“When are you coming back to the city, Paige?” Lily asked. “I miss you.”

Paige frowned. It was raining hard and she’d been stuck indoors all day. Wyatt had his head buried in his computer and only grunted when she asked him questions. They hadn’t been into town in two days now.

Dinner on the deck had been five nights ago. It was the last time she’d felt truly at ease with him. Since then, he’d treated her with a distant formality that had been infuriating until she got accustomed to it.

Hell, maybe she was still infuriated, but she was so busy trying to make a deal with different clothing manufacturers, from a distance, that she’d put it into the back of her mind.

“I don’t know,” Paige said in reply. “There’s still no word on King.”

“If you ask me, it’s just a stunt. Maybe the studio did it for publicity. Do you think they could have done that?”

“I don’t think so,” Paige replied. “The police are involved, and whoever did it would end up in a lot of trouble, don’t you think? Making false threats, wasting police time, et cetera.”

Lily sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

Paige loved the girl who’d been her best friend since they were little and their dads were starting out together. Lily was sweet, but the elevator didn’t always go to the top floor.

“Do you miss the show?” Paige asked. Because she wasn’t the only one affected by the hiatus. There were five of them, but Paige only cared about her and Lily. None of them needed the money, but several of them wanted the fame.

“Not really,” Lily replied. “I hate all the fighting. You know that.”

“I know. So you’d be happy if it didn’t come back?”

Lily sighed. “It wouldn’t upset me, but I would be unhappy for you. I know you want it very badly.”

Paige was torn. Yes, she wanted the show back. She wanted to be a household name because that would get her what she ultimately wanted. But she knew how much shy Lily hated the spotlight. Lily had only agreed to be on the show because Paige had talked her into it.

More like begged, truth be told. The producers had wanted five women, not four, and they wanted Lily and Paige as a package deal since their fathers famously worked together. Since Lily’s father had bought an equal interest in SpenTech a few years ago, when Paige’s dad was rumored to be nearing bankruptcy, there’d been tension at the company. Because of that, the producers had expected more drama between the women.

The only drama that had ever been between them, however, was the manufactured drama the producers forced on them. After each taping, they were back to being best friends. Whatever messes their fathers had made, it didn’t affect them.

“It’s not the show I want,” Paige said truthfully. “It’s the influence.”

“You should ask your dad for the money, Paige. He’d give it to you.”

He wouldn’t, but she wasn’t going to argue with Lily. Lily’s dad would give her anything she wanted, and no strings attached either. But not Paige’s dad.

“It’s not the same, Lil. I have to do this myself. My dad is self-made. I want to be self-made.” Even if she knew she had advantages simply by being a Spencer.

But so far, those advantages hadn’t translated into any deals.

“We need to go to Paris,” Lily said. “I need a new handbag, and I want to see the new collections. I don’t want what everyone else has.”

There was a time when Paige would have jumped on that idea, but something about the whole notion of flying to Paris to pick out an expensive handbag—and probably a whole new wardrobe too—seemed wrong. She stared at the rain coming down, the lushness of the green mountains cloaked in gray, and felt strangely disconnected from her life in Seattle.

She’d gone to watch Mary Beth ride the last time they’d gone to town. Wyatt had stood there completely stony-faced while his grandmother tacked up her admittedly giant horse. She’d used a mounting block to get on the beast.

And then, amazingly enough, Zeus tucked his head and did absolutely everything she asked of him without much of a complaint. Paige had thought, watching Mary Beth from the sidelines, that you’d never know she was seventy-eight. Or that she was battling diabetes. She wasn’t a large woman, but she had built up a bit of weight around the middle, and that made for insulin-resistance. Riding was one of the ways she was trying to combat it.

It had been peaceful being around horses again. The smells, the snorts, the grace and beauty of the animals. Paige’d had a strong desire to find the nearest tack store and buy a pair of jodhpurs and boots so she could ride too.

“We’ll go soon, I promise,” Paige said. Because once she got back to her life, she’d settle right in again. All these feelings of discontent would disappear. Eagle’s Ridge would fade from memory, and so would Wyatt. She felt a twinge of sadness at that thought, but she tamped it down firmly.

She didn’t even like it here, not really. She tolerated it. She adapted to her surroundings. She wouldn’t miss a thing about it when she left.

Outside, the rain fell steadily. A deer emerged from the woods farther down the slope and ambled across the open ground. A baby followed, its white spots so cute as it frolicked after its mother.

A week ago, she’d never even seen a deer in person. Now she’d seen so many she’d lost track. And each time one strolled across the grass, her heart leaped with happiness at the sight.

Didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be happy to get home again, up high in her penthouse apartment overlooking the Sound. There was no wildlife there, no random deer sightings. But there was food delivery, gourmet restaurants, the best coffee in the world, and more entertainment than any one person could consume.

Seattle was heaven. She couldn’t wait to get back to it.

“I can’t wait,” Lily said. “Let’s go now. You can bring your bodyguard. What’s the difference if you’re in Paris or wherever they’ve stashed you? It’s still a long way from Seattle.”

“I can’t right now.” Because Wyatt wasn’t going to Paris. Even if she successfully managed to talk everyone involved in her case into letting her go overseas, it would be with a different bodyguard. Something about that idea opened up a pit in her belly.

