Two weeks passed, the summer was over. Rory was back in school, and life had fallen into a familiar pattern. A pattern that irritated the hell out of Jace. He’d been patient. He’d given Ally time. He stopped himself from checking his cell every five seconds to see if she made contact. He’d bitten back the need to talk about her, he hadn’t so much as mentioned her name to Rory or Adam. But enough was enough. Ally was acting weird, and there was no way in hell he would lose her again.

Arrangements had been put in place. His mother had moved in for a few days to keep an eye on Rory. Ben had expressed, if not exactly delight, acceptance that Jace would be out of the office for a couple of days.

“Just go and get her, man.” He’d grinned. “You’re so restless, it’s like living in a war zone waiting for the next bomb to hit.”

That hadn’t been true, and hadn’t been fair either. Jace had gritted his teeth and kept a smile on his face through the recent fiasco in the office and worked hard with Ben to find a solution to their staffing crisis, which came from the most unlikely of places.

Kenna.

As she spent most of her time off from family duties hanging around his house with Rory, they had plenty of opportunities to get to know each other better. He’d seen first hand that the stress of looking after her mother and the kids was sucking the life out of her. She needed a job—a way to make her own way in the world and earn some money.

Like Rory, she kept this from her parents.

He’d learned more about Kenna and that awful night. The terrible secret she and her family kept—that her mother had been responsible for the fire when she left a pan unattended on the stove. She’d been drunk—and social services had almost intervened to take the kids into care.

It had been a hard road for them, by all accounts. Kenna’s mother dried out, but the fear of their family being torn apart was the catalyst for Kenna’s lies about her identity, and her fear on being confronted by Ally.

Jace took her father aside, and had a frank, man-to-man talk. Just as he suspected, Kenna’s dad was oblivious to his daughter’s needs, and, once informed, keen to find a solution. He’d been open to arranging a caretaker for his wife to relieve the pressure on Kenna, leaving her free to take up the opportunity of trying out at Carter Coffee Roasters.

It had been a long shot, but to Ben and Jace’s surprise, her expertise with social media filled a niche they hadn’t realized needed filling. She was a quick learner. Enthusiastic, and fun to be around. Katy was delighted to be working with her.

So, with Rory supervised, and the company’s recent crisis averted, there was nothing preventing him from finding Ally.

The last time they spoke, she’d been evasive in nailing down when she’d be back—if ever. She told him she’d call, but his cell had been ominously silent. She said she’d be busy, and cited work, and he didn’t want to think about what that entailed. He didn’t want to think about her hanging around in bars waiting for guys to pick her up. Didn’t want to think about her working cheek-by-jowl with Crystal, or the possibility of her being poisoned by the vitriol Crystal was bound to fill her ears with about him.

For if there was one thing for sure, it was that Crystal turned out to be an incredibly vindictive woman. So he packed a bag, told his family he wouldn’t be back for a few days, and took a flight to Seattle.

He hadn’t told her he was coming. He wouldn’t give her the chance to put him off. This visit wasn’t a suggestion, it was a sure thing. He needed to see her. Needed to make sure that she knew he wouldn’t fucking do without her for one minute longer.

He hired a car at the airport, punched her address into the GPS, and drove to her home.

Just as expected, the apartment was locked up and deserted. She’d be at work. Even though the thought of coming face-to-face with Crystal in the offices he’d never visited filled Jace with a feeling of distaste, there was no alternative.

Half an hour later he drew up outside Honeytrap Inc’s office. Inside, it wasn’t quite as he expected. In fact, it looked more like a lawyer’s office than an investigation agency. The lobby was elegant and understated, with sand-colored walls, and comfortable white sofas, where he was asked to wait by the receptionist.

He’d asked to see Ally, but it was not she who came through the doors to meet him. A woman who introduced herself as Margaret hurried him through reception and into an office the size of a broom cupboard.

“I’m here to see Ally,” he explained, not for the first time.

“I know.” She waved him to a chair, and scurried behind the desk to settle on one herself. “We haven’t long, once Crystal realizes you’re in the building, I’ll be…” She smiled, rueful. “Well, let’s just say, I’ll be silenced.”

