A fake engagement at the Texas Cattleman’s Club? It must be a fairy tale from USA TODAY bestselling author Maureen Child!

Dave Firestone has no intention of getting married, but he’ll pretend anything if it means sealing a tough business deal for his ranch. Needing a spur-of-the-moment fake fiancée, he turns to housekeeper Mia Hughes. With her boss—and Dave’s business rival—missing and her paycheck on hold, she accepts Dave’s fantasy proposal. But when their pretend romance takes an unexpected turn into passionate nights, Dave isn’t ready to let Mia go. Can the smooth-talking businessman negotiate a more permanent arrangement?

“How long would we have to pretend?”

“Shouldn’t take more than a month.”

“A month as your fiancée.”

“Yeah.”

“No touching of any kind. No kissing—”

“Hold on.” David stopped her in midstream. “We have to convince this guy we’re a real couple. So there will be touching. And kissing. And there will be you looking at me with adoration.”

She laughed.

He frowned.

“Fine, fine,” she said, waving a hand at him. “I’ll be a good fiancée and the occasional touch or kiss—in public—is okay.”

“Then we have a deal.” He held out one hand to her and waited for her to take it.

Nodding, Mia slid her hand into his and couldn’t help feeling that just maybe she was swimming in waters way too deep for her.

* * *

The Lone Star Cinderella is part of the Texas Cattleman’s Club: The Missing Mogul series:

Love and scandal meet in Royal, Texas!

Dear Reader,

A continuity series is always an adventure! And doing not one, but two books in the same series is double the fun! I really enjoyed being able to explore two very different couples within the same continuity.

This book is all about Dave and Mia. Suspicion, need and a secret deal bring them together—but it’s the unexpected passion they find that turns everything upside down.

Life in Royal, Texas, is never boring. You’ll see old friends dropping in and meet new characters whose stories are just about to be told.

And through it all is the romance that sparks between Mia and Dave—two people who have no reason to trust each other, and every reason to surrender to the inevitable.

I really hope you enjoy this book as much as I did when I wrote it. Please stop by my website to check out the latest news and come and visit with me on Facebook! Until next time…

Happy Reading!

Maureen

maureenchild.com

The Lone Star Cinderella

Maureen Child

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MAUREEN CHILD writes for Mills & Boon® Desire™ and can’t imagine a better job. Being able to indulge your love for romance as well as being able to spin stories just the way you want them told is, in a word, perfect.

A seven-time finalist for the prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA® Award, Maureen is the author of more than one hundred romance novels. Her books regularly appear on the bestseller lists and have won several awards, including the Prism, the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence and the Golden Quill.

Maureen believes that laughter goes hand in hand with love, so her stories are always filled with humor. The many letters she receives assures her that her readers love to laugh as much as she does.

Maureen is a native Californian, but has recently moved to the mountains of Utah. She loves a new adventure, though the thought of having to deal with snow for the first time is a little intimidating.

MILLS & BOON

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To Kate Carlisle and Jennifer Apodaca—great friends

and wonderful writers who helped keep me sane

during the writing of this book!

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Excerpt

One

Dave Firestone was a man on a mission.

The future of his ranch was at stake and damned if he was going to let scandal or whispered rumors ruin what he’d spent years building. It had been months now since Alex Santiago had disappeared and Dave still felt a cloud of suspicion hanging around his head. Time to find out one way or the other what the law in town thought of the situation.

He climbed out of his 4x4, tugged the collar of his brown leather jacket up around his neck and squinted into the East Texas wind. October was rolling in cold, signaling what would be an even colder winter. Nothing he could do about that, but Dave had driven to the border of his ranch to get at least one part of his life straightened out.

A tall man wearing a worn, black leather coat and a tan, wide-brimmed hat was patching the barbed-wire fence that separated Dave’s ranch, the Royal Round Up, from the neighboring ranch, the Battlelands. Behind the man in black, another man, Bill Hardesty, a Battle ranch hand, unloaded wire from a battered truck. Dave nodded a greeting to Bill, then focused his attention on Nathan Battle.

Nathan looked up as Dave approached. “Hey, Dave, how’s it going?”

“Going fine,” he said, because Dave Firestone never admitted to having a problem he couldn’t solve. “I went by the main ranch house and Jake told me where I could find you. Didn’t think I’d find the town sheriff out fixing fence line.”

Nathan shrugged and glanced out over the surrounding land before shifting his gaze back to Dave. “I like getting out on the ranch. Gives me a chance to think. Clear my head. My brother does most of the heavy lifting on the Battlelands, but I’m a full partner and it feels good to get back to basics, you know?” Then he grinned. “Besides, Amanda’s on a remodeling binge, getting ready for the baby. So we’ve got one of Sam Gordon’s construction crews at the house all the time. Being out here...” he said, then sighed in pleasure. “Quiet.”

From his spot on the truck, Bill snorted. “Enjoy it while it lasts, boss. Once that baby comes you can kiss ‘quiet’ goodbye forever.”

Nathan chuckled, then said, “Just unload the wire, will ya?”

Dave ignored the byplay. He wished he’d found Nathan alone out here, but he was going to have his say whether Bill was listening in or not.

Things had changed a lot around Royal in the past few months, Dave thought. Nathan and Amanda were married and expecting a baby. Sam and Lila were expecting twins. And then there was the reason Dave had come to see Nathan on his day off.

The disappearance of Alex Santiago.

