The Bachelor's Brighton Valley Bride (Return to Brighton Valley) Read online

  From undercover boss…to hometown dad?

  When the gorgeous, blue-eyed corporate honcho bursts into her office, Megan Adams fears it’s more than just her job at stake. The instant chemistry between them makes the once-burned single mother long to risk her heart again. But it isn’t just the balance sheets that aren’t adding up. Megan’s starting to suspect her temporary boss isn’t the small-town Texas cowboy he seems.

  Computer-geek-turned-billionaire Clay Jenkins came home to Brighton Valley to uncover a baffling mystery at his flagship store. But as “Peyton Johnson,” he’s bonding with the alluring redhead and her son and daughter in a way that could blow his cover. Can he move beyond memories of his painful past and forge a future with Megan and her family before she uncovers his deception?

  They stood like that for a moment, sizing each other up in some kind of face-off.

  With the bed behind her, and his masculine frame leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed in a tense yet sexy pose…

  Well, he wasn’t exactly blocking her escape route, but that was the problem. Megan didn’t feel like running off, and she really ought to. Because what she found most troubling was the way her heart rate was zipping along at an arousing pace, setting her hormones on high alert and sending her thoughts drifting in a direction they had no business veering.

  Peyton Johnson was a handsome man, and while he wore denim and boots, something about him flashed City Boy in neon lights.

  Still, she found him attractive. But being “attracted” to a man wasn’t the same thing as being interested in him. And she definitely was not interested.

  * * *

  RETURN TO BRIGHTON VALLEY:

  Who says you can’t go home again?

  Dear Reader,

  Thanks so much for picking up the second book in the Return to Brighton Valley series. As you turn the pages, you’ll meet Clay Jenkins—although, when he introduces himself to Megan Adams he’ll be hiding behind the persona of “Peyton Johnson.”

  I’d originally called this story Her Undercover Boss, which was a play on the title of a reality TV show I sometimes watch. I like to see the CEO of a big company come into one of his stores or shops and pretend to be a regular employee, just to check out what’s going on. When the idea for this book struck, I wondered what would happen if a rich, handsome CEO came to a Brighton Valley store and fell in love with the small-town girl who worked there. Yes! But since the series was called Return to Brighton Valley, the hero would have to be the one returning. So how would I keep his identity hidden from the heroine and the other citizens?

  Hmm… (Picture me staring out my office window, tapping my fingers on the desk and ignoring the ringing telephone.)

  That’s the part of writing a book that I love the best—creating a backstory for Clay/Peyton that would solve that problem! And I did that. So take your book or eReader out to the pool or the shore or just curl up in a cozy spot and see what happens when Clay Jenkins returns to Brighton Valley as Megan’s undercover boss.

  Happy reading!

  Judy

  P.S. I love hearing from my readers. Feel free to contact me through my website, www.judyduarte.com, and let me know what you thought of this story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  THE BACHELOR’S BRIGHTON VALLEY BRIDE

  Judy Duarte

  Books by Judy Duarte

  Harlequin Special Edition

  ¶A Baby Under the Tree #2158

  ΩMendoza’s Miracle #2173

  ¶The Rancher’s Hired Fiancée #2193

  ¶The Cowboy’s Family Plan #2212

  °Tammy and the Doctor #2249

  ¤¤Marry Me, Mendoza! #2253

  ¶¶The Daddy Secret #2318

  ₤ A House Full of Fortunes! #2323

  ¶¶The Bachelor’s Brighton Valley Bride #2343

  Silhouette Special Edition

  *Hailey’s Hero #1659

  *Their Secret Son #1667

  ∆Their Unexpected Family #1676

  *Worth Fighting For #1684

  *The Matchmakers’ Daddy #1689

  His Mother’s Wedding #1731

  Call Me Cowboy #1743

  **The Perfect Wife #1773

  Rock-A-Bye Rancher #1784

  Daddy on Call #1822

  The Cowboy’s Lullaby #1834

  ~Romancing the Cowboy #1888

  §Once Upon a Pregnancy #1891

  ~In Love with the Bronc Rider #1907

  ~Her Best Christmas Ever #1943

  +A Real Live Cowboy #1964

  §§Race to the Altar #1989

  ¤And Babies Make Five #2042

  §§His, Hers and…Theirs? #2061

  §§Under the Mistletoe with John Doe #2080

  ++Healing Dr. Fortune #2096

  Silhouette Books

  Double Destiny “Second Chance”

  *Bayside Bachelors

  ∆Montana Mavericks: Gold Rush Grooms

  **Talk of the Neighborhood

  ~The Texas Homecoming

  §The Wilder Family

  +Fortunes of Texas: Return to Red Rock

  ¤The Baby Chase

  §§Brighton Valley Medical Center

  ++The Fortunes of Texas: Lost…and Found

  ΩThe Fortunes of Texas: Whirlwind Romance

  °Byrds of a Feather

  ¶Brighton Valley Babies

  ¤¤The Fortunes of Texas: Southern Invasion

  ¶¶Return to Brighton Valley

  ₤The Fortunes of Texas: Welcome to Horseback Hollow!

