It was far too soon.

“I’ll be off then,” he said with as much control as he could muster. “I’d say thanks for the coffee, but …”

She gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, I know. Thank you for coming over and checking the hot water for me.”

“No problem. If you like, I can call in tomorrow and show you how to use the espresso machine.”

“I’d like that,” she replied, following him as he went out the front door.

She stayed there on the front verandah, her hands shoved into the pockets of her jeans, watching while he executed a neat turn and headed down the drive.

A sense of anticipation stole over him. Getting to know Tamsyn Masters better was proving to be more challenging than he’d expected.

And more appealing. Far, far more appealing.

* * *

The High Price of Secrets is part of The Master Vinters series:

Tangled vines, tangled lives.

The High Price of Secrets

Yvonne Lindsay

www.millsandboon.co.uk

New Zealand born, to Dutch immigrant parents, YVONNE LINDSAY became an avid romance reader at the age of thirteen. Now, married to her “blind date” and with two fabulous children, she remains a firm believer in the power of romance. Yvonne feels privileged to be able to bring to her readers the stories of her heart. In her spare time, when not writing, she can be found with her nose firmly in a book, reliving the power of love in all walks of life. She can be contacted via her website, www.yvonnelindsay.com.

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Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

One

“What do you mean you quit? It’s only four and a half weeks to Christmas! We’re so busy with guests and functions that we can barely move. Look, let’s talk about it. If you’re not happy, we can work around that. Find you something else to do.”

Tamsyn sighed inwardly. Find her something else to do. Sure, that would solve how she felt right now—not. She couldn’t blame her brother, Ethan, for wanting to make things right for her. He’d done it all her life, after all. But this situation was beyond his fixing. That was why she’d needed to get away.

A holiday was something she’d been thinking about for a while. Working at The Masters, which in addition to being their family home was a vineyard and winery with luxury cottage accommodation on the outskirts of Adelaide in South Australia, hadn’t given her any satisfaction for a very long time. She’d been restless, feeling as if she didn’t really fit in anymore—at work, at home, in her family, even in her engagement.

The debacle of the night before had only proven just how right she was.

“Ethan, I can’t talk about it. I’m in New Zealand.”

“You’re in New Zealand? I thought you were staying here in Adelaide with Trent last night,” Ethan’s incredulity was clear as it transmitted through the hands-free kit in her rental car.

Tamsyn counted slowly to ten, letting her brother continue to let off steam before replying.

“I’ve ended our engagement.”

There was the briefest of silences as her words sunk in.

“You what?” Ethan sounded as if he wasn’t certain he’d heard her correctly.

“Long story.” She swallowed against the pain that had lessened to a persistent dull throb deep in her chest.

“I have ears.”

“Not now, Ethan. I c-can’t.” Her voice broke and tears spilled uncontrolled down her cheeks.

“I’m going to hurt him,” Ethan growled from far across the Tasman Sea with his characteristic brotherly protectiveness.

“No, don’t. He’s not worth it.”

Her brother sighed and she could feel his concern and frustration in that single huff of air. “When are you coming back?”

“I...I don’t know. It’s kind of up in the air at the moment.” She didn’t think that now was a good time to tell him she’d only bought a one-way ticket.

“Well, at least you trained your assistant to take over when needed. Is Zac up to date with everything?”

Even though she knew he couldn’t see her, Tamsyn shook her head and bit her lip.

“Tam?”

“Um, no. I fired him.”

“You wh—?” Ethan fell silent as he started to put two and two together, coming up with his usual four. Even so, he couldn’t keep the incredulity from his voice. “Zac and Trent?”

“Yup,” she said, her throat almost paralyzed and strangling the single word.

“Will you be okay? I’ll come over. Just tell me where you are.”

“No, don’t. I’ll be fine—eventually. I just need...” She drew in a shuddering breath. She couldn’t even find the words to say what she really needed—she had to simply tell him something he’d understand. “I just need some time alone. Some space so I can think things out. I’m sorry about leaving like this. Everything is in my computer, you know the password, and the bookings are all duplicated on the wall planner as well. Worse comes to worst, they can phone me if they need to.”

“We’ll take care of it, don’t worry.”

Her big brother’s firm conviction wasn’t as good as being right there with him, but in terms of comfort it came close.

“Thanks, Ethan.”

“No problem, but Tam? Who’s going to take care of you?”

“I will,” she said firmly.

“I really think you should come home.”

“No, I know what I need to do. It’s important to me, now more than ever.” This part, she had to share with him—even though she knew he wouldn’t like it. “I’m going to find her, Ethan.”

Silence, then another sigh. “Are you sure now is the best time to go searching for our mother?”

It had already been a few months now, but the shock of discovering their mother—who they’d long been told was dead—was alive and living in New Zealand still reverberated through her mind almost every moment of every day. Learning after his death that their father had lied to them all this time was one thing, discovering the rest of their family had supported him in the lie was another—but realizing that their mother had chosen to remain apart from them, to never even try to make contact, well, that had raised so many questions in Tamsyn’s mind they’d begun to define everything about the way she saw herself.

Tamsyn grimaced and shook her head slightly. “Can’t think of a better time than now, can you?”

“Yeah, actually, I can. You’re hurt, you’re vulnerable. I don’t want you to get let down again. Come home. Let me put an investigator on to it so that you know what you’re going into when they find her.”

She could picture him right now, the frown on his forehead, the thinned line of his lips as he worried from afar.

“I want to do this myself. I need to. Look, I’m not far from that address you gave me a couple of months ago. I’d better go,” she said, checking the distance on the screen of her GPS.

“You’re just going to show up, no warning?”

“Why not?”

“Tam, be sensible. You can’t just arrive on someone’s doorstep claiming to be their long-lost child.”

“Except I’m not lost, am I? She knew where we were all along. She’s the one who left and didn’t come back.”