He wouldn’t claim to have been friends with Alex, but he’d never wished the man harm, either. This vanishing act of his was weird enough to keep the people in town talking—and most of them were talking about how Dave and Alex had been business rivals and wondering if maybe Alex hadn’t had some help in disappearing.

Dave had never been one to give a flying damn what people had to say about him. He ran his life and his business the way he saw fit, and if people didn’t like it, screw them. But like he’d just been thinking, things had changed. Irritating to admit that gossip and the threat of scandal had chased him out here to talk to the town sheriff, but there it was.

“Yeah, I get that. My foreman’s the best there is, but I like doing ranch work on my own, too. Always have,” Dave said, snatching his hat off to stab his fingers through his hair. “And I hate to ruin your peace and quiet...”

Nathan hooked his pair of wire cutters into the tool belt at his waist and looked at Dave. “But?”

“But,” Dave said, with the briefest of glances toward Bill, who wasn’t even bothering to hide his interest in the conversation, “I need to know if you’ve got anything new on Alex’s disappearance.”

Scowling, Nathan admitted, “I’ve got nothing. It’s like he dropped off the face of the earth. No action on his credit or debit cards, either. Haven’t got a clue what happened to him and, to tell you the truth, it’s making me nuts.”

“I can imagine,” Dave said and tipped the brim of his hat back a bit. “It’s not doing much for me, either.”

Nathan nodded grimly. “Yeah, I’ve heard the whispers.”

“Great.” Just what he wanted. The town sheriff listening to rumors about him.

“Relax.” Nathan waved one hand at him and shook his head. “I know what the gossips in this town are like, Dave. Hell, they almost cost me Amanda.” He paused for a second as if considering what might have been. Then he shook his head again and said, “If it helps any, you’re officially not a suspect.”

He hadn’t really thought he was, but it was good to hear anyway. It didn’t solve his problem, but knowing that Nathan believed in his innocence was one less thing to worry about. Dave knew how it must have looked to everyone in town. He was among the last people to have seen Alex before he went missing. And the argument they’d had on Main Street had been witnessed by at least a dozen people.

Plus, it was pretty much common knowledge around Royal that Alex had snapped up the investment property that Dave had had his eye on. So yeah, Dave had been furious. But he hadn’t wanted anything to happen to Alex.

“Glad to hear you say that,” Dave finally said. “In fact, it’s what I came out here to ask you. Feels good knowing I’m not a suspect, I’ll admit. But it doesn’t change how people in this town are looking at me.”

He’d been in Royal three years, and he would have thought people would know him by now. But apparently, one whisper of juicy gossip was all it took to have people looking at him with a jaundiced eye.

Nathan dropped one hand to the top of the fence post and said, “People talk, you can’t stop it. God knows I’ve tried. And in a town the size of Royal, that’s about all they’ve got to do to fill the time, you know? Doesn’t mean anything.”

“Not to you, maybe—and I’m grateful, don’t get me wrong,” Dave told him. “But I’m trying to land a contract with TexCat and—”

Nathan chuckled and stopped him. “No need to say more. Hell, Texas Cattle is legendary. Everyone in the state knows about Thomas Buckley and how he runs his company. The old man is such a straight arrow...” He broke off. “That’s why the concern over the gossip.”

“Yeah, if Buckley hears those rumors, I’ll never get the contract with him to sell my beef.” Scandal could sour the deal before it was made, and damned if Dave would let that happen.

TexCat was the biggest beef buyer in the country. But it was a family-run company and Buckley himself ran it along the narrowest lines possible. No scandal had ever touched his company, and he was determined to keep it that way. So if he got wind of rumors about Dave now, it would only make all of this more difficult.

“Ol’ Buckley is so worried about what people think,” Bill pointed out from his spot on the truck, “I hear he sleeps in a three-piece suit.”

Dave frowned and Nathan shot Bill a look. “Is that wire unloaded?”

“Almost,” Bill said and ducked his head as he went back to work.

“Sorry,” Nathan said unnecessarily, then grinned. “Everybody’s got something to say about everything around here. But you already know that, don’t you?”

“You could say so,” Dave muttered.

Still smiling, Nathan added, “Where Buckley’s concerned, it’s not just the rumors you’ve got to be worried about.”

Dave frowned. “Yeah, I know.”

Nathan’s smile widened. “Buckley only deals with married family men. Last time I looked, you were single. I figure the rumors and whispering should be the least of your problems. How’re you planning on coming up with a wife?”

Dave huffed out a disgusted breath. “Haven’t figured that part out yet. We’re just at the beginning of negotiations with TexCat. I’ve still got some time.” He jammed his hat back on his head and hunched deeper into his jacket as a sharp, cold wind slapped at them. “I’ll think of something.”

Nathan nodded. “If not, TexCat isn’t the only beef buyer in the world.”

“No,” Dave agreed. “But they’re the best.”

He wanted that contract. And what Dave Firestone wanted, he got. Period. He’d clawed and fought and earned his success the hard way. Not a chance in hell he’d stop before he was finished.

* * *

Mia Hughes opened the pantry door and stared inside at the nearly empty shelves as if expecting more food to suddenly appear. Naturally, that didn’t happen. So, with a sigh, she grabbed another package of Top Ramen and headed for the stove.

“Honestly, if I have to eat noodles much longer...” She filled a pan with a cup of water, turned on the fire underneath and watched it, waiting for it to boil. She glanced at the package in her hand. “At least this one is beef flavor. Maybe if I close my eyes while I eat it I can pretend it’s a burger.”

