The Price Of Passion

Is their red-hot reunion

too good to be true?

Broken trust is hard to rebuild.

But temptation is even harder to deny…

Wealthy rancher Camden Guthrie is back in Royal to rebuild his life and join the prestigious Texas Cattleman’s Club. To become a member, the widower needs help from Beth Wingate, the woman who shattered his heart fifteen years ago. Their attraction flares as strong as ever—but will long-buried secrets threaten a future with Beth all over again?

USA TODAY Bestselling Author Maureen Child

MAUREEN CHILD writes for the Mills & Boon Desire line and can’t imagine a better job. A seven-time finalist for the prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA® Award, Maureen is the author of more than one hundred romance novels. Her books regularly appear on bestseller lists and have won several awards, including a Prism Award, a National Readers’ Choice Award, a Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence and a Golden Quill Award. She is a native Californian but has recently moved to the mountains of Utah.

Also by Maureen Child

Rich Rancher’s Redemption

Billionaire’s Bargain

Tempt Me in Vegas

Bombshell for the Boss

Red Hot Rancher

Jet Set Confessions

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

The Price of Passion

Maureen Child

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90437-1

THE PRICE OF PASSION

© 2020 Harlequin Books S.A.

Published in Great Britain 2020

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

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For my mom, Sallye Carberry,

because she introduced me to the

magical world of reading…which eventually

led me here! Thanks, Mom.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

About the Publisher

One

Nothing much had changed in Royal, Texas.

And Camden Guthrie was glad to see it. Sure, the town was a little bigger than he remembered and there were some new shops, but it was still the place where he’d grown up. Cam was only just beginning to realize how much he’d missed it. He’d been in self-imposed exile in Southern California for fifteen years, and now every breath of warm Texas air felt like a homecoming.

Damned if he’d ever leave again.

“Cam?”

He turned and smiled at the sheriff. Nathan Battles was older, so they hadn’t hung out much as kids, but no one was a stranger in a small town.

“Good to see you, Nate.” Cam held out a hand and Nate took it in a firm shake.

“I heard you bought the old Circle K ranch.”

“Of course you did.” Cam shook his head. Gossip was the lifeblood of small towns, and Royal was no different. And, given that Nate’s wife Amanda owned and ran the Royal Diner—basically ground zero for information exchanges—she probably kept him up-to-date on whatever she heard.

Nate grinned. “You want secrets? Don’t use Natalie Barnes as your real estate agent. She’s been telling everyone who will listen that you bought the ranch where you and your folks used to work.”

Cam nodded at the reminder. The Circle K had been a huge part of his life. His parents had both worked as horse trainers for the owner, and Cam, as a kid, had done whatever needed doing—from feeding the animals to mucking out stalls and carpentry work.

He had a lot of good memories of that place—along with some he’d worked hard to forget. Like the loss of his parents in a stable fire when he was seventeen. Bad wiring had started it, and his mother and father had been so determined to free the stalled horses that they’d been trapped inside when the roof finally collapsed.

But the ranch had remained his home. He’d continued to live and work there while he finished school. Two years ago, when he’d decided to come back to Royal, Cam had made an offer on the property, and when it was accepted he’d figured it was fate. Sort of coming full circle.

Now that he was back, he had a lot of ideas for improvements on the ranch and plenty of plans for its future. His future. A future he’d once believed would include Beth Wingate.

Damn. Even thinking her name had his blood racing. Fifteen years since he’d seen her. Fifteen years since he’d touched her. Yet, Beth was there. Always. In his mind. In a dark, locked-up corner of his heart.

“Yeah,” he finally said in response to Nate. “It’s good to be back.”

He wondered, though, if he’d feel the same once he’d seen Beth again.

Just thinking about her now could bring up so many mixed emotions. He buried them all because how the hell could he sort through them? He hadn’t come back to Royal for her. He’d come because this was his place. His home. Texas was in his blood, and Royal was his heartbeat. Over the years he’d silenced the urge to come home. He and his late wife, Julie, had built a life and a fortune in California, but always there had been the ache for Texas. Now he was back, and nothing would make him leave.

Not even the one woman who still haunted him.

Nate pulled the brim of his gray hat down lower over his eyes. “I hear you’re stocking some Longhorns on your ranch, along with the Black Angus.”

Cam laughed. “You hear plenty.”