She couldn’t hide the hurt in the words. A hurt that warred with resentment and anger and sorrow and so many unanswered questions that Tamsyn had hardly had a full night’s sleep since she’d heard the news that her mother still lived. That the woman she’d quietly fantasized about, a mother who’d loved her and cared for her too much to ever leave her behind, didn’t exist. She had so many questions and she had convinced herself that she was strong enough now to face the answers. She needed to so she could move forward with her life, because what she’d believed up until now had been based on lies and fabrication. Trent’s betrayal was the final straw. She didn’t even know who she was anymore. But she was ready to find out. Ethan’s voice broke into her thoughts.

“Do me a favor, find a motel or somewhere and sleep on it before you do anything you might regret. We can talk in the morning.”

“I’ll let you know how it goes,” Tamsyn replied, ignoring her brother’s plea. “I’ll call you in a few days.”

She disconnected the phone before Ethan could say another word and listened carefully as the disembodied voice on the GPS carefully enunciated that her turn was coming up in five hundred meters. Tamsyn’s gut clenched tight. She had to do this. As irrational and out of character as it was for her, the woman who usually planned everything out to the finest degree, she needed to do this.

Carefully, Tamsyn turned in at the imposing stone-wall-lined entrance to a long driveway. She drew the car to a halt and closed her eyes for a moment. This was it—soon she could be face-to-face with her mother for the first time since she was three years old. A shudder passed through her body as her adrenaline levels kicked up a notch.

The past twenty-four hours had been a roller-coaster ride. One that had alternately left her giddy with anticipation or sick to her stomach. Tamsyn opened her eyes and took her foot off the brake. The car began inching forward, rumbling loudly over the cattle guard beneath the tires and along the long straight stretch of driveway that gently inclined up the hill.

To the left and the right of her, regimented lines of grapevines grew, their foliage lush and green and the early signs of fruit could be seen hanging on the vines. Considering it was only late November, Tamsyn’s experienced eye could see that this vineyard was in for a bumper crop.

She continued along the long driveway. It snaked up a steep incline until finally, after a particularly tight hairpin turn, she saw the house ahead of her. The sprawling two-story building, crafted in stone and cedar, dominated the crest of the hill. Her lips set in a firm line of disapproval. So it clearly hadn’t been a lack of money that had kept her mother from staying in touch, she thought cynically. Was this how Ellen Masters had used the money her husband had sent her for the past twenty-odd years?

Tamsyn used that cynicism to propel her out of her car and toward the front door. It was now or never. Taking a deep breath, she reached for the iron door knocker and lifted it, only to let it drop with a solid clang. A short time later she heard footsteps echo from inside. Her stomach tied in knots as every last ounce of her resolve suddenly fled.

What the hell was she doing here?

* * *

Finn Gallagher opened his front door and had to force himself not to take a step back. He recognized the woman standing in front of him with a surety that went soul deep. Ellen’s daughter.

So the little princess from Australia had finally decided to visit. Too little, too late, as far as he was concerned. Far too late.

The pictures he’d seen of her over the years, hadn’t done her justice, though he had the sense he wasn’t seeing her at her best. His sweeping gaze took in the mussed long dark brown hair that cascaded over her shoulders and the dark bruises of tiredness that stained porcelain skin under wide-spaced brown eyes. Eyes that reminded him so much of her mother. The woman who, together with her partner, Lorenzo, had mothered him when his own family had disintegrated.

Her clothes were creased but still stylish, and clung to her curves in a way that drew his eye to the opening of her blouse and especially to the tempting swell of creamy skin exposed there. Her skirt skimmed her hips and down her slender thighs to end just above the knee. Not long enough to be dowdy and not so short as to be inappropriate, but somehow still enticing.

It all spoke to the privileged upbringing she’d enjoyed. He found it difficult not to feel bitter when he knew how hard her mother had scraped and worked for a decent life. Clearly the Masters family had looked after their own—they just didn’t look after those who walked away from them. Those who didn’t conform.

His gaze drifted back to her face where he noticed her full lips tremble slightly before pulling into a nervous smile.

“H-hello, I was wondering if Ellen Masters lives here?” she said.

Her voice was tight, as if her throat was constricted and in the late-afternoon sun that slanted across her face he could see telltale signs of tear tracks. Natural curiosity rose from inside him but he quelled it with his usual determination.

“And you are...?” he asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She held out a delicate hand. “I’m Tamsyn Masters. I’m looking for my mother, Ellen.”

He took her hand in his, noting instantly the coolness of her touch, the fragility in the bones of her fingers as his larger, stronger ones closed around hers. He struggled against the instinct to go into protection mode. There was something very not right in Tamsyn Masters’s world right now, but, he reminded himself, that wasn’t his problem.

Keeping her away from Ellen was.

Two

“There’s no Ellen Masters here,” he replied, letting go of her hand. “Was your mother expecting you?”

She had the grace to look shamefaced. “No, I kind of hoped to surprise her.”

Surprise her? Yeah, he just bet she did. Without sparing a thought to whether or not her mother would, or could, see her. How typical of her type, he thought angrily. Pampered, spoiled and thinking the world spun for her delectation. He knew the type well—unfortunately. Too well. They were the kind who’d always expect more, no matter how much you gave. People like Briana, his ex. Beautiful, seemingly compassionate, born into a life of opportunity—but in the cold light of day as grasping and as single-minded as Fagin in Oliver Twist.

“Are you sure you have the right address?” he asked, tamping his fury down.

“Well...I thought...” She reached into her handbag and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper and read off the address. “That’s right, isn’t it? I’m at the right place.”

“That is my address, but there’s no Ellen Masters here. I’m sorry. It looks like you’ve had a wasted trip.”

Before his eyes, every particle in her body slumped. Her eyes suddenly brimmed with unshed tears and a stricken look froze her delicate features into a mask of sadness. Again that urge to protect her welled within him—along with the compulsion to tell her of the well-concealed and unsealed driveway she’d have passed on the road here. The one that led to the cottage where Ellen and Lorenzo had lived for the past twenty-five years or so—but he just as determinedly pushed the impulse back.

He knew for a fact Tamsyn Masters had legally been an adult for ten years. What whim had finally driven her to seek out Ellen now? And, more important, why hadn’t she reached out to her mother sooner, when it could possibly still have made a difference to the other woman’s happiness?