  Other titles by this author available in ebook format.

  JUDY DUARTE

  always knew there was a book inside her, but since English was her least favorite subject in school, she never considered herself a writer. An avid reader who enjoys a happy ending, Judy couldn’t shake the dream of creating a book of her own.

  Her dream became a reality in March 2002, when Silhouette Special Edition released her first book, Cowboy Courage. Since then she has published more than twenty novels. Her stories have touched the hearts of readers around the world. And in July 2005 Judy won a prestigious Readers’ Choice Award for The Rich Man’s Son.

  Judy makes her home near the beach in Southern California. When she’s not cooped up in her writing cave, she’s spending time with her somewhat enormous but delightfully close family.

  To Teresa Carpenter and Jill Limber,

  who helped me plot the details of

  Clay and Megan’s story during a girls’ getaway

  and gabfest in Orange County. If you ever want to have another slumber party, ladies, count me in!

  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

  Epilogue

  Excerpt

  Chapter One

  For most people, returning to their roots brought on a warm sense of nostalgia—but that wasn’t the case for Clay Jenkins.

  As he sat in a nondescrip
t SUV on the tree-shaded main drag of Brighton Valley, just three buildings down from the old computer repair shop where he’d first gone to work nine years ago, he was reminded of the life he’d eagerly left behind and had tried so hard to forget.

  He could have hired someone else to come in and fix his flagship store, but this was where his new life had actually started.

  Hank Lazaro, his friend and mentor, had gotten him his first job there. As a result, the time he’d spent here on the weekends and after school had kept him out of trouble—and it had taught him a lot about business and honesty and hard work. It was here that he’d met the financial backer who’d helped him market the computer software program that had made him a multimillionaire before he hit the ripe old age of twenty.

  Clay knew he shouldn’t attach so much emotional significance to the quaint old building, especially in a small Texas town that, as a teenager, he couldn’t wait to escape. But when he’d seen the last quarterly reports and realized that a corporate rep from Geekon Enterprises would have to step in and turn the store around before it went down the tubes...well, the task had become personal, and he knew he was the only one he would allow to do it.

  He got out of the vehicle he’d rented at the executive airport in Houston, where he’d arrived in his private jet, and sucked in a deep breath of country air. As he caught the aroma coming from Caroline’s Diner, his stomach growled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten anything but a bagel at the Silicon Valley office earlier this morning.

  No one made a better meal than Caroline, at least when it came to down-home cooking like chicken-fried steak, meat loaf, pork chops and the like. He could practically recite her menu from memory—unless she’d changed it. But something told him she’d never do that.

  When he’d worked here, he’d eaten lunch at Caroline’s every day, filling up on her daily special—no matter what it was. Of course, he stuck to a healthy diet now, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t slip off to the diner the first chance he got—for old times’ sake.

  Clay removed his dark-tinted sunglasses, doubting he’d need them to hide his identity from any of the locals who might remember him. He no longer looked like the nerdy, undeveloped teenager who’d first got his start working as a computer repair technician at Ralph’s Electronics.

  Seven years ago, when Ralph died, Clay purchased the business from his widow for ten times its value and made it part of the Zorba the Geek chain, a subsidiary of Geekon Enterprises, which also owned GeekMart, a chain of computer stores that had launched the innovative Geekon line of computers.

  Ralph had hired Don Carpenter six months earlier, so Clay had let him continue to manage the Brighton Valley repair shop. Then he’d flown back to Silicon Valley, leaving the sad memories and the small town behind. Or so he’d thought.

  But here he was, dressed in a pair of khaki slacks and a black polo shirt, hoping he looked as though he belonged in the bucolic world he’d long since outgrown.

  He’d much rather be back in California, wearing one of his many custom-made suits, going out on the town this evening. But when his executive assistant had given him that requested update on the Brighton Valley store and he’d seen that Don Carpenter hadn’t turned in his yearly sales-and-service report, Clay had known something wasn’t right.

  He hated to think that someone was embezzling funds or doing something otherwise illegal in one of his companies, but with hundreds of shops operating around the world, it wouldn’t be the first time.

  While he could hire someone else to go in and find the cause—or the culprit—he was determined to handle this situation himself, even if that meant he had to go undercover to do it.

  And that shouldn’t be difficult. Clay had been too busy to talk to Don in person when he’d purchased the store. Instead, all their conversations had taken place over the phone and via email.

  Clay had also grown up in nearby Wexler, so not too many people in Brighton Valley knew him. And just in case anyone followed the business magazines, which he doubted in a one-horse town like this, he’d shaved off his trendy beard, cut his stylish shoulder-length hair, opted for a pair of contacts instead of his black-framed glasses, and traded in his suits and Italian loafers for a more casual look. So he felt confident that his identity was safe.

