Cole sounded harried. Frustrated.

  And wasn’t looking her way.

  At all.

  After grabbing the clipboard she signed, silently, and sent the men on their way to accomplish whatever her signature had just allowed in the short time allotted to them.

  But she knew, as she watched Cole Bennet’s retreating back, that her momentary lapse into Warren-Smythe, paying that bill, had just cost her any more time in Shelter Valley.

  Cole would have no way of knowing that she’d paid that bill. But her own personal association with Sierra’s Web—only known to Cole through Mia and Mariah’s contacts—had clearly pinged off the radar of the sharp lawyer.

  She could lie to him. Pretend that Mia or Mariah had put her in touch with the nationally renowned firm of experts and that Lindsay had convinced them to donate through her for the celebration tents. For a split second, the idea was tempting. Just to have one more night in his arms.

  Except that the firm had already donated more than generously through Mia and Mariah.

  And Lindsay wasn’t going to sell her soul. Or sell him out, either.

  She’d answer his questions as best as she could, without involving anyone else in town. Tell him who she was, without naming herself. And he’d be done with her.

  Lindsay Warren had had her freedom.

  And she’d reached the end of her road.

  Vacation was over.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Why did Lindsay Warren have a relationship with Sierra’s Web? While the firm certainly did its share of pro bono work, only someone with substantial amounts of money, or law enforcement clout, could afford the fees.

  So was Lindsay a pro bono client?

  Cole had figured all along that she’d been hiding something from her past. Running from something, most likely.

  But why, when she’d started Project Forever Friends, hadn’t she mentioned, at least to him, that she was familiar with Sierra’s Web? He’d heard Mia and Mariah talking to her about the firm, about two of the firm’s partners, and she’d never once indicated that she’d ever heard of them before.

  And they had her designated as a signee for their account?

  It didn’t add up.

  Most certainly not if she was a pro bono case. No way would a firm with their reputation allow a struggling artist carte blanche with their finances.

  Unless, since they weren’t going to be on-site, they’d named her, the project chair, as designee? Based on her association with Mia and Mariah?

  They’d have had the means to vet her first.

  But Lindsay hadn’t even looked at the bill she’d signed. She could have just spent a hundred thousand dollars of someone else’s money and hadn’t even thought to find out?

  Because when he’d brought her the form to sign, she’d been swamped. And she trusted him.

  The possibility presented itself, warming him up enough that he kept it on board and got back to work.

  Keeping her in mind. And looking for sights of her as well. Two out of the next three times he looked around for a glance of her, he found Lillie, too.

  Hanging close.

  As the girl did when someone exhibited emotional stress.

  Cole saw horses to their assigned tethering posts. He talked to Mia and Mariah. Joked with Kaitlin when she arrived with another trailer of horses.

  And heard Lindsay’s voice behind him, telling someone that their booth looked great. The sound stood out to him, as though it were a personal part of him.

  Feeling the shock of it within him, he glanced around, saw Lindsay smiling as she walked down a row of booths, her hand resting lightly against Lillie’s neck as the old girl kept pace.

  And he knew.

  He loved the woman.

  All those years ago Lillie had prevented him from closing his heart off completely. And the old girl was showing him something else that was most likely obvious to her. When the time, the person, was right, open hearts loved.

  “Cole?” Kaitlin’s voice called out to him. Hearing her, he swung around, and saw that the teenager was watching Lindsay, too. “I tried to talk to her a little bit ago,” Kaitlin was saying, “but she was too busy. Do you think, maybe, she’d take a look at some more of my drawings and, maybe, give me some pointers?”

  He couldn’t answer that. But he wanted to.

  “From what I hear, she’s been a real help at work, suggesting things, giving ideas to other artists, so I’m guessing, yeah, she probably would. But...” He scrunched up his nose at her. “I wouldn’t ask today. She’s got a lot on her shoulders, being new to town and all, and throwing, like, the biggest party of the year.”

  He heard his own words as he offered them.

  Project Forever Friends had been entirely Lindsay’s idea. Her energy had created a newsworthy event. For a town, a charity, she’d only just become acquainted with. She’d made it all look so fun, so easy, he’d lost sight of the emotional toll the project was exacting from her.

  A newcomer to town.

  “Cole?” The sound inside him, her voice, was repeating itself in his head as he knelt to give a final check to tent bindings attached to the corral fence. And then he saw the flip-flops.

  Red with jewels.

  They matched the red-and-white tie-dyed dress he’d been itching to shove his hand under on his front seat that morning.

  Standing, he smiled at the woman who’d brought a much-needed breath of fresh air into his life. He didn’t kid himself into thinking that she was staying in Shelter Valley.

  Even with all of the hard work she’d put into a local cause, the mind-boggling party she was throwing.

  But she was there at the moment and he was glad to see her.

  “You okay?” he asked when she stood there, blinking up at him. “Did you need something?” He met her harried gaze with a long, calm look. He was there for her.

  Always would be, whether she was there or not.