“I—oh, well, I’m sorry to have bothered you. My information can’t have been correct.”

She reached into her handbag for an oversize pair of sunglasses and shoved them none too elegantly onto her face, hiding her tortured gaze from view. As she did so, he caught sight of the white band of skin on the ring finger of her left hand. Had the engagement he’d read of over a year ago come to an end? Had that been the catalyst to send her searching for her mother?

Whatever it was, it was none of his business.

“No problem,” he answered and watched as she walked back to her car and turned it around to drive back down the driveway.

Finn didn’t waste another second before reaching for his cell phone and punching in a number. It went straight to voice mail and he uttered a short sharp epithet in frustration while listening to the disembodied voice asking him to leave a message.

“Lorenzo, call me. There’s been a complication here at home.”

He slid his phone back in his pocket and closed the front door of his house. Somehow, though, he had the feeling he hadn’t completely closed the door on Tamsyn Masters.

* * *

As Tamsyn steered down the driveway, disappointment crashed through her with the force of a wrecking ball. The tears she’d battled to hold back while talking to the stranger now fell rapidly down her cheeks. She sniffed unevenly, trying to hold in the emotion that had been bubbling so close to the surface ever since she’d left Adelaide last night.

Why on earth had she thought it would be simple? She should have known better. Should have listened to Ethan, even, and tackled this another time—another day when she was in a stronger frame of mind. Well, she’d done it now, she’d gone to the address her late father’s solicitor had used to send her mother all those payments through the years and it had been the wrong one.

Disappointment had a nasty bitter taste, she’d discovered—not just once, but twice now in the past twenty-four hours. It just went to prove, that for her, acting out of character was the wrong thing to do. She wasn’t made to be impulsive. All her life she had weighed things up long and carefully before doing anything. Now she fully understood why she’d always been that way. It was safer. You didn’t get hurt. Sure, you didn’t have the thrill of taking a risk either, but was the pain you suffered when things went wrong worth it? Not in her book.

Tamsyn thought about the man who’d opened his door to her at the top of the hill. Over six feet, she’d been forced to look up at him. He’d had presence—being the kind of guy who turned heads just by entering a room. A broad forehead and straight brows had shadowed clear gray eyes the color of the schist rock used on the side of the house that was very definitely his castle. A light stubble had stippled his strong square jaw, but his smile, while polite, had lacked warmth.

There’d been something in his gaze when he’d looked at her. As if...no, she was just being fanciful. He couldn’t have known her because she knew full well she’d never met him before in her life. She would most definitely have remembered.

The sun was sinking in the sky and weariness pulled at every muscle in her body as all her activity, not to mention crossing time zones, over the past day took its toll. She needed to find somewhere to stay before she did something stupid like drive off the road and into a ditch.

Tamsyn pulled the car to the side of the road and consulted the GPS for accommodation options nearby. Thankfully there was a boutique hotel that provided meals on request about a fifteen-minute drive away. She keyed the phone number into her mobile phone and was relieved to find that while the room rate was on a par with the accommodation at The Masters, yes, they had a room available for the next few nights. Booking made, Tamsyn pressed the appropriate section of the GPS screen and followed the computerized instructions, eventually pulling up outside a quaint-looking early-1900s single-story building.

With the golden rays of the early-evening sun caressing its creamy paintwork, it looked warm and inviting. Just what she needed.

* * *

Finn paced his office, unable to settle back down to the plans that were sprawled across his wide desk. Plans that were going to go to hell in a handbasket if he couldn’t buy the easement necessary to gain access to the tract of land he wanted to use for this special project. He shoved a hand through his short hair, mussing it even more than usual.

The chirp of his phone was a happy distraction.

“Gallagher.”

“Finn, is there a problem?”

“Lorenzo, I’m glad you called.” Finn settled in his chair and swiveled it around to face the window, allowing the vista spread before him to fill his mind and relax his thoughts into a semblance of order. Thoughts that had been distracted all too thoroughly by his earlier visitor.

“What is it, my boy?”

Despite Lorenzo’s years in Australia, followed by the past couple of decades in New Zealand, his voice still held the lilt of his native Italian tongue.

“First, how is Ellen?”

The older man sighed. “Not good, she is having a bad day today.”

After Ellen began to show signs of kidney and liver failure, she and Lorenzo had relocated to Wellington, where she could receive the specialized care her advancing dementia required.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

He could almost hear Lorenzo shrug in acceptance. “It is what it is. I have asked Alexis to make plans to return from Italy.”

“Ellen’s that bad?”

Alexis was Lorenzo and Ellen’s only child and had been working overseas for the past year. Currently, she was visiting with Lorenzo’s family still living in Tuscany.

“Si, she has no fight left in her anymore. If she recognizes me at all it is a good day, but they are few.”

Finn could hear the pain echoing in the older man’s voice before Lorenzo took another deep breath and continued.

“Now, what did you call me for?”

Choosing blunt statement over trying to find an easy way to say what he had to, Finn said, “Tamsyn Masters showed up here today wanting to see Ellen.”

“So, it has finally happened.”

“I told her Ellen Masters doesn’t live here and sent her on her way.”

Lorenzo gave a short laugh, the sound crackling like autumn leaves. “But you didn’t tell her that Ellen Fabrini does, I assume?”

“No,” Finn admitted. He hadn’t told an outright lie when he’d spoken to Tamsyn. Though Lorenzo and Ellen had never formalized their union, she’d always been known as his wife and had gone by his last name the whole time they’d lived in New Zealand.

“You say she left again?”

“Yes, hopefully to return to Australia.”

“Hmm, but what if she doesn’t leave?”

Finn’s lips firmed in a line as he considered Lorenzo’s statement. “What are you thinking?”

“You know I have no love for that family after what they did to my Ellen. I lost count of the hours she spent crying over letters she wrote to those children. It broke her heart a little more every single time. And did they ever write back, or even try to contact her when they were older? No. Yet as much as I would wish them all to Dante’s inferno, I know how much Ellen loved them and if she was to stabilize, if her mind was to clear just a little, she might benefit from a visit from her daughter.”

