A Cowboy in Disguise (8 page)

Scott nudged Alexandra with his elbow. “Look at it this way—we’ll get to know the
Zellez
team a little more intimately.”

“Goody,” Alexandra mumbled. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

•

When one of the men from
Zellez
invited Scott and Alexandra to join them for dinner that evening, how could they politely refuse? The man had seemed so sincere and the hotel was nearly vacant due to the blizzard. As the only guests, there was no way Alexandra could have said no without being rude.

She liked two of the men from
Zellez
and had an easy time talking with them. If Duncan bowed out, the meal might even have a chance at being pleasant.

Alexandra dressed quickly in jeans and a purple turtleneck sweater and ran out to meet Scott in the hall. He walked at her side all the way to the lounge.

“No matter what this Duncan fellow says, don’t worry. I’ve got your back,” he assured. “And I won’t even let on that I know about his legal shenanigans.”

“That’s the least of my dread.”

The five of them sat together at a rectangular table that was far too large for their small party. Alexandra was grateful she was seated as far from Duncan as the table would allow. The thought of looking at him made her think of throwing something all over again, and this time she’d bet a lovely salad fork would quite literally make a better impression than boxes of takeout.

One of Duncan’s companions, a short man named Roger with dark hair and a ruddy complexion, broke the ice. “I suppose this is consorting with the enemy.” He lifted his glass in a toast. “Here’s to a clean fight.”

Scott refilled his glass and joined in the toast. “So tell me, Roger. How long have you been with
Zellez
?”

“Oh, going on five years now. The company has been really good to us. Mike here has been there seven years, and Duncan started about three years ago. Is that right, Duncan? Three years, isn’t it?”

Duncan bobbed his head in affirmation, brought his glass back to his lips and drained the contents. “Three years ago. I can hardly remember what I was doing before that.” He ran the back of his hand crudely across his mouth and plunked the empty glass down on the table.

Not missing the jibe, Alexandra sawed into her steak with renewed determination. “Oh, I’m sure it was something rewarding. You’ve built quite the career, or so it seems.” She smiled the type of perfectly polite, icy smile that made Scott glad he was no longer on the receiving end.

The man Roger had referred to as Mike picked up the conversation. “It must have been pretty alarming to be caught in an avalanche like that. What exactly happened anyway?”

Scott swallowed a bite and said, “Apparently they were supposed to set off a controlled avalanche before we got there, just as a safety precaution. Guess they got the dates wrong, if you can believe that.”

“Sounds like a pretty big mix-up to me. Could you even get out of the cabin?” Mike asked.

Alexandra nodded. “We dug out the next morning.”

Duncan’s eyes were red-rimmed as he refilled his glass. “What did you do that night, I wonder?” He snickered into his drink.

Roger cleared his throat and his face turned even redder than usual. “I’m sure he means what did you do for food and heat? Was there a fireplace?” He shot his colleague a bewildered look.

Alexandra felt Scott grow tense beside her and calmly placed her foot on top of his for just a moment to signal she was all right.

“Yes, Roger, there was a wonderful fireplace and we were fortunate enough to find food stocked in the cupboards.” Still the picture of politeness, she turned back to Duncan. “Duncan, I hope this isn’t too personal, but I’ve been meaning to ask you all night about that little scar on your forehead. Is there a fascinating story behind it?”

So Duncan wanted to play games, did he? He was about to meet his match.

Duncan sat silent, looking sullen for a moment before setting down his glass again. “I hit my head on the edge of a coffee table a few years back.”

“Oh my,” Alexandra declared in wide-eyed innocence. “Why on earth were you under a coffee table?”

Duncan leaned forward. “I wasn’t. I turned to see something flying at my head and ducked to avoid it.”

Alexandra’s insides leapt with victory as the image of Japanese takeout cartons flying through the air at him came to mind. She bet she’d hit him after all. Good.

“Must have been painful.”

“No, it was a good evening for me,” he said. “I look at this scar and it reminds me of a time when I got rid of a lot of excess baggage and achieved exactly what I’d planned.”

Alexandra’s hand clenched her fork until her knuckles turned white. The man was admitting he’d conned her and she couldn’t do a thing about it. The others at the table looked back and forth between her and Duncan, not understanding what was happening.

•

An uneasy feeling crept over Scott. This conversation was too personal, too vindictive to just be about stolen company secrets. After what they’d shared in the cabin and the conversation they’d had, she would have told him otherwise, wouldn’t she?

Duncan pressed on, “I’ve been noticing something all night, too. When we last met, I could have sworn you had a lovely diamond ring on your finger. No personal tragedy has befallen you, I trust?”

Alexandra’s composure held firm. “You’re so kind to inquire. But no, I’m afraid the ring you refer to was nothing, just a cheap imitation of the real thing, much like the man who gave it to me, I’m afraid.” She addressed the other men at the table with a winsome smile. “I really dodged a bullet with that one.” She laughed and winked at them, causing them to laugh in return. Her energy was contagious when she wielded it that way.

After half a dozen drinks and the laughter of his companions assailing his ego, Duncan’s poise wasn’t so intact. “You weren’t woman enough to wear that ring, Alexandra,” he spat. “If it hadn’t been for your corporate connections, you wouldn’t have been able to amuse me in any way while we were together. Oops, I guess you didn’t, even at that.” Duncan tossed his napkin onto the table. “I’m through with this dinner and I’m through with you.”

