The Rival. Joanne Rock
Seven
As she worked in the tack room at Mesa Falls Ranch, Regina Flores caught sight of her reflection in a shiny halter plate bearing one of the horse’s names. Even six months after her makeover, it still surprised her sometimes to see another woman’s face staring back at her.
Bypassing the fancy dress tack, Regina chose an everyday bridle and rushed back to the stable to finish saddling a second mount. She’d wheedled her way onto the ranch staff as a trail guide the week before and still hadn’t found an opportunity to get close to Devon Salazar, whose company was overseeing the social media marketing and launch event for the ranch’s rebranding as a private corporate retreat. Getting close to Devon was the only reason she’d taken the job. And she never could have accomplished that if she’d borne any resemblance to her old self—Georgiana Fuentes.
Tightening the saddle girth on the second horse, Regina finished tacking up quickly before unhooking the crossties. She brought both horses through the paddock area before mounting her own and leading the second. She’d heard Devon had a meeting coming up at the main lodge and there was a chance she could talk him into riding there with her. But only if she hurried.
She nudged the bay mustang faster until the main buildings were out of sight. The ranch owners had given Devon a two-bedroom cabin right on the Bitterroot River, a more remote property with beautiful views and a multilevel deck to take in the sights. She’d made careful notes about all the ranch’s buildings in order to land the trail guide job. Regina had sacrificed everything to be here now—for this chance to learn the truth about the Salazar heirs.
How much did Devon Salazar know about the book his dead father had penned under a pseudonym eight years ago? A tell-all that had caused life as she’d known it to implode? She’d overheard him deny all knowledge of it to his brother in a conversation last week, but she’d also learned the siblings didn’t trust each other, so she didn’t put much stock in what he’d told Marcus.
Her private investigator had only recently discovered the identity of the author—two months after Alonzo Salazar’s death—so she’d had to transfer her need for revenge from the father to the sons. Because she didn’t believe for a second that they hadn’t benefited from their father’s decision to unmask her family’s secrets for financial gain.
A light snow began to fall as she guided the horses off the trail to a shortcut that would bring her to Devon’s cabin faster.
She should be thankful she bore no resemblance to the woman she used to be. If she’d still looked anything like sweet, innocent Georgiana Fuentes, Devon might have recognized her as one of the thinly disguised real-life characters in his dad’s supposed work of “fiction.” Or, more accurately, from the endless images of her in the press after a Hollywood gossip columnist had linked the novel’s characters to their real-life counterparts.
But stress had stolen thirty pounds from her frame. Relentless workouts in an effort to excise her anger had sculpted a much different body from the soft curves of her teenage self. Even worse, being hounded by the tabloids for her story had caused a car accident three years ago that required enough facial reconstruction to alter her features. Finally, to complete the transformation, six months ago, she’d hacked off her long blond waves to just above her shoulders and dyed the remaining hair a deep chocolate brown. Regina had effectively scrubbed away every last remnant of the woman she used to be.
Devon would never guess she’d once been the spoiled heiress of a powerful A-list actor who’d disowned her and her mother when he learned that Georgiana wasn’t his biological daughter, thanks to the tell-all book. She’d done therapy for her anger issues with her family long ago. But she’d then realized she couldn’t really start building a new life until she understood why her old one had been taken from her.
And whether or not Devon and Marcus Salazar had profited from the book that had cost her everything.
Leaning back in the saddle, she slowed the lead horse just before Devon’s cabin came into view. She needed to brace herself mentally for seeing the man who had almost assuredly built his business empire thanks to her misfortune. He was her enemy.
So it threw her that he was absurdly handsome. His green eyes had sparked an unwelcome heat inside her the only time she’d spoken to him two days ago, when she’d invited him on a trail ride.
Being around him rattled her, but she had to hide it. Had to stay focused. Because she would do whatever was necessary to uncover the truth.
“You’re leaving?” Standing in the living area of his two-bedroom cabin on the Mesa Falls Ranch property, Devon Salazar glared at his half brother, Marcus, knowing he shouldn’t be surprised by the news.
When had they ever seen eye to eye on anything?
They’d only come to the ranch to honor a deathbed promise to their father before his passing. Because even though they ran a company together, they did so from offices on opposite coasts—Devon in New York and Marcus in Los Angeles. Devon had assumed their father wanted them to spend time in the same place so they would work out their differences and settle the future of Salazar Media. Little did he know Alonzo Salazar had only called them there to drop a bombshell on them, which they discovered in the paperwork he’d left with the ranch owners before his death.
“I know the timing is unfortunate,” Marcus conceded, prowling around the living area in a dark blue suit, his sunglasses still perched on his head from when he’d shown up at Devon’s cabin twenty minutes ago. His only nod to the fast-dropping Montana temperatures was the wool scarf slung around his neck. “But Lily and I have left you a thorough plan for the launch event. All you need to do is execute it.”
Barely hanging onto his patience, Devon stared out at the densely forested mountainside just beyond his luxury cabin’s tiered deck.
“All I need to do is execute?” he repeated, glaring at the sea of ponderosa pines just beyond the big windows. He hadn’t been brought up to speed on the client yet, and most of the ranch owners—it was jointly held by six friends—were still aggravated with Devon for showing up more than a week late at the ranch and delaying the work on the relaunch. “While you and Lily gallivant around Europe for a few weeks?”
Marcus had fallen in love with the COO of Salazar Media, Lily Carrington. While Devon had delayed his trip to Montana to hire a private investigator to look more deeply into their father’s mysterious past, Marcus had been at the ranch wooing the woman Devon had sent in his absence. Losing both of them during the launch event for a new, prestigious client was a hard hit.
“We did the setup. Now it’s your