“Good morning,” I say.
“Morning.” Ryder pulls me to his side before I can move past him and gives me a quick kiss on the mouth. He hasn’t shaved, and the hair on his jaw scrapes my skin deliciously.
Elizabeth raises an eyebrow, but a smile tugs at her mouth. “The chef saved you an omelet.”
On cue, a plate of omelet shows up along with utensils and a thick cloth napkin. I sit and start eating. It’s fluffy, with three of my favorite cheeses. The housekeeper places a glass of OJ beside the plate, for which I thank her quietly.
“I just heard from Oliver.” I turn to Elizabeth to bring her up to speed. “My sister got into a car accident yesterday.”
“Oh no! I hope she’s all right.”
“What did he say?” Ryder asks.
“She’s fine. I can go see her today.” Thankfully the weather’s nice, so I won’t have to deal with people acting like the world is coming to an end on the highways. “I was thinking about going after breakfast.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Don’t you have a meeting?”
“It can wait. This is more important.”
I smile at him. “Thank you.”
Ryder squeezes my shoulder and kisses the spot behind my earlobe. The affectionate gesture makes me flush, but I’d lying if I said I wasn’t happy.
He glances at his buzzing phone. I lean over, curious. Not ten people in the world have that number.
“Don’t be nosy,” he scolds, though his voice lacks any heat. “I gotta take this.”
He disappears upstairs.
“So,” Elizabeth says in a stage whisper. “You guys make up?”
“I guess so.”
“I’m glad.” She smiles, resting her chin in her hand. “You’re so perfect together. It’s obvious you have feelings for each other.”
“You really think so?”
“Uh-huh. Ryder obviously adores you, and way you look at him…well, I know that look.”
My jaw slackens. Since I just realized I love him, her observation about me isn’t entirely wrong, but…Ryder?
He loves what we do for each other in bed. I guess that’s a feeling of sort, but not the kind she’s talking about. If Elizabeth thinks he adores me, it’s only because that’s what he wants her to believe.
After all, he is a very talented actor.
“Did I say something?” Elizabeth peers at me.
“No.” I force a quick smile. “I was just thinking about Bethany.”
She nods, but it’s obvious she doesn’t buy it. “Give him a chance, Paige. I know it’s hard to believe a playboy like him can be sincere, but he’s not a bad guy. Not in his heart, where it counts. And I’m not saying that just because he’s my brother.”
“I know,” I say quickly.
Her gaze remains skeptical, and I’m sure she doesn’t understand why I’m reacting like this to her observations. The thing is, I don’t want Ryder to know how I really feel about him. Countless women before me have told him they loved him, and he always responds with a rueful combination of pity and resignation. I don’t think I could stand it, to see that look on his face and know that, this time, it was directed at me.
I already know his heart is off-limits for me. The least I should be able to do is keep my pride.
* * *
Ryder
I shut the door in my office before calling the detective. Benjamin Clark is on retainer with Mom’s side of the family, and he is eminently trustworthy. I texted him yesterday to figure out what’s going on.
“Benjamin,” I say. “It’s Ryder.”
“Thanks for getting back to me. Your instincts were right.”
Icy fear knots my gut. I found the circumstances of Bethany’s accident strange. She grew up in Idaho just like Paige. There was no reason for her to be driven off the road, unless the other driver was driving too fast and didn’t bother to hit the brakes.
“The victim was driving an Altima, which is registered to your fiancée. According to my source within the police, the other car didn’t slow down at all. Unless the brakes just weren’t working, it was deliberate.”
“Fuck.” I sit down, my legs unsteady. Bethany was driving Paige’s car? Then the target was probably Paige, not Bethany.
“Are you aware that your fiancée has quite a few …detractors? I saw at least three comments on social media about wanting to put her in her proper place, and I wasn’t even trying to find anything in particular about her.” Benjamin harrumphs. “Normally I would chalk it up to idiotic people being loud-mouthed, but given what happened to her sister…”