  For that reason, as he stepped onto the sidewalk, feeling a bit like Clark Kent, he held on to his self-assured swagger, unwilling to give up everything he’d worked so hard to perfect.

  As he made his way down the shady street, he paused in front of the hardware store and gazed at some of the same familiar items showcased for sale. In fact, not much in Brighton Valley had changed since he used to ride his secondhand bike to work every afternoon and chain it up to the parking meter out front.

  On the other hand, Clay had morphed into an entirely new being. At twenty-six, he was no longer the scrawny kid who’d had to worry about using a lock to secure that same bike so the football jocks wouldn’t steal it, paint it pink and toss it up into the branches of the elm tree that grew in front of the gym.

  In fact, with the kind of money and power that he could now wield, nobody would ever mess with him again.

  That is, if they knew who he really was.

  But Clay didn’t want them to know. At least, not yet.

  He turned and made his way to the once-familiar shop and let himself in.

  The jingling of the bell on the door signaled his entrance, and he took a moment to scan the shelves of new and refurbished computers for sale, as well as the wooden counter that ran the length of the small reception area and blocked the entrance to the workstations in the rear of the shop.

  He sucked in a breath and caught the whiff of...cinnamon and...sugar?

  Zorba the Geek hardly smelled like dust and toner any longer. Why was that? And where was everyone? Hadn’t they heard the ringing when he came in?

  When Clay worked here, he used to drop everything he was doing to greet whoever entered the store. The customer service had certainly gone downhill, which could account for some of the store’s trouble.

  “Hello,” he called out, hoping to alert someone in back to his arrival.

  Footsteps sounded, and an attractive redhead came out, the telephone to her ear. She wore a pair of snug jeans and a blue tank shirt that wasn’t what he’d call revealing, but certainly caressed her curves

  When she spotted him, she held up a slender nail-polished finger, indicating she’d be with him in a moment.

  Her auburn brows were knit tightly above big, round eyes the same color as the caramel-flavored coffee his executive assistant brought him from Starbucks every morning.

  Maybe it was due to the fact that he was growing hungrier by the minute—or to the sweet scent of sugar and cinnamon that had set his taste buds on edge—but damn if those big brown eyes didn’t make him crave a taste of caramel.

  That is, until the pretty redhead shot him a stressed-out glance that brought him back to reality.

  “He’s never done this before,” she told the caller. “Are you sure it was him?”

  Clay suspected she was trying to appease a customer who was unhappy with their service.

  “Uh-huh.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “What about the other boy? Did he say that Tyler started it?”

  Now, that didn’t sound like a business-related conversation. Was she on a personal call? With a customer standing in front of her, waiting for assistance?

  Okay, so technically, Clay wasn’t a customer, but she didn’t know that.

  In spite of her pretty brown eyes and enough curves to inspire a supermodel to go out and eat a cheeseburger and fries, Clay’s annoyance rose to the point that he was having a difficult time remaining quiet.

  No wonder the store was in trouble. Don had hired an employee who couldn’t be bothered to put business ahead of her personal life.

 
; “I’m sure this is just a onetime thing, Mrs. Paxton. Tell Tyler I’ll be there as soon as I can.” The redhead ended the call and, with the phone still in her hand, rubbed at her temples as if trying to massage the obvious stress out of her brain.

  Then she reached under the wooden counter and pulled out a plate of cookies. “I’m so sorry. That was my son’s school and... Can I offer you a snickerdoodle? I made them this morning.”

  So that was what was responsible for the sweet cinnamon-laced scent that had been taunting him since he’d walked in the door.

  But serving cookies to the customers? He was pretty sure that concept hadn’t been introduced at the last public-relations focus-group session. Maybe the Brighton Valley branch didn’t get the memo that they were in a computer repair shop, not a bakery.

  Yet he wasn’t going to come in with corporate guns blazing and start nitpicking every little thing the store was obviously doing wrong. Not to mention, he was having some pretty heavy hunger pangs. And while he tried to be health conscious, especially in recent years, he’d never been able to turn down sweets.

  He picked up a cookie and asked, “Is Don Carpenter in?”

  “I’m sorry, but he’s out for the rest of the afternoon. Is there something I can do for you?”

  “I’m Peyton Johnson. The Houston office sent me down to help you get your new accounting system up and running. Don was expecting me.”

  Clay took a quick bite, and when the cookie melted in his mouth, he closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the sweet taste. Then he quickly swallowed, realizing that he was still waiting for the redhead to explain who she was.

  Apparently, he’d have to wait longer, because the phone in her hand rang again and she barely glanced at the display screen before taking the call, ignoring him for a second time.

  She did, however, give him the just-a-minute signal before answering, “Yes?”

  She might be beautiful—and that annoying finger made a damn fine cookie—but he didn’t like being asked to wait.

  One thing was certain, though. She had no idea who he really was, because no one put Clayton Jenkins on hold.