Finn fought to keep the incredulity from his voice. “You want me to keep her from going home?”

“Do not chase her away just yet. But, if you can, keep her in the dark about where Ellen is—about all of us, if you can. With things the way they are...” His voice cracked and he took a moment to recover.

“I understand,” Finn soothed.

His heart broke for the man who’d stepped into the role of father figure when Finn’s own father had died, and his mother suffered a complete nervous breakdown. Finn had been only twelve and Lorenzo, his father’s business partner, and Ellen had taken him into their hearts and their home. The couple had been his rock through his turbulent adolescence and his teens. Their unwavering support, together with their careful guardianship of the land his father had owned, had ensured stability and, eventually, a good living for them all. Finn owed them everything.

“I’ll take care of things. Don’t worry,” he assured Lorenzo as they completed their call.

Exactly how he was going to take care of things was another matter. First, he had to find out whether Tamsyn had left the area. Given how exhausted she’d looked hovering on his doorstep, he doubted she’d have gone far. It only took a few calls to find her and he wasn’t at all surprised to discover the Aussie princess had chosen one of the most expensive accommodation providers in the area.

Okay, so now he knew where she was, what was he going to do next? Finn leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers under his chin, rocking the leather chair back and forth slightly as he stared back out the window again.

Encroaching twilight began to obscure the Kaikoura ranges in the far distance, narrowing his world to the acres that surrounded him. His acres. His land. His home. A home he wouldn’t have today but for the determination of Lorenzo and Ellen all those years ago. What was he going to do? Whatever they needed him to—even if it meant befriending the woman who’d caused Ellen so much suffering over the years.

Growing up, he’d heard occasional tales about Ellen’s other children—the ones she’d been forced to leave behind once her marriage had irretrievably broken down. Even then, he’d seen the pain that abandoning her children had caused her, how she’d sought solace in alcohol that had eventually led to her current illness, and over the intervening years he’d wondered about the children themselves and why they hadn’t done a thing to try to get in touch with the mother who’d loved them with all her heart.

As soon as he’d been old enough, and computer savvy enough, he’d done a little research and discovered the favored lives Ethan and Tamsyn Masters lived on their family vineyard estate, The Masters. They’d grown up wanting for nothing and had had every opportunity to excel presented to them on a platter. Not for them the hard graft of after-school jobs and backbreaking weekend work, just to get ahead. Not for them the millstone of student loans and expenses.

Finn didn’t mind admitting he’d felt some resentment toward Ellen’s other family, they’d had it so easy while she, on the other hand, had made do with so little—secure only in the love of the man she’d walked away from her husband and children with.

A man who continued to stay by her side as she’d battled her alcoholism and as eventually her body and mind broke down around her. Ellen’s health was so precarious right now that Finn feared that even if she recognized Tamsyn, should she manage to track her mother down, at the sight of her, Ellen could slide into a place in her mind from which she would never return.

After all, hadn’t his own mother’s death occurred after he had finally been allowed to visit her following her breakdown? Hadn’t seeing him been a reminder of what she’d given up on when the sudden death of her husband had forced her to retreat into the supposedly safe reaches of her mind? And hadn’t her shame pushed her deeper into her mind, never to emerge again? Even now, those memories had the power to hurt. He pushed them forcibly away.

Tamsyn Masters—she should be the focus of his thoughts right now, and his plans to get her to stay in the area without letting her find out the truth about Ellen. Finn thought again what he knew about the young woman who’d turned up at his house today. She was twenty-eight years old, five years younger than himself. Last he’d heard, she was engaged to marry some up-and-coming lawyer in Adelaide. Clearly she hadn’t been wearing her ring today. It could mean anything. Maybe she had taken it off to get it cleaned or resized. Or maybe she’d taken it off when she’d washed her hands and had forgotten to put it back on again.

Another idea occurred to him. One that sparked his interest. Maybe, just maybe, it meant she might be in the market for a bit of rebound romance. A bit of light flirtation perhaps—some enticement to stay in the Marlborough district? If she was as shallow as he’d found her type to be in the past it would be all good fun—no chance of emotional involvement or hurt feelings, just an opportunity to keep her very carefully under observation while making sure she found out nothing about Ellen.

It would take some doing, sure, but he was confident he could handle it. A buzz of anticipation hummed through his body. Yeah, he was definitely the man to do it, and along the way he’d find out as much as he could about the perplexing Ms. Tamsyn Masters.

Three

Voices echoed down the wide paneled hallway of the hotel as Tamsyn walked toward the dining room. She still felt a little tired, but last night’s light meal, warm bath and a comfortable night in a good bed, had all gone a long way toward restoring her equilibrium.

Last night she’d all but decided to head to the airport this morning and book a flight back to Auckland. But she’d woken filled with a new sense of purpose—more determined than ever to make the most of her time here. Her mother had to be in the area somewhere. As far as she and Ethan were aware, checks were still being sent to her from their father’s estate—and none of the checks had ever been returned to sender. Last night she’d been too tired and too disheartened to remember that vital detail. Today was another matter entirely and she was thinking far more clearly. A call to Ethan would confirm the address her father’s lawyers used.

First order of the day though, after breakfast, was a trip to Blenheim to purchase some new clothes and luggage. She’d left Adelaide in such an all-fired hurry she’d arrived here in New Zealand with only the clothes she stood in and her handbag. Despite making use of the iron and ironing board stashed in her room’s wardrobe, her clothing was definitely looking the worse for wear.

She couldn’t wait to rid herself of her underwear, either—the pieces so carefully chosen to titillate and entice her then fiancé. Despite the fact she’d had to rinse out, dry and then rewear them twice now, she wouldn’t be happy until she’d seen them thrown into the trash.

They were yet another reminder of how foolishly naive she’d been—and how the people she’d trusted had let her down. Bile rose in her throat as she remembered how eager she’d been to surprise Trent just two nights ago. How she’d planned a romantic dinner and evening for two culminating in the slow and sexy removal of said lingerie. But the surprise had been all hers when she’d discovered him in bed with someone else—her personal assistant, Zac.

