Page 15 of Second Time's the Charm

The women he’d had after her?Did he not care how much those words hurt?

He hadn’t officially broken up with her, since he’d said in his text he would be in touch. He hadn’t been. A part of her had figured from the conversation she’d overheard that Elise had been his lover. But for some reason she’d needed to hear him say it, to admit there had been others after her. Although there hadn’t been anyone for her after him.

“Why did you ask me about Elise, Charm?”

She frowned. “To set the record straight. Dylan. I had no reason to keep up with you or your women. The only reason I mention her is because there’s something about her you should know.”

He chuckled harshly. “I think I know a whole lot more about Elise Fairmont than you do.”

“I doubt very seriously that you know about this.”

After wiping his mouth with the napkin, he tossed it down near his plate. “Which is?”

Charm held Dylan’s gaze and, conscious of the people around them, she lowered her voice. “She’s devised a plan to get into your villa and plant drugs in your luggage. She is working with this woman named Cindy and is in cahoots with some person named Chrome.”

Eight

“What the hell!” Dylan shouted. He hadn’t realized just how loudly he’d done so until several people seated around them stopped eating to stare. The last thing he wanted was to bring attention to himself. That was the reason he had grown the beard and dismissed the bodyguards who usually followed in his wake. He had needed time for himself.

He looked across the table at Charm. The woman he would admit had haunted him for years, even during those times he’d told himself he’d gotten over her. It was said that a person never forgot their first love. Grudgingly, he would agree. However, that didn’t keep his gut from twisting every time he thought about how she’d wronged him when he’d loved her so much.

“Where did you get something like that from?” he asked, lowering his voice.

She lowered hers even more, almost to a whisper. “I overheard her plan the entire thing with this Cindy woman. I captured part of the conversation on my phone.”

Dylan knew there was no way she was making this up. “We’re leaving to go somewhere to talk privately.”

When she nodded, he glanced around and got the attention of their waiter. Dylan was glad they’d at least finished their meal. It didn’t take long for the valet to bring the car around and within minutes they were on their way back to the resort. How dare Chrome, Elise or anyone assume they could do something like that and get away with it? Dylan didn’t do drugs of any kind and if some were found on him, at the airport of all places, that would be news so negative it would take him forever to clear his name.

“Are you ready for us to talk, Dylan?”

Charm’s question intruded into his thoughts. “No. I need to concentrate on my driving right now. The last thing I want to think about is wishing these hands on the steering wheel were wrapped around someone’s neck instead.”

“I understand.”

He frowned, thinking there was no way she could. As if she knew what he thought, she said. “First there was my brother Jess. He ran for the US Senate a few years ago. His opponent was so sleazy he tried paying women to claim Jess sexually harassed them.”

“How did he get out of it?”

“Jess’s opponent evidently hadn’t ever come up against the likes of Bart Outlaw, who takes playing dirty to a whole other level. Dad was ready to drop some hidden truths on the man.

So he backed off and killed the stories. In the end, Jess won. And then there was the incident that happened to my cousin who writes as Rock Mason. Someone tried—”

“Rock Mason is your cousin?” he asked, astonished. “You never told me that. If you recall, I always kept one of his books in my backpack. Reading his adventure books was my escape from my music. In fact, I recall you telling me that other than your father, brothers and mother, that you didn’t have any other relatives.”

She chuckled softly. “I do recall how much a fan of his you were. My family and I found out we were related to the Westmorelands around eight years ago. After you and I broke up.”

He bit down to keep from sayingtheyhadn’t broken up. She had been the one to end things between them. There wasn’t awein it. Instead he asked, “The Westmorelands?”

“Yes, Rock Mason is the pen name my cousin Stone Westmoreland uses. The Outlaws discovered they were related to the Westmorelands and we have been one big family ever since.”

“How did the Outlaws connect with the Westmorelands?”

“They found us, actually, after discovering they had more relatives by way of their great-grandfather, Raphel Westmoreland. They hired a private investigator and discovered my grandfather was Raphael’s illegitimate son.”

“I see. Sorry I interrupted what you were about to tell me, what happened with Rock Mason.”

She nodded. “Like I was saying, one day he got a call from his agent that one of his books had been plagiarized. He was furious. Then the person who did it claimed it was Stone who did the plagiarizing. Luckily, Stone proved otherwise before his reputation as an author was tarnished.”

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