One Night with His Rival Page 7

  He passed on the code and watched her stride off, red hair swishing, before he kicked a porch post as hard as he could. But he had to focus on his number one priority now. He needed to clear his name, and if that meant taking down Drake Darnel as an accomplice in this lie...

  Ring the bell.

  Bring it on.

  * * *

  Veda felt as if she had escaped a war zone. Breakfast with the Rawsons was supposed to have been a little shaky but ultimately fine. She should never have agreed to go. She should never have gotten with Ajax again, full stop. For whatever reason—and there were a few—it was always going to end badly.

  She took a shortcut to the Rawson office through a lush connecting paddock. Inhaling fresh air mixed with the smell of horse, she held each of her cheeks in turn, trying to pat away the heat. She had no prior knowledge of this doping incident. As for her father? Drake hated the Rawsons, but he wouldn’t stoop to criminal behavior to discredit them. Absolutely not.

  The Rawsons were the ones incriminated here, not the Darnels.

  As for Booshang being the one at the heart of this matter...she wasn’t about to blurt out her personal association with Paul in front of Ajax or anyone else; how suspicious would that look? She didn’t know whether Ajax had worked with Booshang to dope that horse, whether he’d done it before, and she didn’t want to know. As far as she was concerned, this was the end. Ajax could send as many flowers as he liked. He could call her until his redial finger dropped off. She would never buckle and see him again.

  She couldn’t get out of here fast enough.

  Using the code, Veda let herself into the building. She grabbed her gown, shoes and purse and headed for the door again. But then a series of glaring thoughts stopped her dead.

  Ajax’s denial of involvement had seemed genuine, but if he was involved, she doubted he would simply throw up his hands and confess, particularly in front of his family. His father. Could Paul Booshang prove Ajax’s involvement? Might there be some kind of evidence hidden away within these walls? A signed contract between the two men, maybe? But where would a person begin to look? If she dared, how much might she find?

  Veda’s ears pricked up. Through the open door, she heard a dog bark and hooves galloping nearer. She hurried out.

  On the back of a magnificent black Thoroughbred, Lanie was closing the distance between them, her long dark hair streaming behind her.

  Lanie had been kind enough to lend her these clothes. Her friend had also offered a welcoming comment when she and Ajax had entered the Rawsons’ dining room earlier, but she hadn’t met Veda’s gaze once. Obviously she wasn’t happy about her friend’s overnight arrangements. How much less impressed would Lanie be when she found out that this wasn’t the first time?

  With an armful of red evening gown, Veda was opening her car door when Lanie jumped out of her saddle.

  “I thought you and I should talk,” she said, tossing the reins over a rail as the Rawsons’ golden retriever scooted to a stop on her heels.

  “This isn’t the best time,” Veda said, dumping her belongings on the back seat.

  “You stayed with Ajax last night.” She was stroking her horse’s neck. “I had assumed he wasn’t your type.”

  “But then Ajax is every girl’s type, right?”

  Lanie’s hand dropped. “Who exactly are you angry with?”

  “I’m angry with myself.”

  “Because you made a mistake?”

  “Because I made two.” When Lanie’s eyebrows shot up, Veda slammed the door shut. “Don’t look at me like that.”

  “Well, see, here’s the funny part. Early last night, I caught him looking at you like a wolf might drool over a juicy lamb chop. I told him you were off-limits.”

  So Lanie had been looking out for her, defending her from her stud brother, while Veda had lied to her friend by omission.

  Veda slumped back against the car. “I should have told you.”

  “You don’t owe me an explanation. Women find my brother exceedingly attractive—irresistible, in fact—and he knows it.”

  “That makes me feel so much better.”

  “As long as the two parties involved are consenting adults who know the stakes, it’s off to the races, as they say.”

  Veda opened the driver’s-side door. “I don’t intend to see him again.”

  “Because of this doping business?”

  “Among other things.”

  “Playing hard to get will only make him chase you more.”

  Veda sank in behind the wheel. “I’m not playing.”

  The glint in Lanie’s bright blue gaze softened. “You’re my friend, no matter what happens between you and Ajax. And remember... I’m his sister, not his keeper. I don’t control what he does, how he feels. No one does.” Lanie shrugged. “And who knows? Maybe in you, the mighty Ajax will finally meet his match.”

  Veda was buckling her seat belt. “Don’t be facetious.”

  “I’m serious. Although if it’s proven that your dad is behind this doping plot...”

  “My father is not involved.”

  Lanie’s smile was wry. “For everyone’s sake, I hope not.”

  As Lanie rode off over the hill, Veda counted to ten. She liked Lanie but she didn’t like the conversation they’d just had. It brought back memories of her first-grade teacher, and others, telling her that she needed to be smarter. Try harder. It made her feel like she wasn’t sure about their friendship anymore.

  Like maybe all the Rawsons were more trouble than they were worth.

  Seven

  Ajax got to his feet as Veda made her way through the sea of round tables set up for the Best Life Now “Motivation Is Key” seminar.

