confused.”
“I thought I cleared up the confusion yesterday.”
“By breaking it off over the phone?” The accusation was clear in Katie’s tone.
“I’m a little ways away, Katie.”
“Where?”
Amber scratched her fingernail over a dried flower petal the rain had stuck to the painted railing, deciding she couldn’t keep it a secret forever. “Montana.”
Silence.
“Katie?”
“Did you say Montana?”
“Yes. I’m staying with a…well, friend. I need your help with something.”
“I’d say you need a whole lot more than
“What dress?”
“Your
“Oh.” Right. That dress. Amber supposed they’d have to put it on consignment somewhere. “The thing I wanted to talk to you about at the moment, though, was business.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have a problem.”
“What problem?” Katie’s voice immediately turned professional.
“It’s a company called Sagittarius Eclipse. I haven’t been able to trace it, but I think it’s got to be offshore somewhere, maybe hiding behind a numbered company. It could be connected to embezzlement.”
There was another moment’s silence. “Where did you say you were?” asked Katie.
Amber drew a sigh. “You remember that thirty dollars I gave you last week?”
“To pay for the dry cleaning on my dress?”
“You’re on retainer, Katie. I’m a client.”
“
“Lawyer-client confidentiality. Say it.”
“Lawyer-client confidentiality,” Katie parroted with exasperation.
“I think Sagittarius Eclipse is involved in an embezzlement scheme against Ryder International.”
Fine by Amber, she’d rather have Katie connecting her to Jared Ryder than to Royce. Even thinking his name brought up an image of last night, and Amber was forced to shake it away in order to concentrate.
“You going into my line of work?” asked Katie.
Creighton Waverley Security was famous in Chicago for specializing in corporate espionage, and they’d investigated plenty of other corporate crimes along the way.
“Just for the week.” Though Amber could already see the appeal of the profession. The harder she looked for information, the more involved she became in the hunt.
“You looking for anything specific?”
“A bank account. A name. A guy named McQuestin might be involved.”
Although Royce was sure McQuestin was honest, Amber wasn’t prepared to rule anything out. She’d looked back as far as she could in the financial records this morning, and Sagittarius Eclipse had received millions over the years. Maybe McQuestin hadn’t even broken his leg. Maybe he was on his way to some offshore haven even now.
“I’ll see what I can find. And, Amber?”
“Yes?”
“You serious about this breakup?”
Amber didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Why?”
Good question. Hard to put into words. “He’s just not the right guy for me.”
Katie’s accusing tone was back. “When did he become not the right guy for you?”
“Katie.”
“When he made his first million? When he bought you a three-carat diamond? When he received the party nod for the nomination? Or when he planned the honeymoon to Tahiti?”
“Hargrove planned a honeymoon to Tahiti?” It was the first Amber had heard about it.
“Yes! Just last night he was showing me some-”
“You saw Hargrove last night?”
There was a small pause. “He was desperate, Amber. He needed a date for that hospital thing with the Myers.”
“You went on a date with Hargrove?”
“Of
Amber rolled the image of Katie and Hargrove around in her head. No problem for her. She really didn’t care. “Did you have a good time?” she asked.
“That’s not the point.”
Royce appeared in Amber’s peripheral vision, on horseback, moving along the river trail between the staff cabins and the barbecue setup. Even at this distance, the sight of him took her breath away.
“Gotta go,” she said to Katie. “Call me as soon as you find something.”
“Uh…Okay, sure.”
“Thanks, Katie. I miss you.” Amber quickly signed off.
Royce spotted her, and the sizzle of his gaze shot right to her toes. He turned his horse toward the house, and she headed for the deck’s staircase.
Glances and brief, public conversations were all Royce had managed to share with Amber throughout the day. So he was disappointed when he finally found her up at the jumping-horse outfit, and she was sitting on the front porch laughing with his sister and another man.
As he exited the pickup truck, Royce’s first thought was that Hargrove had found her. The idea tightened his gut and sped up his stride. She certainly seemed happy to see this guy. She was listening to him with rapt attention, smiling, even laughing.
“Royce,” Stephanie sang out as his boot hit the bottom stair. Amber glanced up, and the stranger twisted his head.
Royce immediately realized the man was too young to be Hargrove. Plus, he was wearing jumping clothes, not a business suit.
“Wesley, this is my brother, Royce. Wesley is our newest student. He was nationally ranked as a junior.”
The young man stood up as Royce trotted up the remaining stairs.
“Good to meet you,” Royce said with a hearty handshake, ignoring how relieved he felt that the guy wasn’t Hargrove. Wesley looked to be about twenty-one. Not much younger than Stephanie and Amber, but no immediate competition.
“You, too.” Wesley nodded. “I’m honored to be working with Stephanie.”
Royce smirked at his sister. “Well, we’ll see how honored you feel a month from now.”
“Hey,” she protested, reaching out to swat his arm.
“Can I grab you a beer?” Wesley offered, nodding to a cooler against the wall. “I picked up a dozen at a microbrewery in San Diego.”
“Thanks,” Royce agreed, and the younger man headed for the far side of the porch.
“I’ve got something for you,” Amber stage-whispered, and Royce’s attention shot immediately to her dancing eyes.
His chest tightened, and he wondered if she was going to proposition him right here in front of Stephanie. Not that it would be a bad thing. They’d seemed to come to a tacit agreement to keep their relationship secret. But
