The Rival Read online

  He’ll do anything to protect his family’s secrets...

  They both have something to hide, but their chemistry can’t be contained...

  Media mogul Devon Salazar wants Regina Flores, but his desire is tempered by suspicion. With sibling rivalry and his father’s secrets threatening the family empire, Devon can’t afford to trust Mesa Falls Ranch’s nosy new hire. This won’t stop him from seducing her. He looks forward to seeing Miss Flores exposed... Until the tables turn and Regina reveals their surprising connection...

  A Dynasties Novel

  Where family loyalties and passions collide...Visit Mesa Falls

  USA TODAY Bestselling Author Joanne Rock

  “Fraternizing with a guest...

  ...will surely be frowned upon by my new employer. I didn’t think acting on the attraction would be wise.” She saw some subtle shift in his expression. “I still don’t,” she rushed to add.

  “Nevertheless.” He shifted closer, his right hand grazing her jaw to lift her chin. “I’d like to test the truth of that claim.”

  “That I don’t think we should act on it?” Her breathless voice sounded nothing like her.

  “That you’re attracted to me.” His thumb skimmed along her lower lip and pleasure trembled through her even though she tried to hold herself very still.

  He broke away suddenly. For a moment, she was utterly disoriented, blinking back at him in the glow of the barn light overhead. His hands lingered on her back.

  “The chemistry is real enough.” He didn’t seem in any hurry to release her. “But is your story?”

  * * *

  The Rival is part of the Dynasties: Mesa Falls series.

  Dear Reader,

  Having raised three sons of my own, I love a brother story. Devon Salazar may think he doesn’t get along with his sibling, but, as a mom, I can tell you that I was rooting for them to mend fences from the start.

  Of course, Devon’s bigger concern is solving the mystery of Regina Flores—a woman with too many secrets. I hope you enjoy this return to Mesa Falls Ranch, where a scandal is brewing!

  If you enjoy this story, I hope you will join me in February for Weston Rivera’s book.

  Happy reading!

  Joanne Rock

  Joanne Rock

  The Rival

  To the new bride Susan Newkirk Heath, who shares my romantic streak.

  Joanne Rock credits her decision to write romance after a book she picked up during a flight delay engrossed her so thoroughly that she didn’t mind at all when her flight was delayed two more times. Giving her readers the chance to escape into another world has motivated her to write over eighty books for a variety of Harlequin series.

  Books by Joanne Rock

  Harlequin Desire

  The McNeill Magnates

  The Magnate’s Mail-Order Bride

  The Magnate’s Marriage Merger

  His Accidental Heir

  Little Secrets: His Pregnant Secretary

  Claiming His Secret Heir

  For the Sake of His Heir

  The Forbidden Brother

  Wild Wyoming Nights

  One Night Scandal

  Dynasties: Mesa Falls

  The Rebel

  The Rival

  Visit her Author Profile page at Harlequin.com, or joannerock.com, for more titles.

  You can also find Joanne Rock on Facebook, along with other Harlequin Desire authors, at Facebook.com/harlequindesireauthors!

  Mesa Falls

  The Key Players

  Mesa Falls Ranch, Montana’s premier luxury corporate retreat, got its start when a

  consortium bought the property.

  The Owners

  Weston Rivera, rancher

  Miles Rivera, rancher

  Gage Striker, investment banker

  Desmond Pierce, casino resort owner

  Alec Jacobsen, game developer

  Jonah Norlander, technology company CEO

  What do the owners have in common?

  They all went to Dowdon School, where they were students of the late Alonzo Salazar.

  The Salazars

  Alonzo Salazar (dec.), retired teacher

  at Dowdon School, CEO of Salazar Media

  Devon Salazar, copresident, Salazar Media,

  Alonzo’s son

  Marcus Salazar, copresident, Salazar Media,

  Alonzo’s son, Devon’s half brother

  As these key players converge, dark secrets

  come to light in Big Sky Country...

  Where family loyalties and passions collide...

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Red Carpet Redemption by Yahrah St. John

  One

  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 resemblanc
e 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 turn,” Marcus explained, his usual antagonism noticeably absent. Maybe romance agreed with him. “Besides, I’m hoping this trip turns into an elopement,” he confided, the announcement a total surprise.

  Knowing what a difficult—and long—engagement Lily had to her previous fiancé, Devon could see the wisdom of that move. Some of his anger leaked away. He and his half brother might not get along, but Devon wanted Lily to be happy. Hell, he didn’t begrudge Marcus being happy, either.

  “You haven’t asked her yet?”

  Marcus shook his head. “No. I was thinking of surprising her in Paris. Pulling out all the stops.”

