The Secrets of Paradise Bay by Devon Vaughn Archer Read Free Book Online Page B

Her voice was filled with worry.
    The last thing Trey wanted was to involve the staff in their personal squabbles. Fact was, Emily had been there with them from the start and had proven to be a valued and trusted employee. She knew he’d screwed up big-time and didn’t pass judgment. He respected her even more for that.
    â€œIvana’s just going through some things right now,” he said as an understatement. “She’ll be fine.”
    Do I really believe that? Or am I deluding myself in thinking that things can ever get back to something close to normal between us?
    Emily’s eyes narrowed. “I’m probably overstepping my bounds, but I hope having your brother here won’t make matters worse between you and Ivana.”
    Trey appreciated her candor, while choosing to sidestep the issue. “I doubt that. Ivana is good at putting up a front, even if struggling within. She’ll deal with Clyde for as long as she has to. With any luck, that won’t be for too long.”
    â€œI think it’s good for you to have Clyde around,” Emily said, “even if for only a short time. Family is always important, no matter the baggage.”
    â€œI feel the same way.” Trey gave a tiny smile and glanced at his gold watch. “Have to run. You know where to reach me if anything comes up.”
    Emily nodded. “Drive carefully.”
    â€œI will.” Maybe that sentiment would be better directed to Clyde, Trey thought. After all, the man hadn’t driven a car in nine years and just might be a bit overzealous on the streets of Paradise Bay. The last thing he wanted was to see Clyde wrap that car around a tree. Or was he selling his younger brother short?
    Ivana watched from her bedroom window as Trey left the house and got into his car, just as she had when Clyde left a few minutes earlier. He had caught her spying on him. Strangely, it turned her on even if she turned it off just as swiftly. She sipped on a martini and pondered what it was about her husband’s brother that fascinated her so. Maybe it was the sexy shaved head. The rock-hard body. Or the bad-boy thing, even if he seemed to be legitimately trying to turn over a new leaf. But zebras never changed their stripes. Once bad, always bad.
    Bad could be dangerous, she told herself. Especially as a lover who hadn’t known the touch or feel of a woman’s body in nearly a decade. She could only imagine the pent up desire in him, having little doubt that Clyde Lancaster could wrap just about any woman around his little finger.
    But then so could Trey. Only he’d chosen to direct that hot-blooded passion toward another woman, leaving his own woman hurt and confused.
    Now Trey had decided to give his brother the royal treatment, as if to make up for past friction between the two. And Clyde seemed to have swallowed his pride and was eating up everything Trey threw at him like candy. Or maybe as someone who desperately wanted to make up for lost time and with opportunity staring him in the face.
    Ivana wondered if Trey was ready to give his wife away too, just to make his brother feel perfectly at home. Would Clyde swallow that bait also?
    And just how would Trey feel if betrayal were on the other foot? Would he be so easily able to sweep the stinging humiliation and disloyalty under the rug?
    Ivana tried to turn off such thoughts, knowing they did her no good. Just the opposite. Yet, it was hard to ignore that there was a very sexy, good-looking man sharing their house, who happened to be her brother-in-law. But a man, nonetheless, with needs as great as hers, if not greater. It gave Ivana a tingle between her legs. Something she hadn’t felt in so long that Ivana savored the experience.
    She sipped her drink, allowing her suddenly vivid imagination to run wild.
    Clyde stood at the gravesite of his mother. She had long ago paid for the spot, which was right next to his father’s grave. Clyde never