When it came to Sadie, he had a choice. Until one of them left, he had to stay far away from her. One photographer already had pictures of them. It would be downright stupid to take the chance again. If the guy he’d caught this morning published those pictures, it wouldn’t be long before someone uncovered his name. Once they had his name, they’d learn his rank and position in the army. Then they might start wondering what he was doing sitting on his hands in rural Vermont while most of his team was back at the base.
Who knows where the story would go from there. He didn’t want to find out. If he lost his job as a ranger, when Sadie returned to her world he’d be left with nothing.
Except feelings for a woman he couldn’t have.
With his hand on the ignition, he closed his eyes. He liked Sadie. She’d burst into his life and lit it up like a firecracker. Just because it had ended with him still wanting more didn’t change the fact that she’d given him the chance to move forward. He wasn’t supposed to feel for her and want to turn this into something real.
No, that made him a fool, and that was on him, not her. Telling her things he’d kept from everyone else, even though he knew all the kinky sex in the world wouldn’t change the fact that this thing between them would lead to a dead end—foolish.
Logan turned the key. He had to get away from here before he walked back in that door and put everything on the line for a woman he’d only known a few days. He shifted his truck into Drive and steered down the driveway. Logic was on his side. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that walking away wasn’t the right thing to do.
* * *
“THE STORY IS about to break.” Sadie held her cell to her ear with her shoulder, while her hands struggled with the coffeemaker. “There was a cameraman outside my window this morning.”
“They found you in Vermont?” Anne-Marie said. “That was fast.”
The coffeepot snapped into place and started brewing. “I know. But it’s too soon.”
“Close enough. I’ll call the morning show and see if they can move up your appearance to get a jump on the story,” Anne-Marie said. “When this breaks, it could be great for your movie deal. It will be like Christmas morning arrived early for you.”
Sadie closed her eyes. She was so close to having everything she’d wanted for her career. But—
“I wasn’t alone,” she said.
“Who is he?”
Sadie reached for a mug, her mind racing through what to tell her publicist. Just enough to quell Anne-Marie’s interest, but not too much to provide a story.
“Someone I met up here,” Sadie said. “A soldier on leave.”
“They’ll run that picture,” she said, her tone matter-of-fact.
“I know. I need you to stop them.” Sadie poured a cup of coffee. “His picture can’t appear in print or online.”
She didn’t have a clue how long the reporter had been camped outside her window or what he’d seen. It didn’t matter. One shot of the woman believed to be MJ Lane in bed with a mystery man and reporters would start digging.
“I want this, Anne-Marie. The publicity, the morning shows, the movie deal—all of it. But dragging someone else into it when he didn’t have a choice—that feels wrong.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
“But it might be too late. You should think long and hard about how much you’re willing to give up to keep him out of it,” her publicist said.
“I will.”
“Can you give me more information to help track them down?”
Sadie told her every detail she could recall about the man Logan had chased away.
“And the soldier?” her publicist asked.
“Let’s keep him out of this. Just focus on finding those pictures, please.”
Sadie set her phone down on the counter and carried her coffee over to her laptop. Her twin’s husband was off work today and Sadie wanted to give them some space. And she needed to write. The pictures, the reporter—that was beyond her control. It did not change the deadline looming for the third book in her series.
Work. It was always waiting for her. The one thing in her life she didn’t screw up. For the past few days, she’d lived in a dream world, balancing her writing with her commitments to Laurel, and her desire to spend time with Logan. But like after any good dream, she had to wake up sometime.
It was as if she was watching her life pass by on repeat. Work trounced personal life. Again. Always.
A small, mirthless laugh escaped. They had that in common, she and Logan. Job first, love life second. He’d been clear on his stance from the beginning. And she’d thought it made them a perfect fit.
It didn’t. It just meant that what they had together wasn’t worth the risk. Lust wasn’t worth it.
But love might be.
Sadie looked out the window at the clear Vermont sky. Either way, it didn’t matter. He’d been here before. Logan had faced this situation: career or the woman in his life. In the end, the choice had been made for him. Still, she had a feeling he would have walked away from his job for his wife. But then, he’d loved the woman he’d married. And Sadie didn’t doubt that Jane had loved Logan. How could she not? Any sane woman would fall head over heels for him.
Sadie closed her eyes. Right now, she wished she were head-to-toe crazy.
18
HER PHONE VIBRATED on the coffee table. Sadie opened one eye and reached for it, trying hard not to hope it was Logan. It was probably Anne-Marie.
Sadie glanced at the name on the screen. Her sister. She answered with a quick hello.
“You need to get over here right now,” Laurel said.
“Is everything okay?” Sadie blinked and looked at the clock. Five. She didn’t know when she’d fallen asleep, but now it was nearly dinnertime. “I thought Greg was home today.”
“Everything’s fine. And Greg’s here. He’s sleeping,” Laurel said. “I need you. Now.”
