Just A Little Bit Married

“That was a bad time. She’d been burned and swore off men,” Linc said. Mason had worked for Hart Industries while Ellie was still there. The man once had a thing for her but that was before she met her husband. However, bringing it up never failed to get a rise out of his friend. Linc liked to get a rise out of him because it almost never happened. “Trust me, it wasn’t personal.”

“Okay.”

“That’s it? You’re a lawyer who makes arguments for a living. It’s like air to you.”

“Knowing when not to argue is just as important. Ellie is happily married and has a child. I’m glad for her.”

“So you’re over her,” Linc persisted.

“There was never anything to get over.”

“If you say so.”

Mason sighed before taking a sip of his drink. “There are many, many other clients I could work for.”

“You’d lose a lot of money if you left me,” Linc reminded him.

“The peace and quiet would be worth it.” Tough words but the other man was smiling.

“You’re going to miss me when I’m in Montana.”

“Tell me again why it is that you’re going,” his friend said.

“I’m buying in to my brother-in-law’s construction company. It needs an infusion of capital to expand in Blackwater Lake. The town is one of the fastest growing places in the country and there’s a lot of opportunity.”

The one at the top of his list was getting out of the Hart family shadow. He’d insisted on being treated as an employee of the company and not an heir apparent, like his half brothers. In the last ten years he’d worked his ass off, partly to prove himself to them and partly to stay too busy to think about how his personal life had imploded. The other day he’d seen the anger and resentment in Rose’s eyes but that was better than having her grow to despise him because he wasn’t a Hart.

He didn’t tell her because she would have said she fell in love with the man and not his last name. But the truth was it would have been like marrying the prince who would be king, then finding out he’d been switched at birth for the peasant who owned a pigsty. Walking away saved her from having to deal with that. It was the right thing to do but that didn’t get him off the restitution hook for how he’d treated her.

The upside of keeping too busy to brood over lost love was making a lot of money. And he was going to take that money to Blackwater Lake and build more success on his own terms.

Linc remembered telling Rose that it was about to be on the “rich and famous” radar. A place for her to build success too but he had yet to hear from her. It was amazing how much that bugged him. And it’s not like he hadn’t known there was a better-than-even chance she would tell him to stick his offer where the sun didn’t shine.

“Opportunity in rural Montana?” Mason drained the rest of the Scotch in his glass. “There’s nowhere to go but up when you’re in the sticks.”

“It has an airport now.” A thought popped into Linc’s mind. “You should think about opening a law office there.”

“I’m not licensed to practice in Montana.”

“You could be. It’s probably not a big deal to make that happen.” Linc sat on the leather love seat. “There’s no competition right now. Could be a good move for you, my friend.”

“Not so bad for you, either.” The attorney’s tone was wry.

This man was an outstanding lawyer. Principled, meticulous, conscientious and smart. They’d met while working for Hart Industries, then Mason had opened his own law firm. When Linc’s personal attorney passed away Mason was the guy he wanted. “I’ll admit having legal counsel close by would be convenient, but your success and happiness are a concern.”

Mason laughed. That was worth mentioning because it didn’t happen often. He was far too serious. Linc figured a woman would find him good-looking and wondered what Rose would think. For a split second there was a white-hot flash of jealousy. Not unlike the feeling he’d experienced when she’d mentioned dating someone and that it was getting serious. Again he had a flicker of annoyance at her not getting back to him about the job offer.

“Seriously?” The other man set his empty glass on the silver tray beside the Scotch bottle. “My happiness?”

“Blackwater Lake is a great place. Nice people. Beautiful scenery. Lots to do all year round with the lake and the mountains. You could have a hand in shaping its growth in a positive way. And do something good for yourself at the same time.”

Mason’s eyes narrowed. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you once call it Black Hole, Montana?”

“That was a different time.”

Linc remembered it well. Ellie had called him, upset because she was pregnant and things were not going well between her and the baby’s father, Alex McKnight. The man had eventually won over Linc as well as Sam and Cal. He married Ellie and they had a daughter, Leah, who was two. Moving to the small town in Montana was the best thing ever, she often said to him. Now he was going to see whether or not she was right.

“So, Mason, before we grab dinner, you’re probably wondering how the meeting went.”

“I’m assuming you’re talking about the one with your wife,” the attorney clarified.

That took Linc by surprise. The wife part. It had been ten years and as Rose had pointed out, they were married for fifteen minutes. Not nearly long enough to think about her being his wife. Regret about that coiled inside him. And in the decade that had passed no woman had gotten close to him again. Ellie had said more than once that he used women like cocktail napkins and threw them away because he’d never fallen in love. The truth was exactly the opposite. Because he’d loved so deeply and had to let her go he wouldn’t ever risk it a second time.

“Linc?”

“Yeah. Right. How did it go with Rose.” He shook his head to clear it and thought for a moment. “Better than I expected.”

Mason waited, then finally said, “Care to give me the highlights?”

“She didn’t throw anything.”

“You were at her place.” It wasn’t a question.

Since Linc hadn’t given him the when and where, he asked, “How did you know?”

“She didn’t want to break any of her stuff.”

“Ah.” He hadn’t thought of that when picking the venue for his bombshell. His only thought had been that the last thing she’d ever said to him was that she never wanted to see him again. There wouldn’t have been a meeting if he’d tried to set one up. Surprise had been the only option. And it worked, sort of. He’d expected to feel nothing and got a surprise of his own at the flood of emotion, the explosion of memories that was like being pelted with hail.

“And after she didn’t throw anything?” Mason prompted. “What did she say?”

“She didn’t believe it.” Linc had revealed everything to his attorney, including the fact that Hastings Hart was not his biological father. “I explained what happened and convinced her it was true. Of course she wanted to know how the divorce screwup happened.”

“You get what you pay for.” There was an ironic tone in the other man’s voice.

“I already told you that was before your time. Rose seemed...sympathetic after I told her about what happened.”

Sympathy was so much more palatable than pity. And he would never be sure whether or not his standing in a financial dynasty mattered to her because he’d taken that choice out of her hands. It was impossible to know for sure if she fell in love with him, or the him that was part of the Hart family fiscal package. But in the last ten years he’d learned women were attracted to money even when it came from a bastard.

“What did she say?”

Linc met the other man’s gaze. “That I should have told her what was going on.”

“You have no idea how hard it is for me not to say ‘duh.’”

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you just did.” Linc sighed. “No one is disputing the fact that I’m an ass.”

“It’s not too late to change.”