Love Loyal and True (Must Love Diamonds 2)

Denial rose up as Roxanna pressed her fingers to her temples and straightened her spine. She was not like her namesake. The elder Roxanna Kent was more cunning than stupid.

More of a thief than an irresponsible idiot about finances.

And she, daughter Roxanna Kent, was going to stop being a financially irresponsible idiot.

First things on her list for tomorrow…get her business insurance reinstated, pay her electric bill, get herself in good standing with her suppliers, and then see if Tessa or Darcy could cover for her while she went to the DMV for her driver’s license, and the courthouse for a new social security card.

In the meantime…she stacked all her sorted piles together and stood so she could file as needed. When that was done, the final stack with her profit and loss reports mocked her. They were the one thing she hated the absolute most about her business. But balancing her accounts so she knew exactly where she stood and what cash she might be able to use to replace some of her belongings was currently her top priority. Even if she’d much rather take a bottle of wine upstairs to drown her sorrows for a night.

“Just frickin’ get it done,” she muttered as she sat at the desk and turned on the computer so she could log into the program with her password taped on the underside of the mouse pad.

Two hours later, each beat of her heart was followed by an answering throb in her head that even peppermint oil couldn’t relieve. She was no closer to making sense of her P&L than when she started, and the frustrating math only strengthened her craving for a large glass of wine. She stared at the mocking, red negative number on her screen and amended that to huge glass of wine.

When her stomach growled, she glanced at the clock. A double take confirmed the hour hand creeping past six p.m. She’d been stuck in the office for hours. But clearly, she wasn’t going to get any further with a headache and an empty stomach, so she shut the computer down.

Taking another twenty from the register to order herself some dinner, she tucked it in her pocket, and went to select a leftover cupcake and a bottle of her favorite Riesling from the Whitewater Hill Vineyards in Grand Junction display in her shop.

With her newly purchased bag of lingerie hooked on her wrist, she pulled the door closed and headed upstairs. It was quiet when she keyed in the code to enter the apartment, though why she thought it might be otherwise, she had no idea.

She was used to being alone, and Loyal being gone was a good thing—a really good thing.

Ignoring the contradictory heavy sensation in her chest, she set her things on the counter and found a wine key in the drawer to open her bottle. Then she poured herself a full-to-the-tippy-top glass and took a big swallow. Notes of tangerine and lime lingered on her tongue as the liquid slid down her throat to warm her empty belly. Her gaze strayed toward the bedroom with her next drink, and her pulsed ticked up.

Wine in hand, she slowly walked through the living room, glanced into the bathroom, and then moved into the bedroom. After last night, it seemed prudent to make sure she was indeed alone—but then she gulped a swallow to drown out the ridiculous surge of disappointment when she saw the empty bed.

She tilted her head slightly when she noticed the uneven comforter tossed over the pillows, and the edge of the sheet hanging down crookedly along the mattress instead of neatly tucked in. Loyal had made the bed, kind of, but she’d bet her whole bottle of wine he hadn’t bothered to change the sheets.

“Probably doesn’t even know how to do such a menial task,” she groused to the empty room. The guy had grown up with maid service. He’d probably had one in Texas, too.

She sat on the bed, set her glass on the nightstand, and fisted a hand in one of the pillows to bring it up to her face.

A deep inhale flooded her senses with the scent of the cologne she’d noticed last night, right before he scared the shit out of her. Her lashes drifted closed as she savored the seductive, manly notes of sandalwood and pine, and maybe a hint of…cinnamon?

She breathed in again, sighed, then snapped her eyes open and stiffened her spine when she realized what she was doing. Tossing the pillow aside, she reached for her glass and took two deep swallows in quick succession.

And one more on her way back to the living room.

Her headache was starting to ease as she sat on the couch and turned on the TV. She pulled out her phone to call for pizza, only to become distracted by the movie on the screen when the guy playing the main character reminded her of Loyal.

Tall. Handsome. Nice body. Sexy stubble.

As she studied the actor’s face, she wondered why she couldn’t be attracted to Merit? He was just as pretty, plus he was always nice to her. Or Grayson? The Diamonds’ half-brother looked eerily like Loyal, but the two times she’d met him, there hadn’t been a single spark of awareness, no slow spread of tingling heat, no excited leap of her pulse.

“Nope. Stupid me. Gotta go and fall for the jerkiest Diamond of all.”

She gave a longing whimper, finished off the rest of her glass, then decided she needed a refill.

Chapter 7

Loyal parked his Land Rover next to Roxanna’s old green Jeep and muttered under his breath as he pulled the basket from his back seat. If he’d been smart, he would’ve come right over after brunch and left it in the apartment on the table. Then he wouldn’t have to see her or talk to her. Instead, he’d been annoyed with the task and procrastinated.

Now he was annoyed all over again.

He stomped up the stairs and gave a sharp rap on the door. After a full minute, he considered leaving it in the hall, but his mom would have his head if she found out. So he knocked again, then started punching the code into the lockbox.

The door suddenly swung open, and he shifted the basket back to both arms as he looked up.

“Speak of the devil.” Roxanna held the edge of the door with one hand and a half-full glass of wine in the other. “I was jus’ talkin’ ‘bout you.”