She carried on walking when the beauticians caught her eye. She turned and looked at her reflection in the mirror and reached up and looked at her split ends. It had been quite a while since she had bothered with her hair or nails or anything like that. Almost in rebellion, but she felt the need to reinvent herself slightly and do a little pampering while she was at it. She shrugged, smiled, and made her way over. She may as well strike while the iron was hot!

  “Hello and welcome to Jane’s,” a very smiley girl said when she walked through the door. She had bright, lovely, almond eyes and long, chocolatey hair. She looked as if she were a similar age to Amelia, and she exuded confidence and kindness.

  “Hello,” Amelia smiled.

  Jane stepped out from behind the counter and walked over, and Amelia found herself looking around at the nail bars and make up stations, the chairs and mirrors, and the hair color charts and washers and dryers.

  “How can I help?” the girl smiled.

  “Well,” Amelia began. “I’m not really all that sure. I’m new in town, and I’m looking for work, but also, I’m hoping to get a bit of a makeover, and wondering if I could be booked in?”

  “Oh, wonderful,” the girl said as she held out her hand, and Amelia reached and shook it. “I’m Jane, and this is my salon.”

  “Amelia,” she smiled.

  “So, you’re new in town?” Jane asked. “What brings you to little old Misty Vale? Are you extending a vacation?”

  “Actually, no…” Amelia half laughed. “It’s a bit of a crazy story, but I just did the old finger on the map trick, and here I am. Fresh start required, and looking to settle somewhere new.”

  “Oh, I love that!” Jane beamed as she clapped her hands together. “I’m jealous, I always daydreamed about doing something similar myself.”

  “Well, I don’t know why you would ever want to leave somewhere like here,” Amelia said honestly. “It’s just wonderful, I’ve never been anywhere like it.”

  “It is pretty special, I suppose,” Jane agreed. “I think I probably take it for granted because I’m so used to it!”

  “That’s always the way,” Amelia smiled.

  “Well, I can’t help you out on the work front,” Jane said. “I’m kind of a one-man band here, at the moment, with some girls who rent chairs and spaces from me on certain days of the week, but I can help you with the makeover!” She winked and stepped back toward the main desk and reached for a big, hardbacked diary and began flicking through some very full-looking pages.

  “The rest of this week is pretty mega,” she said. “But I’d love to help a girl out, so I can stay open a little later for you, if that works?”

  Amelia couldn’t believe her luck.

  “That would be amazing,” she smiled.

  “Sure,” Jane said as she picked up her pen and clicked the top. “How about the day after tomorrow?”

  Amelia nodded, almost stunned. Things couldn’t be working out any better on her first day in town. She had clocked a rather handsome guy, had found somewhere to stay that wasn’t going to cost her the Earth, already felt like she was making a friend, and had her first plans set in stone for a couple of days’ time where she could focus even more on her reinvention.

  “Perfect,” Jane said as she scribbled Amelia’s name down in the diary. “If you get here around 5pm, then we will have plenty of time to do whatever you like.”

  “I’ll have a think and try to be prepared,” Amelia laughed.

  Jane winked and as Amelia headed for the door, she felt a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

  She was beginning to like Misty Vale a lot.

  The doors to the B&B reflected the lights from the rest of the town as she headed back toward them as darkness had descended. She had walked for a little longer, looking in various windows and asking at a few counters to see if anyone knew of any job openings. She hadn’t had much luck so far, but someone had told her there was a job board close to the town hall, and she vowed to make it her first port of call in the morning, after she had gotten some much deserved rest.

  As she stepped through the doors and into the warm and welcoming lobby of the B&B, the first thing she heard was the familiar sound of Maude, the little lady at the check-in desk, as she laughed and then said, “Oh look, here she is now.”

  Amelia looked up to see her speaking with a man who had his back to her, but as he began to turn and look over his shoulder, Amelia couldn’t believe that it was actually him…

  The man from earlier, the one who had accidentally pushed the door into her and then looked at her as if she were crazy while he helped her pick up her bags.

  Amelia’s heart pounded harder in her chest, and she felt her face flare red.

  Oh shit, she thought. Don’t embarrass yourself again.

  She stopped in her tracks and felt his eyes on her. The way he was looking at her was with slight amusement again, but this time, his eyes were kinder and it made her feel slightly more at ease, even if she couldn’t tell if she were being lured into some kind of hot man trap or not. She paused and waited.

  “Amelia, dear,” the lady at the desk said. “We were just talking about you.”

  “I thought my ears were burning,” she half laughed, hoping from the very bottom of her soul that she wasn’t blushing too badly. She didn’t know why, but she felt as if she had just wandered into the lion’s den. The hot guy was staring at her as if she were some kind of prey and he was ready to pounce, and it was making her all kinds of nervous and shy.

  “All good, I hope?” Amelia said to divert attention away from the fact she was nervously fidgeting. His eyes had yet to move, and she could sense the deepness of them. He was looking at her with intrigue and was doing more than sizing her up this time.

  What the hell had they been talking about?

  “I was just telling Mr. Livingstone that you could very well be the answer to all of his problems.”

