chapter 23

If Julia had thought that Drew would be less angry and judgmental than Liam or some

other Delaney, then she'd miscalculated. As they made the drive back to the ranch in

their rental car through the empty streets of Cambria, Drew's face was pinched with

tension in the glow from the dashboard.

"What?" she said, after several minutes of silence. "Just say it, Drew."

He started to say something, stopped, and then said something else instead. "Why

isn't he driving you back?" He sounded pissed, as though he was barely restraining

himself from yelling. "The guy just abandons you at the lodge? Who the hell—"

"He didn't abandon me. He's asleep. I didn't want to wake him, so I snuck out."

"Still, he should have—"

"He'd have driven me back, Drew. Jeez. If he were conscious, I'm sure he'd be

absolutely delighted to drive me back. So can we let that go now?"

She knew that her transportation needs were not the primary concern on Drew's

mind. She waited for him to get around to what was really bothering him.

He did.

"What are you doing sleeping with that guy?" He smacked the steering wheel with

his hand. "Colin Delaney? Jesus, Julia."

"You're not my father, Drew."

"Yeah, well, Dad's not here, and maybe somebody needs to do the job. Somebody

needs to set you straight. Because you're not thinking clearly, Julia. You just … God."

Julia was silent for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. When she spoke, her

voice was calm but firm. "Drew, what's happening between me and Colin has nothing to

do with you. Your issues are just that—your issues. They're not mine. Don't try to make

them mine."

In the dim light of the car, she could see his tight, angry expression.

"There's such a thing as loyalty," he said.

The comment almost exactly mirrored what Liam had said earlier that night.

The question of why Julia should have to be loyal to Drew against a family that was

responsible for him becoming a multimillionaire remained unclear to her.

"The Delaneys aren't your enemies, Drew," she said. "Except maybe Liam."

He grunted. "Yeah, well."

"How did your dinner with them go?"

"You're trying to change the subject from you and Colin Delaney."

She had been doing exactly that, and she was dismayed that he'd called her on it so

quickly. "Maybe," she admitted. "But I still want to know how dinner went."

He shrugged. "It went fine, I guess. If you like tension so thick you can cut it like the

damned pot roast."

"At least Liam wasn't there."

He glanced at her. "How do you know he wasn't there?"

She sighed. "It's a long story."

"It's still ten minutes to the ranch."

She thought about telling him everything that had happened, but how would that

help the situation? If Drew knew that Liam had attacked Colin because of her, it was

likely to make a volatile situation even more explosive.

"We saw him, that's all," she said. "When Colin and I were out to dinner. We saw

him at the restaurant. He was walking by on Main Street." She wasn't lying to Drew; all

of that was true. He didn't need to know the rest.

"And?" he prompted her.

"And what?"

"And what else? That's not a long story; it's a short one. So, what's the rest?"

Why had she said it was a long story? What had she been thinking? She was silent,

pondering what to say. Then she realized that it didn't matter what she did or didn't tell

him. The incident was witnessed by at least twenty people, if you included everyone on

Main Street at the time and everyone who'd watched through the windows at Neptune.

This was a small town, and Julia knew how small towns could be. If she didn't tell Drew

what happened, he'd find out anyway, and then he'd be mad at her for lying to him.

"Jules?"

"Okay." She prepared herself, then let it all out in one long, rambling stream. "Colin

and I were having dinner at Neptune and Colin kissed me, and Liam was walking by and

saw us through the window, so he came in and started yelling at Colin, and then the

manager made them go outside, and they yelled at each other some more, and then Liam

hit Colin, and we all got asked to leave, so we did. And I didn't want to tell you, because

I thought it would make things worse. Which it will."

Drew was silent, his eyes fixed on the road as he drove.

"Drew? Say something," Julia pleaded.

He still didn't speak as he turned off on the road that led to the ranch.

"Drew, come on."

"You're not going to keep seeing him."

At first, she wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly. She'd expected Drew to go off on

an angry rant about Liam, so this wasn't what she'd been primed to hear.

"What?" She stared at him in surprise.

"You heard me."

"I must not have," she said. "Because I thought I heard you telling me what to do

like it's your decision, and it is not your decision."

He pulled the rental car up in front of Ryan and Gen's house, turned off the ignition,

and turned in his seat to face her. "You are not going to keep seeing him. That guy. Colin.

You're going to break it off—whatever it is you two have going on."

She tried to answer him, but she found herself sputtering instead. "That's … You …

That's just …"

He looked at her with hot anger in his eyes. "These people. These Delaneys. They

didn't want me when I was born"—he swallowed hard—"and they don't want me in their

lives now. I'm only here because I need answers. I need …" His voice cracked with

emotion, and he looked out into the night for a moment before continuing. "I needed to

see them for myself. So I'm doing that, and I'm going to stay here and keep doing that

until I feel like I've got what I need. But you." He looked at her again, his face hard. "I

thought you were here to support me. I thought you were here to help."

