Taming the Moguls (2 page)

Lyle’s girlfriend blinked her big brown eyes
as he whispered into her ear. A sharp stab of envy rose in Kevin’s
gut and settled right between his ribs. When was the last time
Shiloh had looked at Kevin the way Lyle’s girlfriend looked at
him—as if he’d slayed an army of dragons instead of suggesting
something lewd in her ear? Of course, when was the last time Kevin
had held his wife’s hand, offered her a kiss on her knuckles, or
suggested they partake in something racy? Hell, when was the last
time he’d looked at her—really looked at his wife? Probably when
he’d watched her rolling her suitcase out the door of their new
home. Before then, he felt ashamed to admit he didn’t know.

Kevin stood up straight as Lyle, their mom
and stepdad, and Lyle’s new girlfriend followed Jill Jennings, or
whatever her new name was, outside to the limo he’d spotted
earlier. The bride and groom looked so happy, so full of love for
one another. He twisted away from the revelry and went back toward
his room, determined to find that kind of happiness again with his
wife.

After discovering Shiloh with another man,
he’d jumped to conclusions and accused her of things he knew she
wouldn’t do, getting him nowhere but put in the dog house. The dog
house was damn lonely. He’d almost blown things when Lyle spotted
him outside catching a breath of air. Lyle had promised not to say
anything to their mom about seeing him at the hotel. He’d deal with
her later.

The first thing he had to do was get Shiloh
away from the protective glare of her parents. It wouldn’t be easy.
Shiloh had always longed to be the center of his world the way
she’d been the center of her parents’. She
was
the center of his world, but he had to make a
living.

His mom had always told him to choose
something he loved and make that a career. “You spend too much time
at work to hate every second of every day,” she’d said over and
over and over again. Deciding to become a pilot had satisfied
everyone. He used his love of flying to support himself and Shiloh.
The hours were long and unpredictable, especially since he’d been
working so hard to move up the ranks and possibly join a larger
carrier, but he had to do his time. Doing his time had taken a toll
on his marriage and hadn’t gotten him anywhere with his job.

He’d known Shiloh wasn’t happy. He thought
buying a house would help, and it did at first. Then, every room
needed updating. They were already stretched thin with the
mortgage. Paint, tile, rugs, accessories, fabrics…everything came
with a price. Not to mention the utilities, insurance, and general
maintenance. They were over their heads before they even knew what
had happened.

So, he’d lost his wife and his job. Unlike
Shiloh, he hadn’t come home to lick his wounds. Kevin Woodward came
back to Hailey to reclaim his wife and figure out his next move.
Watching love unfold in front of him with the newlyweds and Lyle,
Kevin was more determined than ever to forge a new path.

Chapter 3

Gretchen Lowry fumbled with the thermostat of
the rental car, trying in vain to warm the interior. She couldn’t
believe how much colder a ten-degree difference made. Everyone
thought Chicago was cold in the winter. In Colorado, she felt
chilled to the bone.

It could be nerves
,
she told herself as she followed her GPS away from the lights of
Westmoreland into the darkness of the rural parts of the valley.
She wondered again if exploring at night was a good idea, but she’d
been too antsy to sit around her hotel room. Lingering at the hotel
bar had seemed like a bad idea with the wedding reception spilling
into the hallway. She wanted to remain inconspicuous for as long as
possible.

Tommy’s businesses had been easy enough to
find on the Internet considering every one of them included his
last name. She appreciated the display of the wit he rarely shared.
She remembered how long it had taken her to break through his icy
exterior and discover his warm, sensitive side. They’d gone from
bitter enemies to cautious cohabitants to lovers in the span of
five years. It had only taken a fraction of that time to reverse
course and go back to being bitter enemies.

At least that’s how she knew Tommy felt.

Gretchen shook away her mood and pressed
forward. She shouldn’t look back when everything about her trip
meant moving forward. It was just a coincidence—an odd, disarming,
too-alluring-to-resist coincidence—that Tommy Golden, her first and
only love, lived in the valley where she’d been sent for work. She
tapped the brakes when the speed limit changed to thirty-five
through the main thoroughfare of Hailey. In no time, she was back
to sixty with only a smattering of cars on the two-lane highway to
shine their lights in her windshield.