Once the hurt had begun to recede she’d felt such a fool. What kind of woman didn’t know her fiancé was gay? Worse, that he’d been prepared to marry her and simply string her along as a mask of respectability so he could continue his steady rise through the ranks of the old-school law firm he worked for.

She’d known that she only had to go home to have her family surrounding her, consoling her—but the thought had failed to comfort her. Her family had lied to her, too, had hidden things from her that she’d had the right to know. Her father, her uncle and aunts—they’d all known that her mother was alive, and they’d kept it from her. Even Ethan had hidden the truth from her once he found out, after their father’s death. Suddenly desperate to get away from the secrets, the evasions and the betrayals, she’d headed to the airport, determined not to return until she found some answers for a change.

So far, it was going dreadfully.

She swallowed against the burning sensation in her throat. Maybe breakfast wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“Here she is,” the voice of her hostess, Penny, greeted her as she reached the doorway of the dining room. Penny rose from a small table set in the bay window that looked out over a delightfully old-fashioned garden. “Good morning, Ms. Masters, I trust you slept well?”

“Oh, call me Tamsyn, please. And yes, my room is very comfortable, thank you.”

Tamsyn’s eyes flicked to the man who sat opposite Penny and who now rose to his feet in welcome. The man from yesterday—and absolutely the last man she had expected to see this morning. Courtesy demanded she acknowledge his presence and she gave him a short nod, just the barest inclination of her head.

He stepped forward and held out his hand in a greeting. “We didn’t get to exchanging names yesterday. Finn Gallagher. Pleased to see you again.”

She gave him a weak smile and briefly shook his hand. The warmth of his broad palm permeated her skin, sending a curl of awareness winding up her arm and through her body. She pulled her hand free.

“Really, Mr. Gallagher? I had the impression yesterday you were only too pleased to see the back of me.”

Amusement lit his cool slate-colored eyes. “Ah, you caught me at a bad time, I’m afraid. I’m here to apologize.”

Tamsyn’s mind scattered in a hundred directions. How had he tracked her down?

“Isn’t that a bit stalkerish?” she said without thinking.

“We’re a close-knit bunch around here,” he explained with an apologetic smile that made Tamsyn’s stomach do a tiny loop-the-loop. “I was concerned after you left. You looked tired, and being unfamiliar with the area...well, let’s just say tourists have a bad habit of wandering off the road here and there. I called around a few places and I was relieved when Penny assured me you’d arrived safely.”

It all sounded plausible, she thought, but it didn’t explain what he was doing here right now. As if he could read her mind, he continued speaking.

“I didn’t want to leave you with the impression that we’re rude around here and thought I’d offer to show you around, if you’d like. Take you on a tour of the district. You will be staying a few days now you’re here, won’t you?”

He said the last few words with subtle emphasis, almost as if he was willing her to stick around.

“Yes, I will,” she admitted, reluctant to tell him that her time here had no specific expiry. “But there’s no need for you to show me around. I can make my own way.” Besides, she wasn’t really here for the sights. She just wanted to find her mother.

“Please, at least allow me to take you to lunch or dinner to make up for my abruptness yesterday.”

An ember of warmth lit deep in her belly. Maybe she was being overly suspicious. He certainly seemed sincere enough. She studied him briefly, taking in the short spiky hair, the clear gray eyes that appeared to be imploring her to give in to his politely put demand. His body language was open, nonthreatening, and dressed as he was in a pair of jeans and a tight-fitting T-shirt, he clearly wasn’t hiding any weapons. Except his charisma. She couldn’t deny he exuded oodles of magnetism, today at least, and there was no doubting that he was one beautifully put-together piece of manhood. What would be the harm in enjoying his company for a few hours? Despite what she’d just been through with Trent, Finn Gallagher was pinging her receptors. And then there was that smile that played around Finn’s lips, the expression on his face that suggested he found her attractive and actually wanted to spend time with her. Something her fiancé had not been so wont to do. The thought was like water on a drought-stricken land.

Penny interrupted her thoughts. “If you’re worried about Finn, I can vouch for the fact that he’s a complete gentleman. He’s also a much-loved local-born philanthropist. Honestly, you couldn’t be in better hands.”

“I...”

Tamsyn’s eyes dropped to those very hands, eyeing his broad palms and long tapered fingers. The ember flared to a flame and spread, her breasts suddenly feeling full, her nipples tight, as she involuntarily imagined those hands touching her. With a sharply indrawn breath, she dragged her eyes up to his face, where he clearly awaited her response.

“I don’t want to be any trouble,” she said lamely, feeling a flush of color heat her cheeks. “Besides, I have plans to do some shopping today—I came a little underprepared for this trip.”

Underprepared. As if that wasn’t the understatement of the year, she thought scathingly.

“No problem. Why don’t you do your shopping this morning, Penny will be able to direct you to where you need to go, and I’ll pick you up around lunchtime, say one o’clock, back here? Then I can show you around a bit and deliver you back this evening.”

She couldn’t refuse. He’d made the plan sound so reasonable. Penny had given her approval as well, and somehow Tamsyn knew the older woman wouldn’t have been so forthcoming if she hadn’t been certain Tamsyn would be safe with Finn.

“Then, thank you, I’d like that.”

“Excellent. I’ll leave you to your breakfast and I’ll see you later today. Thanks for the coffee, Penny.”

“You’re always welcome, Finn. I’ll see you out. Tamsyn, please help yourself to the breakfast buffet. If there’s anything else you’d like, just ring the bell on the sideboard and one of the kitchen staff will be along to take your order.”

Penny smiled and then preceded Finn from the room. Finn gave Tamsyn a wink before following.

“I’m looking forward to this afternoon,” he said, his voice lowered for her hearing only and sending a shiver of anticipation down Tamsyn’s spine.

She smiled in response, a nervous, almost involuntary action, and then he was gone. Tamsyn stepped over to the chafing dishes on the antique sideboard and lifted the lids. Nerves danced like butterflies in her stomach. What had she let herself in for? she wondered as she took a small serving of scrambled egg with a few fried button mushrooms and half a grilled tomato.

