Chapter 1
Jared stood in what used to be the family living room and looked out the window thinking about how different his life was now than it had been a year ago. Thanks to the Montgomery Legacy, instead of being the head of Montgomery Mining and on his way to the governor’s office, his brother had become head of the company and was in the process of destroying what generations of his family had worked hard to create. On top of that, his brother who had always been a confirmed bachelor had fallen in love, a fact that made Jared’s jealousy all that much worse, although he couldn’t quite figure out why.
It just didn’t make sense that he’d be jealous of Seth’s ridiculous marriage to a woman who was far beneath his social standing, a woman who had materialized out of nowhere, and stolen Seth’s heart, or so he claimed. He’d heard the long tale of their being tricked into getting married and the long path to their second marriage today, even now he wanted to laugh at how ridiculous the entire relationship was. Seth claimed that he was in love, but Jared knew better, love didn’t exist. It was just good old-fashioned lust he was feeling for Lauren and he couldn’t blame him, she was a luscious woman, but not the kind a Montgomery married.
That she was the EPA agent in charge of the investigation into Montgomery Mining and Lumber was an interesting coincidence. He’d almost be tempted to think that Seth was just toying with Lauren to get the EPA off his back and the lease for the land his family had claimed ownership to for the last three generations signed. But if Seth was faking it, he was a better actor than their brother Marshall, watching he and Lauren together was almost sickening.
The marriage aside, what Seth was doing to the company his dad loved so much was horrifying. He’d begun by dismantling Montgomery Mining and creating Montgomery Renewable less than a year after their father’s death. Seth had insisted that it was necessary, but Jared knew that if he’d been in charge he could have saved the company, his brother just didn’t know how to play the system. Of course, a year ago he’d know nothing about Seth’s plans, if he had he would have been able to stop him, instead he’d waited for Seth to fail, a mistake he’d regret for the rest of his life.
Once Jared had gotten over the anger of having his future ripped out of his hands, he’d had a good laugh. Seth wouldn’t make it a year before he’d come crawling to him for help. He had no idea how to play the game, whose palms to grease to get what he wanted, while he knew all the ins and outs of the business. But after months of waiting for Seth to call, he still hadn’t heard a word from his brother. Then came the rumor that Neil Parker, the EPA agent they’d been bribing for as long as he could remember, had disappeared and he knew that there were going to be big problems.
Suddenly it didn’t seem so bad that Seth was in the hot seat instead of him, of course if he’d been where Seth is, things could have gone on just the way they had for many generations. The news that the land they’d long considered their own really belonged to the native Yup’ik tribe had come as a surprise to him, a secret his father had never shared with him, but it was a new headache for his brother. He’d been sure the phone call would come then, but the next thing he’d heard was that his brother had shut down the mining and logging operations, news that was delivered to him not by his brother, but by some of the most powerful men in Juneau who weren’t all that happy that Seth wasn’t following the script.
When he’d finally been forced to break down and call his brother, Seth had brushed him off, “I’ll let everyone know what’s going on once I have a plan finished.”
Jared was all too familiar with Seth’s ability to brush him off, so he’d ended the call, still as in the dark as he’d been before. He’d called Seth several more times that spring but he’d remained as stoic as ever, refusing to give Jared details and dismissing the veiled threats a few men had asked him to pass on. Of course, there were rumors about what Seth was up to, wild rumors that Montgomery money was going to pay to clean-up the pollution they’d caused for generations. Even worse were the whispers he heard about renewable energy development, and some kind of trust Seth wanted to establish.
All this made Jared understand just how different he and his brother were, when you got right down to it they were complete opposites. Jared planned to marry for status, he had money and status himself, but what he wanted was a wife who could help carry him to the Governor’s office, and maybe even higher. Seth appeared to have settled for a woman who could never give him anything, money or status, claiming that he loved her and that nothing else mattered.