  The context of the words and how she was feeling took her by surprise and she gulped.

  “I could?” she asked with a wry smile, raising her eyebrow.

  Luckily, his dark and controlled façade seemed to crack slightly, and he smiled properly, this time, laughing and looking back at Maude with affection.

  “Maude really does have a way with words,” he mused.

  He stepped forward and held out his hand. As he got closer, Amelia was sure she could feel a heat between them, something that kept rising and made the skin on her chest flame even harder. She was glad she was wearing a high-neck sweater, or she was sure he would be able to see her slowly turning the color of a tomato from her toes right up to the top of her head.

  “Nice to meet you,” he said, and then after a pause and with much emphasis… “Again.”

  She smiled meekly and let her hand softly slide into his. When he gripped hers and they shook, she felt a powerful jolt and it made her gasp. His eyes didn’t move from her, but instead, he blinked and breathed in deep. Again, it was controlled, as if he had almost been expecting it but maybe not as intense. He breathed deeply out of his nose and then their hands slowly broke apart.

  “I’m Amelia,” she managed to croak, her throat suddenly dry and her nerves overpowering.

  “Mr. Livingstone,” he smiled as he looked back over his shoulder at Maude at the desk. “But as I keep insisting to my friend here, please, do call me Dash.”

  Dash.

  Wow.

  Amelia swallowed and felt the need to fan her face with both hands, but she kept herself under control.

  “Daddy!” a little voice came bouncing into the room from off in one of the halls, quickly followed by a set of footsteps, and then, a little girl emerged, looking rosy-cheeked and very pleased with herself. Amelia couldn’t help but smile and her eyes lit up.

  She was adorable, and as she ran toward Dash and wrapped her arms around his legs, she could see the resemblance immediately.

  “Hello there,” Amelia beamed as she looked down at the little girl, her big wide eyes staring up at her.

  “Hello,” she said back, very politely. “My name is Nora.”

  “And I’m Amelia, how do you do?” she said in her best Mary Poppins accent.

  “She’s like Mary Poppins, Daddy,” Nora smiled, getting the reference immediately. “It’s one of my favorite films.”

  “She sounds like a real-life Mary Poppins to me too,” Maude said. “From what we were talking about earlier.”

  She nodded at Amelia and then at Dash, as if urging them onto a specific conversation.

  “Ah, yes,” Dash smiled knowingly. “I was just chatting with Maude here about how we need someone to help out with Nora… so I don’t have to keep dragging her to business meetings after school. And she said it was a coincidence, but she had just met the most wonderful woman, today, who was new in town, and was looking for work, with plenty of experience in childcare.”

  Amelia smiled and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

  “And then you appeared, as if by magic,” Dash said. His gaze still firmly fixed on her, taking her in and making her even more nervous, if that was at all possible.

  “Thank you, Maude,” she smiled. “That’s very kind of you to mention me.”

  Maude cocked her head to the side and then started to busy herself behind the counter as if she were checking out of the conversation and leaving them to it.

  Dash smiled and looked down at Nora and then back to Amelia again.

  “Maybe we could have a chat?” he asked.

  Amelia nodded, her mouth suddenly ceasing to work again.

  “I can’t hang around now, as it’s getting late and Nora needs to be home for her dinner and bath, but how about tomorrow? Will you be around town?”

  “Sure,” Amelia smiled. “I could meet you late morning?”

  He nodded and then paused for a moment.

  “Do you know of the coffee house across the street? Misty Brews?”

  Amelia was sure she had seen it.

  “I sure do,” she smiled.

  “I’ll catch you there around eleven?”

  “Perfect,” Amelia said.

  “And I will need to see some checkable references, as well as an up-to-date resume.”

  “No problem,” Amelia said. Luckily, knowing she would be looking for work in her new town, she had updated her resume and had plenty of copies ready to go.

  “Well, then,” he said as he took hold of Nora’s hand before his eyes fell on Amelia’s again. “I will see you tomorrow.”

  “See you tomorrow,” Amelia managed to say. “And it was lovely to meet you, Nora.”

  “And you, Mary Poppins,” Nora said cheekily.

  Amelia and Dash both laughed, and then, she watched as they made their way to the doors and Dash cast back a lingering glance at her.

  Wow. Wow. Wow.

  What the fuck had just happened?

  Amelia didn’t have a clue, but she couldn’t help but feel as if it were something powerful and possibly verging on fate.

  When Dash and Nora were out of sight, she finally took the deep breath she had been waiting to take, and she felt the blood rush back to her head after it had worked its way fully to her crazily beating heart.

  Dash Livingstone… who and what are you? she thought.

  All she knew was that she couldn’t wait to find out.

  Chapter 4

  Misty Brews had been sitting pretty in the middle of Main Street for the past couple of years and had gone from one success to another. Dash had been involved in the acquisition of the building almost a decade earlier, after the original owner had died, and he had loved seeing it being taken over and turned into something positive for the town. He and his family owned a lot of property and knew what they were doing when it came to making a buck or two. The Livingstone’s had been in Misty Vale since the first settlers had arrived, and they had made a lot of good decisions, which had ensured they had risen to the very top when it came to the inner workings of the town. They had even played a part in The Grand Lodge being built way back at the turn of the century and had seen their business empire grow and increase with success. But all of this meant that Dash was one very busy man… and he had Nora to think about. He couldn’t be in two places at once, and with Nora’s mother no longer being a part of their lives, he had to do something about it, so he could give his daughter a more normal life.