“I do.” The sheriff gave him a shameless grin. “And I’m glad if it’s true. The Longhorn is pure Texas. It’s good you’re doing what you can to help the breed survive.”

He had bigger plans than just the Longhorns, but Cam wasn’t ready to let anyone else in on what he had in mind. Still, the thought of what was in the works made him smile.

“Well, it is true. I’ve got a small herd of a few hundred arriving end of the week.” Cam was finally living the dream he’d had since he was a kid. His own ranch. Run his way. “We’ll be keeping them separate from the Angus. Don’t want any crossbreeding.”

Nate laughed. “Better you than me. Riding herd on the town is enough excitement for me.”

Cam nodded and glanced around Main Street again. It was a quiet town and, he thought, a little bigger than he remembered it. The closest large city was Dallas, but here in Royal was everything anyone could need. County buildings crouched around a park with tidy flower beds, live oaks and manicured grass. Along the street were restaurants, a bank and dozens of shops—everything from hardware to hair salons.

The sidewalks were bustling but not crowded, and that was a relief. In Southern California, you practically had to lock yourself in a closet if you wanted some space for yourself.

Now, in the first week of June, summer was just a promise and the humidity hadn’t quite reached air-conditioning-or-die level yet.

“I wanted to tell you,” Nate was saying, “I was real sorry to hear about Julie.”

Pain, sharp and swift, stabbed at Cam, stole his breath and then slowly slipped away again. He’d come to grips with the death of his wife two years ago. It was losing Julie that had finally convinced him to come back to Royal. But when he was reminded of it out of the blue, it could still hit him hard.

“Thanks, Nate. I appreciate it.” Polite but cool, letting his old friend know without saying that Cam didn’t want to talk about it.

Nate got the message. Nodding, he said, “Well, I’m guessing you’ve got a lot to do here in town. I’ll let you get to it.”

“Yeah, I’m headed to the bank.” Had to open a new account and arrange for his money to be wired here from LA.

“I’m headed back to the office, but let’s get together soon. Tell some lies.”

Cam grinned. Relieved to be back on solid ground, he said, “Sounds good.”

He watched the sheriff walk away and envied him for a moment. Nathan Battles had always known his place. He had found it years ago, and now he walked through Royal, a man at peace with himself and the life he’d carved out.

Cam was back in Royal to do the same.

It took him nearly a half hour to walk to the bank because he was stopped every few feet by old friends. Back in California, he was a successful businessman. A self-made millionaire. But in Royal, Texas, he was a home-grown success story. People being people, they were all curious about what he’d been doing the last fifteen years. And these people, being Texans, would want their questions answered.

Funny, because back in the day, he’d been the half–Native American son of ranch workers, and his only claim to fame was starring on the Royal High School baseball team. Back then, he’d had major-league dreams that fueled his imagination. Cam had gotten scholarship offers based on his pitching abilities, but he hadn’t taken any of them because his world had been abruptly upended after graduation.

Yet here he was, returning to his hometown a millionaire many times over and the owner of the very ranch where his late parents had worked. Life could be strange—even when it was satisfying.

He walked into the bank and paused, taking it in. A big building with the stamp of Texas all over it, there were wide red tiles on the floor, paintings of Texas on the walls and dark wooden beams on the ceiling. The counters were of gleaming dark wood to match those beams, and the tellers worked behind a wall of thick plexiglass. There were several manned desks opposite the tellers and a staircase leading to the second floor in the corner. Cam’s gaze swept the desks, looking for the bank manager. But when he spotted him, it wasn’t the man Cam focused on, but the woman sitting opposite him.

Beth Wingate.

Every ounce of breath rushed from his lungs, and his vision narrowed until she was all he could see. It was as if the world had disappeared, leaving her in a bright spotlight.

Cam couldn’t have looked away if it had meant his life. Because at one time she had been his life. And, apparently, his body remembered. He was hard as stone, his breath laboring, his heart racing. His palms itched to touch her again, and even as he silently admitted that simple fact, guilt rushed into his mind to tear him a new one.

Hell, his wife had only been dead two years, and here he was lusting after the woman who had ripped out his heart and pushed him into Julie’s arms.

As if she could feel him looking at her, Beth slowly turned her head and fixed her gaze on his.

Her eyes were filled with memory as his own must have been. Once upon a time, he’d thought the world began and ended in those green eyes. Now he felt the power of her gaze slamming into his chest like a punch to the solar plexus. Why did she still have to be so damn beautiful? Her hair fell long and straight to the middle of her back, still blond but with highlights now that made it shimmer like gold when she shook her head. She was tall and thin, but not so skinny she didn’t have curves that he remembered all too well. As he watched, she stood up and held herself like a damn queen.

