Secret Cowboy

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

The sun was up, the morning sky a light blue and seagulls squawked outside the bedroom window of her condo. Catherine Morgan dabbed a crystal stopper of perfume on her neck. Today was her first day of employment at the family bank.

She’d work as an analyst to make sure that Morgans stayed richer than anyone else. She’d be right next to her brother, Mitch, and her sister, Tess, and be right down the hall from Peter Morgan and half-siblings that all thought banking was the most important thing in life.

Numbers had always been a calling, so her accounting degree made sense. Her skin shouldn’t be prickly and her shoulders shouldn’t drag.

Today was supposed to be the start of a whole new life. This wasn’t her funeral, for heaven's sake. And just because she didn’t dream about numbers didn’t mean she wouldn’t be great at the desk she probably hadn’t earned.

Her last name, Morgan, was why'd she landed the executive position right away, and every worker in the building would see her as… spoiled and undeserving.

Her stomach twisted and she knew she better not eat even a bite of breakfast.

Coffee was all people in offices lived on so she’d join the culture. When she’d been just Jess, driving to work, facing traffic jams, and coming home to a suburb, the idea of making management had been the long-term plan.

Now, as Catherine Morgan, no one expected her to earn her way. Catherine Morgan could flick her fingers and have whatever she desired.

And then the desire to… live life just dissipated away.

Her phone signaled a text, but she didn’t care. It was probably her sister making sure she was up and ready. She checked her diamond earrings and ignored the trembling in her hand as she glanced out of her window to the blue waves that crashed on the white beach far below her.

She loved her family.

Working with them should be fun.

Today was the day she declared herself a true member of the House of Morgan. Today was going to be perfect. Keep telling yourself that.

Her hands stopped shaking. Good. Catherine picked up her phone.

A video of herself from high school, naked, as football star Brock Letterman pushed himself into her back on the high school bleachers next to the football stadium played on the screen.

She'd been Jess Taylor then. Her heart joined her stomach. The memory of that day hit her hard and fast. She hadn’t even enjoyed herself. s*x had been a stupid lie that people had said was fun and that lasted longer on her video screen than she remembered at the time.

Brock had been a two-minute mistake that she’d blocked from her mind.

Followed by the video came a text that read, If you don’t send us five million dollars, this gets released to the world.

What? Catherine's skin crawled. Her mother by adoption was shopping in Paris with her real mother, Fiona, for the week. Not that she’d call either of them--Tanya Taylor, her adoptive mother, would especially be disappointed.

She tugged at her mock-turtleneck cashmere collar and tried to breathe deep but her stomach clenched.

The words of Thomas Taylor, the man she thought of as Dad, flew to her mind. Be brave when someone comes at you--hit back harder. Now that she knew her real father was Mitch Morgan, she appreciated those small tips Thomas had offered. She had more power than most people, thanks to the Morgan name and money. She lifted her chin and typed back fast, Go for it. I don’t pay blackmail.

Adrenaline shot through her--how dare Brock think he could blackmail her for something that had happened six years ago. Without a second thought she sent the video to Tess, her adopted sister that she'd been raised with. Tess had married Catherine's brother by blood, Mitch the third, who had thought Catherine was dead, so now she and Tess were sisters by marriage as well. Complicated, but the important thing was that they were all family.

She trusted that Tess would know what to do and involve the family lawyers.

Catherine couldn't possibly start a new position until this mess was taken care of. Not to mention that her brother Peter was getting married in a couple days and no way could she star in a s*x-tape scandal, running the Morgan name through the mud right before his wedding. He and Belle had waited so long to finally be together again. His ex-girlfriend, Jennifer, had brought enough drama and destruction to the family.

Catherine would never do anything to harm either of her families. She picked up her phone and scrolled to the message sender.

There he was. Her high school jerk of an ex. Clearly he wasn’t smart as he'd sent this from his own number. She dialed while her blood pumped hot. And listened to the ring.

She couldn't wait to chew him out--who cared if he recorded that too? She had never consented to being videoed during their one time having s*x. Catherine Morgan was too strong to cry, especially if there was a chance it could end up on a news broadcast.

Brock answered and she refused to wait for pleasantries. “Brock, you better explain yourself."

He let out a sigh. “Catherine, baby. I didn’t expect to hear from you ever again until I sent you that clip.”

Baby. Ugh. Seriously? She wasn’t anyone’s baby, now or ever. And when that tape had been made she wasn’t even Catherine. She’d been Jess. “Who's "us" Brock?”

“Whoever I send the tape to.”

He'd sent it from his own phone. Hopefully security would handle this right away. The video brought back memories of when she'd been Jess--the smart one with her feet planted on the ground, financially secure but not rich like the blackmail-able socialite Catherine.

Catherine tended to be a princess, whereas Jess had gone to college for a degree in accounting. She called upon Jess’s old confidence, to handle anything.

She crossed her arms and stared out the window of her high-rise condo that she currently shared with two roommates, Camila and Valentina. What would they think? The easy sway of the palm trees didn’t soothe her. Nothing calmed her down as she screamed, “My lawyers are already working on this case. How dare you video tape me?”