  “That’s a good idea, actually.” Funny to think their shared business—and a shared father—had never brought them together, but if Marcus married Lily, they might finally have an effective tie. “I only want what’s best for her, you know.”

  “I know.” His sibling’s dark eyes met his for a moment before he glanced away. “And so do I. She hasn’t taken a vacation in years. She deserves for someone to put her first.”

  Devon didn’t need to be reminded of the particulars. Lily had been raised to feel like an intruder in her grandparents’ wealthy world and she’d worked tirelessly to feel deserving of all they’d done for her. Their backgrounds weren’t all that different, since Devon’s single mother had moved back in with her old-money family after Alonzo Salazar had abandoned her shortly after Devon’s birth.

  “Agreed.” He would find a way to make the launch event work on his own. He would bring in more staff, for starters. “But you realize the bigger issue right now is not the launch, but trying to contain the fallout from whatever new scandal Dad’s book could cause.”

  Hammering out an agreement for the future of Salazar Media—and who would take the helm of the business—would have to wait.

  “But for now, no one knows about that. If the secret comes out somehow, we’ll deal with it when it happens,” Marcus assured him, checking his watch. “In the meantime, I’ve got to pick up Lily so we can head to the airstrip. We’re flying out this afternoon.”

  Devon resisted the urge to argue. The ramifications of the secret leaking out were bigger than they knew. But Marcus had been the one to nail down the ranch as a client, and he’d kept the situation under control with the owners until Devon had arrived, so he’d done his part. Now Devon would have to find a way to keep any revelations about their father’s book from ruining everything they’d both worked so hard for.

  “Good luck,” he told him simply, extending a hand.

  Marcus stared down at it for a beat too long, but he squeezed Devon’s palm in the end. “Thank you. And you’d better get moving if you want to make that meeting with Weston Rivera. It’s almost noon.”

  Devon swore as he shoved his phone in his pocket and headed toward the coatrack to retrieve a fitted black parka. “I won’t bother you unless all hell breaks loose.”

  “I can give you a ride over there—”

  “No need.” The main lodge was in the opposite direction from Marcus’s cabin. “You added the ranch to our client list. I’ll make the rest of it work.”

  His brother gave a clipped nod before stepping out into the December chill, a burst of cold air lingering in his wake when he closed the door.

  Devon shut his laptop and hunted down a hat and a pair of gloves, already mulling over how he was going to juggle orchestrating the kickoff party with digging deeper into their father’s secrets. He hadn’t wanted to share with Marcus his own reasons for needing to keep the Salazar dirty laundry out of the headlines for at least two more weeks. Devon’s socialite mother was set to wed an international banker on Christmas Eve in a highly publicized ceremony. She had found happiness at last, and Devon refused to let a scandal about his father overshadow her well-deserved spot
light.

  Maybe Devon’s paranoia about his father’s secrets leaking now were misplaced, considering Alonzo had kept his double life as an author on lockdown for eight years. But Devon’s gut told him that his dad’s death was going to bring everything to light.

  The papers Alonzo had left for his sons here at the ranch revealed all the details. Under the pseudonym A. J. Sorensen, Alonzo had released an international bestselling novel about Hollywood power brokers and scandals. The book had caused an uproar a year after its release, when a Beverly Hills gossip columnist cracked the code on the identities of the people who inspired the characters.

  Real people had been hurt by the book. A Hollywood marriage had been torn apart. A daughter disowned.

  Devon pulled a gray knit cap over his ears and tugged open the cabin door just as a light snow began to fall. He spotted a woman on horseback heading toward him. She had a dark Stetson pulled low on her forehead, and it was difficult to see her features through the swirl of snowflakes, but Devon recognized her as the trail guide employed by Mesa Falls Ranch. She’d approached him two days ago about taking a tour of the property to familiarize him with the ranch, an idea he might have jumped on another time, but he’d been reeling from the news about his father’s secrets.

  Regina Flores had made an impression, though.

  With her silver-gray eyes and dark hair, she’d captured his attention right away. She had a thoughtful, brooding air about her; she seemed to be a woman of deep, mysterious thoughts. Until she smiled. She had a mischievous, quick grin that made him think wholly inappropriate things. Today she wore a black duster that flared over her horse’s saddle and a purple scarf tied around her neck. She held the reins to a second mount, a sturdy chestnut quarter horse.

  “Hello, Mr. Salazar.” She flashed a smile his way, two deep dimples framing her lips as she drew to a stop in front of the cabin.

  He wasn’t a man easily distracted by physical attraction, but something about this woman’s ease in her own skin called to him in spite of his looming worries. It made him very aware of how long it had been since he’d shared his bed. He’d been so focused on growing the company he hadn’t made time for anything but the most fleeting encounters over the past two years.

 
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