"I am. Drew …"

"You're not here for me, you're here for him." He wasn't asking; he seemed to have

already decided it was true. And she had to admit to herself that on some level, it was.

She was here for Colin. She was here for both of them.

"What do you even think is going to happen?" he went on, looking at her with

contempt. "You think he's going to fall in love with you? Whisk you off to his

goddamned penthouse? He's a fucking billionaire, Julia. What's a guy like that going to

want with someone like you? He's playing you, don't you get that?"

She was struck speechless by his words, partly because of their cruelty, but partly

because she wondered if they were true.

"We're here. Go inside," he said.

"Drew, this isn't—"

"Go, Julia."

He might not have been her father, but he certainly sounded like him now.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow," she said. She gathered her purse and got out of the

car. "Thanks for the ride." She would have slammed the car door and stomped her way

up the porch steps if she weren't trying to sneak in without being heard. Instead, she

closed the door softly and walked as quietly as she could, taking care not to make the

porch floor squeak.

Drew waited until she'd let herself in with the key Gen had given her, and then he

drove, too fast, down the dirt road and back to the main house.

Colin woke up at about seven the next morning, feeling surprisingly good despite the

dull throb in his jaw. His first thoughts were of Julia, and before he'd even opened his

eyes, he reached over to her side of the bed to touch her.

And found nothing but cold sheets.

At first he assumed she was in the bathroom, but when he glanced over, he saw that

the bathroom door was open and the light was out. Which either meant that Julia had left

the room to get some breakfast—or that she'd simply left.

He grabbed his cell phone from the bedside table and sent her a text:

Where did you go?

He didn't get a response right away, so he puttered around the room doing the usual

morning things: He used the bathroom, made coffee with the little pot that was provided

in the room, and checked his e-mails, finding several that needed his attention, even

though the business day hadn't yet started.

While he was brooding over one particular e-mail dealing with the land boundary

issue at the Palm Springs lot, he heard the bing of an incoming text message:

Went back to Ryan's last night. I thought there'd be too much talk if I stayed out

with you all night.

He might have thought that was a good point, except for the fact that after what

happened at Neptune, everyone would be talking about them anyway. He wrote back:

How did you get back to the ranch without a car?

Moments later, she responded:

I called Drew and he picked me up.

Damn it. Now Drew probably thought that Colin was the kind of guy who would

sleep with someone's sister and then be too inconsiderate to drive her home. Colin wasn't

that guy; he hated that guy. Anybody would.

You should have woken me up, he texted her.

And he really wished she had. Partly because he didn't want to be that guy, but also

—more importantly—because he'd expected to see her when he awakened, and when he

didn't, he'd felt a kind of emptiness. He didn't like the emptiness.

When can I see you again? he wrote.

Julia pondered his question, still under the thick down comforter in Ryan and Gen's

guest bedroom. She wanted to ask, How soon can you get here? But there were feelings

at stake, and not just hers and Colin's. If she and Colin were to pursue a relationship, it

would cause a rift between Colin and Liam that might never heal. And what about herself

and Drew? If she kept seeing Colin, Drew would see it as a betrayal. He already felt that

their mother had turned against him. If he felt the same way about Julia, how would that

affect him?

And was Drew right? Was it impossible that a man like Colin could get serious

about a woman like her? She wasn't in his league; surely they both knew that. If she fell

for him—which she was starting to think was pretty much a done deal—he could hurt her

more deeply than any other man ever had. If she got out of this now, it would hurt like

hell, but it wouldn't destroy her. Let it go a little longer, and it might.

He was still waiting for an answer to his question.

I don't know, she responded. I'm not sure this is a good idea.

She felt a little bit sick just typing the text, and worse when she actually sent it. After

what had happened between them last night, the thought of never seeing him again—at

least, not in that way—seemed impossible. But she had to consider the bigger picture.

She had to think things through.

She expected a return text, but instead, her phone rang. Colin's name came up on the

screen. She wanted to answer it, but she knew she wouldn't be able to think if she heard

his low, sexy voice murmuring into her ear.

And she really had to think.

Julia hit the DECLINE button on her iPhone, cursed softly to herself, and then

shoved the phone under her pillow so she wouldn't have to think about it.

Colin Delaney. She should never have gone there, but now that she had, all she

wanted was to go there again, as soon as possible. But that had the potential to go

horribly wrong. It had the potential to hurt people, including herself.

God, Julia, get a grip.