“Hit squad?” He smiled back. “Maybe if you could just let Ally know I’m here.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. She doesn’t work here anymore.” Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t you know?”

What the fuck? “Tell me. Tell me everything.” He forced emphasis on the final word, staring her down.

“How do you feel about her?”

“About Ally?” It wasn’t any of her business, but there was something in Margaret’s eyes, something that made him sure he could trust her.

“I love her.” Damned weird that he was saying it aloud for the first time to a woman he’d just met rather than the woman who owned him, heart and soul.

“You love her.” Margaret nodded. “Crystal had Ally fired the moment she returned from the assignment. Her name is not to be mentioned in the office.” She pushed back her chair. Wrung her hands, and her face contorted in a look of pure anguish. “I should have said something, should have given her more support, but I was frightened to lose my job. She told us that she knew you, before...”

“That’s right. We met last New Years.”

Margaret’s throat moved in a swallow. “Crystal said you were engaged to be married. That you were her fiancé.”

He shook his head. “No. We were dating. I won’t lie, we were getting serious, but the moment Ally came back into my life I realized that Crystal wasn’t the woman for me, and I ended our relationship.”

“So she didn’t cheat with you? She didn’t try to steal you away?”

She did everything in her power to avoid getting involved. Held him at arm’s length until that night he returned from Portland after breaking up with Crystal.

“The opposite. She told me not to risk my relationship for something that could never work.” Sweat broke out on his forehead. Was that it? Was she warning him off because she didn’t feel the same? Because she wasn’t ready for what was happening between them? Jace pulled in a ragged breath. No. He couldn’t think like that. She cared for him: he knew it.

But her recent withdrawal gave him pause. Made him doubt. She never said she loved him—sure, he hadn’t said the words either, but he had his reasons, he’d been so burned by Angela he qualified for an ‘emotionally retarded’ sticker.

“Where is she?”

Margaret frowned. “I don’t know. I presumed she’d gone back to your town and was living happily ever after in the countryside.” She stood. Their time together was obviously over. “When you find her, tell her I’m sorry I let her go without telling her I believed her.”

He stood too, and walked with her to the door.

He didn’t know the city. Didn’t have any idea where Ally could have gone. He could call her and demand she meet him or stake out her apartment in the hope that she’d return. Deep in thought, Jace strode through the corridor, back to the reception area.

Then a door opened. And a familiar face stopped him dead in his tracks.

With a gasp, the blonde backed up. She’d almost made it into the room she had been exiting and slammed the door in Jace’s face, but not quite. And a closed door wouldn’t have stopped him anyway. Not today.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Even as he spoke the words, Jace knew the answer. A glance behind her revealed two other people in the room. Crystal and a man he’d never seen before.

“Jace, I...” Ashley’s face contorted.

He took a couple of steps forward, then turned and slammed the door behind him.

The man got up from behind his huge desk. “What’s going on here? Who are you?”

“I’m Jace Carter.” He looked from Ashley’s stricken face to Crystal’s. “I know these two, but who are you?”

“Brian Martin. I own this company.”

Jace walked up to the desk, and sat down on one of the black leather chairs opposite Brian’s position. “In that case, Brian, you’re exactly the person I’ve come to see.”

* * *

It was bullshit, all of it. Ally knew better than to believe anything Crystal said, after the lies and misdirection she’d already had from someone she once respected. For one moment—one single solitary moment—she let the so-called ‘evidence’ cause her pain, but after that she dismissed it out of hand. There was an explanation, and it was an ugly one.

Not content with terminating Ally’s employment, refusing to give her a reference, and blackening her name with her colleagues, Crystal was trying to wreck her personal life too. There was absolutely no doubt about her motives for sending Ashley to Shepherd’s Creek, or for sending Ally the photographs of them laughing and talking together.

She’d said that Ashley had furnished a report—and Ally had enough confidence in her colleague that she was sure she wouldn’t have falsified it just because her employer told her to. And she had no intention of falling for Crystal’s shit again.

She chose to believe in him. She chose to decide that he wouldn’t lie—wouldn’t cheat. Natalie had already started a legal trail in the form of a solicitor’s letter, and Ally would fight heaven and earth to prevent Jace getting sucked in more than he was already.

