The Secret Twin

She raced to scoop her phone off the coffee table and turned her back on the two women, who seemed content to snack on their muffins. She thumbed the text open to find...

A message from Ward.

Butterflies launched inside her. She shouldn’t feel this excited, but she did. And she couldn’t afford to be distracted by hormones, not when she finally had a real chance at the answers she craved.

Then she read his message, and it was as if the floor fell away beneath her feet.

I’ll be by at seven to pick you up for supper with the Steeles. Be ready to help me make nice with all your family members on the board.

So much for keeping a lock on her emotions. Her body was already on fire at just the thought of seeing him again.

* * *

Ward knew he was pushing it with the impromptu dinner out with the Steeles. But he’d wanted to see Brea, and this was the fastest, easiest way to lock that down. He didn’t want to think overlong about how damn much he looked forward to seeing her. Better to keep it simple. This was a short-term thing between them. He was married to his work.

So he could just enjoy the moment, and yes, this potential for a fling. By the time she figured out he had set up the get-together, it would be too late. She would already be sitting at the table.

Would she be mad?

Almost certainly.

Was she sexy when riled up?

Absolutely.

He’d been surprised by how much he wanted to see her again. How his intentions had shifted so quickly from wanting to keep an eye on her to wanting to follow through on their attraction. Now he saw that his dating idea had no doubt sprung from the heat that flared whenever they were near each other. But if that played out into a fling, he could handle it. His emotions were locked down tight after the number his ex had pulled on him.

He guided his SUV through the night, headlights striping bands of illumination into the snowy air ahead, Brea in the passenger seat, quiet since he’d picked her up. Likely there were other ways to keep watch over her, but this was far more...entertaining.

Snowflakes sprinkled down, glinting in the beams. Brea looked stunning sitting beside him in a royal-blue wool coat and black leather boots. Her hair was draped over one shoulder in an appealing onyx waterfall. She sat so still and regal, he would have thought her unaffected by this evening together if not for the way she picked at her short fingernails.

Low music played from the speakers, his playlist of classical guitar music.

Brea sighed heavily.

He stifled a grin. “You seem angry, my dear.”

“My dear?” She turned in her seat toward him, the dash lights casting her face in seductive shadows. “Are you serious? No one’s watching us.”

“But you are my dear, new girlfriend.” Flicking his eyes from the road, he met her eyes.

“Fake girlfriend. And since no one’s around, let’s make some ground rules.”

“Such as?” He gripped the leather steering wheel as he accelerated. The sound of the exhaust mingled with the few other trucks on the road.

“You could start telling me about these plans of yours—the whole dating thing and going to the family dinner—earlier than a few minutes ahead of time.”

He didn’t bother noting that he’d given her a few hours to prepare. He got her point. “If I had given you too much advance notice, would you have come along?”

“You’ll never know, will you? You didn’t give me the chance to decide.” She crossed her arms, head turning away from him to look out the window at the snow lightly falling from the sky.

“I do know,” he retorted without hesitation. Then felt the need to own up to planning this. His gut served him well in business. He would think of this arrangement with her like business. “If I’d made the reservations for later in the week, you would have come up with excuses.”

“That’s my right.”

“Yes, it is.” SUV idling at a stoplight, he waited, knowing she would come to the obvious conclusion.

“All right, but if I decline, then I don’t get the inside scoop on my family. Fine.” She huffed in exasperation. “So how about from now on, you give me the opportunity to say yes or no and see what happens.”

“Fair enough. I will take that under consideration.”

Mouth twitching into a satisfied smile, he approached the one-story brown cottage, which had been turned into a restaurant, more eager for her approval than he wanted to admit.

The historic brown building with cream trim seemed bright against the gray backdrop of February skies. Guiding the SUV into the parking lot, he readied himself for this next encounter.

A favorite place of his. Simple from the outside, like a small home, but the restaurant boasted top-notch Alaskan seafood cuisine, the menu changing weekly. With only a dozen tables, it offered an intimate setting. He’d booked the place for the entire night to avoid prying eyes as they became comfortable with other.

He passed the keys to the valet and joined Brea under the covered walk leading to the front door. He clasped her elbow to make sure she didn’t slip, even though the path had been shoveled and salted. The simple touch launched a wave of heat through him. Her quiet gasp told him she wasn’t immune either. The pace of her breathing increased, puffing tiny clouds of air into the night.