He chuckled. “I needed some leverage, sweetheart. Else no one would believe you and I-”

Wow. He'd just admitted it. She rolled her eyes and interrupted him, “Were a huge mistake. Why are you blackmailing me?”

“I need money. Most of us don’t live in luxury.”

“Most people don't ask for money they don’t deserve.”

“What?” he asked. “I can’t hear you sweetheart, not without a plan for you to give me five million.”

And in that second, she blinked and lost some of her fight. Brock wasn’t the smartest guy she’d ever met. One too many footballs must have hit him in the head. She stifled a scream. “I assume you think this is going to embarrass me, but you are wrong. Videotaping a minor having s*x is a criminal offense. And don’t forget one thing….”

His goofy tone made her think he had nothing upstairs in his mind. “What’s that?”

“My name is Catherine Morgan now and I’ll bury you.” Her words were a weapon she'd skewer him with. Jess had been strong and confident, but nobody had ever feared Jess Taylor. The Morgan name had clout. And money, and social standing, which made them vulnerable to jerks.

Jess Taylor didn’t even exist anymore. Not since her birth identity had been discovered.

He made a ‘duh’ sound and said, “Next time you call me, it should be with directions of where you intend to pay me.”

“Ughh,” she did scream then and he hung up the phone.

Seriously this was too much. Why today, of all days?

Send this to security. We know the guy in the video and can find out where he lives.

On it Tess.

At least her sister hadn’t reminded her that she’d warned Catherine back in high school that Brock was trouble. She followed her sister’s advice and forwarded the text to Morgan security. Angry at being singled out and having her first day in the Morgan Empire ruined, she left her phone in her room and wandered into the living area and kitchen.

Her face felt hot, her throat dry. Security had the video, which meant strangers would see her naked, acting stupid.

More would see her lapse in judgement if she didn’t stop this nonsense. How dare he?

She needed a minute without drama before what was sure to be an awful day, so she chose a coffee pod, the motion soothing. As the water poured in the cup, another bedroom door opened and Valentina, friend, roommate, and almost sister these days, pouted at her. With red eyes like she’d pulled an all-nighter with her law books, Valentina swept her dark black hair behind her ears. "Catherine?"

Catherine put her coffee in the machine and pressed the on button, reaching into the refrigerator for cream. Valentina stood in front of her and asked, “Are you okay? I'm fairly sure I heard screaming.”

Before she could answer, her cousin Camila joined them. She also had dark brown hair but her eyes were an exotic almond shape rather than Valentina's round.

Silk, diamonds, platinum, cashmere. All three of them understood living with unlimited wealth at their fingertips--it did not make their lives perfect but came with certain complications. None of them saw a reason to live alone when they could have fun, together.

Catherine ignored the heat in her face and said, “Valentina, Camila… I didn’t expect to see either of you so early this morning.”

Valentina took the ice cream from the freezer and said, “You slammed the phone and screamed out you were a Morgan. That’s pretty serious so I left my law books to check on you.”

“I’m sorry you heard that.” Had she been that loud? Her shoulders were tight and she blew on her hot coffee.

“No apologies necessary," Valentina said. "So what happened?”

Catherine set her coffee on the counter, knowing she couldn't hide this disaster from them. "Hang on." She left the open kitchen, rushed to her room, and scooped her phone off the bed, bringing it back to her friends. She couldn't even look at it. “See for yourselves.”

Valentina put her mug of coffee down and took the phone. Camila stood beside her, and she was the one to gasp and say, “Oh my goodness. Who's the guy?”

Ugh. Brock. “He was a high school mistake.”

Valentina turned her nose in the air and smacked her lips together. “Clearly--he's not even that impressive.”

“Valentina!” Catherine squeezed the bridge of her nose. This wasn’t good. Brock’s anatomy wasn’t the topic of conversation.

Camila laughed so hard she held her belly as she said, “That’s pretty funny.”

Catherine shook her head. “Camila! Don’t encourage her.”

Valentina handed her the phone back. “What? It’s true. He’s kind of smaller than average and he’s stupid if he thinks he can blackmail you by releasing this. He’ll be laughed at and ridiculed.”

Hmm. That shouldn’t make her feel better though Catherine’s heart lifted a little. She straightened her shoulders then heat rose to her cheeks again as she thought of security watching the video. “Right. But now I have to tell my brothers about this, which is mortifying, and Peter is remarrying Belle and made a big deal about every Morgan needs to stay away from negative publicity."

Valentina sighed. "There is no way around it, which sucks. But this isn’t publicity--you're being blackmailed."

Camila agreed.

Catherine didn’t want to give in to blackmail. "I hate to pay Brock off, but I don’t want anyone talking about this at Peter’s wedding to Belle. People already think Peter’s true love is Jennifer. Our banks are getting letters from concerned citizens of the world that Peter is ruining his life, like Jennifer is some wholesome girl everyone loves.”

Camila nodded. “We all got the family email to keep our noses clean. This is bad timing.”

“This guy is stupid.” Valentina winked. “He’s not equipped with the right wrench to even call that a cleaning.”

And now the world would see how stupid she’d been--if she didn’t pay. She hated the idea of paying! Catherine’s cheeks burned but she had to shake it off and not let Brock's video ruin Peter's wedding.