“I’ll be right there.” Sadie ended the call and sat upright on the couch, scanning the living room for shoes. She pulled on her boots, grabbed her phone, shoved the keys in her pocket and ran for the door. Ten minutes later, she was in Laurel’s kitchen.
“What is so urgent?”
Laurel frowned, her gaze fixed on Sadie’s feet. “You’re wearing your city boots.”
“They were the first thing I could find,” she said, which was true. Mostly. She felt like herself in these boots. City girl. Career woman. After what had happened with Logan that morning, she needed a reminder. “You said you needed me. Now.”
Laurel nodded. “It’s in the front room.”
Sadie followed her twin through the archway into the main living area. An opened box overflowing with little girl clothes sat on the floor. “Are those—”
“Our clothes,” Laurel said. “Dad sent them.”
Sadie walked over and picked up a pair of pink dresses. “He saved all of this?”
“Only our favorites. The top is mostly baby and toddler stuff. There’s not much of that, but below I found some of our favorite dress-up outfits.” Laurel sank onto the couch and picked up the baby video monitor. “Remember the princess dresses we got at a yard sale when we were seven?”
Sadie nodded. “I wore mine to school for a month. Dad convinced the principal it would help me deal with my grief over losing Mom. He conveniently left out the part about Mom passing away when we were babies.”
“I forgot about that. You wore a tiara every day and made up all those wild tales about your royal family across the ocean who lived in a pink castle.”
Her father had allowed her to live in her fantasy world, doing whatever he needed to do to make the outside world comply. Sadie stared at the massive box. A second one sat beside it. “It must have cost
a fortune to ship all this and store it for so long.”
Laurel nodded. “Now we know what he’s been doing with your money.”
Sadie sat down next to her twin and took her hand. “I’ll get him here. I promise.”
“Thanks.” Laurel rested her head on Sadie’s shoulder. “I miss him. And I want him to meet Lacey.”
The imaginary scale balancing her career on one side and her personal life on the other might be leaning toward career right now, but that didn’t mean she should give up. Not when it came to her family. Her commitment to her job strained her relationships with her sister and father, but it wasn’t an insurmountable barrier.
With Logan, it was.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Sadie said. “Logan found a reporter outside my bedroom window.”
“They put the pieces together—your picture, your address—and found you.”
“You were right. It was easier than I thought,” Sadie said. “I’m sorry. I know I promised you a month, but if they publish the pictures, I need to go home. And you don’t want a bunch of crazy reporters hanging around your house. They’d wake up Lacey.”
“No one who threatens to wake her is allowed within a mile of my house,” Laurel said, keeping her head on Sadie’s shoulder. “And you’ve done more than enough. I know you have your life in the city. Go whenever you need to leave. Just promise you’ll come back. I owe you and I’m thinking about repaying you in home-cooked meals. Give you a break from all that takeout you eat in the city.”
“I’ll come back. I promise.”
Laurel lifted her head. “How did Logan take the news? I assume this means you told him?”
“Everything.” Sadie stared across the room. “He was very understanding. But then, he just walked away. I knew he would. But still, it hurt.”
“You’re falling for him,” Laurel said, knowing what was written in Sadie’s heart even though she was trying her best to bury the feelings.
“I am,” she said. “Or I was. It’s over now. He shared everything with me and I kept one big secret that could destroy his chances of returning to his team. I feel horrible. But at the same time, if I had to go back, I think I’d do it all again.”
“Because you love him.”
“Maybe,” Sadie admitted.
“You should go after him. Tell him,” Laurel said. “You always go after what you want.”
“I want him to be happy,” Sadie said. And that meant letting him go back to the world he loved.
“What about your happiness?” Laurel challenged.
“My life’s not a fairy tale. It never was.”
“That’s not true. Once upon a time, we were princesses.” Laurel rested her head back on Sadie’s shoulder. “You know there’s a pair of matching pink wands in there. The ones with the glitter stars on the ends. We’re too big for the dresses, but we could still be princesses and pretend that all our wishes will come true. Like we did when we were kids. Just for a little while.”
Sadie lowered her head down, resting it on her sister’s. “You’re on.”
* * *
AN HOUR LATER, Sadie stood in a field by the side of the road, the heels of her leather boots sinking into the grass as she waved a pink princess wand at a cow. She’d stuck to the dirt roads on the way home from Laurel’s house. Less grass to contend with in her heels, and much less chance she’d run into Logan tending to the animals.
She glanced down at her city-girl boots. Yes, she was the woman who believed in going after what she wanted. But she’d stopped short when it came to conquering career and love. When it came to love, she was a coward.
“Look where it landed me,” she muttered. By taking the long way around to avoid Logan, she’d run into a herd of cows walking down the road. Lou’s cows. Glancing around, she’d seen an open gate. Still, knowing where they’d escaped from didn’t make it easier to get them back.
