Playing For Keeps (Emerald Lake Billionaires 2) Page 15

  Ryan turned back to the stage and spoke into his microphone. “How do you feel, Franky?”

  Franky waited for the clapping and cheering to stop before answering. He swallowed deeply and looked around the auditorium. “It feels good. It’s my dad’s favorite song.”

  “You sung it beautifully. Thank you.”

  Franky nodded and walked quickly off the stage to more applause. Sophie felt sorry for the next person waiting to perform.

  Tess leaned toward her. “He’s amazing, isn’t he?”

  Sophie nodded. “I can’t believe that someone so young could have such an incredible voice.”

  “He’s never had a singing lesson in his life. Apparently his mom had a great voice.”

  “Is she here?”

  Tess shook her head. “She left Bozeman a few years ago. Franky’s dad is raising his son and daughter on his own. He started working with Fletcher Security about six months ago.”

  Sophie looked at Tess. Over the last month, at least five different security guards had either worked on Ryan’s property or kept a close eye on them. “What’s Franky’s dad’s name?”

  “Jason Smith. He’s tall. Dark hair, dark eyes. Doesn’t smile very much.”

  “I know him. He was the first security guard who came out to Ryan’s property. He didn’t mention that he had a family.” Sophie watched Ryan leave the judges table. She relaxed slightly when Tanner followed him.

  Tess opened her program. “I suppose it’s not something you talk about when you’re working. It must be a hard job when you’re a single parent.”

  Sophie was still thinking about Franky when Jackson Freemont walked onto the stage.

  He stood behind the microphone and smiled at the audience. “It’s my great pleasure to introduce our next performer. For the last four years in a row he’s won the Academy of Country Music’s top male vocalist of the year award. He’s sold more than five million records and two of his albums have reached number one on the Top Country Albums charts. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give a warm Montana welcome to Ryan Evans.”

  Sophie’s eyes widened as Ryan walked onto the stage. The people in the auditorium were clapping so hard she couldn’t hear what Tess was saying to her.

  Tess pulled her closer. “You didn’t know he was singing?”

  Sophie shook her head. He’d come into town earlier to help set up the sound system, meet the other judges, and get a final rundown of what was happening tonight. He hadn’t mentioned anything about singing.

  Ryan smiled at the audience. “Thank you.” He waited for the applause to stop before continuing. “It’s been a long time since I performed in Montana. After judging tonight’s performances, I know I’m in good company.” More clapping and cheering rang out through the auditorium.

  “When Tess asked me to perform tonight, I thought long and hard about what song I wanted to sing.” He glanced at Sophie and she held her breath. “It had to be something special, something that would tell you where I am in my life. My fiancée helped me write this song. It’s called, Finding Sunshine.”

  Sophie froze. The auditorium erupted in applause and she felt like bursting into tears. Ryan hadn’t told her he was engaged. In all the weeks she’d been living in his home, he hadn’t once mentioned that he was getting married.

  She unzipped the small bag she’d brought with her and pulled out a handful of tissues.

  “You didn’t tell me you were engaged,” Tess said from beside her. “I’m so happy for you. When did Ryan propose?”

  Sophie wiped her eyes. The auditorium fell silent as Ryan started to play the first chords of his song. “I’m not engaged,” she whispered. “I…”

  Ryan’s voice drifted across the auditorium and hit her heart like a bolt of lightning. It was the song they’d worked on a few weeks ago. They’d spent hours playing with the lyrics, changing the melody, creating a beautiful ballad.

  Sophie held her breath when he sung the chorus. His words were strong and true, and so hauntingly beautiful that it brought more tears to her eyes.

  Tess reached out and patted her arm.

  By the time the song was over, Sophie had a bunch of soggy tissues in her hand and a heavy heart.

  Ryan Evans had just told the biggest whopper of his life and his fiancée wasn’t impressed.

  ***

  “Come on, Sophie. You didn’t like being called the billionaire’s Cinderella.”

  “You thought fiancée would be better?”

  Ryan crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Do you have a better idea?”

  Sophie stomped into the kitchen. “You could have asked me first.”

  She opened a pantry door. He winced when his top-of-the-line hinges were thrown open. “What was I supposed to say to Tess when she told me how happy she was for me? And that was nothing compared to the reporters who were waiting for us after the concert. And Franky…”

  Even Ryan felt bad about Franky.

  “He offered to sing at our wedding,” Sophie ground out. “You lied to more than three hundred people and you expect me to stop yelling? You’re nuts.”

  “I’m not crazy. No one’s going to call you the billionaire’s Cinderella anymore. The idiots chasing you will back off when they realize how much protection you’ve got. They’ll be running so fast that they won’t care what evidence they leave behind.”

  “I don’t need evidence.”

  “Yes you do. If you want them thrown into prison you’re going to need all the evidence you can get.”

  Sophie turned on the faucet. She drank her glass of water so fast that she choked on the last mouthful.

  “Are you all right?”

  She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and glared at him. “I’m fine. I don’t need any evidence. Once the patent comes through for my supplement, no one will be able to touch the formula. The people who are looking for me will go away and never come back.”

  “Don’t be too sure about that.”

