Wyatt (7 Brides for 7 Soldiers #4) Read online

  Outside, the rain fell steadily. A deer emerged from the woods farther down the slope and ambled across the open ground. A baby followed, its white spots so cute as it frolicked after its mother.

  A week ago, she’d never even seen a deer in person. Now she’d seen so many she’d lost track. And each time one strolled across the grass, her heart leaped with happiness at the sight.

  Didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be happy to get home again, up high in her penthouse apartment overlooking the Sound. There was no wildlife there, no random deer sightings. But there was food delivery, gourmet restaurants, the best coffee in the world, and more entertainment than any one person could consume.

  Seattle was heaven. She couldn’t wait to get back to it.

  “I can’t wait,” Lily said. “Let’s go now. You can bring your bodyguard. What’s the difference if you’re in Paris or wherever they’ve stashed you? It’s still a long way from Seattle.”

  “I can’t right now.” Because Wyatt wasn’t going to Paris. Even if she successfully managed to talk everyone involved in her case into letting her go overseas, it would be with a different bodyguard. Something about that idea opened up a pit in her belly.

  “For all I know, you’re in Paris now,” Lily said. “Why won’t you tell me where you are? I could visit.”

  “I’m not in Paris, honey. I haven’t even left the state, okay? But I can’t leave here right now.”

  She hadn’t told Lily about Wyatt. She’d meant to, but something always held her back. Like talking about him was wrong. Which was silly. Talking about a man she was attracted to wasn’t a crime, especially when there was nothing going on between them.

  But still she didn’t say anything. Her phone began to buzz with another call. She glanced at it. She didn’t recognize the number, but she’d been taking so many calls from various potential business partners lately that it didn’t matter. Besides, she wanted to put an end to this conversation before it got any more uncomfortable.

  “I have to go, Lily. I have an important call coming in. I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Hugs and kisses!” She flashed over to the other call. “This is Paige.”

  “Hello, my queen. Where have you been hiding?”

  Paige’s voice lifted the hairs on the back of Wyatt’s neck. She’d been in her room all morning, on the phone, but this time she was shouting. He got to his feet and strode toward her door, alarm coursing through him. Not enough to burst in on her, but enough to see what the hell was happening.

  Probably just a bad meeting, but he had to check.

  “Paige,” he shouted as he rapped on the door. “Open up.”

  A moment later the door flew open and she stood there in yoga pants and a sweatshirt. Her hair was in a ponytail—and her face was as white as a sheet.

  He didn’t even hesitate. He gathered her against him. She didn’t stiffen or pull away. She wrapped her arms around him and melted against his body.

  “What’s wrong, baby?”

  She trembled from head to toe and his alarm grew. He pushed her back gently. Wide hazel eyes shimmering with tears gazed up at him.

  “He called me, Wyatt. He has my number.”

  Ice washed over him. “King called you?”

  “Yes.”

  Fury rolled like a wave of fire over his body. “I need your phone.”

  “It’s on the bed.”

  He set her gently away and went over to collect her phone. He brought up the last call. If the man was smart, the number was a burner. But not everyone was smart.

  “What did he say?”

  She pushed a lock of hair that had fallen from her ponytail away from her face. “He said I couldn’t hide from him forever. That he’d find me. That we’re destined to be together.”

  Rage rolled through him. Wyatt took Paige’s hand, and she followed him into the living room where he collected his phone from the table. He dialed Hawk.

  “Yeah, man?”

  “Paige got a call on her cell. I have a number for you.” He rattled it off when Hawk gave him the go ahead.

  “I’ll get a trace on it. What did he say to her?”

  “The usual crazy bullshit assholes like this say. They’re destined to be together and he’ll find her.”

  “I’ll let you know what we get on this number as soon as I have something.”

  “Thanks.”

  He ended the call and set the phone down. Then he gathered Paige in his arms again. He’d spent the last few days purposely not touching her. Not letting himself give in to the urge to talk to her more than was necessary. He’d been cool and distant, but now that he’d held her again it was impossible to let her go.

  So he let himself do it. For now.

  She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. They didn’t speak at first.

  “You okay?” he asked her.

  She nodded.

  “Did he say anything else?”

  “Not really. Nothing that stands out. I started yelling at him. And then I hung up when you knocked on the door.”

  “He’s never called you before, right?”

  “No.”

  “He got your number from somewhere. From someone. This is somebody who knows you, Paige. Or knows someone in your circle.”

  “I meet a lot of people. I don’t give many my number. But—God, I’ve been talking to so many people lately, so many executives at different companies, that I thought it was one of them returning my call. How am I supposed to try to run a business if I can’t even answer my own damned phone?”

  Her fingers curled into his shirt. She was warm and fragile in his arms. He wanted to slay dragons for her. But first he needed to find the dragon.

  “I think it’s time I watched your show,” he said.

  She pushed back to look up at him. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Why not?”

  “Because I’m a total bitch on the show. I’m outrageous and, well, not the real me. It’s mostly scripted, no matter that it’s a reality show.”