Well, that image made her stomach growl. She slapped one hand to her belly as if to appease it somehow. It didn’t work. She was on the ragged edge and had been for a few weeks now.

As Alex Santiago’s housekeeper, she’d had access to the household account at the bank. But she’d been using that money to pay utility bills and the hundreds of other things that had come up since Alex had disappeared. She hadn’t had any extra to waste on trivial things like her salary or food. So she’d made do with the staples that had been in the pantry and freezer. But the cupboards were practically bare now and only ice cubes were left in the freezer. And it wasn’t as if she had money coming in. Even her intern position at Royal Junior High was ending soon. She couldn’t go out and get a job, either. What if Alex called the house while she was gone?

“Of course,” she reassured herself aloud, “the upside is you’ve lost five pounds in the past couple of weeks. Downside? I’m ready to chew on a table leg.”

Her voice echoed in the cavernous kitchen. The room was spotless, but that was due more to the fact that it hadn’t seen much action in the past few months than to Mia’s cleaning abilities. Though she took her duties as housekeeper seriously and kept the palatial mansion sparkling throughout. Still, since Alex went missing a few months ago, there hadn’t been much for Mia to do in the big house.

The water came to a boil and she stirred in the dried noodles and flavor packet before putting the lid on the pan again then moving it off the heat to steep. While she waited for her lunch, she wandered to the wide windows overlooking the stone patio and the backyard beyond.

From this vantage point, she could also see the rooflines of Alex’s neighbors, though the homes in the luxurious subdivision known as Pine Valley weren’t crowded together. Each home was different, custom designed and built by the owners, and each sat on a wide, wooded lot so there was plenty of privacy.

Right now though, Mia had too much privacy. She’d been alone in the house since Alex’s disappearance. Alone with a phone that hadn’t stopped ringing in weeks. Reporters hounded her anytime she left the house, so she rarely left anymore. Since Pine Valley was a gated community, only a few reporters had managed to sneak past the gate guard to annoy her. But she knew that wouldn’t last. The longer Alex was gone, the more brazen reporters would become.

A wealthy man going missing was big news. Especially in a town the size of Royal.

She tapped her short, neat fingernails against the cold, smooth, black granite countertop. Mia’s stomach did a slow turn and she swallowed hard. Alex had been good to her. He’d given her a job when she’d most needed one. He’d allowed her the space to continue her education and because of that, she was close to getting her counseling degree.

Not only did Mia really owe Alex, she liked him, too. He’d become a good friend as well as her employer, and Mia didn’t have many friends. She stared blankly out the window and absently noted the treetops whipping in the cold October wind. She shivered involuntarily and turned her back on the view. She didn’t want to think about winter coming and Alex still being gone. She hated not knowing if her friend was safe. Or hurt. But she had to keep positive and believe that Alex would come home.

She also couldn’t help worrying about what she was going to do next. The bills had been paid, true. But her tuition was due soon and if Alex wasn’t there to pay her...

When the phone rang, she jumped and instinctively reached for it before stopping herself and letting it go to the answering machine. Weeks ago, she’d decided to let the machine pick up so she could screen her calls, in an attempt to avoid reporters and the unceasing questions she couldn’t answer.

Still, she was always hoping that somehow the caller might be Alex, telling her he was fine, and sorry he’d worried her and oh, that he was wiring more money into the household accounts. Not very realistic, but Mia’s innate optimism was hard to discourage.

The machine kicked on and after the beep, a female voice asked, “Mia? You there? If you’re listening, pick up.”

Smiling, she snatched up the receiver. “Sophie, hi.”

“Still dodging reporters?”

“Every day,” she said and leaned back against the counter. Her gaze slid to the backyard again and the trees waving and dancing in the wind. “They don’t give up.”

“At least they can’t get past the gate guard there to bother you in person.”

“A few of them have managed, but one call to security and that’s taken care of.” Though she hated feeling as though she was living through a medieval siege. And she had to admit that living alone in this big house made her a little nervous at night. Yes, Royal was a safe place, and a gated community should have made her feel even more secure. But with Alex gone and the world wondering why, Mia was always worried that someone might come sneaking around the house at night, looking for clues or a story. But Mia didn’t want her thoughts to go to the dark side. Alex was missing, yes. But she couldn’t allow herself to think he was gone forever.

“My offer to come and stay with me for a while still holds, you know.”

Sophie Beldon was a good friend. She was also Alex’s assistant, and since his disappearance, the two women had become even closer friends. Together, they’d done all they could to search for Alex, and still had come up empty. But they had another plan now. One that had Mia looking for more information on Dave Firestone, a business rival of Alex’s. Of course, she hadn’t actually started on that plan yet, since she had no idea how to go about it.

“Really, thank you. It’s tempting, believe me,” Mia confessed. But she couldn’t very well move in with her friend and leave Alex’s house unguarded. Not to mention that Mia hated the idea of mooching meals from Sophie. She didn’t like asking people for anything. She was far too used to doing things herself and she didn’t see that changing anytime soon. “It’s really nice of you to offer, Sophie. But I really want to be here. In case Alex calls or comes back. Besides, I wouldn’t feel right leaving his house vacant.”

“Okay. I can understand all of that,” Sophie said. “But if you change your mind, the offer stands. So how’s everything else going? Is there anything I can do?”