  He loved her.

  Not to be confused with being in love with her.

  But...damn it felt good to be able to admit that he loved her.

  “Just to say hi,” she said then, smiling up at him. Seeming to find some measure of peace in the midst of chaos.

  As though he did that for her.

  “You’re running an impressive show.” He told her what he could. The whole love thing...not for anyone to know but him. And, of course, Lillie. “Half an hour until official festival opening and the place is already buzzing with fun and anticipation.”

  “It’s this town,” she explained. “Everyone pitching in. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Dare he hope that Shelter Valley was working its magic on her? Was it a fool’s mission? Or love’s benevolent energy pushing him?

  Say she was a Sierra’s Web pro bono case. They’d have taken her on because her problem wasn’t easily solved, and was big enough, intense enough, that they felt she needed them to get the job done. That she couldn’t likely do it without them.

  He wanted to help.

  Needed to help.

  And, at that moment, it was crucial to her for him to stay focused. “What do you need?”

  She stared up at him, her gaze melting into his. “A kiss?” Her response gave him another spin up the Ferris Wheel he always seemed to be riding with her.

  “It’s a date,” he said. “Tonight. No matter how late this gig winds down.” Booths and tents were to be vacated by ten. And would all be loaded up the next morning. Food trucks and the main stage were lights out at ten, too.

  “Tonight,” she told him, with one last long glance, before Greg Richards, the sheriff of Shelter Valley, called her away from him.

  And as he watched her go, aware of his own list of responsibilities in her current endeavor, he vowed that he would find a way to help her trust him enough to let him share her personal life burdens as well.

  As fabulous as Sierra’s Web was, people who were struggling, most particularly those who were running or hiding, needed personal support, too.

  She’d picked him. And he wasn’t going to let her down.

  As a neighbor. A lover. And maybe, someday, as something much more than that.

  With Lillie’s blessing, anything was possible.

  * * *

  Lindsay had been unanimously selected by the Project Forever Friends committee to emcee the day’s event, and she’d managed to get herself out of the high-profile limelight by agreeing to a short speech on behalf of the Project Forever Friends committee late that afternoon.

  With Mia’s help, there’d been press in from Phoenix for the monetary presentation to Forever Friends. Many of the journalists and influencers stayed for the presentation of awards as well. Lindsay waited until she was certain they were gone before heading to the mic. She’d made one huge mistake, paying for the tents herself. She couldn’t afford a second one.

  Standing in front of a crowd with her voice exploding over a speaker system was nothing new to Lindsay Warren-Smythe. But when Ms. Bohemian looked out over the crowd, lit by sunshine and enshrined by pure blue skies, she caught the eager face of Kaitlin Wilson turned up toward her and had to swallow.

  “Good afternoon.” She got the first words out. Had figured the brief thank-yous and praise for everyone in town would be a blip for her. And, seeing her father standing with Emily just behind their daughter, came up blank.

  Had no teleprompter to lean on.

  And there was Cole. Making his way up the crowd. Standing a good foot above most of them, his broad shoulders seeming to cover enough width for two people. “I just want to tell you all how amazing you are,” she started in. Felt tears come up to clog her throat and smiled through her mandatory pause. Looked for Cole again, saw him standing just feet away from the front of the stage. With Lillie there, right beside him.

  And knew, standing up there, in front of his entire tribe, with Lillie seeming to look right up at her, that she was in love with the man.

  And his dog.

  She loved them both. Her own private little family.

  No matter what the future held for her, Cole and Lillie had shown her that she had the capability of loving deeply and completely.

  And Shelter Valley—she’d found the missing pieces of herself there. In an older man’s eyes. In the artwork of a thirteen-year-old girl. In a fifteen-year-old boy who still valued movie night with his parents. In the baby of the family who had more confidence than Lindsay figured she’d ever had. In the entire town of people who’d shown her the man her father really was.

  “What you’ve done these past weeks,” she started again, addressing the people who’d seemed prepared to patiently wait as long as it took for her to find her voice, “your monetary generosity, yes, but so much more, your genuine kindness toward each other, your energy when help is needed, your acceptance of strangers in your midst, your willingness to have fun... I’m thankful for all of it...”

  She had to stop. Her throat was too tight for words and tears had sprung to her eyes. Turning, she handed the mic back to Mayor Becca Parsons, who was going to be announcing the magic act next up on stage.

  And she made a beeline for the string of portable potties that had been brought in for the day. Letting Ms. Bohemian shed the tears that were refusing to be pushed back into their hole. And then, exiting to face the crowd with a Warren-Smythe smile on her face, she said a silent goodbye to the world in Shelter Valley and took the first steps back to her real life.

  * * *

  The second Lindsay shut herself in the front passenger seat of his SUV just after eleven that night, Cole felt the difference in her. He’d looked for her as soon as she’d left the stage earlier that afternoon, but had only made it to the side of the stage in time to see her back as she entered the restroom facility. He’d been roped into helping a local pediatric office bring in more boxes of the kid-sized colorful nutrition bars they were giving away and from there, he’d been needed back in the corral, helping to lift kids up into saddles for walks around the small area.