She placed her plate on a table and turned back to the sideboard to pour a cup of coffee from the silver carafe warmed by a single candle in a holder beneath it. Everything here was modern and comfortable yet still exuded old-world charm with these touches of elegance from a bygone era. Much like back at home, at The Masters.

For just an instant she was almost overwhelmed by a wave of homesickness, by the desire to quit this search of hers and go home and pick up where she’d left off. But she couldn’t go back, not yet. Not until she’d gotten some answers. After everything that had happened, she felt so lost, as if she didn’t know who she was anymore. She needed this trip, this quest, to help her find herself again.

Tamsyn forced herself to lift her fork and spear a mushroom, bringing the morsel to her mouth. The burst of flavor on her tongue reminded her that she might be down, but she wasn’t out yet. Not when there were still things in this life to enjoy, to savor. Things that proved life went on as surely as the sun rose each day.

“Ah, excellent, you’ve helped yourself,” Penny said, walking briskly back into the room. “Is everything to your liking? Perhaps there’s something else I can get for you?”

“Everything is lovely, thank you. I’m fine for now.”

“I’m glad,” the other woman said, bustling over to clear the table where she and Finn had been sitting when Tamsyn had come into the dining room. “Finn seems quite taken with you. You can’t go wrong there. He’ll show you a wonderful time.”

Was it Tamsyn’s imagination or was there a hefty dose of double entendre seasoning Penny’s words?

“You didn’t mention you met him yesterday,” Penny probed.

“I’d been given an address to go to. It turned out to be his and not the person I was seeking.”

“Well, if anyone around here can help you find someone local it’ll be Finn,” Penny said with a warm smile. “Come and see me in my office before you head out to the shops and tell me what you’re looking for, and I’ll point you in the right direction.”

What she was looking for? Well, there was an opening she couldn’t ignore. Finn himself had said they were a close-knit community. Surely her mother had to be known by someone.

“Actually, now that you mention it, I was wondering...have you ever heard of an Ellen Masters?”

Penny halted midstride and the cups she’d just cleared from the table wobbled a little in their saucers.

“Ellen Masters, you say?” She pulled her mouth down into a small frown for a second before reverting to a bright smile that didn’t feel quite as genuine as it had a moment before. “No, can’t say I’ve ever heard that name. Well, I’ll leave you to your breakfast. Remember to ring if you need anything else.”

Tamsyn watched as Penny left the dining room. She must be getting overly sensitive because for a minute there she thought she’d seen a spark of something on Penny’s face. Tamsyn took another sip of her coffee and shook her head slightly. She was probably just jet-lagged and perhaps a little overtired still. Imagining things that weren’t there simply because she wanted them to be.

Still, she refused to be cowed. Someone in the district had to know where her mother was and as soon as she crossed paths with that someone, she would know, too. A person didn’t just disappear off the grid without leaving a trace somewhere, did they?

Four

After her shopping expedition into Blenheim, where she found all the basics she needed, as well as a few things she didn’t but were fun to buy anyway, Tamsyn continued back toward her accommodations. Certain she could navigate her way without her GPS, she was surprised when a wrong turn brought her out into a small but bustling township.

She wondered briefly, as she pulled up to halt on a street peppered with cafés and boutiques and art stores, why Penny hadn’t directed her here first for her shopping. With a shrug she got out of the car and locked it before strolling the length of the main street down one side and back up the other before going into one of the clothing boutiques to browse.

“Hello, are you looking for a special outfit?” the older woman behind the counter asked with a welcoming smile.

“Not particularly, but I love this,” Tamsyn said, pulling out a sleeveless dress in vibrant hues of purple and blue for a better look.

“That would look lovely on you with your coloring. The fitting room is just to your left if you’d like to try it on.”

“Oh, I don’t think...” About to refuse, Tamsyn hesitated. Why shouldn’t she indulge herself? This morning’s shopping had been mostly about function—jeans, T-shirts, a pair of shorts and a few sets of underwear, together with some trainers. Her hand stroked the fabric, relishing the texture of the hand-painted silk. It would feel divine on. “Okay, I’ll try it,” she said before she could change her mind.

A few minutes later she turned this way and that in front of the dressing-room mirror. The dress was perfect, as if it had been made for her. If only she had the right shoes to go with it, she’d be able to wear it to lunch with Finn. Not that she was setting out to try and attract him or anything but a girl needed her armor, didn’t she? And the way this dress made her look and made her feel was armor indeed.

“How does it feel on?” a disembodied voice asked from outside the curtain.

“Fantastic but I don’t have the right shoes with me.”

“Oh, maybe we have something here. We carry a few styles and sizes. You’re what, a size seven?”

When Tamsyn murmured her assent the woman replied, “I’ll be right back.”

Tamsyn took a minute to study her reflection again. She loved the dress, loved the softness of the silk as it fell around her legs, as it caressed her body. It made her feel feminine, desirable.

Was that what her need for armor was all about? Had Trent’s betrayal left her feeling so unappealing? Questioning her femininity so much? Not surprising, given how he’d deliberately misled her throughout their relationship. The sting still smarted. And looking at her reflection now, thoughts of her former fiancé made her angry, too. Her reflection in the mirror looked beautiful and sexy—why had she let Trent make her feel any different? Why had she agreed to marry a man who never made her feel irresistible?

Tamsyn was more certain than ever that this trip was exactly what she needed. She had to get away from the perceptions and expectations everyone had of her back home and figure out who she really wanted to be. She just hoped her mother would want to be part of that—part of her life.

“Here we are!”

Tamsyn pulled aside the curtain.

“Oh, my,” the assistant said, “that dress is really you. You look wonderful. Here, try these on with it.”

She held out a pair of sandals in shades of purple, blue and pink, and with a ridiculously high heel. They were perfect, Tamsyn thought as she slid off the trainers and socks she’d been wearing and slipped her feet into the sandals, bending down to fasten the dainty ankle strap.

“Come on out into the store, we have a full-length mirror just over by the counter. You’ll have more room to twirl,” the woman said with a wink.