Jared knew that to get ahead in this world you had to play by the rules, enrich a few lives to make things happen. Seth seemed to think that it was acceptable to turn his back on all the people who’d come before him, including the family and discard what they’d work so hard to create. It didn’t matter if they’d done a few less than legal things to get there, it was the fact they’d gotten there that counted, but Seth just couldn’t see it that way, wanted everything to be fair and aboveboard.
He’d gone out of his way several times to explain to Seth the problems he was creating, but he didn’t seem to care who he was hurting, or who he was pissing off. Then Seth had introduced his grand plan to not only clean up the pollution but heal the land using solar and wind power to pay for it and Alaska had gone crazy. At the capitol in Juneau, his political supporters had been incensed, calling him to rant and rave about the terrible president his brother was setting, worried that their own interests in mining and logging would be somehow affected by Seth’s decision to shut down and shift to renewable energy.
Now with summer on the way, and his brother married, construction on the windmills and solar panels would begin immediately and there was nothing he could do to stop it. His brother had made it abundantly clear to him that he didn’t need any help, that he was quite capable of handling the business on his own, he’d even pointed out that Jared knew nothing about renewable energy. But Jared had been sent here to find out how Seth could be brought down, how a few well-placed bribes and even blackmail might be able to impact the project.
The problem was that so far, he’d been unable to even get a foot into the door of Seth’s study, and Seth had refused to discuss even the simplest details. He couldn’t go home empty handed and he knew it, but he still hadn’t figured out a way to snoop without being caught. Watching Seth spin his new bride Lauren around the dance floor, he began to realize that she might be the way in. The woman was unbelievable young, and most likely innocent to the ways of business, but it would difficult for him to get close to her, it would look strange if he suddenly began to become friendly with her when he’d made it more than clear how he felt about the marriage.
He was trying to assess all the angles, when his date for the evening came walking up with two glasses of champagne in her hands. “Look what I found.” She said, handing him the glass.
Jared took a grateful sip, then nodded at Gina. “Thank you.”
Gina was a beautiful, if unsophisticated woman whom he’d met a few months ago at a fundraiser. She’d only been in Juneau for a few months, but had shot to the top of the social circles thanks to her beauty. He knew the type all too well, she was searching for a marriage that would secure her a place in the upper echelon of the Juneau elite, and a hefty pre-nuptial agreement as an insurance policy.
He had no intention of giving her either, but she was amusing for now, a way to pass the time and assure that he had a date for functions just like his brother’s wedding. But they’d been seeing each other for almost two months, and he knew that it wouldn’t be long before she expected the relationship to move to the next level. In the two months they’d been seeing each other, they’d only had sex twice. He’d let Gina think it was her idea, but in truth he knew that sex only complicated relationships like this one, and the last thing he needed right now was a complication.
He’d have to get rid of her soon or he’d have just that complication he’d been avoiding. Taking another sip of his champagne, he looked at Gina all dressed up for the wedding and had to acknowledge that she was astonishingly pretty. It was too bad that she came from a backwoods family that had neither money nor standing, other than the fact that they’d been in Alaska for longer than his family. They could offer nothing to him or his political career. It had been nice to have a beautiful woman like Gina at his beck and call, but if he didn’t break things off with her soon, it could get ugly.
Gina knew that Jared was silently appraising her, but she misunderstood his look. For months she’d been biding her time with Jared Montgomery, but all that patience was beginning to pay off. When she’d first come to Juneau from the backwoods it had taken her time to acclimate to her new surroundings, but it hadn’t taken long before she’d gained the acceptance of the in crowd. From there she’d been able to gain entrance to the finest parties in town, expanded her connections, until she was hobnobbing with only the elite of society.
When she’d met Jared Montgomery, she’d known that he was exactly the kind of man she’d always dreamed of marrying, a man with not only money, but status. The kind of man she’d dreamed of all those long winter nights stuck in the tiny cabin her family called home, miles from anything resembling civilization. Although she loved her family, she’d always dreamed of getting away from the life her parents loved and living a different kind of life.
