Best Kept Secret (Rochester Trilogy 3)

Even if he did send me back to Houston.

“No. No.” Emily’s eyes narrow. “He’s not a good guy. He had a rivalry with Rhys, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t the same. Beau is just like him, in the end. He won’t help. He’ll just tell Joe that I’m alive, and then I’ll be hunted down and killed.”

“That’s not true. He wouldn’t do that.”

“What do you know about Beau Rochester?” Emily’s lip curls. “Or did you think that sleeping with you made him a good guy? You’re the nanny. He hired you to take care of my daughter, and then he went after you. Is that what good men do?”

Her words sting, because they’re true. What Beau and I had together probably wasn’t right. Rich men shouldn’t sleep with their nannies. Nannies shouldn’t fall for their wealthy, brooding bosses. But it happened anyway. And now my foolish heart wants more of it. I don’t know which thing hurts more. Knowing Beau and I were destined for disaster, or knowing that I fell for it anyway.

“He cares for Paige.” At her daughter’s name, Emily’s face softens. “Just like you care for Paige. That’s your common ground. He won’t do anything to hurt her. He won’t turn you in to Joe Causey. He hates Joe Causey.”

The gun moves down an inch.

“You know Joe went after him after the house fire. He tried to blame me and Beau for it. He made everybody sit for interviews, even Paige. You know Beau hated that. He doesn’t trust Joe, and he won’t screw you over like that. You need to talk to him.”

“He won’t help,” she says flatly, but the gun lowers another inch. If she shoots me now, I might not get hit, or it might only graze me in the hip. “You’re going to help.”

“What kind of power do you think I have?” I gesture at the room around us. The falling-apart furniture. The threadbare carpet. “This is all I have.”

“You’re close to him,” Emily says. “You’re the nanny he broke his rules for. You’re the one he went after. The one he wants.”

“He doesn’t want me.” I stifle my own bitter laugh. “If he wanted me, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Please. He wants you more than anything. That’s why he sent you away. Beau Rochester just likes to suffer. It’s his way of being the hero. Trust me, I know.” Old hurt darkens her eyes. “You think he didn’t want me? He was trying to be noble, and look where it’s gotten us. Rhys is dead, and I might as well be unless I can solve this problem.”

“I don’t know what you want me to do.” I feel like screaming, but I keep my voice soft and even. Like I would for Paige. “This is a conversation that—”

My phone rings in my pocket.

The bright, cheery ringtone is wrong for this moment, almost comically ridiculous, and my cheeks heat with embarrassment. I must not have turned the phone on silent. I always kept my old phone on silent. I don’t have my old phone anymore, or my old clothes, or my old life. I might not get a chance at my new one, either.

I take it out of my pocket.

There’s Beau’s name, printed across the screen in big, bold letters. My throat aches at the sight of it. I have no idea what he’s calling for. What he could possibly want from me. He already got everything he wanted, and then he sent me away like it was nothing. It probably was nothing. It had to be nothing, if he could put me on a plane to Houston without a second thought. Put all that money in my bank account and sever the ties between us.

Except this one.

I bring my eyes back up to Emily’s. “It’s Beau,” I tell her.

She lifts the gun, aiming it squarely at my head. “Answer.”

CHAPTER TWO

Beau Rochester

Jane’s not answering her goddamn phone.

I’ve never had a reaction like this to unanswered calls in all my life. Cold sweat. Hot anger. If I could run to her right now, I’d do it, but she’s on the other side of the country. I sent her there to keep her safe.

The threat to her life had never been more obvious. A dead rat on the porch. A slip of paper with her name on it. Jane. And I’d bought in to the idea that the only thing to do was send her away. Mateo spoke the words. Anything else happens to her, and you’ll be on the hook for it. You won’t be able to live with yourself.

I’m not sure how I’m supposed to live with myself now.

Christ. She hadn’t been gone three hours when Joe Causey showed up with proof that Emily’s still alive.

Now all these words are a storm in my mind. Maybe this is your chance. If she’s still alive, you could be with the woman you wanted all along.