Duncan staggered to his feet and Scott jumped to his. He had a good idea of what had passed between them, but where he came from, a man didn’t treat a woman that way, especially not in public.

“You’re not even close to finished,” he said. “You owe the lady an apology and I want to hear it now.”

Duncan looked Scott up and down, judging his strength and knowing when he was beaten. “My obviously oh-so-sincere apologies,” he snarled and tottered out of the room. He knocked against his empty cup as he moved away, and it crashed to the floor without him bothering to pick it up.

Mike and Roger both stood, stammering and red-faced. “We’re so sorry. We apologize,” they said together several times. “We don’t know what could have come over him. Again, let us apologize.”

They each spoke a stream of embarrassed sentences in unison, stopping and stumbling over each other’s words before running down the hall to catch Duncan.

Scott and Alexandra sat alone at the table. He turned to her, “Duncan was also the man you were involved with, wasn’t he?”

Alexandra nodded miserably.

“Why didn’t you tell me? We’re supposed to be on the same side here. Why didn’t you trust me?”

“I don’t know, Scott. I didn’t really even think to say anything. I just felt so stupid. I mean, take a good look at the guy. Stupid, ugly, stupid beard.”

“Tell me what you really think.” Scott shook his head. “After all that time in the cabin, you didn’t think to tie the pieces together for me? You told me about the stolen documents and then about the man who had hurt you—your former fiancé nonetheless. But, you never had any intention of really letting me know you, did you?”

“Not then. It seemed too personal at the time.”

The thought of Duncan, that puffed-up philanderer so much as laying a finger on her beautiful skin, touching and kissing her—the image cut straight through him. How could she have settled for, given herself to a man so undeserving? How could a man like that have betrayed someone so wonderful as Alexandra Hunter? The world was an upside-down place.

“I’m not sure if you’re angry with me or jealous,” she said in disbelief. “One thing is for sure, though. We let things go too far in the cabin. We’ve let personal feelings leak over into business.”

“I hope you don’t consider that a problem. I don’t. I just realized I jumped to a few too many conclusions, Alex. What I know for sure is that you and I have feelings of some sort for each other. Don’t you think we should find out where they lead? Come on, forget about Duncan and get to know me better. Heck, for all you know, I really could have been fooling around with celebrities in Europe all my life.”

“You don’t really think I still believe that, do you?” She ran her hand across her forehead. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I think Duncan’s little display at dinner tonight is an excellent example of exactly why I’m better cut out for a career than a relationship.”

“I’m just saying I obviously don’t know you well enough yet to have earned your trust, but I can’t figure out why you didn’t just tell me about Duncan right from the moment we met him here at the hotel. I’m not some dumb cowboy who deserves to be treated with deception.”

Even before he finished his last sentence, he wondered if his words were meant for Alexandra, or if they were something he should have said to Mackenzie a long time ago. Scott cringed inside. This was not the untrustworthy Mackenzie he was talking to.

“I’m private that way,” she said. “That much you should know by now. And I imagine you understand it.”

He saw her recognition of the look his eyes as he recalled a memory of hurt and betrayal. She’d probably seen that same look staring back at her from her mirror.

“I’m sorry, Alex.”

“We’re both really tired, Scott. I didn’t mean to keep anything from you. I just think we’ve been through a lot the past few days. If I’d been more professional around you in the cabin, you wouldn’t feel so strongly about what happened at dinner tonight. See, this is exactly one of the reasons office romances never work. Hey, what happened to ‘I’ve got your back, Alex,’ huh? Let’s just stick to that.”

She smiled soothingly at him, but he paid her little attention.

Scott turned and started to leave the room. “I’ve still got your back, Alex. I could have pounded Phelps into the ground for a second there. We may not know each other well enough yet, but I already can’t stand the thought of him hurting you.”

His voice was softer than he would have liked, and yet he didn’t turn back to look at her again before he walked away. He didn’t know which was worse, the thought of her relationship with Duncan, or the fear that she might not give him the chance to build a relationship of his own with her.

Scott left early the next morning on a flight bound for his home office in Chicago. He needed a couple days to sort things out in his head, and handling some tasks at work seemed a good excuse.

Two years in a relationship with Mackenzie had eroded his trust in love more than he’d imagined. There were no similarities at all between the two women, though. His judgment was clear enough to see that, his pain long enough gone. Mackenzie had stopped at nothing to promote her own financial interests, even playing with his heart and threatening his family in Montana. How would he ever get closer to Alexandra? He was afraid his reaction to Duncan had simply pointed out all of the complications of an office romance to her, and she was finished with him before they’d even started.

•

Alexandra was relieved she’d be taking her return flight to Seattle alone. Just when she started to feel something for him, he’d stepped all over that budding emotion by showing her exactly why personal attachments had no place in the office. Things could get too intense, too fast.

She cursed herself for her unprofessional behavior in the mountain cabin. The heated towels—whatever had possessed her to go along with something so stupid? She’d told herself all along to listen to her head and never her heart, and here was proof of why. No, there was no way she was going to look at Scott Falconer with anything other than professional interest again. The risk was far too great.

“Who am I kidding?” she whispered aloud to herself. “I’m still absolutely crazy about the big jerk.” She closed her eyes tightly and shook her head. “I might be in trouble here.”

When Alexandra walked into the building, Sarah followed her down the hall to her office like a lost puppy. “Well, well?” She almost jumped up and down with excitement. “You have to tell me the details. What happened in Colorado? Are they from Scott Falconer?”