"It's been hard to concentrate on anything else, believe me."
"There's something else you should know." Erin lowered her voice. "The sheriff was in this morning and asked us all a lot of questions. Right afterward, he took Gwen back to his office."
"Gwen?"
"After the Rowleys' accusations, he apparently wanted to take another look into the silent auction theft. I suppose he thought it was just too much of a coincidence." Erin rested her hands protectively on the swell of her belly. "He called me a few minutes ago."
Abby gripped the edge of her desk. "And?"
"I can hardly believe it, but Gwen has just confessed to the theft of the money from the fund-raiser. She's also admitted to tampering with records here. To discredit you."
"Gwen?" Abby stared at her. "But why?"
"She and her brother lost a lot of money and a good part of their livelihood when their kennel closed last year. She'd probably watched for an opportunity to take the auction money and then used it to her full advantage."
"But those altered medical records were found a good three weeks earlier!"
Erin shrugged. "The sheriff figures she was laying the groundwork, so you'd be a prime suspect.'*
h4 And then she planted part of it in my office so I'd take the blame."
"Exactly. The sheriff got a search warrant this morning and recovered the rest of it at her place."
Relieved, Abby leaned back in her chair. "Why didn't I gues^
"She fooled us all. Abby. Even Grace. You just never know." Erin smiled sadly. "Thank God there'll be no suspicion following you when you leave us. You certainly never deserved it. and we've been very lucky to have you "
Abby had seen a lot more than friendship in Ethan's eyes the night he'd been shot.
This, of course, in the wake of facing two men who would have shot them all with no more compunction than they'd have swatted a fly. Ethan's feelings were all about subsiding adrenaline and not what he truly felt.
Emergencies did that—they heightened emotions. drove people to do impulsive things. And. if she hadn't been careful, she might have made a big mistake.
But now. as she helped Keifer pack his things, she felt a wave of sadness beyond the fact that she'd miss him after his mom arrived in a few hours to take him back to Minneapolis.
"You're a very cool kid." she said, handing him another stack of video games. She watched him put them in his duffel, then handed him another set. "I
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hope you know how much your dad loves you. He'll miss you."
He nodded, keeping his eyes averted. "I'll miss him, too/'
"But you'll get to come back over one of the holidays, right? And next summer?"
He nodded again.
"These last couple of weeks sure flew by." She lilted his chin and smiled. "I'll miss you, too. I've never been a mom, but if I ever have kids, I hope they turn out just like you."
He dropped his videos and launched into her arms for a long, silent embrace.
After a moment she held him at arm's length. "Have you decided between those two puppies, yet?" Ethan had sold the others and kept his two favorites. "I'm glad I don't have to choose."
Ethan appeared at the door. "Your mom just pulled in the drive, son. Are you ready?"
"She wasn't supposed to come until noon!" Keifer blinked and looked at the pile around him. The projects he and Ethan had made out of wood in the shop. Piles of clothes and books. The new pet carrier Ethan had brought home yesterday.
"I'll tell you what—you go out to meet your mom, and I'll take care of this, okay? It won't take long, and she can't wait to see you." Abby sat back on her heels and watched the boy leave, and felt an unfamiliar tug at her heart "It's not going to be the same without him."
"Never is," Ethan said on a long sigh. "I just count the days until the next holiday. It's one reason I've never felt compelled to remarry. What then? More kids shuffled between parents who can't get along?"
"Not all marriages fail."
"Then why haven't you tied the knot?"
"Poor choices. Bad timing. My parents were married fifty-six years, though, and my grandparents almost sixty. I know the brass ring is out there somewhere." But the words sounded hollow, even to her. "I'll finish up here, if you want to go talk to Barbara."
Just what he wanted to do. Ethan clenched his jaw and strode through the house, arming himself for battle.
Barbara didn't disappoint, from her first aloof glance. "Where on earth are his good tennis shoes? This isn't the brand I usually buy."