Prancing on her tiptoes to avoid sinking again, Sadie danced behind one of the heifers, waving her wand. “Time to go home. The sun will start setting soon. You can’t stay out here.”
The cow swung her head to look at Sadie, but remained rooted to her spot beside the road. She’d thought cows were skittish. Most of the others had proven her right, racing into the pasture to escape the crazy woman waving a pink stick. But not this one.
“If I leave you out here, you’ll wander back into the road.” Sadie continued her cow-herding dance while she tried to reason with the large animal. “Someone might take the turn too fast and plow right into you.”
The cow lowered her head to the ground. Out of breath, Sade stopped her ridiculous jumping. “I can’t believe Logan left the gate open.”
“I didn’t.”
She spun around. Logan walked toward her. One look and she didn’t feel like a coward for avoiding him. She felt downright stupid. Solid and strong, Mr. Ruggedly Handsome looked like a superhero come to save the day.
And she was the idiot who’d let him go without a fight.
Behind him, she saw his truck parked on the side of the road a couple hundred yards back. He’d been there long enough to see her jumping up and down like a fool holding a pink toy made for a child.
Stupid and foolish. Great combination.
“Don’t tell me they opened it themselves,” she said. “They’re big and stubborn, but I don’t think they’re too bright.”
“They’re not. But they don’t respond to magic spells.” Logan stopped by the open gate. “If they’d escaped on their own they’d have pushed through the fence or jumped it. Someone left this open.”
He walked over and hunched down by the grass. “Whoever did this drove in. From the size of these treads, in a small car.”
Sadie started connecting the dots. Dread boiled in her stomach. “Another reporter.”
He nodded. “That’s my guess. Someone from town would have come up to the house or swung by the barn. And no one around here would try to steal a heifer driving a compact.”
Guilt hit her hard and fast like always. “I’m sorry. I should have left after the first one showed up. But my publicist said she would handle it.”
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t trespass.” Logan walked up to the cow and gave her tail a twist. The animal jumped forward and looped through the gate into the pasture. “Whoever these guys are, they’re determined.” Logan closed the gate, securing the lock. “Heading home?”
“Yes.”
He nodded to his truck. “I’ll drive you. If you promise not to use your magic.”
She wasn’t a princess. Not even close. But pushing him away when he offered—even knowing it was the right thing to do, for him—her heart felt as if it was on the verge of staging a revolt.
Sadie bit her lower lip. This was her chance to go after the man she wanted, even if she could only keep him for a few more nights. She wanted to say yes and take that chance. But if she did, it would only make things worse and delay the inevitable. They had to part ways.
“It’s a princess wand,” she said. “And I can walk. It’s still light.”
He reached out, took her free hand and started walking toward his truck, pulling her with him. “I know you might think I’m a pushover because I let you call the shots.”
No. Every time he let her take charge, she’d been aware of the fact that he could overpower her at any moment. And those times when he’d gone all Alpha-male on her, demanding that she come again and again? She’d loved it.
“But not when it comes to your safety, princess. Anyone who trespasses to get a photograph is a threat.” Releasing her, Logan stopped beside the passenger door to his truck. “I’m not leaving you alone on my aunt’s farm with a crazy person on the loose.”
She put her hand on the truck door, preventing him from opening it. “We’re tal
king about a guy with a camera. I think I can handle him. I’ve lived in New York City for years. You don’t need to do this. To take the chance someone will take another picture of us together.”
“I can’t walk away,” he said.
“I’m not a mission, Logan. Leaving me to fend for myself against a reporter doesn’t mean you’ve failed,” she said. “You need to protect your job. I understand, believe me.”
“I’m not leaving you. Walking away—it was wrong. I was still torn up over talking to that writer in New York.” He placed his hand over hers. “I can’t offer you much. I’m not ready to commit. But I care about you, and your safety.”
Not going after the man she wanted seemed stupid, but pushing him away when he insisted on staying with her? After he said he cared? She couldn’t do it. Even if it broke her heart when it ended, at least she’d know she hadn’t walked away because she’d been afraid of what she’d feel.
She opened the truck door and climbed into the passenger seat. After Logan settled into the driver’s side, turned on the truck and steered back onto the road, she said, “If you’re not leaving me alone, does that mean you’re staying the night?”
He pulled up in front of the guesthouse, but didn’t turn off the engine. “Or I could take you to Laurel’s place.”
Don’t be a coward.
“No, I’d rather stay here,” she said. “Laurel’s in for a long, sleepless night.”
He turned off the truck and smiled for the first time since she’d found him chasing the reporter. “Who said anything about sleep?”
19
LOGAN MOVED THROUGH the guesthouse, drawing the curtains and turning the locks. While he was at it, he checked the closets and behind shower curtains, anywhere a photographer hell-bent on snapping a picture of Sadie could hide. Once he felt secure they were alone, Logan headed for the kitchen where he’d left Sadie cooking dinner, making one last stop to retrieve a box he’d spotted earlier.
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