  “Surprise,” he said as she jolted to a dead stop in front of him.

  Veda’s eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open like she’d just seen the ghost of lovers past. Two weeks had gone by since Lanie’s party, which had ended with him and Veda enjoying one hell of a reunion. While he hadn’t phoned or sent flowers, he hadn’t forgotten her. Along with the pain-in-the-butt doping scandal that hadn’t found a resolution yet, Veda had been at the forefront of his mind, particularly when he lay in bed at night. It would have driven him nuts if he hadn’t come up with this plan B.

  Veda’s presentation had ended ten minutes ago. While she had spoken with interested attendees who wanted to personally introduce themselves, the majority of the audience had left the room. Now Veda flickered a glance around, taking in the stragglers while running a palm down the side of her emerald-green pantsuit.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked in a hushed, harried tone.

  “You invited me,” Ajax explained.

  Her eyes widened again as she hissed, “I so did not invite you.”

  “You said I ought to come along to one of your seminars. I looked up your website, saw this gig, in beautiful Barbados no less, and ta-da!” He held out his hands. “Here I am.”

  Her chest rose and fell a few more times before she returned a smile laced with venom. “Well, I hope you found my talk enlightening. Now, if you’ll excuse me...”

  As she breezed past him and through one of the opened doors, Ajax drank in the vision of her swaying hips before he nodded goodbye to the kind and still curious ladies who had allowed him to join their table when he had arrived halfway through Veda’s talk.

  “If you’re through for the day,” he said, catching up, “I thought we could have a drink.”

  Veda smiled at attendees who nodded and waved at the same time she cut Ajax a response.

  “I think not.”

  “Veda, we need to talk.”

  She hitched the strap of her carryall higher on her shoulder. “Nothing to discuss.”

  “You’re not curious about the horse doping thing?”

  Her step faltered
before she strode on, chin even higher. “Not curious enough to get involved.”

  When they had spoken last, he’d said Booshang might be on the take with her father offering the bribe. He still had no proof of that, and there’d been some kind of delay with the test results. He only knew that given Drake’s grudge, a conspiracy theory fit, and his family agreed.

  Veda pushed open another door. Ajax was ready to follow her inside until the restroom sign stopped him dead.

  Five or so minutes later, Veda emerged from the women’s bathroom and strode past again, this time heading for the elevators. If she got inside, that was his cutoff point. He’d come here to talk, not to flat-out stalk. He was slowing his pace, backing off, when she ducked behind a huge framed poster set up in a largely unpopulated corner of the lobby. Then her arm slid out and a curling finger beckoned him over. Ajax darted a look around, wondering if this was some kind of trap, and joined her.

  “I’ll be clear,” she said. “Ajax, I don’t want to see you again.”

  Given the circumstances under which they had parted, he’d expected that. Now was the time to lay all his cards on the table. No holding back.

  “I came here in person to let you know face-to-face how I feel about you. How I feel about us.”

  She looked unmoved. “I already know how you feel. You think we’re good in bed.”

  “We aren’t good in bed, Veda. We’re phenomenal.”

  “Like you haven’t said that to a woman before.”

  “I know you feel it, too,” he said, ignoring that last dig. “Maybe it’s because we both grew up in families who own stables. Or maybe because we’re opposites in lots of ways, and opposites are meant to attract.”

  “Sometimes they repel. Like water and really oily slime.”

  He wouldn’t take offense. “That’s not how this is.” He edged closer. “That’s not you and me.”

  She hesitated like he might be getting through, but then she straightened and seemed to shake it off. “It doesn’t matter that we share an attraction.”

  Damn it. “The point is I miss you. And I think you miss me.”

  When she didn’t try to deny it, Ajax felt pressure as well as relief. Taking in every beautiful inch of her face—apple cheeks, cute nose and lips that were parted the barest amount—he knew this was the moment to act. So he set a palm against the wall near her head and oh so carefully leaned in. When he thought she might surrender, before he could actually connect, she dodged under his arm and was gone.

  But when he emerged from their hidey-hole behind the poster, he found that she hadn’t run away. Her expression wasn’t I’m yours, but she didn’t look like she wanted his balls on a chopping block anymore, either.

  She adjusted her bag strap again and conceded, “I guess...now that you’re here...”

  Ajax tried to hide his grin when he prodded.

  “Yes, Veda?”

  She blew out a resigned breath. “Well, I guess you can buy me one drink.”

  * * *

  While they found a table in an open-air bar with a spectacular view of the ocean, Veda told herself to calm the heck down. Her hands wanted to shake. Her heart was pumping like a steam train piston. After two weeks with no word, she had assumed Ajax had lost interest. Which had hurt—a lot—but was better than the alternative, which entailed finding the wherewithal not to answer if he called.

  She’d been beyond shocked—and pissed—that he had taken it upon himself to show up at this exclusive seminar out of the blue. How rude. How presumptuous. On the other hand, yes, she was also a teeny bit flattered. He had obviously been thinking about her, and God knows she’d been thinking about him, too...in more ways than one.