“No, but thanks.” Mia cringed a little, hating that her friend knew just how bad off Mia was. The two of them had gone out to lunch just a couple weeks ago and when she’d tried to pay the bill, as a thank-you to Sophie for being so nice, Mia’s debit card had been denied. Her bank account hadn’t had enough in it to pay for a simple lunch. Mortified, Mia had been forced to let Sophie pay for their meals.

She hated this. Hated worrying about money. Hated worrying about Alex. She just wanted her nice, safe, comfortable life back. Was that really so much to ask?

“We’re friends, Mia.” Sophie’s voice was soft and low. “I know you need money. Why won’t you let me help you out temporarily? It would just be a loan. When Alex comes home, you can pay me back.”

Again, so very tempting. But she didn’t know how or when she could pay her friend back, so she couldn’t accept the loan. Mia Hughes paid her own way. Always. Heck, she didn’t even have a credit card because she paid cash or she didn’t buy.

“Sophie,” she said on a sigh, “I really appreciate the offer. But we’ve been looking for Alex for months and it’s like he vanished off the face of the earth. We don’t know when he’ll come back.” If ever, her mind added, but she didn’t say it aloud, not wanting to tempt whatever gods might be listening in on them. “I’m fine. Honest. The thing with my debit card was just a bank mistake.” Okay, a small lie, but one she would cling to. She didn’t want her friend worried about her and she simply could not accept a loan. Mia had been making her own way in the world since she was eighteen, and she wouldn’t start looking for handouts now. No matter how hungry she was.

“You have the hardest head,” Sophie murmured.

Mia smiled. “Thank you.”

“Wasn’t a compliment,” her friend assured her on a laugh. “But okay. I’ll let it go. For now.”

“I appreciate it.”

“That’s not why I called, anyway,” Sophie said.

Instantly, Mia’s friend radar started humming. Sophie had only recently become engaged to Zach Lassiter, Alex’s business partner. After a shaky start, the two were so happy together, Mia was afraid that something had gone wrong between them. “Are you and Zach okay?”

“We’re fine. He’s great. This isn’t about us.”

“Okay, then,” Mia said as she carried the phone across the kitchen, lifted the lid on her lunch and sighed before setting the lid back in place. “What is it about?”

“Remember how we talked about you going out to gather more information on Dave Firestone?”

“Yeah,” Mia said. “I don’t have anything yet, though. I’m not exactly a private investigator.” She’d tried internet searches, but so far all she had found were the sanitized information blurbs you found about any wealthy, successful man. And she wasn’t sure where to dig up anything else.

“Well,” Sophie told her, “I have something. I just got off the phone with Carrie Hardesty.”

Mia frowned, trying to place the name. Before she could say she didn’t know the woman, Sophie was continuing.

“Carrie’s husband, Bill, is a ranch hand on the Battlelands.”

“Uh-huh.” She still didn’t see what this had to do with her or Dave Firestone or why she might be interested. And now she was hungry enough that she was even anxious for her beef-flavored noodle lunch.

“So Bill called Carrie to tell her he’d be home early today because he and Nathan had finished work faster than they’d thought despite an interruption.”

“Okay...” Mia had to smile. She still had no idea why this should interest her, but Sophie’s voice had taken on that storytelling tone, so she didn’t stop her.

“Bill told Carrie that Dave Firestone had shown up to talk to Nathan.”

Mia stiffened. Dave had been one of the last people to see her employer before he disappeared. She’d heard the talk around town. She knew that people were wondering if Dave had had something to do with Alex going missing. But she also knew that gossip was the fuel that kept small towns going, so she didn’t really put a lot of stock in it.

Still, though, Dave Firestone was wealthy, determined and too gorgeous to be trusted. Plus, she and Sophie had decided to check the man out.

“What was he talking to Nathan about?”

“Apparently, he went there to find out if he was a suspect in Alex’s disappearance.”

Mia sucked in a gulp of air. “He did?”

“Yep,” Sophie said, then added, “but Bill says Nathan assured Dave that he was officially not a suspect.”

Disappointment curled in the pit of her stomach. Not that she wished Dave Firestone arrested or anything, but she wanted answers. Soon.

“It’s not surprising,” Mia said, chewing at her bottom lip. “Dave Firestone is an important man around here. There would have to be serious evidence against him for Nathan to keep him as a suspect.”

“I know.” Sophie sounded as dejected as Mia felt.

“Tell the truth, Soph,” Mia said. “Do you really think Dave is involved in Alex’s disappearance?”

“Probably not.” Her friend sighed.

“Me, either,” Mia agreed.

“But he’s the only link we have, Mia. I think we should stick to our plan and you should find out anything you can about him. Even if Dave is innocent, he might still know something that he doesn’t even know he knows, you know?”

Mia laughed a little. “Sadly, I understood that completely.”

Sophie added, “And according to what Bill told Carrie, Nathan admitted that he doesn’t have a clue what happened to Alex.”

Her heart sank a little further at that news. Of course, she’d thought as much. Nathan Battle had been working this case for months and he’d kept her apprised of his lack of progress. The sheriff and Alex were good friends, so Mia knew that Nathan was just as much personally involved in the search as he was professionally.

And none of that had helped them find Alex.

In the time Mia had worked for Alex Santiago, she’d known him to be warm, generous and kind. But he also had secrets. No one was allowed in his home office, for example. He had only allowed Mia in to clean once a month and then only if he was present. And when she and Sophie had started comparing notes, Sophie had told her about the secret phone calls Alex had been getting.