“You’re miles away.”

Ally turned to her mother with a smile. “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking about work stuff.” She pulled a face. “It’s hard to stop running through all of it in my head.”

They sat in the sunshine on the deck of a house her parents rented for a couple of months while they scouted out a property to buy. Staying with Belle had only ever been a short-term solution, and now they were planning a life together again, moving somewhere alone was the logical next step.

The heartfelt invitation that she should visit came at just the right time. Ally’d tried for a couple of jobs in Seattle, but was pretty sure she’d been blackballed, as they cooled on her after learning where she’d previously worked.

“You need to put it all behind you.” Her mother refilled their glasses with homemade lemonade, spiced up with a generous shot of white rum. “There’s no point fretting.”

“I could just do without people trash-talking me. I just want to get on with my life.”

Her mother nodded.

“I’ve decided I’m done with investigative work.” The decision had been hard—she’d poured all her energy and skill into building a career, and abandoning it felt like surrender. But the drama, the disillusionment inherent in uncovering lies and discovering deceit, was like a black cloud settling over her. She’d had enough of it to last a lifetime. “I’m leaving Seattle. It doesn’t have anything for me anymore.”

“Is this anything to do with Jace?” Melissa’s eyes twinkled. “Your father and I would like to meet him.”

“It’s for me. The decisions I’m making are for me.” She was pathetic right now. No home, no job, no prospects. Wracked with indecision, flattened by circumstances. Jace knew her as confident, sexy and happy, and right now, she felt none of those things. But some day soon, when she had her life put back together, she’d return to Shepherd’s Crook and find him again.

Her cell vibrated on the table, buzzing against the pale wood like a wasp doing a happy dance.

“I’ll give you some privacy.” Melissa stood and walked into the house.

Ally glanced at the caller ID. Natalie.

“Hey, Ally. Are you sitting down—because you’re not going to believe what just happened.”

Nerves grabbed her stomach, and twisted. “I’m sitting down.” She took a large swig of her drink. “What’s happening?”

“Brian Martin called. He says he’s received new information, which has made him aware that he’s been misled, and that he acted hastily in firing you. He wishes you to know that as a result of this information, Crystal’s employment and association with the company, and any of their associated ventures, has been terminated forthwith, and he wishes to issue a complete apology for the way you have been treated. He’s offered your job back.”

It didn’t make sense. “What other information? Do you think Ashley complained?”

“I don’t know. But he sure is concerned about a lawsuit. And he’s backed it up in writing. He sent me an email saying exactly the same thing.”

I can walk right back into my old life. But the thought brought no delight. “I’m done with it. I’m done with them.”

“He offered your old job back, or a position in the company they’re merging with in Portland. Both with increased salary. He only asks that you cease legal proceedings. He says whatever you decide to do, he wants it on record that he, and Honeytrap Inc., offer a genuine apology for the situation, which was orchestrated by one of their employees ‘going rogue.’”

“Wow. I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. Think about it overnight. Crystal is out of there, and I asked for reassurances that you would receive a good reference if you didn’t wish to be reinstated, and he was adamant that he would provide one himself. The guy was practically groveling, Ally.”

* * *

She’d asked him not to call. And he sat in a rental outside her apartment all night, but she hadn’t returned. The discussion at Honeytrap Inc. had been a revelation. Under fire, Ashley confessed she’d applied for the job in Carter Coffee under Crystal’s direction. She revealed how Crystal had been furious when she submitted her report, stating that Jace had been unseduceable, and forbidden her from speaking about it to anyone on pain of dismissal.

In face of the evidence, Brian had been forced to apologize. Vowed to put things right.

Ally’d been wading her way through shit. While he thought she’d been busy working, she’d been doing god knows what—probably trying to find another job. Her continued silence might mean Crystal had got to her somehow.

So the next day, he cut his visit short, and flew back home, brain working overtime on how to sort this out. She’d disappeared, just as she had months ago, but this time he had an advantage. At least he knew her name, and had a number for her.

