The Most Expensive Lie of All

Cruz who was nothing like Chad. Cruz who was proud, but gentle. Cruz who was smart and masterful and possessive. And it thrilled her. He thrilled her. And she couldn’t wait to see him. Maybe even to tell him that she loved him if she had the courage.

She looked at Chad now. Really looked at him. He couldn’t hurt her anymore and it made her feel a little giddy.

‘Chad, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to see you or talk to you. Whatever you have to say is irrelevant.’ She smiled inwardly as she borrowed one of Cruz’s favourite expressions.

‘I just want to be friends, Aspen, put things behind us.’

Aspen felt petty in refusing him, but he had hurt her too much for her ever to consider him as a friend. ‘I’d like to put things behind us too, but we can’t ever be friends, Chad.’

‘Because of Rodriguez?’ Chad sneered. ‘He won’t want you for long. His heart belongs to his horses and nothing else.’

Aspen shook her head. This was the Chad she knew too well.

‘Is it serious between you?’

‘That’s none of your business.’

‘You’re in love with him.’ Chad spat on the ground. ‘You always were.’

‘I wasn’t. I thought I loved you.’

‘But you didn’t, did you? It was him all along. I told your grandfather. That night.’

Aspen frowned. ‘It was you who sent him out after me?’

‘I watched you chase him like one of his fawning groupies. Did you have sex with him? Your grandfather would never say.’

God, this was awful, but Aspen wasn’t sure if she was more appalled that he had talked to her grandfather so intimately about her or that he was talking to her about it now.

‘Why do you hate Cruz so much?’ She couldn’t help asking.

Chad shrugged and stared at her mulishly. ‘He was an arrogant SOB who never saw me as competition. He never took me seriously except where you were concerned.’

Aspen gave a sharp, self-conscious laugh. ‘And there I was, thinking that you wanted Ocean Haven.’

Chad shook his head. ‘I didn’t. But he did. And he’s won that too, I hear.’

An uneasy sensation slipped down Aspen’s spine and she told herself to ignore him. To walk away. ‘What is that supposed to mean?’

He looked at her like a hyena scenting a wounded animal. ‘Boy Wonder bought The Farm. Not literally—unfortunately—but... You didn’t know?’

Aspen knew better than most not to listen to anything Chad said, not to place any importance on his words, but she couldn’t make herself leave. Not with her mother’s cautionary advice that if something looked too good to be true it usually was ringing loudly in her ears.

‘How would you know anything about the sale of The Farm?’

‘My daddy wanted to buy it. He had high hopes of swooping in at the last minute and picking it up for a song.’

Aspen’s head started to hurt. ‘Well, it’s not true. Cruz hasn’t bought Ocean Haven. Your father has his facts wrong.’

Chad shrugged. ‘I guess the guy brokering the deal is the one who has it wrong. My father did wonder when he heard Rodriguez had paid more than double the value of the property.’

More than double?

Aspen felt a burning sensation in the back of her throat. ‘Yes, I’d say he’s wrong. Excuse me.’

She pushed past Chad, only to have him grab her arm.

‘He’s not worth it, you know. You can’t see it, but he won’t hang around for long.’

Hardly in the mood for any more of Chad’s snide comments, Aspen turned on him sharply. ‘That’s not your business, is it?’

Chad reeled back and covered the movement with a disbelieving laugh. ‘You’ve changed.’

‘So I’ve been told.’

She said the words automatically but Aspen knew that if there was any truth to Chad’s words then she hadn’t changed at all. Because if Cruz had bought The Farm out from under her it would mean that she had fallen into the same trap she had in the past—wanting the love and affection of a man who wouldn’t think twice before walking all over her.

Telling herself to calm down, she stabbed the button on the lift to the penthouse and used the temporary access card Cruz had given her.

Chad had admitted that he hated Cruz, so this could just be trouble he was stirring up between them. But how would he know it would cause trouble? He couldn’t. No one knew about the private deal she had struck with Cruz. No one but her knew that this morning Cruz had promised her he had decided not to buy Ocean Haven.