Since Alex had been gone, Mia had searched his home office top to bottom and Sophie had gone through his emails and phone records, but they hadn’t discovered a thing.

Which told her that either Alex had taken whatever he’d been safeguarding with him—or whoever had taken Alex had also gone through that office and taken what they’d found.

There was that now familiar twist of worry inside. Where was Alex? Was he hurt? Was he...

“He’ll show up,” Mia said, cutting short a disturbing train of thought. “There’s a reasonable explanation for all of this and when Alex comes back, it will all make sense.”

“You really believe that, don’t you?”

“Absolutely.” Almost, she added silently. But Mia had spent so much of her life searching for the silver lining in dark skies that it was instinctive now. She wouldn’t give up on Alex and, until he was home, she would do whatever she could to help find him.

Even if it meant eating enough flavored noodles to sink a battleship.

“Oops,” Sophie said suddenly, “Zach’s at the door. He’s taking me to lunch at the diner. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

Mia said goodbye, wishing she were at the diner right now, too. What she wouldn’t give for a hamburger, fries and a shake. Sighing, she let the wish go and dumped her noodles into a bowl. Grabbing a fork, she took a bite and tried to swallow her disappointment along with the noodles.

A knock sounded at the front door and Mia took it as a reprieve from her boring lunch. She set the bowl down on the counter and headed through the house. Whoever it was knocked again, faster and louder this time, and she frowned. Did another reporter get past the gate?

At the doorway, she glanced through the glass panes on one side of the heavy door and gaped at the man standing on the porch. Before she could think about it, she yanked the door open and faced Dave Firestone.

He wore black jeans, a dark red collared shirt, a battered brown bomber jacket and scarred boots. He held his hat in one fist, and his dark blond hair ruffled in the wind. His gray eyes locked onto her and Mia felt a jolt of something unexpected sizzle inside her.

“Mia,” he said, his voice deep enough to rumble along her spine, “I think we should talk.”

Two

“What’re you doing here?”

Dave took a good long look at the woman standing there glaring at him. Her long, dark brown hair was, as usual, pulled back from her face and twisted into a messy knot at the back of her neck. She wore faded blue jeans and a long-sleeved, navy blue T-shirt. Her feet were bare and he was surprised to see her toes were painted fire-engine red. Mia Hughes had never seemed like the red nail polish type to him. She was more of a pastel woman, seemingly determined to fade into the background. Or so he’d thought.

Something inside him stirred whether he’d wanted it to or not. He lifted his gaze to hers and the strength of her even stare punched out at him. Her wide blue eyes were unenhanced, yet they still seemed to captivate him.

He didn’t want to be captivated.

“I think we should talk. About Alex.”

“How did you get in here? The gate guard should have called me.”

“I asked him not to.” He shrugged. “He knows me, so it wasn’t a problem.”

“Well, it should have been. He never should have let you in here without contacting me.” She folded her arms across her chest.

Dave scowled. He wasn’t used to being kept cooling his heels outside. But Mia Hughes was guarding Alex Santiago’s front door like a trained pit bull. “I think it’d be better if we went inside to talk.”

“First, tell me what this is about.” She cocked her head and the toes of one foot began to tap impatiently.

“I’m not your enemy.” He took a step closer and noticed that she didn’t move back but held her ground. He could admire that even as she frustrated him.

He’d come here to compare notes. To see if she knew anything that might shed a light on Alex’s disappearance. But damned if he was going to have this conversation on the porch.

“No,” she conceded. “You’re not.” Her stance relaxed just a fraction. “And I was going to call you later anyway...”

“Is that right?” Surprised, he took another slow look at her and he noted that her eyes were gleaming with something he could only call interest. “About what?”

“About Alex, of course,” she told him with a shake of her head.

“Well, it’s good that I showed up today, isn’t it? Because that’s just what I want to talk to you about.” He glanced over his shoulder at the empty, meticulously kept grounds before looking back at her. “I want to know if there’s anything you know about Alex that you haven’t told Nathan Battle.”

“Of course there isn’t,” she said, clearly insulted. “Do you really think I haven’t been helping the police? I’ve done everything I can think of to find Alex.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, cutting her off before she could erupt into a full-on rant. Hell, Mia Hughes was usually so quiet he hardly noticed her. But apparently on her own turf she wasn’t so reticent.

“It better not be,” she countered, and those blue eyes of hers flashed dangerously.

“Look, you don’t have to be so defensive. Alex and I weren’t exactly friends...”

She laughed shortly.

He frowned and continued, “But that doesn’t mean I wish him harm. Hell, right now I want to find him more than anybody in this town.”

A second or two passed in tense silence before she sighed and her stance relaxed. “Okay, I can understand that.”

“Thanks,” he muttered. “So can I come in and talk to you about this now?”

“I guess—” She stopped, looked over his shoulder at the yard and said, “Don’t!”

Instantly on alert, Dave whirled around and saw a young man, somewhere in his early twenties, aiming a digital camera at them and clicking away.

“Hey,” Dave said, stepping off the porch toward the man.

The guy jumped backward, shaking his head and grinning. He held out a digital recorder and shouted, “Great pictures! Chester Devon from All The News blog. Care to comment?”

“The only comment I have is one you can’t print, Chester,” Dave told him as he stalked toward the reporter, who had somehow slipped past the Pine Valley gate guard. “And no pictures, either.”

