Marshall leaned back in his chair. “Maybe it is unusual, but the Montgomery brothers are a unique group that I’m damn happy to have on my side. So tell me what you have against Jax Montgomery, other than the fact that he dates, and is never photographed with the same woman twice. You seem to like Hudson, and I’ve never heard you say a bad word about Cooper.”
“I’ve actually never met Cooper,” I confessed. “And how could I not like Hudson? He makes it very obvious that Taylor is the center of his world now, and he’s making her incredibly happy. Plus, he’s never been a man-whore. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read a single word of gossip about him or Cooper.”
Hudson, the eldest Montgomery brother, had taken care of Taylor while she was recovering, and the two of them had fallen madly in love. They were living together in an exclusive relationship now, and Hudson had convinced Taylor to take a permanent position as a geologist at the Montgomery Mining Lab.
There was no way I couldn’t adore the man for giving Taylor all the happiness she very much deserved.
“They’re all good men, Harlow, whether you’ve realized that yet or not,” Marshall rumbled.
I took a sip of my coffee before I answered. “Jax Montgomery asked me out on a date once about two years ago. He visits the lab sometimes because he’s interested in the research, and after we met there, he asked me out for dinner.”
I hadn’t really wanted to share that information, but if I wanted into Last Hope, I couldn’t evade Marshall’s questions.
“And?” Marshall prompted.
“And I told him that I wasn’t interested in being one of his one-night women. The press follows him everywhere when he’s in the company of any female just so they can report on his latest rejects. I would have to be an idiot to sign up for that,” I informed him.
He shrugged. “Most women would just because he comes from a very well-known family, and because he’s so wealthy. The women he’s dated seem to love the attention they get from being seen with him.”
Unfortunately, I knew Marshall was right. There never seemed to be any shortage of females willing to take a shot at being the first to get a second date with Jax Montgomery. “He is filthy rich,” I admitted. “And he’s obscenely gorgeous. But I wonder how many of those women actually know that the guy is literally a genius, too. He’s wickedly intelligent. It’s almost embarrassing that I have a doctorate degree, but Jax seems to be able to keep up on geoscience discussions in the lab as well as I do.”
Not that I’d actually talked to him much after I’d refused his dinner invitation. I’d seen him around the lab, but we’d actually never had a long discussion after that. In fact, I’d made it a habit to avoid him whenever possible.
Marshall smirked. “You do realize that he will end up being your advisor, right? Jax has a stubborn streak a mile wide, so I guarantee you won’t see a hint of gossip about him because of your agreement. It’s not like he squires a different woman around every single night. You’ve underestimated him, Harlow. If Jax makes a deal, he sticks to it.”
I lifted a brow. “He also said he wouldn’t date another woman for as long as he was my advisor so he was always available if I needed him.”
Marshall nodded. “Then he won’t date. For some reason, being your advisor is important to him. He came to me about it. It’s not like I approached him. I’ve never asked a single one of the Montgomery brothers to act as an advisor. They’re too damn busy.”
“He did?” I asked, surprised. “Why would he do that?”
Jax hadn’t said a single word about the fact that he’d actually volunteered to be my Last Hope advisor.
“Maybe because he can see how much you’re struggling right now, just like I do,” Marshall said grimly. “You resigned from a job you loved, and you barely leave this tiny apartment of yours, Harlow. I know you’ve been occasionally seeing a counselor who you chose, but I think she’s just blowing smoke up your ass. You need somebody who can help you confront your demons, not help you run away from them. I don’t think you’ve even thought about forgiving yourself for bringing Taylor on that expedition, and I know you’re still grieving Mark’s death. I have no doubt you’re blaming yourself for that, too, which makes absolutely no sense. At some point, you’re going to have to figure out that it wasn’t your fault. That none of it was your fault.”
“I can’t,” I responded in a shaky voice. “Taylor being in Lania was my fault, and I invited Mark on that exploration. If it hadn’t been for me, Mark wouldn’t have been there, either, and he never would have been executed by rebels when he arrived in Lania.”
I’d been completely shattered when Marshall had broken the news that they’d recovered Mark’s body near the dock, and that he’d been dead since the day that Taylor and I had been locked up as hostages.
Apparently, the Lanian rebels preferred to dispose of the males, and keep only the women as their prisoners. The bastards obviously assumed that a female would put up less resistance.
“None of it was your fault, Harlow,” Marshall said adamantly. “All of you were victims. Nothing you did was out of the ordinary, and Lania isn’t exactly hostile territory. There was no way you could have predicted that this could happen. Taylor has already moved on, and she and Hudson are incredibly happy. Have you two discussed what happened to her after you were ransomed out? I think it’s important for you to actually realize that Taylor has done her fight with her demons, and came out of that struggle a winner.”
I shook my head. “I think she’s been trying to protect me by not talking about it. I still believe she was sexually assaulted, too, but she doesn’t go there, either. Honestly, I don’t think I ever believed her explanation that she was taken out of our holding area every night to speak with the rebel leader about our release. God, maybe I just wanted to believe that because I was so frantic about Mark, but even when it was happening, it didn’t make sense.”
“I think you should talk to Taylor about it. She’s doing far better than you’re imagining,” Marshall suggested. “And even if it did happen, and you had known, what could you have done about it, Harlow? You were as powerless as Taylor was at the time, so there was no possible way you could have helped her. Not to mention the fact that you didn’t have an assault rifle handy.” He paused for a moment before he added, “I’m sorry about Mark. I know you two were dating. Were you in love with him?”
I swiped a tear from my cheek before I answered. “I think we were both still trying to figure things out. His job as a mining engineer kept him out of the country most of the time, so we were rarely able to actually go on a real date. We spent a lot of time talking on the phone or FaceTiming. That’s why I suggested he join me on the exploration. He was between jobs, so I thought it would give us a little more time together in person. I wasn’t in love with him, and I don’t think he was in love with me, either. We didn’t really have enough time together to find out if we could be right for each other. But he was a good man, and an amazing friend. I cared about him a lot.”