Keifer glanced between them, his tension visibly rising. "I lost a shoe, Mom. The first day. These are the new ones I wanted, so Dad bought them. I begged him."
Ethan's stomach twisted at his son's earnest effort at smoothing waters that would never be calm, because no one on earth had ever quite met Barbara's standards.
"I hope you had a good flight," he said, wanting to scoop Keifer up into his arms and whisk him away.
Little lines of irritation formed between her brows. 'Two flights were canceled, but I finally managed to catch one that had one less plane change. So... I'm here a tad early, and that means we can make it back
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to Minneapolis in good time." She opened her arms and gave Keifer a kiss and a hug. "It's great to see you again, sweetie. I hope you were able to find enough things up here to keep you busy?"
Implying, as she always did, that northern Wisconsin was at the end of the earth.
"It was great, Mom. I can't wait to come back again."
"Really." Barbara's attention veered toward the porch, and Ethan looked over his shoulder to see Abby sidestepping out the door with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder and the dog kennel and a suitcase in each hand. She raised a brow. "How nice. Valet service."
Ethan gritted his teeth. "Keifer, go help Abby with your things. You can put it all in your mom's trunk and back seat."
Barbara's gaze hardened. "I trust you didn't spend the summer introducing our son to an inappropriate situation. This is just soooo like you."
He counted to ten. "If memory serves, it wasn't me who found someone else while we were married. And no, not that it's your business, there's been nothing going on here at all. Abby works at the hospital, and she needed a place to live for the summer."
Barbara huffed out a short breath.
"Look, I don't want to argue. It's tough on Keifer, and we should be beyond all of this now. He tells me you're engaged, by the way. Congratulations."
The hard line of her mouth softened. "Almost engaged."
Keifer bounded out of the house with two brimming brown paper grocery sacks. He stowed them in her car, then ran over to his parents and skidded to a stop.
"Abby is bringing out the last of it. Wait till you see this, Mom!" He raced to the edge of the yard and opened up the toolshed door. Rufus and Belle bounded out and chased each other around the yard. The puppies gamely tried to catch them, then gave up and started wrestling on the grass. "Aren't they cute?"
Barbara's hand flew to her mouth as the adult dogs peeled around the corner of the house and flew past her, nearly brushing against her white dress.
The puppies, sensing a newcomer, left their wrestling to bounce over to her. They jumped up and planted their paws against her skirt hem, wriggling for attention.
"No, please" She blanched and took a step back, wobbling when her high heel sank into the grass.
"Keifer," Ethan warned.
The boy lifted them up in his arms, where they squirmed until they could lick his face. "So what do you think. Mom? Which one?"
Her eyes looked a little wild. "I—I—"
"They'll be much quieter when they get a little older," Ethan said. "And it will be different when they're alone. He's really got his heart set on this, Barbara."
She took a deep breath. "I, um, don't think this is going to work out, Keifer. These pups are going to grow into big dogs that need a l
ot of space. We have
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a condo and just a very small yard of our own. And I have to do a lot more traveling next year. What would we do with a dog?"
"I can walk him, every day. And I'll do all the chores and..." Keifer swung toward Ethan. "And if we had to board him a long time, maybe we could send him up here? Please? I love being here. I could come more often to visit and everything!"
Ethan met Barbara's troubled eyes. "It probably is too much for you, really. I shouldn't have given in. I can just keep his favorite pup here, so he can see it when he visits." He looked down at Keifer. "The dog would be yours, son. I could e-mail pictures, and you'd still get to see him."
Barbara gave a weary wave of her hand. "No. We'll give it a shot."
"Yesss!" Keifer pumped his fist, his face filled with joy.
"But I can't promise anything, understand? Puppies chew and make a lot of messes and they're rambunctious. And when they grow up, well—we'll just have to take this day by day."