  “So, you really don’t want to know what’s happening with that ridiculous doping allegation?” Ajax asked, like he’d read her mind.

  “Let me guess.” Sitting across from him, she inhaled the fresh, beach-scented air and set her bag down. “Your lawyer brother hasn’t found any link to my father.”

  The gleam in his eyes said not yet. “Although Drake was happy to make a comment to the press when asked.”

  “Unfavorable, I suppose.”

  “You could say that.” He sat back, looking like a dream in a shirt the same color as the water, a light breeze combing through his hair. “Jacob has tried to speak with Booshang. He’s not cooperating.”

  “Which doesn’t let you off the hook.”

  Paul Booshang had implicated Ajax, but he had worked for the Darnel Stables in the past, when she was a girl. Back then, if her father had ever found out that Paul was up to no good, he’d have been out on his ear.

  Then again, Drake didn’t know everything, did he?

  “So I presume the results were positive,” she said.

  “They haven’t come back yet. Some kind of delay at the lab. In the meantime, Jacob has his people digging around, trying to get to the bottom of it all. Other than Booshang’s claim that I organized the whole deal, there’s not a shred of evidence.”

  “Or evidence to the contrary.”

  “And thanks for the continued vote of confidence.”

  Her smile was tight. “You’re welcome.”

  An impeccably dressed waiter appeared, setting down the drinks as Ajax asked, “Have you spoken to your father?”

  “I dropped in before driving home that morning. Word travels fast in the racing industry. He’d already heard.”

  “And he asked you to pass on his best wishes, right?”

  “Actually, he said that he’d always known this kind of thing would come out.”

  “Particularly if he helped set us up.”

  She stirred her creamy mocktail with her straw. “When you find out that my father had nothing to do with this, I’ll accept your apology.”

  “I’ll look forward to his apology as well.”

  That would never happen. Never in a hundred years. In a million.

  “So have you and Lanie spoken?” he asked, changing the subject as he picked up his glass.

  Veda remembered their talk outside the Rawsons’ office building that morning.

  “She said whatever happened between us was our business. But she wasn’t exactly cheering from the sidelines. She said she is in no way responsible for your behavior.”

  He paused before setting his beer back down. “I don’t need to defend myself.”

  “Then don’t.”

  He got back on point. “I care about you, Veda. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

  Veda remembered Lanie’s parting remark about her being the one who might bring the mighty Ajax Rawson down. Before that, Lanie had said that playing hard to get would only make Ajax more determined to see her again. She hadn’t been playing, and yet here he was.

  Which raised an obvious question.

  “You must have pursued other women,” she said, stirring her drink some more.

  “The point is I’m pursuing you. Pursuing us.”

  With those seductive blue eyes smiling into hers, he looked so convincing. But if Lanie was right, Ajax’s relationships were largely about the chase. Veda had been putty in his hands the first time; she’d been won over the second. If she gave in a third time and let him think that she was seriously falling for him, would the Stud pull back on his reins? If she upped the ante and said she wanted a future together, would he turn tail and run?

  Pursuing him rather than the other way around was an insane idea. Even dangerous as far as her heart was concerned. But now she couldn’t help but wonder.

  Ajax cared about her?

  Exactly how much, and for how long?

  “The seminar’s organizers are putting on a dinner tonight,” she said, really curious now. “I can take someone.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “You’re asking me?”

  “You want to spend time together,
right?”

  “Right. Except...”

  Except, suddenly this was too easy?

  “You don’t want to come?” she asked, feeling bolder now.

  He gave her a smoldering, lopsided grin. “Of course I want to come.”

  Veda’s stomach jumped before she manufactured an encouraging smile.

  “So, dinner tonight?”

  His cocky grin widened. “It just so happens that I’m free.”

  Eight

  Ajax finished fastening the Tiffany cuff links before swinging the formal jacket off its hanger and slotting his arms into the sleeves. Standing before his hotel suite’s full-length mirror, he ran his fingers through his shower-damp hair, then blew out a long breath.

  To the starting gates, boys.

  Following Veda here to Barbados had seemed like a no-brainer. It was either make a big gesture or continue to have her sail right out of his life. He couldn’t let that happen. Not without giving it his all. But he hadn’t thought that getting her back would be this, well, easy.

  As he sat on the edge of the bed, slipping his feet in his shoes, Ajax remembered how he’d imagined Veda’s initial reaction: shock followed by a flip of the bird. He’d been stoked when she caved and agreed to a drink instead. Tying the first shoelace, he recalled how she’d warmed up more at the bar. Not only had she agreed to see him again, she’d invited him to this dinner. It had crossed his mind to suggest that she come up to his room beforehand, because by that time, he’d gotten the impression she wouldn’t say no.

  Pulling the second shoelace taut, it snapped right off in his hand. Ajax tossed the piece aside and got on the phone to the concierge.

  “Strange request. I need a shoelace,” he said as his gaze landed on the king-size bed. He imagined Veda lying there naked among the cushions, calling him over, and couldn’t they please stay the whole week?