He should be irritated by that, because of course she did. She was a Wingate, and in Royal they were at the top of the ladder. Hell, Beth’s mother, Ava, had been the interior designer of the Texas Cattleman’s Club, and there was no club that better described Royal. The TCC was renowned for its membership. Every wealthy, influential person in this corner of Texas was a member, and those who weren’t were trying to get in. As Camden would be.

Beth stood there staring at him, and he let his gaze drag up and down her body lazily. She wore a summer dress, sleeveless, in a dusty blue with pale yellow stripes. Her tanned legs were bare, and she wore three-inch heeled sandals on her narrow feet.

She looked…too damn good. And he probably looked like just what he was—a man struck dumb by lust and need. Why the hell had he run into her in a public place? Knowing Royal, everyone in the bank was watching this meeting. Waiting to see if there would be a fight, or fireworks of a different kind.

There would be neither, Cam vowed. Damned if he’d let Beth see that she could still turn him inside out.

She sauntered toward him and he admired that slow, perfect walk. She’d always had a way of moving that made a man think of silk sheets and moonlight.

“Hello, Cam,” she said, and that deep, throaty voice of hers fell over him like warm water.

“Beth.” He kept his gaze on hers and saw the flash of…something there.

“I heard you were moving back.”

“Hard to keep secrets in Royal,” he said. Just as it was hard to read her expression. Her eyes were shimmering—but with what? Memory? Desire? Irritation? Hell, if he knew.

“Were you trying to keep it a secret?”

“No,” he replied. “Why would I?”

“No reason, but for the fact you’ve been back a week and this is the first time you’ve been in town.”

His mouth quirked. “Keeping tabs on me?”

“Hardly.” She shook her head, sending that golden hair of hers into a brief, soft swing. Then she lifted one bare shoulder in a shrug that had the bodice of her dress strain against her perfect breasts. “You said it yourself. Hard to keep a secret here. So have you been hiding out at the ranch?”

“Hiding from what?”

She tipped her head to one side and studied him. “Interesting question.”

He knew damn well she thought he’d been avoiding her. And, honestly, he wasn’t so sure she was wrong. But the point was that she should be on the defensive here, Cam reminded himself. Yet somehow, she’d turned things around until he felt as if he should be explaining himself to her. Well, the hell with that.

“Yeah, I don’t hide. Never did. I don’t care what other people have to say,” he pointed out. “Unlike some.”

Anger zipped across her eyes, and he silently congratulated himself on scoring a point. Weirdly, he realized that not only had his attraction to her remained sure and strong, but a streak of bitterness filled him, as well. Fifteen years hadn’t been enough to take the sting out of her betrayal.

“That was a long time ago,” she said quietly, obviously aware of their rapt audience.

“Doesn’t feel so long.” Hell, she still wore the same scent. Flowers and mist and the scent of a rain-drenched day that reached out to grab him by the throat and hold on. He really hated that.

Her gaze narrowed. “It does to me.”

For a heartbeat or two, their gazes locked and the tension arcing between them was almost a living thing. Cam felt it. He knew she did, too, though she’d never admit it. Memories rushed into his mind. Nights wrapped together in the back of his truck. Plans for a future that would never happen. And, finally, the last conversation they’d had all those years ago.

That memory dropped ice chips into his heart that were almost enough to quench the blistering heat he felt at simply being near her.

Beth broke first. She tore her gaze from his, glanced at a slim gold watch on her left wrist, and then looked at him again. This time her green eyes were blank, reflecting nothing of what she was feeling. Cam wondered idly when she’d learned to do that.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I have an appointment. But of course, welcome home, Cam.”

Her welcome was as cool as her tone. He turned to watch her go, his gaze dropping to the curve of her butt and the nearly hypnotic way it swayed with every step. His body stirred, and silently Cam cursed the fact that Beth Wingate could still turn him into a drooling fool.

But he was older now. Wiser, too, by a long shot. There was no way in hell he would allow Beth to tear his future apart as she had his past.

Beth couldn’t stop shaking.

