Especially when feeding Elena a story like that meant she’d be all the more likely to leave Montana—and Gage—for good.

Ten

While she waited for a boutique owner to finish her conversation with Chiara in the casino resort shops, Elena glanced up at the door of the high-roller suite in the second-floor gallery, where Gage was in a meeting.

What had been so important to tear him away from their conversation this morning? He’d closed himself in the den of their suite after Desmond’s arrival, not reappearing until it was time to leave for his meeting. She wasn’t necessarily hurt by his lack of communication. She understood business didn’t stop just because she’d revealed a long-held secret to Gage. But she couldn’t deny she was curious to pick up where they left off, to see if her revelation changed anything in their relationship.

Chiara’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Elena, will you hop in a photo with Mimi so I can tag you both and help her find you in case she wants to place a future order for your designs?”

Shaking off the romantic preoccupation with Gage, Elena hurried over, amazed at how Chiara’s hustle never took a day off. While Elena had been daydreaming about Gage, Chiara had been talking up Elena’s potential future business. Both Astrid and Chiara had insisted she had a real talent for fashion.

“Of course.” Elena posed with the woman, one of the boutique’s mannequins between them, while Chiara took several photos. “You have a beautiful store. Thank you so much the tour.”

After shaking hands with the owner, Chiara and Elena left the store and returned to the shops that fanned out around a courtyard fountain. The water bubbled and splashed from the mouth of a sea dragon before falling into a marble pool at its base.

Again, Elena glanced up at the second-floor gallery toward the high-roller suite, but the door remained closed. She noticed Chiara followed her gaze.

“Astrid made it sound like the Mesa Falls owners were meeting for supersecret reasons.” Chiara’s green eyes sparkled with mischief, like they shared a secret of their own. “Have you made any progress cracking the code of silence from them about Alonzo Salazar?”

Caught off guard by the question since Chiara was close with Astrid, Elena took a moment to consider her response while a group of young tourists photographed the sea dragon.

“Honestly, I’m backing off the story.” She hadn’t consciously made the decision until that moment, thinking she’d wait to see how things played out with Chiara. “I was convinced that Salazar had greedy ulterior motives for writing his book when I first started digging, but now I’m not so sure that was the case.”

“Really?” Chiara turned her face away from the tourists’ cameras, then leaned closer to Elena, green eyes wide. “Do tell.”