  “Still, I need to see the dynamics. And you need to tell me about the people who work on the show behind the scenes.”

  She sighed. “Surely they’ve been checked. The police have a list of everyone who works there, from the production assistants to the security guards. There are a lot of people, Wyatt.”

  He pushed her hair off her face, let himself enjoy skimming his fingers over her smooth skin.

  “Between the photo at your apartment building and today’s call on your personal number, I’m more convinced than ever it’s someone in your circles. If this guy was a random crank, it would have never escalated beyond the letters sent to the studio. But he’s not random. He knows you.”

  She shivered in his arms. He should let her go, but he didn’t want to.

  “Okay, yes, you have to be right. But I still don’t know who it could be.”

  “Then pull up Netflix and let’s have an American Princess marathon.”

  She looked uncertain. “Watching the series won’t show you the people behind the scenes.”

  “It won’t. But it may spark questions I haven’t thought of yet.”

  “I still wish you wouldn’t.”

  He put a finger under her chin, tipped it up until he could gaze into her eyes. She didn’t flinch from the look he gave her. “What are you afraid of, Paige? That I won’t like you?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “I don’t think that’s possible,” he said, his gaze dropping to her mouth. A mouth he wanted to do things to.

  His groin started to throb, and he jerked his attention back to her pretty eyes. She was watching him with an invitation in her gaze. He very much wanted to accept it. But he set her away from him instead.

  “I already like you far too much.”

  Chapter 16

  Paige wanted to squirm. It was uncomfortable watching herself be a bitch. She’d never had trouble with the episodes in the past—had studied them relentlessly—but now they
made her uneasy.

  Probably because the man sitting nearby didn’t say much. He’d slouched in his seat, drink near his hand, elbow on the arm of the sofa and his fingers near his mouth as he studied the screen.

  After every episode, he’d queue up the next one. There were ten of them, forty minutes without commercials. Almost seven hours of privileged women prancing across the screen and getting into catfights over the most inane thing, or acting stupid because the viewers liked to think they were better than the people on-screen in some way. There were lunches, dinners, shopping trips where they spent ridiculous amounts of money.

  There was also dating. Paige had only gone on one date so far. That was the one with Donnie Warren. There hadn’t been any real sparks, but they’d pretended for the cameras. Wyatt hadn’t gotten to that episode yet.

  Paige was the one the others loved to hate. She refused to play stupid over anything, and they despised her for it. Except for Lily, who only pretended to be upset with her. The other princesses had meetings behind her back, complained about her, made plans to cut her from their lives. Servants strolled in and out of the frame, and that was when Wyatt seemed to pay even more attention.

  “Who’s that guy?” he’d ask.

  “Oh, that’s John. He’s an actor,” she’d say. Or some variation on that sentence each and every time. Sometimes the servants were real. The waiters and waitresses in restaurants were often real, though not always.

  “So he’s not been on the show again?” Wyatt would ask from time to time.

  “No. He was there for that episode. Haven’t seen him again.”

  After five episodes, Paige couldn’t take it another moment. As Wyatt let the next episode start to load, she got to her feet.

  “Can we take a break? Please?”

  He looked up at her with serious eyes. “I need to see these, Paige.”

  “You don’t have to see every single episode back to back. Let’s take a break. Please, I’m begging you.”

  He finally nodded and pressed the Stop button. “Okay.”

  She paced away from him, toward the kitchen, her stomach burning with shame and anger.

  “What’s wrong, Paige?”

  When she whirled around, Wyatt was there, looking concerned.

  Her feelings bubbled over like a pot of water left too long. She flung her arms wide. “I’m just sick of watching, okay? I thought—I thought I was getting somewhere in my career with the show. I had all those meetings with people—and not one of them took a chance on me. I watched every episode when it aired, and I never saw the patronizing expressions those men and women had before. Why didn’t I know they weren’t taking me seriously? Why didn’t I see they were making fun of me?”

  “I don’t think they were making fun of you, Paige. I think they were listening to you but having a hard time reconciling the brain inside the pretty head.”

  He held up a hand when she started to protest.

  “I’m not saying it’s fair or right. I’m not saying I agree. I’m saying they judged you based on the cover. They never opened the book. That’s their fault, not yours.”

  She put her forehead in her hand and shook her head. “I thought being over the top and outrageous would get me what I wanted. I thought the more attention I garnered, the more fans I’d gain. And then at least one of these manufacturers would see that and want to take a chance on my clothing line. But every one of them looked at me like I was wasting their time.”

  “So you’ll prove to them you weren’t.”

  Her lip trembled and she bit it. Dammit, it wasn’t like her to cry. She was stronger than this. “How?”

  His mouth flattened as he considered it. He didn’t know either, and that just made her feel even more despair than she already did.

  And yet she needed to suck it up, didn’t she? She still had more money and privilege than most. She could find a way to do this.

  “Put on your shoes, Paige.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you need to get out for a while. I’m taking you to town.”

