Better Than Before (RightMatch.com Trilogy)

Better Than Before

by Kathryn Shay

Praise for Kathryn Shay’s contemporary romances

“Kathryn Shay knows how to pack an emotional wallop.”
Booklist

“A wonderful work of contemporary romance, with a plot ripped straight from the headlines. Kathryn Shay never disappoints.”
NY Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner

“Shay writes an emotion-packed story. With angst and some hot sex, this dramatic tale also has a nice touch of humor.”
RT Book Reviews

Copyright 2012, Kathryn Shay

Cover art by Patricia Ryan

Amazon Edition

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The Betrayal

The Father Factor

Just One Night

A Price Worth Paying

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Prologue

“So, big brother, do you want to invest?”

Spence Wickham studied his youngest sibling, who looked like hell, unshaven and dressed in sweats, with lines around his youthful mouth and eyes. The cause of Cole’s appearance was the tiny bundle of pink pressed against his shoulder, his infant daughter, Ellie. That he was asking, in such dishabille, for a huge amount of money to start an online venture made the situation ludicrous. Then again, his baby brother was the total opposite of him; Cole made decisions and acted in ways Spence never would.

“Dating sites don’t work.” Spence leaned back in the kitchen chair, loosened his tie and undid the top buttons of his crisp, white shirt. He’d come to Cole’s place from work and was still wearing a suit. “Weirdoes sign up and most people don’t find a mate.”

Patting the child’s back, Cole walked the length of the dining area off the main room of his spacious apartment in an effort to quiet her. Despite his obvious fatigue, instant fatherhood seemed to agree with him. “How would you know? You’ve never done online dating.”

“I hate those sites.” Spence’s middle brother, Joey, slouched on a recliner about ten feet away, half- listening to them, half- watching a football game on a big screen TV. Though they all had different fathers and the age span between Cole and Spence was twelve years, the three of them were close. “All cops do. They’re full of stalkers.”

“You don’t need them,” Spence told him. “You’ve had women falling at your feet since you were a high school star.” Joey was the athlete of the family, with muscles and agility that had made him a spectacular football and baseball player at East High in the city of Rockland.

Joe snorted. “Not that it makes a difference now.”

Joey had been recruited by Syracuse University and on his way to the pros when he’d blown out his knee his junior year. In the end, the doctors decided he couldn’t play any more ball. Not much later, he’d dropped out of college. Spence and Cole had to pull him from the depths of despair—and several bars—more than once. He’d finally gotten his act together and became a cop like his dad, but the months following Joe’s injury were one of the few times in his adult life that Spence had felt powerless. And he’d absolutely hated it!

 Bravado won out as it often did among the three brothers, and Joe switched gears. “At least I’m one of Rockland’s finest now. Not some blood-sucking money monger like you, Spence.”

Purposefully softening his tone but not enough to embarrass Joe, Spence said, “Yeah, and we’re proud of what you do.”

Cole crossed in front of Spence to put Ellie in the bassinet. A December sun, rare in upstate New York, streamed in through four skylights and warmed the whole place. Smells of baby powder and milk filled his used-to-be bachelor pad on the top floor of a building in Rockland’s yuppie community on Park Avenue.

While his brother fussed with the infant, Spence took another pass through the prospectus Cole had drawn up. He planned to hire a staff of three—an administrator to set up the site, an accountant to deal with money and a psychologist who would work with him to develop the profiles, then orchestrate the matches. The kid was smart, insightful and articulate, even if he was a starry-eyed romantic.

After Ellie had settled, Cole refilled his coffee mug and joined Spence at the table. “Global Industries will make a bundle if you back me.”

“Maybe.” His venture capitalist firm did well in nearly all of their investments, mostly due to Spence’s business acumen. The firm was his proudest achievement and the center of his life. “Are you sure the over-forty population is the best age group to target?”

“Uh-huh. Demographics show that’s when more than half the population goes to online-dating sites.”

Spence shook his head. “Hard to believe.”

“Just because you’ve given up on love, doesn’t mean the whole human race has.” Cole was always trying to change Spence’s attitude toward relationships. After Spence’s two failed marriages, that would never happen, but they both enjoyed the sparring.

Again, Spence examined the figures. “In this economy, will people have enough money to pay so much to join? You’d charge a hefty fee.”

“I’m going for an upscale clientele. There are enough free sites or those with smaller fees. I want to be different.”

“You always did, kiddo,” Joey put in, still staring at the TV. “Damn, Buffalo fumbled again.”

Cole’s concept was probably a solid investment. What’s more, Spence knew his little brother would succeed. He always had. Besides being a musical whiz, he’d had computer smarts and chose to go to MIT. After he’d graduated, he’d been hired by a large conglomerate and developed software for computer games. But a year ago, the medical student he was dating had gotten pregnant and had no interest in motherhood. Cole had talked her into having the child and giving her to him, renouncing all her parental rights. He’d also quit his job and had developed and patented a computer chip that proved useful for a variety of purposes; it had provided him with a solid nest egg. It wasn’t enough to front this online site, though, because he had to provide for his daughter’s future. But still, Spence couldn’t give in too easily. It was a sibling thing.