Her stomach tightened when the GPS announced
her destination was ahead in a cluster of dimly lit businesses. She
recognized the Golden Tap sign moments before she turned into the
gravel parking lot and idled with her headlights shining on the
restaurant’s front entrance. A piece of paper was taped to the red
front door.

Gretchen looked around the deserted area
before getting out of her car and approaching the entrance. “Closed
for the Bloodworth-Jennings wedding,” the sign said in Tommy’s
distinctive, slanted scrawl. His bold handwriting brought a lump to
her throat and reminded her of the notes he’d shoved under the door
of her apartment in college. She kept every one safely hidden back
in Chicago. The most tender were fraying along the fold lines.

She looked left and right before pressing her
face to the glass to get a look inside. If the Bloodworth-Jennings
wedding was the same one she’d avoided back in Westmoreland, Tommy
more than likely had been at the hotel! She jumped when her
headlights flicked off. She took it as a sign she needed to hurry.
She wouldn’t be able to explain why she was snooping around after
ten o’clock on a Saturday night.

She walked the twenty-five yards or so to the
Golden Rule Raft and Fly Shop that shared the same parking lot as
the Golden Tap. The official “Closed for the Season” sign helped
explain how Tommy ran four businesses. He’d always been ambitious,
but she couldn’t understand how one man could keep the details of
four businesses straight.

She tugged her coat tight around her and made
her way back to her car, shivering. She rubbed her hands together
before typing in the address to Golden Mountain Sports, but she
needn’t have bothered; it sat right across the highway for easy
access to the pass that led to the ski lift. She felt an insane
pride well in her chest for everything Tommy had accomplished.
She’d known he would succeed at whatever he chose to do. She’d
never met anyone so determined to make his own way in life.

Gretchen input one more address and hit Go
with a shaking finger. Going by his house was risky, but she
couldn’t turn back, especially when the GPS said she was only three
miles from her destination. “Three miles and ten years,” she said
and pulled back onto the crisscrossing highway. When she was
instructed to make a right onto a pebbled drive, she wondered if
she should turn around. Doing a casual drive by would be impossible
if Tommy lived deep in the woods with little to no neighbors.

Despite her trepidation, she crept forward
around curves and up an incline until his paved driveway came into
sight. She marveled at the stone and cedar home that seemed to have
taken root and grown up through the towering trees. His massive
wooden front door was flanked by two gas-burning lamps that cast an
inviting glow over the deep porch. An illuminated lamp sat on a
desk near the window, and a floodlight flashed when two deer
emerged from the fringe of trees and nibbled on the grass in the
side yard. Gretchen knew she was pressing her luck by idling in the
middle of the road staring at the house of the man who’d made quite
a life for himself without her.

Did he share that home with a woman? Did he
live alone? Did he have children? She’d find out. From the sizes of
the towns she’d driven through and the nature of his business, she
wouldn’t be able to avoid running into him on her trip.

Chapter 4

Lyle Woodward couldn’t keep the smile off his
face when, just as Jill and Ty’s limo pulled away. Erica turned
into his arms and burrowed against his chest.

“Let’s go home,” she said while peeking up at
him through her lashes. She’d snared him from the very first look,
and he felt happily trapped.

“Your wish is my command.” Lyle waved at his
mom and stepdad as he led Erica to his SUV. He opened her door,
settled her inside, and jogged around the hood to the driver’s
side. He started the car and raised the heat, willing it to warm as
quickly as possible. The last thing he needed was for Erica to cool
down. He reached over and rubbed her leg below the hem of her
pretty dress. “The heat takes a minute to get going.”

She laced her fingers through his. “The
temperature has really dropped.”

“You’ve never experienced winter until you’ve
experienced winter in the valley.”

“Does it snow much?” she asked.

“Not really. The mountains provide a buffer,
so we don’t get as much snow as you’d think, but that buffer holds
the cold air against the valley floor and keeps us frigid until
spring.”

“How cold is frigid?”