  After all of these years, it wasn’t often that Nora’s mother popped into his head after all that had happened between them. But when it came to things like this, he couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing and where she was. The last he had heard, she was partying her way across Europe and had married a wealthy man over there. She was well out of his and Nora’s life, and Dash was glad. But the pang of anger for her still lingered when he thought of what Nora had been denied. He had no idea how a mother could walk away from her child. And he would never understand it. He was just glad that they had thrived, just the two of them, that he had grown well in his role of a single father, and it was only now that he truly felt the need for any kind of assistance. Nora had passions that she wanted to explore outside of school, she loved Kid’s Club up at the golf resort, and she had regularly talked about starting dance lessons, but with the demands of Dash’s business, and the extent of which he needed to be present, he couldn’t indulge her and keep his head above water with work. It just wasn’t possible, even if it broke his heart to hand the reins over to someone else temporarily.

  He wandered inside the doors to the coffee house and looked around. As usual, it was warm and welcoming inside, with a large, open, roaring fire, soft music playing in the background, big, comfy couches nestled in the alcoves and a selection of tables to choose from in the center of the room. He made his way to the counter and smiled at the barista; he was new, but Dash had the feeling it wouldn’t take long for this guy to figure out who Dash and his family were and his order would be remembered, that was usually how things went around Misty Vale, even if Dash did his best to blend in. There just seemed to be something about him that stood out, and people couldn’t help but take notice.

  He ordered a black coffee, and at the same time, he heard the door open and close, and he smiled as he saw Amelia walking in. When he saw her again, he felt his dragon stir. He felt the pang of want, the desire to know more, he felt his heart grow with heat, and he had to still himself for a moment, subdue the dragon inside of him and beat it into submission. He had to remain calmer than he felt, when truly, all he wanted to do was grab hold of her and go to town.

  She truly was something else. Like no other woman he had seen before, and his dragon knew it. There was something especially intriguing about Amelia. And now, as fate had worked its hand, he was going to be interviewing her for the nanny position to look after Nora.

  He just hoped this wasn’t going to turn into a terrible idea and conflict of interest.

  He smiled and raised his hand, welcoming her as she crossed the room toward him.

  “Good morning,” she beamed, and he felt her heat and caught her scent. It was turning him on, and he was silent for a moment, his eyes fixed heavy on hers, wondering if she could sense it in him too. She smiled nervously and it broke the spell. He snapped himself back into the here and now and he softened, looking back over his shoulder to the menu that had been written on the chalk board.

  “What can I get you?” he asked.

  “Oh, I’ll take a strong black coffee,” she smiled, and Dash couldn’t believe his ears.

  She was clearly a woman who knew her own mind and had ideas of her own. A black coffee, he really was impressed.

  The barista smiled too as if he saw the amusement in them both ordering the same, and then he called to Dash to say that he would bring it over to them.

  Dash led the way, and Amelia followed behind him as they went to one of the lower tables with a couch in the alcove. When she sat down, he could see how nervous she was, and he liked it. It made his dragon rage away beneath his skin, and he had to take a moment, again, to compose himself.

  What was this woman doing to him?

  He cleared his throat and looked deeply into her eyes. He saw her pupils dilate and he bit his lip. She felt it too, he could sense it.

  The barista came over and set down the coffees, and Dash and Amelia took a moment, settling themselves and taking a sip, before Amelia clearly worked up the courage to speak first and put herself forward.

  “I’ve brought my resume,” Amelia said sweetly as she reached into her handbag and pulled out a folder and slid it across the table to him. “Inside, you’ll find references from the last three places I was employed. I included parents as well as agencies. I’ve been a nanny on and off for around seven years, and before that, I had a wealth of babysitting experience. I’ve worked in early years settings too at nursery and daycares, and now that I’ve found myself here in Misty Vale, it would be wonderful to work for a family, getting to know a child on a deeper level, and truly being an influential part of their life.”

  Dash was impressed. She certainly knew her stuff and had plenty of experience and qualifications. He scanned her resume and then flicked to the references, all of them glowing and with email addresses and telephone numbers so they could be checked. He noticed that most of her experience had been gained on the west coast and it piqued his interest.

  “I see you’re from California…” he said as he looked up and his eyes caught hers again. “It’s a bit of a change coming all the way out here to Misty Vale. What brought you here?”

  He could tell she had been expecting the question, but he still felt as if he could sense her heart sinking a little.

  “I needed a fresh start,” she said as she broke his gaze and looked down at the ground.

  Dash looked at the resume again and noticed the gap in her work history. She hadn’t been employed for almost the past two years and it instead said she had been babysitting and nannying on an ad hoc basis. He pointed to the section and she breathed in and nodded.