  Eagle’s Ridge bustled with activity. It wasn’t raining in town anymore, though it had still been raining on the mountain when they’d come down. It was humid in the valley, and Paige was glad she’d opted for a sundress and sandals. She had a small sweater balled up in her purse in case she got cool, but it didn’t look very likely just yet.

  Wyatt took her to the town square. There was a big park not too far distant, and all the buildings facing the square were from the 1950s and 60s. There were cute little shops in some of them—an art gallery and an antique store as well as a hair salon and photography studio. There was also a coffee shop, a wine store, and a pizza joint. Hildie’s House was on the other side, in a quaint cottage with a front porch that ran the width of the house.

  In the park, people were busy putting up bunting and a crew hung American flags from all the lampposts. There was a gathering of carnival trucks with rides in a nearby parking lot.

  “They’re getting ready for the July Fourth celebration. The carnival will set up tomorrow and run all weekend. The event culminates with a big fireworks display on the evening of the Fourth. There’ll be a parade through downtown, and booths on display around the square with local crafts and food.”

  “Sounds like fun.”

  “If you’re still here, we can stop by. Probably safer to watch the fireworks from the mountain though.”

  If she was still here? The celebration was still a few days away, so it was possible the police would catch the guy harassing her and she’d be free to leave. A twinge of sadness hit her at the thought.

  What if she wasn’t ready to go?

  Wasn’t ready to go? Of course she was! She had a life to live in Seattle, a company to get off the ground—she couldn’t do those things from this tiny little place, no matter how pretty.

  Wyatt caught her hand as they walked. “Hildie’s around somewhere,” he said. “I can feel her eyes on us.”

  Paige would have laughed except she kind of liked that he’d grabbed her hand. She wished it was because he wanted to, not because of the town gossip and the idea she was supposed to be his visiting girlfriend rather than a client.

  He led them toward the Snake River where it cut the town in two. The path was pretty even though it was wet, and the sound of the river roiling against the banks was more peaceful than she’d have thought it could be.

  The other side of the river was where Mary Beth lived. Paige almost suggested visiting Wyatt’s grandmother but thought maybe that was pushing it a little far. She liked Mary Beth, but she didn’t want to spend more time with her as if they were going to remain a part of each other’s lives. She suspected that Mary Beth wouldn’t mind, but the thing was that Paige would. Mary Beth was motherly in a way that Paige had never had. It made her want to cling, and that wasn’t a good thing.

  “Feeling any better?” Wyatt asked after they’d been walking along the river path for a while.

  “Better, yes. But I still don’t have a solution.”

  He stopped and pulled her over to the railing where they could gaze down at the river.

  “Maybe you’re looking at it wrong. Maybe you need to consider some different angles. You wanted to find a manufacturer to partner with you, correct?”

  “Yes. I’ve had some test clothing made, but I need someone who is good at distribution and economies of scale. I could get everything made in China, but I don’t want to do that. It’s not the same quality, for one thing. I need a partner with the warehouses and the distribution connections. I need to know the timelines on production.”

  “Why don’t you partner with a retailer? The Pioneer Woman sells cookware in Walmart. Which do you think came first? She found the pots and pans, or she partnered with the retailer who could source that for her?”

  Paige frowned. It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought of the retailer option, but she felt like having the production in place would make it an easier sell. She wasn’t th
e Pioneer Woman. That was what a hit show and a huge audience could do for you.

  “I don’t think it matters. She had the audience to justify it—and Walmart came to her, I’d bet. She didn’t go to them.”

  “So how do you make them come to you?”

  “I was trying to do that with the show.”

  “Think about it for a second. The Pioneer Woman cooks. Walmart sells pots and pans. You want to sell clothing—but you were on a reality show about spoiled heiresses. Why would anyone want to buy clothes from you?”

  She frowned. “Because I wore really cute clothes on the show! And I styled some of the girls too. Everyone loved my outfits.”

  “You need Project Runway, not American Princess. Or you need to adjust your expectations. When we planned a mission in the SEALs, it sometimes took months. We’d go over every aspect of the intelligence, formulate a hundred ways it could work, test fire a metric ton of bullets, do live fire drills, and we’d run test scenarios again and again. We’d analyze the data, formulate a plan—with backup plans—and then we’d go. And honey, that’s even when we didn’t know we had a mission coming.”

  “How do you practice a mission when you don’t know it’s coming?”

  He grinned. “Exactly. But you do, because you have to be ready. It’s more about the techniques. You have to know how to behave in every possible situation. So you game it. Over and over and over. Until you can do it in your sleep. That’s what you have to do. Keep gaming it, keep working on it. Explore scenarios and test them all. One of them will work. You just don’t know which one yet.”

  She could only stare at him. Then she laughed. “I feel like I just climbed a mountain to see a guru and he gave me the vaguest answer possible. A total nonanswer that fixes nothing. The answer is within,” she intoned. “Look inside yourself for the truth.”

  He laughed. “Sorry. But I can’t fix it for you. I said you needed a show focused on fashion rather than one focused on a lifestyle most women don’t have access to. That’s the best I can do.”