  Lindsay had seemed fine when they’d shared a quick dinner of barbecued pork in rice bowls, though she’d been talking the entire time about how the event was going.

  And at night’s end, with all of the last-minute cleanup details, they’d barely spoken. Had just worked together, each fending off questions to which they both had the answers, to get the job done as quickly as possible.

  He was tired. She had to be beat.

  For a second, as she laid her head back against the seat, silent while he pulled out onto the city’s main street, he’d told himself that he was just seeing another side to the woman he could happily spend a lifetime getting to know. She even wore exhaustion well.

  “You want me to take you home?” he asked. She wouldn’t spend the night. Her rule. Breaking it that night would be taking advantage.

  Staring out the front windshield, she said, “No.”

  He glanced over. She didn’t look at him. Didn’t ask if he was too tired for the kiss date they’d made. He decided to like the fact that she felt comfortable enough not to worry about such things. That she knew him well enough to know he’d have told her if he had to call it a night sooner than they’d said they would.

  And to figure that Lillie went straight to her love seat and lay down with her head on her paws when they got in the door because the girl had had such a long busy day.

  He wanted to believe a lot of things.

  But he didn’t.

  Lindsay’s gaze as she sat on the edge of his couch and looked up at him was the glance of a stranger.

  Not a tired lover.

  Taking a seat on the opposite end of the couch, he felt like he was twenty-one again. Walking through the grass in his tux to his runaway bride sitting in a swing.

  Lindsay hadn’t left him at the altar.

  She had associations with influential firms like Sierra’s Web.

  And he knew that he was not going to like what was coming.

  * * *

  As a powerful, wealthy woman Lindsay Warren-Smythe had learned in high school how to deliver bad news. With kids who’d wanted to use her. With dates who’d thought they could get more from her than she’d been willing to give.

  With a teacher who’d once tried to get her to loan him some money.

  You said what you had to say as quickly and succinctly as possible. And then you got out.

  “I’m not a starving artist.” She looked her target in the eye. He deserved that and so much more.

  “Okay.” Cole’s reaction threw her. Where was the shock? The betrayal? Why did he seem...relieved?

  “Okay.” Did he know who she was?

  And he hadn’t told her?

  He’d been leading her on the entire time she’d been in town?

  Their relationship had been a hoax?

  Ms. Bohemian flew into a tizzy inside her, and Lindsay had to take a second to calm herself down. To find herself again.

  “It didn’t make sense to me that, as talented as you are, you weren’t earning more money than you let on.”

  Her mouth fell open. He thought her money came from her art?

  She almost laughed at the irony in that pipe dream.

  “I don’t know why you thought you had to hide your wealth to work for Elite, and I feel like I need to know, and have a right to know why, but Lindsay, it’s not the end of the world. You did a nice thing, paying for the cooling tents so today’s celebration could go on. I’m guessing, after what you heard about Sierra’s Web from Mia and Mariah, you reached out to them to help you donate anonymously, right?”

  He’d handed her another chance. On what seemed to be a platter made of pure gold. If only she could tell him how much that meant to her.

  And then lay her tired soul down on him, kiss him and go to sleep.

  She was tempted.

  So very very tempted.

  Just for one more night.

  “Right,” she said, with a slow nod.

  Saw the grin break out on his face.

  And found no answering smile anywhere inside herself.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cole nearly laughed out loud, his relief was so palpable. He was just moving, to reach for Lindsay and get on with their kiss date, when she said, “And, not right.”

  Frowning, he stopped for a second, letting her continue with whatever she felt she had to tell him. He looked her in the eye, with the express purpose of letting her know her secrets were safe with him. And came up against an emptiness that completely shut him out.

  What the hell?

  “I used Sierra’s Web to donate the money for the tents,” she said, repeating the truth they’d already, to his immense relief, reached. “But I didn’t hear about the firm from Mia and Mariah.”

  Oh.

  Thoughts from that morning, right after she’d blindly signed his form, bombarded him. With a twist. They’d just established that Lindsay was wealthy.

  Which meant that she wasn’t a pro bono client as he’d earlier concluded.

  “I’m an heiress. By trade, I’m the chief fundraising officer of several charities, and I dabble in real estate as well.”

  “You’re an artist,” he said, sounding inane even to himself. “I’ve seen your work.”

  She nodded. “As a hobby.”

  “You’re way more than a hobbyist, Lindsay...” He stopped. Shell-shocked. Not really comprehending the magnitude of what he was hearing. He watched her lips move. Heard the words come out.

  And felt...blank.

  Her chin trembled, and she almost smiled, before she said, “In my dreams, yes, I’m an artist. In real life, Lindsay Warren has a small apartment a couple of hours from home where she goes to hide out and create for weekend getaways, and, when she can sneak the time, she attends festivals to sell her work.”