Page 42 of Seaside Cowboy's Fairy Tale

Was the story about to repeat itself? His heart was breaking already, and he’d barely glued it together after the first time.

“You were the subject of my investigation.” Her hazel eyes became tormented. “I can’t tell you the client’s name, of course. But that’s why I was at the ball and approached you at first.”

“What?” He shifted back as if he ran into a brick wall. He couldn’t wrap his mind around this yet. Then it hit him. “Is that why you danced with me? Why you went on a date with me?”

Just like Madison, Rachel had only pretended to like him. All this time, while he’d followed her as a puppy, she’d been pretending.

“Yes. At first.” Her voice went quiet.

He jumped to his feet and paced the small living room, missing the large spaces of his condo. And here he was falling for her. “So all this was a lie?”

He’d developed feelings for her, and while he’d thought—he’d hoped—she’d reciprocated, he was just a job to her. He reached one white wall, turned around, and paced toward the other. The place now felt like a shoebox he’d been shoved in. How suffocating.

She lifted her chin. “I never lied to you.”

“But you never told me the entire truth. It’s called lying by omission.” His blood boiled. How could he be such a fool? How could he make such a grave mistake a second time? The signs had been there, but he hadn’t wanted to see them.

“I’m sorry.” Her lips trembled. “I couldn’t tell you before because I couldn’t betray the contract’s conditions.”

He stopped in his tracks and ran a hand over his eyes. “Wait. Hold up. Investigation about what?”

“You know I can’t tell you that.” She met his gaze now, and hers hardened as she got up from the chair and walked to him. “It’s private information.”

He already connected the dots. “It must be about the jewelry thefts. Though you can’t be serious. Why would anyone ever suspect me of those?” Then he groaned and leaned against the wall. “That’s why you were so curious about those thefts. I was just an information source. Nothing else. Oh wait, I’m wrong. I was alsothe subject of your investigation.”

Apparently, she considered him a weak man she could manipulate in whatever way she wanted. Even making him a suspect in crimes he hadn’t committed.

“You became much more than that to me. I don’t choose the assignments I take on.” Her gaze hardened further, and though guilt still clouded the hazel, the fire of a challenge lit them. She didn’t back off when he stepped to her.

“If I didn’t care about you so much, it wouldn’t be this painful.” His blood like hot lava, he couldn’t stand looking at her any longer. “Even after the masquerade, you never took off your mask, have you?”

There were no tears in her eyes while his heart was being crushed because of her and tears prickled his eyes. But his father had yelled often enough that men didn’t cry, so Tex wouldn’t let them spill. “Do you still suspect me of wrongdoing?”

“No. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have told you all this.”

That was something. But it wasn’t enough. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “I have to leave, Cinderella.”

“I figured as much. Real life isn’t a fairy tale, is it?”

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