For the last week, since she’d heard he was back in Royal, she’d been preparing herself to see Cam Guthrie again. And all of that preparation had gone right out the window the minute his eyes had met hers. Sitting there at the bank president’s desk, she would have sworn she’d felt the temperature in the room rise a few degrees, just from Cam’s presence. She’d felt his gaze on her as strongly as she would have a touch, and the instant she’d seen him her heartbeat had jumped into a wild gallop.

His dark brown eyes were filled with shadows. His black hair was cut shorter than she remembered, and he wore a well-tailored suit as easily as he had worn jeans and scuffed boots back when he was the center of her world.

Beth took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. It should have been easy. More than a decade since she’d laid eyes on Cam should have meant that seeing him would be like running into an old friend.

But she’d been fooling herself. Cam hadn’t been her friend. He’d been everything. Until that last night. When she’d discovered that what a man said and what he did were sometimes two different things.

Now he was home and she’d be dealing with him all the time. How was this fair? Why hadn’t he stayed in California? Then she thought that maybe his wife’s death had been enough to drive him from the state that was no doubt filled with memories of the two of them together. Had he missed Julie so much? Had he loved her more than he’d ever loved Beth? Because he’d come back to Texas, where he had to face her every day and that apparently didn’t bother him.

God, she had a headache. Rubbing at the spot between her eyes, Beth reminded herself that nothing had to change because he was here in Royal. There was nothing between them but for the bittersweet memories they shared of being too young and reckless to realize that love wasn’t always enough.

“Fifteen years, Beth. Neither of you are the same people you used to be.” Wise words. Now all she had to do was listen to her own good advice.

The early summer sun blasted down on her until she felt as though she was about to combust. Internally, fires were burning while, externally, the Texas heat was only making things worse. She stopped under a bright blue-and-green awning stretched over the florist shop window and hoped the shade would help lower her body temperature.

“It would take more than that,” she muttered, and shot a quick glance around to make sure no one had overheard her.

On the busy Main Street, she was alone and she wondered how everyone in town could be going on about their business as if the world hadn’t just shifted. Cam was back. He was gorgeous. And treacherous. Sexy. And faithless.

Looking into his eyes had cost her every ounce of self-control she’d worked so hard to develop.

“Hi, Beth!”

She jolted, looked up and nodded at Vonnie Taylor as she pushed her twins past in a double stroller. Beth ignored a twinge of envy as she watched the woman hurry down the sidewalk and reminded herself that she had a rich, full life and she didn’t need a man or children to fulfill her. It was true of course, but a part of her still yearned.

Not for Cam, though. That was over and done a long time ago. A few stray thermonuclear hormone reactions notwithstanding, she was fine on her own. Hadn’t she just a month ago told Justin McCoy that she wasn’t interested in a relationship? Not that the man listened at all. They’d been dating for months and Justin was pushing for more of a commitment. Which was exactly why she’d told him they should take a break from each other.

Having zero men in her life had to be less complicated than what she was dealing with now. With that thought firmly in mind, she started walking again and didn’t stop until she came to the Royal Diner. She stepped inside and a wave of air-conditioned air slid across her skin. Grateful, she sighed a little, looked around the room and spotted her friend and assistant, Gracie Diaz. Thankful to get her life back to normal, Beth smiled and headed toward the booth in the back.

The Royal Diner hadn’t changed in decades. Well, that wasn’t quite true. There had been updates of course, but when the work was done, the color scheme and feel of the place remained the same. Black-and-white checkerboard-tiled floor, red faux-leather booths and even a working juke box on one wall.

Sooner or later, everyone in Royal stopped in at the diner, and so naturally it was the gossip hub. Anything you wanted to know, you could discover here. She couldn’t help wondering how long it would be before she and Cam were the latest hot topic of conversation.

She waved to Amanda Battles, who owned the diner along with her sister, Pam.

When Beth was halfway to her booth, Pam called out, “Hi, Beth! The usual?”

“Yes, thanks. You’re a lifesaver.” She slid into the seat opposite Gracie and set her cream-colored bag beside her on the bench seat.

“Rough morning?” Gracie quipped and smiled.

“You have no idea.” A wry smile curved her mouth briefly. She really needed this time with a friend. To cool down. To regain some sort of stability after that quick, devastating encounter with Cam.

Looking across the table at Gracie, Beth saw warm brown eyes, long, straight dark hair that fell, as Beth’s did, straight down her back. She wore a pale yellow sleeveless summer blouse and khaki slacks with a pair of sandals that Beth had coveted since the first time she had seen them.