Doctor Cooper’s office was on the outskirts of Sydney’s city center, in an area with a mix of offices, shops, and apartments. Dalton found a parking space a couple of streets away, and helped Tiny out of the car. The therapy she’d been having was making a difference, because she was moving more easily. If only she didn’t look so unhappy, maybe he’d be able to convince himself he’d done the right thing bringing her here.

But he wasn’t beaten yet. Doctor Cooper could turn things around by giving Tiny the hope she desperately needed.

“How did you get an appointment?” asked Tiny as they walked.

“I wore him down. He thinks by agreeing to meet, he’ll be able to convince me to stop pestering him. He clearly doesn’t know me.”

“You’ve been harassing the poor man?”

Dalton nodded and tried to smile, but her question had made him worry about Rosa. Was she okay? Was Otto still bothering Rosa’s sister?

Through the window of the building opposite, movement caught his eye. It was a karate class. A group of people in white uniforms were lined up and all punching the air in unison.

One was a slender woman with her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Dalton’s heart stopped. Rosa.

But when the woman turned her head the other way, it wasn’t Rosa. In fact, their build was the only similarity between the woman and Rosa. The woman didn’t have Rosa’s fine features, or her sometimes-green, sometimes-grey eyes. She didn’t have an intense look of total concentration on her face, and her tongue wasn’t poking out of the corner of her mouth.

“You okay?” asked Tiny.

Dalton blinked, realizing he must have stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk. “I’m seeing things,” he said trying to make light of the rush of disappointment that had filled him when he saw it wasn’t her. “For a moment, I thought that woman was Rosa. It was just a trick of the light.”

Tiny studied the woman, then shook her head. “Not as pretty as Rosa,” she said with a sideways look at Dalton.

“Mmm.” He tried to sound casual as he watched the people in the class pair up. It looked like they were going to practice sparring, like he and Rosa had. “What do you know about the man who was stalking her?” he asked.

Tiny shook her head. “Not much. Why?”

The woman was about the same build as Rosa, and the man she was sparring with was tall and heavy. A total mismatch. How big was Rosa’s stalker? A lot bigger than she was, no doubt. And if she came back to Sydney, he’d be waiting for her.

Only Dalton wouldn’t let that happen.

“The guy’s been bothering Rosa’s sister,” he said. “I’m pretty sure she said his name was Otto Bergmann. Probably not too many people in Sydney with that name, so he shouldn’t be hard to find.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Make a few calls and see if I can track him down.”

“And if you can?”

“Then I’d like to talk to him.” Dalton flinched as the woman he was watching messed up the block she was supposed to be performing and took an accidental blow from her partner. His muscles tensed and he turned away from the window.

“Come on,” he said. “We’ll be late.” But as they walked on, all he could think of was the man’s fist connecting with the woman’s shoulder. He could too easily picture the fighters as Rosa and Otto, and the image filled him with rage.

“Stop being stubborn. Call her,” said Tiny.

Dalton shot her a glance. No point in pretending he didn’t know who Tiny was talking about. And she was right, he needed to talk to Rosa. He’d assumed being apart from her would get easier, but if anything, it was harder by the day. The absence of Rosa in his life felt like he’d lost a limb. There was an empty space where she used to be, and it hurt.

He missed her peppermint smell, and the crazy things she said, her mind jumping from thought to thought on its unique, winding path. He missed her laugh, and the way she snorted when he took her by surprise. He missed the no-holds-barred way she liked to fight, and swimming with her in shark-infested waters. He missed the way her smile could make him feel like he was both invincible and vulnerable. And if that was a contradiction, well, it fit, because she was a contradiction and a conundrum, and the kind of mystery a man could spend a lifetime solving.

And he wanted to do just that. Spend a lifetime with Rosa.

If he hadn’t seen it before, it was because he hadn’t wanted to. Because he’d never wanted things to get complicated. Because loving someone meant they could reach into your chest and rip your heart out. And because realistically, being together would mean asking her to give up Lantana, and asking Tiny to do that had been hard enough.

Tiny stopped again, pulling him to a halt. “You okay?”

“That’s the second time you’ve asked. Aren’t I supposed to be asking you that question?”

“We’re here.” She motioned to a door he’d been too deep in thought to notice. They would have walked right past it if Tiny hadn’t stopped him.

“Just checking to see if you were paying attention,” he said, helping her inside.

Doctor Cooper turned out to be a man of about Dalton’s age, with blonde, sun-lightened hair and a surprisingly deep tan. Except for his white coat and serious expression, he looked more like a surfer than a specialist whose work had been referenced in many of the books about stroke that Dalton had read.

“Thank you for seeing us,” said Dalton, shaking the man’s hand.

Doctor Cooper shook Tiny’s hand too, then gave Dalton a rueful grin. “You’re persuasive, I’ll give you that. But I’m afraid you’re wasting your time. I’ve already told you, I’m not taking on any new patients. In fact, I’m not seeing any patients at all for the next year.”

Dalton helped Tiny into one of the chairs in the doctor’s office, then sat down next to her. “I wanted you to meet my sister, and to talk frankly. I’m certain there’s a way we can work Tiny’s rehabilitation into your year. We just need to discover how.”

The doctor laughed. “You don’t give up, do you?”

“Not when I know there has to be a solution.” If there was one thing Dalton had learned over the years, it was that creative thinking — and large amounts of money — could solve nearly every problem.

Well, until recently.

Cooper’s gaze went to Tiny. Was it Dalton’s imagination, or was that a look of appreciation on the man’s face? The muscles on one side of Tiny’s face didn’t work as they should, but Dalton thought she was still pretty. Maybe he was biased, being her brother, but he had the feeling the doctor might agree with him.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Knight, I would have liked to help you,” said Cooper. “I can recommend you to one of my colleagues.”

Tiny smiled. Was there a sparkle in her eyes that hadn’t been there a moment ago? Dalton couldn’t be sure. But if there was, he intended to do everything in his power to encourage it. To see her interested in something — or someone — would be a definite improvement, especially if it snapped her out of the depression she’d fallen into. That was, if it didn’t end in heartache and impossible longings.

“My brother won’t budge,” she said, each syllable slow and careful. “You can’t argue with him. He always gets what he wants.”

If only that were true. Because Dalton knew exactly what — who — he wanted. Rosa. But missing her was proving to be something all the money in the world couldn’t solve.