“Free country, man,” Chester countered, still grinning. “I think my readers will be interested to see Santiago’s housekeeper and a suspect in his disappearance looking so cozy...”

His readers, Dave thought. All ten of ’em. Still, if this guy posted pictures to his blog, they would eventually get around and make for more of the kind of scandal he was trying to avoid.

“Cozy? Oh, for—” Mia broke off, then spoke up again, louder. “I’m calling security.”

Just what he needed, Dave thought grimly. Not only a reporter but security coming over, too. More food for the local gossips. He couldn’t do anything about Mia’s call to security, but maybe he could head the reporter off at the pass.

“I’ll give you a thousand dollars for your camera.”

“Are you serious?” the kid asked with a laugh. “No way, man.”

Great. A budding reporter with morals. Or maybe Dave just hadn’t hit the guy’s price yet. “Five thousand.”

Chester wavered.

Dave could see it in the kid’s eyes. He was thinking that with five grand in his pocket he could buy a better camera, maybe get a job at a real newspaper.

“I don’t know...” Chester ran one hand across the chin sprouting a few stray whiskers. “With this kind of shot, I could maybe get a job at a paper in Houston.”

Dave understood the kid’s dreams. He’d had a hell of a lot of them himself once. And he’d worked his ass off to make sure they all came true. Didn’t mean he was going to be the rung on the ladder beneath Chester’s feet, though.

“Haven’t you heard, kid? Newspapers are dinosaurs.”

“True...”

Dave had the kid now. This guy wasn’t enough of a poker player to hide the avarice in his eyes. Everyone had his price, Dave reminded himself. All he had to do was find the right number and this guy would cave. “Call it ten thousand and I want your recorder, too.”

“Seriously?” Chester’s eyes lit up. “You got a deal, man.”

The kid followed while Dave went to his car, grabbed a checkbook from the glove compartment and wrote out a check. He signed it, then held one hand out.

“Let’s have ’em,” Dave said. The kid laid his camera and the recorder on Dave’s palm, then snatched the check. He stared at it for a couple seconds, a slow smile spreading on his face.

“This is seriously cool, man. With this, I can get out of Royal and move to Houston.”

“Good.” The farther away the better, as far as Dave was concerned. “You should get moving before security gets here and starts asking you uncomfortable questions.”

The kid looked up and grinned. “I’m practically gone.”

A second later, Chester was sprinting off across the yard, and then lost in the scrub oaks and pines defining the edge of Alex’s lot. Probably scaled the fence to get in here, Dave thought and had to give the kid points. He approved of determination. He also approved of getting rid of the kid as easily as possible.

Ten thousand was nothing. He’d have paid twice that to keep Chester quiet. As that thought moved through his mind, Dave realized that his problem might not be completely solved. Just because Chester didn’t have photographic proof didn’t mean he’d be quiet about Dave’s visit to Mia.

So it was time to put a different spin on this. His mind raced with possible solutions and almost instantly, he came up with a workable plan. And if he worked it right, this could actually solve all of his problems. He glanced toward the house, where Mia was again standing in the open front doorway.

A Pine Valley security car pulled up to the curb and a uniformed guard stepped out. Before he could speak, Dave pointed and called out, “He ran toward the ravine.”

The security guard hopped back into his car and went in pursuit, but Dave knew that kid was going to evade the guard. He’d gotten in to the gated community without being caught, hadn’t he?

“What’s going on?” Mia stepped out onto the wide, brick porch. “How’d you get him to leave?”

“Made him an offer,” Dave said as he walked toward her.

She blinked at him. “You paid him off?”

“I did.” Dave took the porch steps and stood directly opposite her. “Bought his camera and recorder.”

She looked up at him and he could see disdain in her eyes. “It’s easy for you, isn’t it? Just buy people if you have to.”

“I didn’t buy him,” Dave corrected with a smile. “I bought his stuff.”

“And his silence,” she added.

“In theory,” Dave agreed. “But there’s nothing to stop him from spreading this around, despite his lack of evidence.”

She wrapped her arms around her middle. “Then paying him off accomplished nothing?”

“It bought me some time,” he said, mind still racing.

“Time for what?”

“That’s something we should talk about.” The more he considered his idea, the better he liked it.

When Alex had disappeared, Dave had hired an investigator. He’d seen the writing on the wall and had known that sooner or later, people would start suspecting him. As always, he’d figured it was better to be prepared. The investigator hadn’t turned up much information on Alex, but Dave now knew enough about Mia to convince him he could get her to go along with his plan.

“But first,” he said, meeting her eyes, “tell me. Do you think I should be a suspect?”

She looked at him for a long, silent minute. He knew she was thinking that over and it irritated him more than a little that it was taking her so long to make a judgment call. “Well?”

She slumped one shoulder against the doorjamb. “Probably not.”

His mouth quirked. “A resounding testimonial.”

“I don’t know you well enough for that.”

“Right. Well. That’s something else we should talk about.” He glanced over his shoulder at the empty yard and scanned the tree line looking for another sneaky reporter. He’d learned over the years that reporters were like ants at a picnic. First you saw one. Then two. Then the picnic was over.

“Can I come in?”

“All right.” She stepped back, allowing him to pass by. Dave caught the faintest whiff of a light, floral scent that reminded him of summer.

