grown-ups now. Not two teenagers lost in lust.

  “Can you get me in to see the mayor?” He set the magazine down.

  “Probably. What’s your business with him?” I sat in the chair next to him.

  “Some fancy-dressed thugs were at the house trying to coerce my mother into leaving the property. They say my father is selling, but according to her, since he left the property and I’m there, he can’t sell it.”

  “You know I’ve heard a rumor about that,” Trina said from her desk.

  Wyatt and I looked at her.

  “Something about how the Jones property is passed on. You know it’s one of the oldest farms in the area.”

  “Oldest continuously owned by a Jones,” Wyatt corrected.

  “Right.” Trina pointed at him with her pen. I could see the wheels in her head turning as s
he started typing on her computer.

  “What do you think the mayor can help you with?” I asked Wyatt, trying not to look into his gorgeous green eyes.

  “If they’re pressuring us, they’re likely pressuring others. And their type of pressure is threatening. I nearly got into it with one of them.”

  My brows rose in surprise. “Like a fight?”

  He nodded. “I’d have won, but someone like my mom wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  “There’s no law that says they can’t make the offer-”

  “Trespassing is against the law. Surely coercion would make a contract null and void.” His voice was terse, like he was annoyed I wasn’t offering support.

  “I think it’s disgusting what they’re doing, Wyatt, but I’m not sure what the mayor can do about it. Did you call the sheriff’s department?”

  “I was about to.” He frowned. “You said the community needed to come together on this. What’s he doing about that?”

  I paused, wanting to choose my words carefully. “The mayor is a diplomat.”

  “Uh-oh,” Trina said from her desk.

  “Something wrong?” I asked, looking at her.

  She looked up at me and then Wyatt. “The Jones property transfer details.”

  “What?” Wyatt stood and moved toward her desk.

  “Well, your mother is right in that if there is a Jones living there and working the land, the property stays in the family.”

  “I’m living there and working the land,” Wyatt said.

  Trina frowned as she read her screen carefully. “I’m thinking your father has no standing because he doesn’t live there and isn’t working the land. Did he know you were home? If not, maybe that’s why he thinks he can sell it. But he can’t unless he comes home… Oh wait…” She shook her head. “I’m not sure either of you can sell it.”

  “I don’t want to sell it.” Wyatt put his hands on his hips.

  Trina looked up with an apologetic expression. “According to this, to secure your ownership of the property you don’t just have to live there and work the land, but…”