Love Loyal and True (Must Love Diamonds 2)

That she wasn’t normal. She wasn’t good enough.

She wasn’t lovable.

She knew she shouldn’t let him get to her. Just because he was a jerk didn’t mean she was any of those things. But, rational understanding didn’t stand a chance against engrained emotions that had been set deep when her mother abandoned their family when she was nine, and then left her again at twenty-two. Add in a workaholic father, being raised by strict grandparents who complained daily she was too much like her mother, and she didn’t need her Colorado State University psychology degree to tell her it was enough to screw up anyone’s sense of self-worth.

Asher had been her rock for years. She’d never revealed the full extent of everything to him, but he’d been the one to get her through when her mother came back into her life after ten years of silence only to leave her again. Her mother claimed she wanted to reconnect, but in reality, she’d only wanted to use Roxanna and her abilities to help operate the hotline scam designed to rip off innocent people—like Loyal, and his fiancé.

She’d been so gullible, letting her inner child’s desire for her mother’s love and acceptance blind her to what was really going on. There were very few people she couldn’t read, and her mother was one of them. Loyal was another.

That should tell you something right there.

Yeah, it should, but just like with her mother, her heart didn’t listen—at first.

The moment her mother realized Roxanna figured out the scam and she’d milked their relationship for as much as she was going to get, she’d skipped town with her boss and every penny in Roxanna’s bank account without so much as a goodbye.

Left flat broke and completely alone, old inadequacies had risen up with a vengeance. That was the night she’d met Asher at a college frat house poker party. She’d cleaned him out down to his last dollar, and for some inexplicable reason, they’d bonded. He’d been the first person to ever make her feel loved. Not in a man and woman sense, but as a friend.

The guy came from one of the richest families in the state, and he didn’t care she was freakishly tall and dressed like a biker hippie. He didn’t care she was broke. He didn’t care she noticed and said strange things. He’d simply taken her for who she was and offered unconditional friendship and love that fed her inner craving for acceptance.

And then he’d taken her home to meet his father the governor, his mother, Janine, and all his siblings. There had been an instant connection with the Diamond family that warmed her soul in a way she’d never experienced before. He had saved her when she didn’t even know she needed saving.

They’d gone through a lot together; heartbreak on each side. Her with her mother, him with his own stupid ex-fiancé who used him for his connection to the governor’s office. For the past six years, they’d always been there for each other.

But now Asher had Honor, and Roxanna was alone again.

As she crossed a side street, she felt bad even thinking that, because she would never begrudge him his happiness. She was thrilled for her best friend and the love he’d found with his cake baker. Once they worked through their issues, the two of them couldn’t be more perfect for each other. But Honor was the one he turned to now, not Roxanna. Five months ago, it had been Honor who helped him deal with the shock of learning he had a half-brother from his father’s one-night-stand thirty-one years ago.

And damn it all anyway, those lonely feelings of inadequacy had reared up again. It wasn’t his fault, or Honor’s. It wasn’t even her mother’s fault, horrible as she was, or her father’s, or her grandparents’.

It was something she needed to work on for herself.

Roxanna straightened her spine as she walked, squared her shoulders, and lifted her chin.

She didn’t have to be what others considered normal.

She was good enough—no—she was good, period.

And like Asher, she would find someone worthy of all the love she had to give. Someone who would love her back, just as she was.

Chapter 4

“You’re an ass, Loyal. Always have been, always will be.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong.

Normally Loyal didn’t care. Normally, he felt completely justified in whatever asshole thing he said to the woman. But realizing he’d been a jerk right after Roxanna’s apartment had burned in a fire left him feeling a little like he’d kicked a puppy. Or a kitten.

A very beautiful, sexy kitten.

He sent Asher a quick heads up to let him know he’d find a different place to stay so Roxanna could use the apartment, then sipped his coffee—with the exact right amount of sugar and cream—as he searched online and found a report of the fire. Seeing it wasn’t far away, he started his Range Rover and navigated out from behind the building.

He made a left turn onto Aspen Street, and a couple blocks later, the back and forth sway of Roxanna’s long, brunette curls caught his attention up ahead.

She strode along the sidewalk with her earth-toned skirt swishing around her legs and boots. His usual type tended to wear Louboutins, or Manolo Blahniks, but there was something about Roxanna’s lace-up military boots that were oddly kick-ass sexy.

Loyal slowed the SUV, darting his gaze back and forth between her tall form and the road. Her purposeful stride made it clear she had a destination in mind, and yet she moved on those long, killer legs with a lithe grace that would’ve served her well had she chosen to be a dancer. Or a model.

Instead, she called herself a psychic.