For the first time in years, Ethan wanted to give her a hug. He ruffled Keifer's hair and mouthed a silent thank you to her over the boy's head. "Now, you have to choose which one—Darby or Cinder."
"I want them both so bad." He bit his lower lip. "Darby, I guess."
"How about if I keep Cinder, then? He'll be your dog, but just for up here. Deal?"
'That's way cool!"
Barbara looked at her watch. "Hurry, and put your dog in its cage. We really need to get going."
After a brief whirlwind of activity—a fervent hug and a kiss from Keifer—Barbara's car disappeared down the driveway.
And just that fast, the old familiar emptiness settled in Ethan's chest.
It was always the same, this cycle of joy and loss, and it wasn't something that would ever change.
Abby loaded the last of her bags into the trunk of her car, dusted her hands off against her jeans and shaded her eyes with one hand. Keifer had left a week ago, and Ethan was nowhere in sight.
"I should have guessed," she muttered to herself. "Now even Belle is gone."
If she was going to make it to the first motel reservation of her trip by evening, she needed to make tracks.
The regrets and the empty place in her heart were feelings she was determined to leave behind.
She turned slowly, scanning the edge of the forest. The lane. The fenced yard.
And then suddenly, Ethan came around the side of the house with a bright explosion of pink trotting beside him. Clearly fresh from a beauty appointment at Delia's Doggy Boutique, Belle wore a big pink bow on her collar. Ethan carried a tall gift-wrapped box in his hand.
"How sweet of you," she murmured when they
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came to a stop in front of her. Only then did she realize that Belle wore no leash, yet she'd stopped and sat by Ethan's side when he halted.
Ethan winked at Abby and flashed a quick grin. "We have to show off, for a minute."
He stepped in front of Belle and signaled with his hand, then pivoted and walked a good thirty feet away.
Belle sat perfectly still, her gaze pinned on Ethan's face. When he signaled, she flew to him, whipped behind his legs and sat at his side, just as before.
And when he walked back to Abby, the dog trotted jauntily at his side, her tail wagging. They stopped in front of her and once again Belle sat.
"Wow. I didn't know she had any sort of obedience training!"
Ethan grinned down at the dog at his side. "She didn't. But she and I discussed it, and decided that we needed to do this so we could prove a point. We've worked hard all week."
Mystified, Abby looked down at the dog again. "Prove a point?"
"About old dogs and new tricks." He moved his hand and Belle dropped to the ground, her front legs stretched out in front of her and her head tilted up so she could watch his face. "Some of us Jet the past change everything that comes along in the future. For Belle, she's been afraid to trust, because she was hurt once before. But the right home makes all the difference for a dog like her. When you adopted her, you saved her life."
Abby stared at him, not quite daring to guess where this was leading.
"Sometimes people are just as afraid to take chances. They decide it's easier to hold back. ,, He handed her the package and took a deep breath. "I know you've been looking forward to traveling throughout the West, and that you have a wonderful job waiting for you in California. Everyone should follow their dreams. But I thought that someday you might look back on this summer and miss a little of what you had here."
She hesitated, then carefully removed the big ? glittery silver bow and wrapping paper. Lifting off the lid of the box, she caught her breath at the sight of the sparkling, crystalline tip of something peeking through the dark blue tissue paper.
And in that instant, she knew what it was. *'Oh, my," she breathed as she withdrew the sculpted wolf, its nose raised and mouth open to howl, pup at its side. "It's absolutely stunning!"
It was the wolf shed admired at the silent auction a month ago. A sculpture she'd barely dared touch because of its exquisite beauty. "I can't believe it. You shouldn't have, really. But I love it. How did you know?"
A corner of his mouth lifted. "I saw your face when you looked at it on the day of the auction."
"But the bidding...I would have seen yoi r m ne on the invoice."
His dimples deepened. "Connor h-n1 his lab t .h
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take care of it, so you wouldn't recognize the buyer's name."