Tamsyn couldn’t help but smile in response. She actually felt like twirling when she saw her reflection in the larger mirror.

“I’ll take it,” she said impulsively. “The dress and the shoes. Do you mind if I wear them now?”

“Why would I mind?” The assistant smiled in response. “You’re the perfect walking advertisement for one of our local designers—Alexis Fabrini.”

“I love what she’s done with this dress, do you have more of her clothes here? I’d really like to come back when I have more time.”

The assistant just smiled and spread her arm to encompass an entire wall of garments. “Take your pick,” she said, smiling. “Let me bag up your other things and take off those price tags and you’ll be good to go.”

Tamsyn paid for her purchases just as a Shania Twain song came onto the speakers in the store. She smiled to herself, agreeing with the lyrics. She really felt like a woman right now and was actually looking forward to lunch with the enigmatic Finn Gallagher more than she realized.

“Are you just passing through town?” asked the store clerk. Tamsyn looked at her, suddenly struck by the realization that the woman was probably around the same age as her mother. In fact, there were so many people around—on the street, in the shops—who were all around that age. Surely, amongst them, would be some of her mother’s friends.

“I’m here a few days at least, although I might stay longer if I can. I’m...” She hesitated a moment and then decided, in for a penny, in for a pound. If she didn’t start asking every person she met if they knew her mom, she’d never find out, would she? “I’m looking for my mother. Ellen Masters. Do you know her?”

The other woman shook her head slowly and pursed her lips. “Hmm, Ellen Masters...no. Can’t say I’ve met anyone by that name around here, but I’m fairly new in the region and I’m still getting to know all the locals.”

“Never mind,” Tamsyn said pasting a smile over the pang of disappointment that tugged at her heart. It was a numbers game. Eventually she’d find someone who knew her. Didn’t New Zealanders pride themselves on the fact that there were only two degrees of separation between them and a fellow Kiwi? “It was a wild shot.”

“Well, good luck finding her and do come back soon!”

Tamsyn gathered her things and started to walk back to her car. Even with this small latest setback she still felt more positive. Just before she reached her car she stopped and perused the window of a real estate office that appeared to double as a letting agency and an idea occurred to her. If she found a place to rent she could set herself up more permanently here and could use the property as a base from which to widen her search. She scanned the listings in the window and an address caught her eye. It was on the same road as Finn Gallagher’s property, fairly close, too, if the street number was any indicator.

A coil of something she couldn’t quite identify curled tight in her stomach as she read the details. It was a short-term lease on a week-by-week basis. She could see why it was still available. Not many people would want the insecurity of week-by-week rental, but it suited her just perfectly and as a bonus it was fully furnished. All she’d need to do was feed the cat and the chickens on the property. She could do that. She pushed open the door to the agency, coming out twenty minutes later with an agreement in one hand, a key in the other and an excitement roiling in her she barely knew how to contain.

A late-model Porsche Cayenne, a Turbo S model, she noted with some appreciation, stood in the driveway when she returned to the hotel. No doubt Finn’s, she thought as she took a quick look at the dashboard clock on her rental. The side trip to the property agency had made her late, but right now she didn’t care. From tomorrow she had somewhere of her own to stay. Things were falling into place and who knew? Maybe the next person she saw would be someone who could tell her where to find her mother.

* * *

Finn watched from the office window as Tamsyn alighted from her car. Even from here he could tell she was excited. There was a light and energy about her now that had been missing yesterday and this morning. It served to make her even more beautiful.

He tamped down on the shiver of desire that threatened to ripple through his body. If he was going to control this situation he’d have to start by controlling himself. Errant physical attractions would only complicate things. And as complications went, getting a call from the leasing agent handling Lorenzo and Ellen’s cottage to say a certain princess from Australia was interested in taking up the short-term leasing option was a big one.

As tempting as it had been to say an absolute and resounding no when the agent had queried him about the lease, especially as the leasee had no references, he’d been mindful of Lorenzo’s wish to keep Tamsyn close for Ellen’s sake. How much easier would it be to keep an eye on her if she was just down the hill from where he lived?

Of course, he reminded himself, there was the bonus of him not having to feed Ellen’s man-eating black cat, Lucy—short for Lucifer. A singularly appropriate moniker Finn had always privately thought. He hadn’t had a morning yet where the feisty feline hadn’t delivered him a scathing hiss or a barbed paw.

Plus, he knew for a fact that Lorenzo and Ellen’s personal effects and identifying items had all been packed away in Alexis’s old bedroom and a new lock put on the door to ensure that while renters made use of the house, their private things remained just that, private. He’d done it himself after Lorenzo had accompanied Ellen to Wellington. What harm could come from having Tamsyn literally under his eye?

“Looks like she’s been shopping,” he commented as he watched Tamsyn pull several shopping bags and a small wheeled suitcase from the trunk of her car.

“And not just in Blenheim. That pink bag, that’s from a local store,” Penny commented from behind him.

“Damn. I thought you directed her to Blenheim for what she needed.”

“I did, but honestly, Finn, you can’t expect to control her every movement.”

Oh, can’t I? “More’s the pity,” he growled, stepping away from the window before Tamsyn could see her spying on him.

Penny laughed. “She obviously found our nearby center all on her own, and from the look of things she’s boosted the local economy in the bargain. I’m pretty sure that’s one of Alexis’s designs she’s wearing right now and you and I both know they don’t come cheap.”

Finn stifled a groan. What were the odds that Tamsyn Masters would walk out the door here this morning and come back wearing a dress designed by her half sister? A sister she didn’t even know she had—and probably wouldn’t, ever, if he succeeded in keeping Tamsyn in the dark as he’d promised. He needed to hold it together, for Lorenzo’s sake. The man had stepped in and helped him when his whole world shattered apart when he was only twelve years old. Now Lorenzo’s world was imploding and it was up to Finn to return the favor.

At the sound of her heels clicking on the polished wooden hall floor he spun away from the window and went out to greet her.

“Oh, hello!” Tamsyn said, coming to an abrupt halt as he exited the office right in front of her.