The kind of life where you bought your food from a grocery store instead of finding it yourself, the kind of life that involved nice clothes and manicures. She wanted to be warm all the time, to laugh at the snow storms that covered Alaska in a blanket of snow that lasted all winter. She wanted parties, and fancy dinners, sparkling jewelry, and most of all she wanted status. Gina wanted so much and Jared was the perfect man to give it to her.
Even in her wildest dreams she’d never imagined someone as perfect as Jared, worth billions and on the cusp of a brilliant political career, she’d set her sights on him and never looked back. They’d been dating for two months now and she’d been playing the game perfectly, only sleeping with him after they’d been out together four times. Then making him wait for several weeks before giving in again, a ploy that she knew would drive him crazy while making her look good.
But it was time to raise the stakes, time to take the relationship from casual to serious, and the best way Gina knew to do that was with sex. One thing she’d learned in her short life was that the best way to capture a man was through sex, not only because of the physical release but because it was a perfect opportunity to stroke a man’s ego as well. In the past she’d always let Jared make the first move, but tonight she was going to seduce him, tease him and taunt him until he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
Once they’d spent the night together, here in his family’s home, he’d have no choice to but to acknowledge that they were more than just casual friends. From there it would be easy to permanently insert herself into his life, get a ring on her finger and live the life she was meant to live. She’d have a life of luxury as the wife of a billionaire, and if what she heard was true, possibly even be the wife of the Governor of Alaska. All she had to do was get him into her room tonight and make sure that everyone knew about it.
Her thoughts on how she’d get Jared into her room that night, she didn’t notice when his attention was suddenly captured by two women entering the room. But when she asked him the same question for the third time, she stopped plotting and planning and looked up at him. He was staring at two women across the room, both African American and in her opinion, fat. She knew that it wasn’t right to think that way, but she couldn’t help but compare her perfect slim body to their curvy round ones.
“Women like that shouldn’t wear dresses like that.” She leaned over and whispered in Jared’s ear.
Jared looked at her sharply, surprised by her comment, then back at the women, clearly choosing to ignore her statement. “I wonder who they are.”
Gina followed his gaze, realizing that he was looking at the younger of the two women, a look that was easy enough for her to read. “Who cares, they can’t be anyone special. There’s no special in this whole place, just a bunch of nerds and natives.”
Jared didn’t seem to hear her and before she could stop him, he’d shrugged off the arm she’d entwined with his and started across the room. She called after him, but instead of stopping, he kept walking barking at her to stay put, like she was a dog at his command. She watched as he made his way across the room, his eyes never leaving the woman who was clearly his target. Gina’s heart sank when she saw him stride right up to the two women and begin talking to them, alarm bells going off in her head when she saw the way he was looking at the woman.
Jared wasn’t sure what was driving him to cross the room, one moment he’d been talking to Gina, wishing that he hadn’t brought her and then all of the sudden he was pushing people out of his way to get to the woman who’d just walked into the room. He hadn’t seen her before, but he also hadn’t been paying much attention to the rest of the guests, too absorbed in his own problems to care about anyone else.
But now he wished he had, wished that he at least knew who she was. She could be Lauren’s sister. He knew she had several and she did look a few years younger than Lauren. She was standing with another woman, one that he vaguely recognized but couldn’t quite place. He was still trying desperately to come up with an opening line when he reached the two women, but found himself tongue tied all of the sudden.
The three of them looked at one another for several long minutes, before the older woman held out her hand and said, “I’m Julie Montgomery. Can I help you?”
Jared stared at the younger woman still unable to make his mouth work, but he realized that he had to say something. “I’m Jared Montgomery.”
“Oh, you must be Seth’s brother, I guess we’re kind of cousins.” Julie said wondering exactly what the man wanted, but then realized that his entire focus was on Nicole. “This is Nicole Larson, she was our nanny but she’s going to be working with us instead this summer.”
Jared liked the sound of her name and when her brown eyes met his, his heart rate jumped wildly in his chest. A bit off kilter by his strong response to Nicole, it took him a minute to hold out his hand and say, “It’s nice to meet you Nicole.”