  Sophie stopped pacing backward and forward. “What do you mean?”

  “John had his legal team look into the FDA rules around dietary supplements. If someone changes the formula enough to call it something else, and can prove that they were the originators of the supplement, they’ll own the rights to what they’ve developed.”

  “I trialed every combination of the supplement I could think of. Nothing worked better than what I have.”

  “Your trials weren’t official. You used your mom and college students to test your formula. Who knows what else the students were using? How do you know it was your supplement that improved their memory and not something else?”

  “I asked them.”

  “You asked them? And what makes you think they didn’t lie to you?”

  Sophie stuck her hands on her hips. “Because they told me the truth.”

  “And everyone you speak to tells you the truth?”

  “Obviously not,” she yelled.

  “Don’t yell at me,” Ryan yelled back. “I’m not the person on the run from a pharmaceutical company.”

  “And I’m not the person who told the world we’re engaged. Dorothy put you up to this, didn’t she?”

  “Dorothy doesn’t know anything about it. It was a spur of the moment decision.”

  “You’re delusional if you think I’m going to marry you.”

  “I don’t want to marry you.”

  “What?”

  Ryan felt the hot air in the room turn to ice. “You thought I wanted to marry you?”

  Sophie’s mouth opened, but no words came out. She tried again, and this time he wished he was the one who hadn’t opened his mouth.

  “Most people get married after they’re engaged.”

  “This is different.”

  “You stood in the middle of the stage and blurted out that we’re engaged. What did you expect everyone to think?” Before he could answer, Sophie plowed ahead with what she had to say. “They’re expecting a wedding. A big wedding with dove
s and ice sculptures and every other stupid accessory your money can buy. You’d better hope my sister isn’t watching the news or reading any of the social media sites that people like you use.”

  “People like me?”

  “Yeah. Nincompoops.” Sophie bit her bottom lip. “My life is a mess and it’s all your fault.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “Fair? I’ve had enough of things being fair. I’m going to bed. Tomorrow morning you can tell your reporter friends that it wasn’t true. We’re not engaged and we most definitely aren’t getting married. Ever.” She put her glass in the dishwasher and walked quickly past him.

  Ryan looked around his sparkling new kitchen and sighed.

  He was in trouble so deep a tractor wouldn’t be able to pull him out of the mess he’d made. In hindsight, the fiancée idea had been a mistake. If Sophie had calmed down long enough to listen to him, he would have told her how sorry he was. He’d looked at her sitting in the auditorium and he’d wanted to protect her. He wanted the world to know that he was looking after her, and no one would get close enough to hurt her.

  But it had all come out wrong. His brain had gone on vacation while his mouth had run away with him.

  His cell phone vibrated against the kitchen counter. It was probably Dorothy. She would have read the news reports about his upcoming wedding and not been impressed. An engagement hadn’t been part of her strategy, just like it hadn’t been part of his.

  Dealing with his publicist could wait until the morning. He had a headache building between his eyes and a statement to deliver to the media.

  His phone vibrated again. Whoever was trying to get hold of him wasn’t taking no for an answer. He picked up his cell phone and read the two texts.

  It wasn’t Dorothy who was trying to get hold of him. He tapped the screen and called John. If he’d thought tonight couldn’t get any worse, he was wrong.

  ***

  Ryan knocked on Sophie’s door. “Sophie. It’s me. I just got a text from John.”

  Sophie opened her door. “What’s wrong?”

  The dress from five minutes ago was sitting on the end of her bed. Instead of pale pink silk and sequins, Sophie was wearing gray tracksuit bottoms and a blue T-shirt.

  “Tank had to move Hayley and your mom. They need more of your supplement.”

  “But I sent them enough for the next three weeks. Did they leave it behind?”

  “They had to leave quickly. John’s given me the address of where we need to send it. Do you have enough ingredients for another batch?”

  Sophie looked around her room. “I think so.” She took her laptop off a bookshelf and headed downstairs. “I made a list of the herbs and other ingredients I need to buy. But that was for a triple batch. I might have enough for a single mixture, if I’m lucky.”

  “How long will that last?”

  “Hayley’s giving mom three doses a day. A single mixture should last a week.”

  “How long does it take to get the ingredients if you have don’t have enough?”

  “About two days, depending on how far away the supplier is.”

  Sophie walked into the kitchen and pulled half a dozen containers off the pantry shelf. “Some of the ingredients are already dried when they arrive. The others need to go through a process to make them ready.” She opened the fridge and pulled out a green, spiky-leafed plant. “Put this kale on the counter.”

  She turned her laptop on and ran her finger down the document she’d opened. She rushed back to the pantry and looked at the labeled containers. “I need more bilberries and walnuts.”

  “Where can we get them?”

  “Maggie Stevenson grows them in her organic greenhouses. She’s one of the reasons I came to Bozeman.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s eleven-thirty. I can’t call her now.”

  “Your mom hasn’t got any of the supplement with her. How long has she got until she needs more?”

  “About eight hours,” Sophie whispered. She bit her bottom lip and stared at her laptop. “I’m calling Maggie.”

  He held out his cell phone.