He thought about lying but decided to tell
the truth. “Sometimes as low as forty below.”

She turned her head, her mouth tipped low at
the corners. “You’re kidding, right?”

Lyle put the SUV in reverse and chuckled.
“Why do you think I’ve got so much firewood stacked outside my
place?”

“I thought you knew I liked it when you’d
chop wood without your shirt.”

He cut his eyes in her direction. “I didn’t
know you were watching.”

“Oh, come on. All that flexing and posing?
You totally knew I was watching.”

“Well, maybe once or twice,” he admitted. “I
had to get you back for distracting me. Do you know how hard it is
to work on your brother’s book when a beautiful woman is singing
just across the river?”

She shoved his arm. “I didn’t know I was
bothering you or that my voice carried that far.”

“Listening to you sing is never a bother.
Have you written any songs?”

“No,” she said with a sigh. When she turned
to look out the window, Lyle regretted bringing up her struggle to
read and write. “Every time I try, I get frustrated. I’m getting
better, but I’m not learning as fast as I want. I think my time’s
better spent on the reading material Olivia gave me.”

“I could write the songs down for you,” he
suggested.

“You could, but then you’d take away one of
my motivations to become a stronger reader. I’m going to do this on
my own.” She snorted. “If I’m stuck inside all winter, I should be
ready to take the GED by spring.”

“You can do whatever you put your mind to.
I’m so proud of everything you’ve accomplished.” She’d gone from a
scared and defensive pain in his ass to the center of his life.
That she only saw her weaknesses and not her incredible strength
bothered him more than he could express.

“I haven’t accomplished much yet. But I will.
I want Jack to be proud of me. I want to be proud of myself. I want
to be someone you can be proud to be with.”

He looked over when he felt the heat of her
stare. “Erica, I’m already proud to be with you.”

She smiled and glanced away. Even in the
darkened cab, he could tell she was blushing. They rode in silence
until the turnoff for her drive. “Lyle, stop.”

He pressed the brakes hard at her sharp
command. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I…” She stared at her lap and
twisted her hands tightly together. “I don’t want to go home.”

His heart gave one hard knock against his
ribcage, a warning shot to remind him not to get his hopes up. “You
don’t?”

She peeked at him and shook her head.

“I don’t think much is open at this
hour.”

Her eyes pleading, she huffed out a breath.
“Are you going to make me say it?”

“Say what?”

“I don’t want to go to my home. I want to go
to yours.”

Keep it light
. Too
much emotion in either direction would send her running back home.
“I’m not walking you across the river in this weather.”

“I’ll walk myself across.” Before he could
utter the words
over my dead body,
she
said, “In the morning.”

Lyle let the heady rush of anticipation wash
over him as he stared into her eyes. They were as dark as coal and
so beautiful they made him ache. He whipped the car around and
punched the gas before she could change her mind. Her feminine
giggles filled his head. “I’m not going to ask if you’re sure
because I might cry if you change your mind.”

“I’m not going to change my mind. I want
this. I want you. I have for a long time.”

“Why tonight?” he asked as he made the final
turn toward home.

She shrugged. “I don’t know if it was the
wedding, or Jack and Olivia’s announcement, or maybe both, but I’m
tired of waiting until I feel worthy. For whatever reason, you want
to be with me—”

“I do, and there are too many reasons to
list.”

“I want to be with you, too. So, why not
tonight?”

Lyle threw the car into park and leaned over
the console, putting his face a hairsbreadth from hers. He threaded
his hand through her hair and stifled a growl when she rested her
cheek against his palm. Words, held for so long in his heart,
sprang free. “I love you, Erica.”

Her eyes flew open, and she sucked in a
breath. “Oh, Lyle, I love you, too.”

When she reached for him, he jerked back and
shot from the car. He yanked her door open and had her in his arms
before she could catch her breath. He fixed his lips to hers,
kicked the door closed, and carried her to the threshold. It would
have been easier to open the door to his cabin if he could have
taken his eyes and lips off of Erica, but he didn’t want to break
contact. He groaned when the door flew open, and they stumbled
inside.