As it was Saturday, Kenna was at the house, and she and Rory were snuggling on the sofa in a display of teenage togetherness that made him feel old.

On a whim, he walked out the front door, turned to snap a picture of his house, and sent it to Ally.

A couple of seconds later, his cell buzzed.

A picture. A house.

Communication. Finally.

He sent another. This one a close up of his face, pulling a face, with the word ‘lonely.’

Another flicked back. Her face. ‘Lonely too.’

Where are you? He wanted the answer desperately, but pride held him back from asking the question. Instead, he walked into the house and made a cup of coffee. Then he took a slice of the carrot cake Kenna made—neither he nor Rory had the skills—arranged it on the table, and snapped it.

Send.

An emoticon. Smiley face.

‘Come get it.’ He took another selfie, this time with his eyebrow raised suggestively. ‘Come get it.’

‘LOL. Half an hour.’

She must be with her family in Portland.

“Selfies, Dad?” Rory stood in the doorway.

“Yes.” He couldn’t hold back the grin.

“Ally?”

“Ally.”

“Woo!” Rory stepped into the room. “Did she call you? Is she coming back?”

“What’s going on?” Hearing the commotion, Kenna stepped into the room too.

“Dad heard from Ally.”

Two excited faces. Must be true if you’re happy you want everyone you care about to be happy too. It was cute, but having a reconciliation, a heart-to-heart with the woman he wanted to share his life with, in the presence of these two would be beyond awkward.

“Pose.” He held up the phone, snapped a picture of Rory and Kenna with their arms wrapped around each other, grinning for the shot, and sent it.

‘Aww.’ Smiley face.

‘Meet me at The Eye. Eight o’clock. For dessert.’ She sent a picture. One of her smiling, with her eyebrow raised, just as his had been.

“Kids, I’ll be out for dinner.” He grabbed keys. “Don’t wait up.”

* * *

Apart from the first night they got together, Jace had never seen her dressed up. And the jeans and T-shirts she packed for the visit to her parents didn’t fit the bill, so Ally headed into town to shop.

Dammit, she might be presently jobless, but things were looking up. She’d been vindicated, and now she was ready to embrace everything in her life. Ready to take what she wanted. Put herself out there, on the line. While looking as fabulous as possible doing it.

First stop? Hair salon, where the stylist treated her hair to a deep conditioning before arranging it in an updo, with a curl or two teased out to brush her shoulders.

She did her makeup before leaving—because if there was ever a time for eyeliner and fake eyelashes, this was it.

Second? A chic boutique where she tried on every sexy outfit in the place before settling on a royal purple dress in soft jersey that plunged in front to show off the soft swell of her breasts and clung to every single one of her curves.

She couldn’t resist a pair of silver sandals with three-inch heels, so didn’t even try.

The entire outfit got a thumbs-up from the salesgirl.

Her phone pinged with a message from Jace while she was in the changing room.

Polished black shoes.

She sent back one of her feet encased in the silver sandals.

Black boxers.

She flicked up her dress, and snapped a picture of the pale purple panties she’d just bought. Send.

He replied with a fire emoji.

With a grin, she left the changing room and paid for her purchases.

She’d prepared. She looked the part, and had even stocked up on condoms in a corner store on the way. But there was something she left to chance—how to get there.

Crazy confidence had set her on the road, but after an hour or so, a dawning realization struck. That she knew the way to Shepherd’s Crook from Portland but didn’t exactly know how to get to The Eye.

They’d sailed across a lake, but what lake? Why was there more than one goddamn lake in the locality?

She relied on her cell phone for everything. Checking websites, finding places with her GPS app, being able to call for help or directions when she needed them.

So when she finally realized she had no clue where the hell she was, and pulled her cell from her bag, her first reaction was blind panic.

She’d planned. She’d prepared. She looked better than she’d looked in her entire life.

But the dead screen—the battery she’d forgotten to charge the previous night, which had now pancaked—dashed her plans in an instant.

The sun had gone down, and every road looked the same. She was pretty sure she’d already passed this spot half an hour previously.

There were no houses, no shops, no restaurants. Nothing except empty roads edged with dark trees, their branches whipping in the rising wind.