missed whatever Lily said in reply, his brain too stuck on that revelation. His father had always been a man of mystery, disappearing in his study for days on end when Marcus had been a kid, or traveling to destinations unknown for work he’d never shared anything about. To the outside world, Alonzo had been a teacher at a private school, until he retired and took the role of CEO at Salazar Media. But privately, even before Salazar Media took off, he’d always seemed to have another source of income. In the last few years, Marcus had asked his dad to visit him in Los Angeles plenty of times, but his father hadn’t wanted to travel much after the cancer diagnosis. Or so he’d said. Apparently he’d had enough energy to fly to Montana.
Had Devon known about those trips? Could he have accompanied their father? But Lily seemed caught off guard by the news, too, and he suspected she would have been privy to Devon’s schedule.
“I was unaware Dad left anything for me here.” He would have thought any paperwork would have gone through the lawyer, but then again, Alonzo Salazar had never been a rule follower. Devon’s mother had left him when Alonzo had argued a marriage certificate was no more than a “piece of paper,” and Marcus’s mom had discovered sharing a child with Alonzo didn’t mean sharing a life with him. “I’ll stop by your office when I get back to the ranch and pick up whatever my father wanted me to have.”
Overhead, a low-flying plane stirred the treetops, creating a rustle all around.
“Your dad was very specific about the paperwork, I’m afraid.” Coop gave a wave to the plane, as if he knew the pilot. “Gage left it in a safe, but he won’t share the code until you’re both here together.”
Marcus stifled a curse, realizing his business in Montana wouldn’t be as brief as he’d hoped. And he wondered how long Lily would remain at Mesa Falls, regretting the way his thoughts wandered right back to her.
“In that case, I’ll see what I can do to expedite my brother’s trip.” He chucked his camera into the open bag on his passenger seat, wishing he could get in the vehicle and drive until he was off the ranch and far away from the mystery of what his father wanted. And even farther away from the tempting woman on his left.
But before Marcus could indulge that plan, even in his mind, Cooper Adler jumped in his own vehicle and bade them both a good day, leaving Lily standing on the hillside with Marcus.
He glanced over to see her glaring at him, sunglasses perched on her head, her arms crossed.
“What?” he asked, curious why she’d be upset with him already.
“You left me to handle the meeting with the ranch manager on my own this morning, even though yesterday you said you’d be there.” She tugged the glasses from her head and stuffed them inside her leather handbag. “They’re trying to plan a welcome reception to introduce Salazar Media to the owners, and I didn’t know anything about it. I would have appreciated being better briefed on the client.”
“Bear in mind we’re both having to deal with unexpected circumstances this week.” He had no desire to cross swords with her now, not when he was still angry with his brother for being a no-show, and with himself for not knowing how important the ranch had been to their father. “The next time Devon sends you on a spying mission, Lily, just tell him no.”
“I’m not a spy,” she retorted, her blue eyes taking on a darker hue now that she was upset. “We’ve been over this. When I filled in for Devon, I foolishly hoped I could help the two of you reconcile and maybe save the company in the process.”
“If you represent his interests and not mine, how are you a good choice to negotiate a reconciliation? And either way, that’s not happening.” Marcus was taking the company, end of story. He moved around to the driver’s side of the utility vehicle and slid into the seat. “Why don’t you get in touch with Devon and ask him to send you back to New York?”
She hesitated then, after a moment, moved toward the passenger seat and sat down. It was a good thing the vehicle had no doors, excusing Marcus from ushering her in and out in a gentlemanly fashion, because her nearness got under his skin.
Whenever she moved, that damn diamond ring on her finger refracted light beams into his eyes like a weapon of deflection.
“I asked him that already.” She reached down to one side of the seat and retrieved the safety belt, tugging it around her narrow waist. “He refused.” When the latch clicked, she glanced up at him, her blue gaze sliding right past his defenses. “So it looks like you’re stuck with me.”
Lily was grateful Marcus didn’t try to talk to her on the ride home.
Sulking about her job felt like the right thing to do on this day when nothing had gone right. Her fiancé had awoken her with a text message at three in the morning to let her know that his obligations to the family business in the UK were going to continue into spring, so unless she wanted to come to London for the holidays, they wouldn’t be seeing each other anytime soon. Another time, she might not have been so upset, since she had a lot of new work obligations herself, but in light of how hard this trip was testing her, the blasé tone of Eliot’s message had filled her with doubts. Wouldn’t he miss her? Did he have any plans to ever discuss the wedding date her grandparents kept pushing her for?
Of course, when she fell back asleep, she had wildly inappropriate dreams about Marcus, which filled her with guilt and left her exhausted. Then there had been the morning meeting Marcus had skipped to take a private tour of the ranch, and her message exchange with Devon, who had told her in no uncertain terms he needed her in Montana this week.
Not to spy, obviously. But like his father, Marcus could be a bit of a wild card. He was a charismatic leader, and she guessed that Devon worried he might try to start his own company and take “his” clients with him. Lily guessed that, aside from helping Marcus set up the new account, she was also on-site to keep a dialogue open between the Salazar men. To remind Marcus that the branches of the company had worked together effectively in the past, and could do so again.
After indulging her frustrated thoughts for ten minutes, Lily forced herself back to the present, only to realize that Marcus wasn’t heading back to the main lodge. The scenery around them had changed, going from sweeping vistas to dense fir trees. The earthy scent of damp leaves and pine needles filled the air as small brush snapped under the vehicle tires.
“Where are we?” She sat straighter in her seat, trying to see through the network of branches.
She’d seen hints of the ranch pastures earlier on her ride with Coop, but this looked very different.
“We should see the Bitterroot River soon.” Even as he said it, the vehicle broke into a clearing, and a wide expanse of water came into view. “You looked like you needed a breather as much as I did.”
“I—” She didn’t know how to respond to that. They were the first words she could remember him speaking to her on this trip that weren’t confrontational. “Thank you.”
He braked to a stop close to the river’s edge, along a narrow strip of rocky beach. The water glittered in the sunlight like a jeweled ribbon winding through the land.
“I could use a few shots of this.” He reached alongside her leg, his brief touch startling her for a second before she realized he was retrieving the camera bag at her feet. “Do you mind spending a few minutes here?”
His attention was fixed on his camera, where he turned dials and adjusted settings. She watched him for a moment, intrigued. She tried not to think about the fact that her knee still tingled from the barest contact with his knuckles. She’d never thought of Marcus in that way until yesterday, and now she wasn’t sure how to ignore the attraction that lurked too close to the surface. Something strange had happened between them yesterday. Something more than just Marcus accusing her of spying for his brother.
“Sure.” She told herself to go for a walk along the water’s