Once in the house, Dave headed for the living room. He’d been here before, to meet with Alex. It was a nice house. Plush but tasteful. Cream-colored walls, bold, dark red-leather sofas and chairs and heavy dark tables. The windows looked out across the yard and were tinted, making it easy to see out but almost impossible to see in.

“What’s this about?” Mia asked.

Dave turned to look at her. “I’ll come right to the point. Alex being missing is hard on both of us.”

“Is that right?” she asked. “How are you suffering?”

“Gossip.” He tossed his hat onto the nearest couch, then shoved both hands into his jeans pockets. “The whispers and rumors about me might screw up a deal I’m working on.”

“A deal?” Her eyes widened. “Alex is missing and you’re worried about a deal?”

“Life goes on.” He said it flatly. Cold and hard. He saw reaction glitter in her eyes and he could appreciate that. He admired loyalty. “I didn’t have anything to do with Alex’s disappearance and I don’t think you did, either.”

She laughed shortly. “Well, thanks very much. I didn’t know I was a suspect.”

“Why wouldn’t you be? You’re his housekeeper.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Why not?”

The look on her face was pure astonishment. And no, he wasn’t serious. No one would ever suspect Mia Hughes of anything illegal. She was quiet, shy—or at least she had always seemed so until this morning—and she didn’t exactly come off as a femme fatale. First, she was too skittish to be involved in any kind of plot. She’d blow the whole thing in minutes if it came down to it. And secondly, she was just too all-American-girl-next-door.

Shiny red toenails notwithstanding.

But throwing her off balance was just what Dave needed. Because he needed her. In fact, she was damn near perfect. The plan that had occurred to him while he was dealing with the would-be reporter actually depended on her. If she agreed—and she would—then he had a way to explain him being here—should the kid decide to go ahead and post to his blog anyway. And it might also appease Thomas Buckley and his narrow view of life. What Dave needed was a wife. Not a real wife, mind you. But something temporary. Something that would buy him the time he needed to clinch the deal he wanted. But the women he normally went out with would never convince Thomas Buckley they were the home-and-hearth type.

Mia Hughes, on the other hand, was just the woman for the job.

“I’ve got a proposition for you.”

“And why should I listen?”

“Because it benefits both of us,” he said simply. “And you’re too smart to say no before you’ve heard me out.”

Her lips pressed together and her eyes narrowed. “Flattery?”

“Truth.”

She took a breath and blew it out again in a huff. “Okay, I’m listening.”

He rubbed one hand across his face, then waved at the big red-leather sofa. “Have a seat.”

Obviously still on guard, she walked to the couch and perched on the edge, clearly ready to bolt the moment he said the wrong thing. Well, Dave wasn’t about to blow this. He had never once gone into a negotiation blind and today was no different. Didn’t matter that he hadn’t come here with this plan in mind. He was flexible enough that he could turn any situation around to his favor.

Dave stood in front of the couch, looking down at Mia. “I need a wife.”

“Excuse me?” She started to rise but he waved her back down.

“Relax,” he said. “I’m talking more of a fantasy wife than the real thing.”

* * *

Fantasy? It was laughable, really. In what parallel universe would Mia Hughes be anyone’s, let alone Dave Firestone’s, fantasy? This was either some bizarre joke or he really was nuts.

“Relax?” Mia jumped to her feet, unable to sit still a moment longer. She and Sophie had wanted to check Dave out, which was the main reason Mia had allowed him into the house in the first place. But if she’d known what he was going to say she’d have left him on the porch and thrown the deadbolt to keep him out. “I really think you should go.”

He shook his head and stood his ground. He was so tall that even with Mia on her feet, he was looking down at her.

“Not until you’ve heard me out.”

“Oh, I think I’ve heard enough,” Mia assured him. She tried to move past him to lead him to the door, but he laid one hand on her arm and stopped her.

She felt the burn of his hand on her skin and told herself to get over it. To pay no attention. But inside, her hormones were concentrating on that rush of heat. This was so not good. He was too tall. Too gorgeous. Too sure of himself.

He smiled as if he knew what she was thinking, feeling. Well, she’d wanted to know more about Dave Firestone. Now she knew just how formidable he was. And she was worried he was just a little crazy.

His hand fell from her arm and, despite her best intentions, Mia missed that blast of heat from his fingertips. Okay, maybe he wasn’t nuts. But he was...distracting.

Then he was talking again. “I’m working on a deal with Texas Cattle—the best company in the state for beef buying—but the head of the company is a pretty conservative guy. He only deals with family men. Thinks they’re more stable or something. Anyway, the upshot is, I need a temporary wife—or at the very least a fiancée. Just long enough for me to seal this deal. Once that’s done, we’ll ‘break up’ and it’s over.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Just determined,” he assured her. “I know money’s got to be tight with Alex gone.”

She stiffened and lifted her chin.

“With him wherever the hell he is, you’re not being paid and,” he paused to let that sink in, then added, “the household account you have access to is almost dry.”

Stunned, she whispered, “How do you know that?”

“Same way I know you’ve got school loans to pay off, tuition due in a month and that your debit card was declined at the diner last month.”

Embarrassment roared to life inside her and she felt heat crawl up her cheeks to flood her face. Bad enough that her friend Sophie knew how little money she had. Having Dave Firestone know it was almost too much to take.

The question was, how did he know it?

“Are you spying on me?”

He laughed. “Hardly. I had an investigator looking for Alex and, since you’re the man’s housekeeper, you got checked out, too.”

A wave of outrage crested over the embarrassment, smothering it completely. “You had no right.”