  She shook her head. “I’ll need to get my own phone. Her number is in my contacts list.”

  “How long will it take to get another batch ready?”

  Sophie stopped in the middle of the doorway. “If I start making the batch and you drive to Maggie’s, I could have it ready in four hours.”

  “I’ll let John know. He’s offered to fly it to Tank as soon as it’s ready.”

  “What about the supplement they left behind?”

  “He’s sent someone to retrieve it. If they can’t get it safely to Tank, they’ll destroy it.”

  “I’ll get my phone.” Sophie ran toward the staircase.

  As soon as she left the room, Ryan called John.

  The formula was the least of their worries. He hadn’t told Sophie how close someone had come to kidnapping her mom and sister. Until this mess was over, he’d make sure she didn’t find out.

  ***

  Three hours later, Sophie was waiting for her supplement to cool.

  “Why don’t you put it in the freezer for half an hour?” Ryan asked.

  “I’m worried about cooling it down too quickly. The sudden cold could change the way the ingredients interact with each other.” Sophie glanced at her watch. “We’ve still got another hour before John arrives.”

  They’d put the supplement in all of the shallow containers they could find. The less volume in any one container, the quicker the liquid would cool.

  Sophie checked the temperature again. “We should be okay. Have you heard anything from Tank or Hayley?”

  “They won’t call us. Tank has cut off all communication except with John.”

  Sophie wiped down the counter. She needed to do something to keep herself busy. She was worried about her sister and her mom.

  “Go to bed, Sophie. I can pour the supplement into the containers and give it to John when he arrives.”

  “I can’t. I need to be here.”

  Ryan didn’t argue. “I’ll make coffee.”

  She watched him walk across the kitchen before she straightened the containers of medicinal plants on the shelves.

  “Do you want a sandwich with your coffee?”

  She poked her head around the edge of the pantry.

  Ryan held a bag of bread in the air. “We’ve got cheese, tomato, and salami. If you’re feeling brave, I could add some onion.”

  “Cheese and tomato would be great. I’m not feeling particularly brave at the moment.” She turned back to the pantry and gave the containers a final nudge.

  If anyone walked into the kitchen, they wouldn’t know how important the bowls of brown liquid were. With very little money, she’d found something that could provide practical help for people with memory loss. Sophie had thought it would be the answer to her prayers. She couldn’t believe how wrong she’d been. With nothing left to clean or put away, she stood in the middle of the kitchen.

  Ryan had his back to her. He’d taken his jacket off hours ago. With his shirt sleeves rolled up and his tie long gone, he looked like a regular guy. The kind of guy Sophie could get used to.

  He’d driven to Maggie’s home to collect the ingredients she needed, then helped her steam the berries and herbs. They’d passed them through cheesecloth to remove the pulp and added the liquid to the other ingredients they’d prepared. They’d worked well together. Almost too well considering the argument they’d had earlier.

  “You didn’t hold your nose,” she said.

  Ryan turned and smiled at her. “I’m getting used to the smell.”

  Sophie pulled a stool out from under the counter. “The joiners did a good job with the kitchen. It looks beautiful.”

  “It helps when you know what you want. Whoever chose the stone counter and cabinet colors did a good job.” He put a sandwich on a plate and passed it to her.

  She felt herself blush. “I had a lot of help from Danny and Jamie.
If it wasn’t for them, you could have ended up with black granite counters and white cabinets.” Sophie ran her hand along the white stone. Flecks of silver, cream, and beige glittered under the pendant lights.

  Ryan poured her a cup of black coffee. “It wouldn’t have looked as good as this. Do you realize this is the first time we’ve used my new kitchen? And it’s only quarter to three in the morning.”

  Sophie leaned her elbows on the counter and watched Ryan make his own sandwich. “Jamie was going to bring some bacon and eggs for breakfast. If you’re still feeling domesticated you could help him.”

  “By the time he arrives, I’ll be feeling dead.” Ryan’s tired smile reminded her of the smile he’d sent her in the library auditorium.

  “You’ll make someone a fine husband.”

  The knife in Ryan’s hand stopped moving. “But not you?”

  “Definitely not me. Why did you tell everyone we’re engaged? It’s not like you to do something so…impulsive.”

  “I thought you were going to say something worse than impulsive.” Ryan bit into his sandwich. “I thought being engaged was better than being called a billionaire’s Cinderella.”

  Sophie watched Ryan take a sip of coffee. He wasn’t telling her the whole truth. “Has Dorothy contacted you?”

  “She sent me a text an hour ago.”

  “Does she ever sleep?”

  Ryan rubbed his forehead. “Not that I’m aware of.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” He glanced at her and winced. “I’ve got a headache. It will go away soon.”

  “Have you taken anything for it?”

  “Two Tylenol half an hour ago.”

  She looked at her watch. By the time the Tylenol kicked in, John would be here to collect the supplement. “I can finish off in here. All I have to do is pour the supplement into the plastic containers and give it to John.”

  “I’ll wait with you.”

  Sophie glanced at Ryan before picking up her sandwich. With his jaw set at a stubborn angle, she knew he wasn’t going anywhere. “I’ve got an apology to make.”