“For all I know, you’re in Paris now,” Lily said. “Why won’t you tell me where you are? I could visit.”

“I’m not in Paris, honey. I haven’t even left the state, okay? But I can’t leave here right now.”

She hadn’t told Lily about Wyatt. She’d meant to, but something always held her back. Like talking about him was wrong. Which was silly. Talking about a man she was attracted to wasn’t a crime, especially when there was nothing going on between them.

But still she didn’t say anything. Her phone began to buzz with another call. She glanced at it. She didn’t recognize the number, but she’d been taking so many calls from various potential business partners lately that it didn’t matter. Besides, she wanted to put an end to this conversation before it got any more uncomfortable.

“I have to go, Lily. I have an important call coming in. I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Hugs and kisses!” She flashed over to the other call. “This is Paige.”

“Hello, my queen. Where have you been hiding?”

* * *

Paige’s voice lifted the hairs on the back of Wyatt’s neck. She’d been in her room all morning, on the phone, but this time she was shouting. He got to his feet and strode toward her door, alarm coursing through him. Not enough to burst in on her, but enough to see what the hell was happening.

Probably just a bad meeting, but he had to check.

“Paige,” he shouted as he rapped on the door. “Open up.”

A moment later the door flew open and she stood there in yoga pants and a sweatshirt. Her hair was in a ponytail—and her face was as white as a sheet.

He didn’t even hesitate. He gathered her against him. She didn’t stiffen or pull away. She wrapped her arms around him and melted against his body.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

She trembled from head to toe and his alarm grew. He pushed her back gently. Wide hazel eyes shimmering with tears gazed up at him.

“He called me, Wyatt. He has my number.”

Ice washed over him. “King called you?”

“Yes.”

Fury rolled like a wave of fire over his body. “I need your phone.”

“It’s on the bed.”

He set her gently away and went over to collect her phone. He brought up the last call. If the man was smart, the number was a burner. But not everyone was smart.

“What did he say?”

She pushed a lock of hair that had fallen from her ponytail away from her face. “He said I couldn’t hide from him forever. That he’d find me. That we’re destined to be together.”

Rage rolled through him. Wyatt took Paige’s hand, and she followed him into the living room where he collected his phone from the table. He dialed Hawk.

“Yeah, man?”

“Paige got a call on her cell. I have a number for you.” He rattled it off when Hawk gave him the go ahead.

“I’ll get a trace on it. What did he say to her?”

“The usual crazy bullshit assholes like this say. They’re destined to be together and he’ll find her.”

“I’ll let you know what we get on this number as soon as I have something.”

“Thanks.”

He ended the call and set the phone down. Then he gathered Paige in his arms again. He’d spent the last few days purposely not touching her. Not letting himself give in to the urge to talk to her more than was necessary. He’d been cool and distant, but now that he’d held her again it was impossible to let her go.

So he let himself do it. For now.

She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. They didn’t speak at first.

“You okay?” he asked her.

She nodded.

“Did he say anything else?”

“Not really. Nothing that stands out. I started yelling at him. And then I hung up when you knocked on the door.”

“He’s never called you before, right?”

“No.”

“He got your number from somewhere. From someone. This is somebody who knows you, Paige. Or knows someone in your circle.”

“I meet a lot of people. I don’t give many my number. But—God, I’ve been talking to so many people lately, so many executives at different companies, that I thought it was one of them returning my call. How am I supposed to try to run a business if I can’t even answer my own damned phone?”

Her fingers curled into his shirt. She was warm and fragile in his arms. He wanted to slay dragons for her. But first he needed to find the dragon.

“I think it’s time I watched your show,” he said.

She pushed back to look up at him. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Because I’m a total bitch on the show. I’m outrageous and, well, not the real me. It’s mostly scripted, no matter that it’s a reality show.”

“Still, I need to see the dynamics. And you need to tell me about the people who work on the show behind the scenes.”

She sighed. “Surely they’ve been checked. The police have a list of everyone who works there, from the production assistants to the security guards. There are a lot of people, Wyatt.”

He pushed her hair off her face, let himself enjoy skimming his fingers over her smooth skin.

“Between the photo at your apartment building and today’s call on your personal number, I’m more convinced than ever it’s someone in your circles. If this guy was a random crank, it would have never escalated beyond the letters sent to the studio. But he’s not random. He knows you.”

She shivered in his arms. He should let her go, but he didn’t want to.

“Okay, yes, you have to be right. But I still don’t know who it could be.”

“Then pull up Netflix and let’s have an American Princess marathon.”

She looked uncertain. “Watching the series won’t show you the people behind the scenes.”

“It won’t. But it may spark questions I haven’t thought of yet.”

“I still wish you wouldn’t.”

He put a finger under her chin, tipped it up until he could gaze into her eyes. She didn’t flinch from the look he gave her. “What are you afraid of, Paige? That I won’t like you?”

“Pretty much.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” he said, his gaze dropping to her mouth. A mouth he wanted to do things to.

His groin started to throb, and he jerked his attention back to her pretty eyes. She was watching him with an invitation in her gaze. He very much wanted to accept it. But he set her away from him instead.

“I already like you far too much.”