Beyond the expense, he'd taken care to keep it a secret, and then he'd saved it for this moment. It was all so sweet and thoughtful of him that her eyes started to burn.
"I just don't know what to say." She placed it back in the box with great care, then put the box in the trunk of her car, cushioned between a sleeping bag and a soft duffel bag filled with linens. Once it was safe, she turned and wrapped her arms around Ethan. "Thank you. For everything."
He held her close, her head tucked beneath his chin. "I'll be here, if you ever head back this way."
His words curled around her heart. His strong arms around her filled her with a sense of warmth and completion.
But it was the depth of his emotion that made her forget the luggage she'd packed, the car that was running and the road map she'd left on the front seat.
And when he finally lowered his mouth to hers for a long, exquisite and breathtaking kiss, she knew she didn't need to travel to find adventure or to start a new job to fill the emptiness in her life.
Everything she'd ever dreamed of was right here, in Ethan Matthews's arms.
Experience the anticipation, the thrill of the chase
and the sheer rush of falling in love!
Turn the page for a sneak preview
of a new book from Harlequin Romance
THE REBEL PRINCE
by Raye Morgan
On sale August 29™ wherever books are sold
"Oh, no!"
The reaction slipped out before Emma Valentine could stop it, for there stood the very man she most wanted to avoid seeing again.
He didn't look any happier to see her
"Well, come on, get on board," he said gruffly. "I won't bite." One eyebrow rose. "Though I might nibble a little," he added, mostly to amuse himself.
But she wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying. She was staring at him, taking in the royal blue uniform he was wearing, with gold braid and glistening badges decorating the sleeves, epaulettes and an upright collar. Ribbons and medals covered the breast of the short, fitted jacket. A gold-encrusted sabre hung at his side. And suddenly it was clear to her who this man really was.
She gulped wordlessly. Reaching out, he took her elbow and pulled her aboard. The doors slid closed. And finally she found her tongue.
"You...you're the prince."
He nodded, barely glancing at her. "Yes. Of course."
She
raised a hand and covered her mouth for a moment. "I should have known."
"Of course you should have. I don't know why you didn't." He punched the ground-floor button to get the elevator moving again, then turned to look down at her. "A relatively bright five-year-old child would have tumbled to the truth right away."
Her shock faded as her indignation at his tone asserted itself. He might be the prince, but he was still just as annoying as he had been earlier that day.
"A relatively bright five-year-old child without a bump on the head from a badly thrown water polo ball, maybe," she said defensively. She wasn't feeling woozy any longer and she wasn't about to let him bully her, no matter how royal he was. "I was unconscious half the time."
"And just clueless the other half, I guess," he said, looking bemused.
The arrogance of the man was really galling.
"I suppose you think your 'royalness' is so obvious it sort of shimmers around you for all to see?" she challenged. "Or better yet, oozes from your pores like.. .like sweat on a hot day?"
"Something like that," he acknowledged calmly. "Most people tumble to it pretty quickly. In fact, it's hard to hide even when I want to avoid dealing with it."
"Poor baby," she said, still resenting his manner. "I guess that works better with injured people who are half asleep." Looking at him, she felt a strange emotion she couldn't identify. It was as though she
wanted to prove something to him, but she wasn't sure what. "And anyway, you know you did your best to fool me," she added.
His brows knit together as though he really didn't know what she was talking about. "I didn't do a thing."
"You told me your name was Monty."
"It is." He shrugged. "I have a lot of names. Some of them are too rude to be spoken to my face, I'm sure." He glanced at her sideways, his hand on the hilt of his sabre. "Perhaps you're contemplating one of those right now."
You bet I am.
That was what she would like to say. But it suddenly occurred to her that she was supposed to be working for this man. If she wanted to keep the job of coronation chef, maybe she'd better keep her opinions to herself. So she clamped her mouth shut, took a deep breath and looked away, trying hard to calm down.
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