When she put her hand in his, an immediate shock of electricity traveled up his arm, leaving a pleasant feeling in its wake, a feeling he’d never experienced before. He didn’t want to let go of her hand, and knew he was holding on way too long but he wanted to experience that feeling a little bit longer. Finally, Nicole was able to pull her hand free, tucking it inside her other one, as if afraid he’d grab it again. She opened her mouth to say something but just then Gina came up, threaded her arm through Jared’s possessively, and stared Nicole down.
“Jared, who are your new friends?” She asked, looking Nicole up and down smugly, then practically snorting with her disdain.
Jared looked sharply at Gina who immediately put a huge smile on her face, a smile that might have tricked some but looked so false to Nicole and Julie that they exchanged a quick look. “This is Julie, she’s married to my American cousin Seth, they’re here to do something for the clean-up.” Jared stumbled through his words, suddenly aware that he had no idea what Sam and Julie would be doing.
Julie waved her hand in the air, “It’s boring and complicated, but the bottom line is that we’re here to work with the animals. This will be Nicole’s first summer as a research assistant.”
Gina gave them one more look, assessing her competition again and decided it was time for them to move on. The look on Jared’s face making her feel like maybe her position wasn’t as strong as she’d thought, that maybe a gentle reminder of what Jared had right now was in order. Tugging gently on his arm, she said, “I’m starving, let’s go find something to eat.”
Later after a long dinner with lots of excellent wine, Jared found himself letting Gina help him to his room. He’d had way too much wine, a failed attempt at forgetting how badly the Montgomery Legacy and Seth had messed up his life and wasn’t on his guard, before he knew it, Gina was in his room with him and he was unzipping her dress. It was only the sight of her pale white skin that brought him out of his stupor, stumbling away from her, he fell back on the bed.
Laughing she slid the dress off the rest of the way to reveal that she’d worn nothing underneath. Instead of inflaming him as she’d meant to, it only nauseated him although that might have been the wine, but regardless if he didn’t sit up he’d throw up, so he rolled onto his side and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Sitting with his head in his hands, he barely noticed Gina’s look of frustration.
“I don’t feel so good.” He said, stating the obvious and earning another frustrated look from Gina.
Gina grabbed one of Jared’s shirts out of the closet, thinking that this was not how the night was supposed to go. “That’s okay. Just sit back, it’ll pass.”
When she had Jared resting against the pillows, she went to the bathroom, came back with a wet towel, put it on his forehead then carefully sat down on the bed. The cold towel helped to clear his head a little, but the alcohol instead of numbing the pain he was feeling, seemed to magnify it. In a moment of clarity, he realized that he was grieving for the life he was supposed to have had, the life that Seth now had and was making such a mess of.
That grief soon turned to anger when he thought about how unfair it was that after preparing his entire life to run Montgomery Mining, it was gone, replaced as if it was nothing. When the anger drained away, replaced by sadness again, he knew that he had to talk to someone. Gina wouldn’t have been his first choice but he needed to get some of his emotion out before he did something even dumber than he’d already done. He’d been sent here to find some way to stop his brother and all he’d done was get drunk at his wedding and make a fool of himself.
He pulled the wet towel off his face and keeping his eyes closed began to talk. After beginning in fits and starts, he finally managed to tell Gina everything, letting the words pour out of him, unable to stop them. When he’d finished, Gina put her arm around him, pulled his head to her chest and rubbed his back.
“You’ve had a rough time of it.” She said, sympathetically.
Jared mumbled something, but was too exhausted from his emotional dump that he was snoring before he finished his sentence. Gina smiled, she hadn’t managed to seduce Jared tonight, but she’d gotten something far more important, his trust. He’d just told her all his secrets, fears, and deepest feelings. She knew all about the problems in the family and sex or no sex, Jared had invited her into his life. Now she just had to figure out her next move, but she had all night to plan, Jared wouldn’t be awake for hours.