“Don’t you feel as if you’re cheating people? Everybody lies on dating sites.”

“Nope. One in five relationships start online, Spence. I’ll be helping people.”

“You are such a flaming romantic!” A thought occurred to Spence. Maybe he could make a game of this. “Fine, I’ll present your proposition to the board if you agree to a bet.”

Cole’s light blue eyes narrowed. When he was little, he’d fallen for a lot of Spence’s and Joey’s tricks and come out on the short end. “What kind of bet?”

“If I prove that people lie on these sites, you do free computer work for me for a month.”

Slanting a look at his daughter’s crib, Cole grinned. “And if I win, you have to babysit Ellie whenever I want you to for a month. No hired help.”

“Holy hell.”

Rising from the recliner, Joey sauntered into the kitchen. After he’d gotten another beer out of the fridge, he sat down with them. “How would you do that—prove that people lie and get away with it?”

Spence thought for a minute. “I’ll conduct an experiment. I’ll join the site myself, as two different people—the real me, and as a guy the exact opposite of who I am. The former will get dates, of course, because he’s rich, but his success will serve as a baseline. I’ll also set up a totally phony persona. The bet is that
he
can get dates, too, thus showing a person can lie and get results.” He calculated terms in his head. “If at least six women want to meet the real me and six want to meet the other guy I pretend to be, I’ve won.”

Cole frowned. “Why would you do that? What’s in it for you?”

A half-formed thought popped into Spence’s head—that his suggestion had something to do with his disastrous marriages and bachelor existence, with proving his inability to sustain a long-term relationship wasn’t his fault but was simply the nature of love and romance. But he pushed the notion aside. As Cole had said, he’d given up on both of those things. There were times when he felt a hole in his life because of it, but he wasn’t willing to try again. “I’ll be proving a point. Getting the best of you. You know how I like to win.”

“I want you to get the site, Cole,” Joe said, “but I still think they’re dangerous.”

“I’ll take steps to make it safer, I promise.” Cole scrubbed a hand over his jaw and mouth. “But I don’t know about Spence’s deal. He could hurt the women he lies to.”

“I won’t let it go that far with any of them. When each of the women gets serious enough and asks to meet either of my personas, I’ll cut her off with some predetermined excuse to let her down easily. No one will suspect any different.”

Cole glanced around the apartment, cluttered now with baby paraphernalia. “I need some work I can do from here for a while. You promise nobody will get hurt?”

His brother’s naiveté never failed to surprise Spence. Cole lived in a world where people kept their promises and a person’s word was inviolable. Spence knew better, but he promised anyway.

Joe poked Cole in the arm. “There could be a benefit to this, kiddo.”

Spence had heard that tone before. It never boded well. “What?”

“Cole and I have been hoping you’ll meet a woman who gets past your cynicism.” His brows raised. “Maybe it will be one who likes the other you.”

Laughing, Spence shook his head. “That won’t happen. I don’t think there’s a woman alive who’s able to make me believe in lasting relationships again.”

“Joe and I can only hope.” Cole held out his hand to Spence. “It’s a deal, then.”

Spence shook.

And Cole asked, “When do I get the money?”

Chapter 1

Three months later

Spence’s BlackBerry vibrated as he sat in the conference room of Global Industries, listening to one of their clients, Jacob Henderson, explain how his company’s falling sales and business infrastructure could recover from its spiraling decline. All the partners in the firm understood that they might get important calls while in meetings, and it wouldn’t be considered rude if Spence checked his incoming messages. Besides, he’d already made up his mind about AllGreen Gear. The president and CEO simply didn’t have the expertise to revamp his company, and though Spence felt a curious kind of detached sympathy for guy, he certainly wasn’t going to vote to pour money into a venture doomed to lose.

Fishing the BlackBerry out of the inside pocket of his suit coat, Spence glanced at the email address. It was her—Number Six on the B List. The last in a string of women with whom he’d corresponded online in one short month, both as himself and as the average American schmuck.

“Spence?” The chair of the board addressed him when the client finished and discreetly left the room. “Would you like to give us your input?”

Bracing his arms on the sleek oak table, Spence leaned forward. “As you all know, I was against putting up the money for this project. An all-green business selling environmentally friendly products was timely a few years ago, but I was fearful that in an economic downturn that kind of venture would suffer.” Luckily, after the group had overridden his objection, he’d insisted and gotten controlling shares in the company so they could shut it down anytime. “I think we should cut our losses.”

Harold Samson, the partner who’d brokered the deal, sat forward too, mirroring Spence’s position. Now fifty-five, Harold had been a valued member of Global Industries for years, ever since Spence had brought in him and five others after his startup businesses had grown so big he’d decided he needed partners. They each took twelve-month stints to chair the group and plan and run meetings. All were highly skilled business people.