“Whether I did or not, it’s done,” he said easily, as if invading her privacy meant nothing to him. And, it probably didn’t. “The point is, you need money. I need a wife.”

“What?”

“I think you heard me.”

“You can’t be serious.” This was, hands down, the most bizarre conversation she’d ever had. A wife? He wanted to pay her to marry him?

“I don’t joke when I’m making a deal.”

He stood there, tall and gorgeous and completely at ease, as if he owned the world—and from what she knew of him, he did own a good chunk of it. But his attitude was so confident, so...superior. As if he knew absolutely that she would agree. Well, he had a surprise coming.

“No deal,” she said and instantly felt a sense of righteous satisfaction. Sure she was out of money and eating Top Ramen and daydreaming about hamburgers. But she wasn’t so desperate that she was willing to sell herself to a man who already thought far too highly of himself. “I’m not interested in being your wife...real, temporary or fantasy.”

“Sure you are,” he said easily and gave her a half smile that tipped up one corner of his mouth and flashed a dimple at her. “You don’t want to be interested but you are. Why wouldn’t you be? Mia, this is a good deal for both of us.”

She hated that he was right. She didn’t want to be interested but she was. The whole situation was too strange. His offer was crazy. And yet...she looked around the empty living room. This place had been her first real home in too many years to count. She had cared for it and watched over it in Alex’s absence. But the truth was, if he didn’t come home soon, she didn’t know what she would do.

The money was almost gone. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to pay the monthly bills. She had no idea what she’d do then.

People in town were already speculating about Alex’s disappearance. This couldn’t possibly help the situation.

“What about the local gossips?” She shook her head. “Don’t you think they’ll be a little suspicious of your sudden engagement plan?”

He frowned. “Hadn’t considered that,” he mumbled. “But it doesn’t matter. In this town, the gossips love a good romantic story better than anything else. They’ll glom on to our whirlwind romance and let go of suspicion.”

He was probably right, she told herself. The main gossip chain in Royal was female and they were more interested in fairy-tale romantic stories than anything else. This might actually take the heat off them where Alex’s disappearance was concerned.

Oh, God, she didn’t know what to do.

“Think about it, Mia,” he said and she could only imagine the snake in the Garden of Eden had sounded just as convincing. “This would solve both of our problems.”

“I don’t think so,” she said, though her grumbling stomach disagreed. Still, she wasn’t starving. She had a roof over her head and noodles in the pantry. And she had her pride, right?

Oh, God. Her pride was already shattered. Dave Firestone knew she was out of money. Knew how desperate she was. And he knew just what kind of temptation to use against her.

“You’re considering it.”

“I’m considering lots of things,” she told him. “Like throwing you out, finishing my lunch and then maybe polishing the kitchen floor. Lots of options.”

“So I see,” he said, a slow, knowing smile curving his mouth. “Any idea which one you’re going to go with?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” she said on a sigh.

“Let me make it easy for you, then.” He moved in closer and Mia felt caught in the steady gaze of his eyes. “I’ll pay you ten thousand dollars to pretend to be my fiancée until I get that deal with TexCat.”

“Ten thousand—” She broke off, stunned at the offer. Just the thought of that much money made her head swim. She could pay the bills. Take care of Alex’s house until he got back. She could make a payment on her tuition and finish her counseling degree.

She could buy meat.

“And,” he said.

“There’s more?”

“Yeah. Along with the ten thousand,” he said, voice dropping to a low, seductive level, “I’ll pay off your college loans. You could start your career out fresh. No debt.”

Staggered, Mia actually swayed on her feet. That was a tremendous offer. If she didn’t have to pay back school loans, she could build a life for herself much more quickly. Glaring at him, she said, “You’re really evil, aren’t you?”

He grinned, fast and wicked. “Just a master negotiator.”

He was that, she told herself.

“Still want to polish the kitchen floor?”

She frowned at him. “Ten thousand dollars.”

“That’s right.”

“And my loans paid off.”

“You got it.”

“How long would we have to pretend?”

He shrugged. “Shouldn’t take more than a month.”

Nodding, she tried to think clearly despite the racing, churning thoughts in her brain. “A month as your fiancée.”

“Yeah.”

Her eyes narrowed on him. “And what does this ‘pretending’ entail?”

It took a second for him to get what she meant and then he laughed shortly. “Trust me, your virtue is safe. When I want sex, I don’t have to pay for it.”

She could believe that. Heck, just standing next to him had her skin buzzing. He probably had women throwing themselves in his path all the time. Which made her wonder why he hadn’t asked one of the no doubt legions of women littering his bed to be his pretend fiancée.

Maybe, she thought, none of them needed money as much as she did. Well, that was depressing.

Just to be sure of where she stood, Mia said, “Then we agree. No sex.”

“Agreed.”

She kept talking. “No touching of any kind. No kissing—”

“Hold on,” he stopped her in midstream. “We have to convince this guy we’re a real couple. So there will be touching. And kissing. And there will be you looking at me with adoration.”

She laughed.

He frowned.

“Fine, fine,” she said, waving a hand at him. “I’ll be a good fiancée and the occasional touch or kiss—in public—is okay.”

“Then we have a deal.” He held out one hand to her and waited for her to take it. “You should come to the ranch for dinner tonight. We can work out the details there.”

Nodding, Mia slid her hand into his and couldn’t help feeling that just maybe she was swimming in waters way too deep for her.

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