He paused outside the door, turning to face her, her eyes locking with his. He lifted a curl of her hair and stroked the length of it, testing the silky texture between his fingers. Her eyes went wide with awareness. He understood the draw well.

More than this ruse, than her family, it was that draw that had brought them both here tonight.

The door swung wide, a host greeting them with a smile as the warmth gusted out. “Welcome to Chez Louis, Mr. Benally. Most of your party has arrived. They’re enjoying drinks in the lounge. Ma’am, if I could take your coat?”

The small crowd of Steeles and Mikkelsons already filled the dining area, most of them standing beneath vintage antler chandeliers. Conversation wafted over in murmurs.

No sooner had Ward and Brea passed off their coats than his date bolted away, under the guise of talking to Felicity and Delaney. The duo stood by a crackling fire, sipping wine. Waitstaff walked from person to person, offering roasted-eggplant pâté on pita bread and gnocchi with cambozola and red crab. Another waiter flourished a tray with Alaskan oysters and Neapolitan seafood mousse.

But Ward’s attention was still on Brea. His smile faded. He didn’t want to frighten her. When he’d roped her into this pretend relationship, he’d been so focused on protecting the company, he hadn’t thought much about what she’d been through, losing her family, for all intents and purposes kidnapped. He needed to weigh his next move carefully to protect the business. And yes, to protect this woman too, if she was somehow as vulnerable as she’d looked in that flash before she’d retreated.

A tap on the shoulder had him looking away to turn and find Broderick Steele, Brea’s oldest brother. “We need to have a talk. Are you actually dating my sister?”

“Why is that a question? I already announced that we are, and we came here together.” Had Brea said something to tip off her brother? Ward studied the man in front of him—the eldest Steele was a carbon copy of his father.

“You barely know her,” Broderick said. “She’s hardly speaking to our family. We don’t know if we can trust her. Shall I keep listing the reasons why this seems like the strangest relationship ever?”

Broderick was sharp from years in the boardroom.

But so was Ward.

“She’s an attractive woman.” His gaze landed on her all over again, enjoying the way she looked in her red sheath dress with long sleeves and a low back. “Circumstances drew us together. We have chemistry. It’s nothing serious at this point, but we’re giving it a go. How’s that for a list?”

“She’s fragile.” Broderick’s shoulders braced protectively as he tightened his grip on his lowball glass.

“You clearly don’t know Brea—the woman she is now—as well as you think.” Even considering that moment of fear in her face, he knew how brave she must be to face all of them after what she’d been through.

But brave didn’t necessarily equate with honest.

“That could be true,” Broderick conceded, tipping his drink from one side to the other, making the ice cubes clink against cut crystal. “I’m not sure anyone does know who she is now, since she’s playing things so close to the vest. What if your relationship explodes in your face?”

Ward glanced across the room to where Brea stood with the other women by the thick cream-colored curtains. Her dark features schooled into practiced neutrality. “Then that would be a damn shame, but I don’t see what it has to do with my contract with the company.”

Broderick’s eyebrows raised as his face became tight, foreboding as a winter storm. “It could make things awkward for you with the family if you two are tangled up with each other.”

“Could. But it won’t. I’m a professional.” And if Brea really was intent on harming the company in some way, he was the only one likely to push hard enough to figure it out. Her family seemed to just want her back, no matter what she’d done.

He understood that feeling well after losing his stepdaughter. But he couldn’t let it jeopardize what he was building here at Alaska Oil Barons, Inc. He had big plans for the company, working with Royce Miller to implement his inventions for the safer transportation of fuel and alternative energy sources. Delaney Steele was also an advocate with strong connections. He had a chance to make a difference.

Broderick eyed him skeptically. “Do you actually think life is that simple?”

“Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn’t,” he answered as honestly as possible, given the circumstance.

“Okay then, I’ll make this clear and simple for you.” Broderick’s voice dropped an octave as he leaned closer. “Be careful with my sister. Because even if I don’t know exactly who she has become, she is—and always will be—my sister. If you hurt her, there won’t be a place in Alaska remote enough for you to hide.”

“Message heard.” Ward met Broderick’s icy gaze with all the warmth of a tropical island. With a boardroom smile, he inclined his head. “Now I have a date. With your sister.”

And despite all the warnings—from Broderick, and from his own wary nature—Ward very much looked forward to kissing her good-night on her doorstep.

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