A waft of her fragrance drifted around him. Something with flowers, fruit and a hint of spice. Something that sent reason fleeing from his mind and a crazy desire to lean forward and inhale more deeply driving through his body.

“Sorry I’m late,” she continued, oblivious to the tug-of-war going on in Finn’s mind, not to mention the tug of something else far lower down in his body. “I’ll only be a minute. Just let me put these things in my room and I’m all yours.”

All his? Somehow he doubted that. But it certainly promised to be interesting finding out, he thought with a smile as he watched her graceful departure.

Gone was the wounded creature who had been at his front door last night. Gone was the troubled but determined young woman who’d arrived in the dining room this morning. In her place was charming, confident sex on legs, and very beautiful legs they were, too, he admitted as he admired the slim turn of her ankle and the slender, yet shapely, calf muscles heading in the opposite direction on a pair of colored icepicks that defied logic and gravity in one, literally, easy step.

He shook himself out of his daze as she disappeared from view. Just as well, he thought, or he might even have been tempted to follow her.

True to her word, she was back in only a few minutes, delivering him a shy smile as she returned.

“All ready?” he asked, his mouth drying as he studied her anew.

The purple of the dress did something striking to her brown eyes, reminding him of pansies. Bold, yet fragile at the same time. God, he groaned inwardly. What the hell was wrong with him? Next he’d be acting like some crush-struck teenager.

“I certainly am,” she replied, falling in alongside him as he headed for the door. “Where are we going?”

He named a vineyard and winery that was only a fifteen-minute drive away. “Their restaurant is immensely popular for lunches and their wines are world renowned.”

Tamsyn rubbed her flat tummy and laughed. “I certainly hope you’re right. I’m famished after all that shopping this morning.”

“You won’t be disappointed,” he assured her.

He kept up a bland running commentary on the surrounding countryside and their destination, to fill in time as they drove to the vineyard.

“This place sounds a lot like home,” Tamsyn commented. “We run a similar operation with cellar door, restaurant and winery. It’ll be fun seeing how they do things. I could almost tell myself it was work if—” Her voice broke off.

“If?” he coaxed.

“If I hadn’t resigned and walked away from it all,” she said with a brittle smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Oh? Sick of the daily drudge?” he probed, curious to know her answer.

If she was the spoiled princess he’d always imagined her to be, then his guess would fit right in with that. He used that thought to quell his firing libido.

“Something like that,” she answered noncommittally and turned her head to stare out the window.

Something like that. Huh. What he wouldn’t give to find out what that “something” was. Then maybe he could resolve his conflicted feelings. On the surface, Tamsyn Masters had proven true to form. She’d turned up at his doorstep unannounced, which, if it had been Ellen’s home, could have had devastating consequences. She spent money like water, which made him wonder if she’d ever had to work hard for a single thing. And, by her own admission, she’d simply walked away from the family business and whatever responsibilities had been hers while she was there.

All in all, her actions made her appear to be an unappealing package—a package not unlike Briana had proven to be.

So why on earth did he find her anything but?

Five

Tamsyn woke the next morning filled with a renewed vigor to face the day. Lunch with Finn had been delightful, far better than she’d anticipated, although the setting had sharpened her homesickness for The Masters. Her host, however, seemed to read her mood instinctively and had distracted her with his knowledge of the immediate district. It was obvious he cared about the area and the people within it, and several other diners had stopped by their table at the restaurant to give their regards.

While Finn had introduced her politely to each and every person who had spoken with him, he’d made it subtly clear at the same time that he didn’t want additional company. She’d been a little surprised by how efficiently he’d closed people out. She’d also been frustrated as she’d wanted to ask each of them if they’d heard of her mother. Despite that, by the time they were enjoying their coffee and a shared apple tarte tatin for dessert Tamsyn had begun to feel more relaxed than she had in a very long time.

And there was something else. She’d felt protected, almost cherished, which was weird considering she’d only just met Finn, but his behavior toward her was caring and solicitous. She’d thrived under his undivided attention. It was a luxury she couldn’t remember experiencing in a very long time.

After a delicious leisurely lunch, their sightseeing had taken them well off the beaten track and away from populated areas. Tamsyn had fallen in love with the amazing vistas that looked out over the Marlborough Sounds and then the stunning valleys and hills on the journey home that led them back to the river plains and her hotel.

As lovely as yesterday afternoon had been, today promised a different and perhaps more challenging agenda. Moving into the cottage. She understood it had been vacant for a couple of weeks. Hopefully that didn’t mean it would be musty and in need of heavy cleaning when she arrived.

“Are you all set?” Penny asked as Tamsyn wheeled her new gleaming blue suitcase containing her recently acquired possessions toward the front door.

Tamsyn had told her hostess last night that she’d be checking out in the morning. Penny hadn’t been able to keep the surprise from her eyes when Tamsyn had told her where she’d be staying but had swiftly covered that with an offer to provide her with some food supplies to take with her.

“Yes, I am, and thank you so much for a lovely stay.”

“You’re welcome, any time,” the other woman smiled. “Are you sure you want to go out to a place on your own? You’ll be a bit isolated there.”

“You know, my life has been so frenetic lately, I think I’m going to relish the peace and quiet of being on my own. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever just had to bear my own company. I’m actually looking forward to it.”

“Well, don’t be a stranger, feel free to pop in for a cuppa if you’re passing,” Penny invited.

Tamsyn drove to the address the letting agent had given her, missing the entrance completely the first time. After executing a U-turn she inched back along the road until she saw the slightly overgrown access to the driveway. It was obviously a good place to go when you didn’t really want to be found, she thought as she drove up the dusty unsealed track and toward a small cottage nestled at the bottom of the hill. The very hill, in fact, that was crowned by Finn Gallagher’s opulent stone-and-cedar palace.

She hadn’t realized she’d be this close. She could hop a fence and walk through the vineyard that stretched up the hill and be at his place in little more than a vigorous ten-to fifteen-minute walk. It was both unsettling and reassuring at the same time. At least knowing someone was close in case she needed help was a bonus...but Finn Gallagher?

As attractive as he was, and as immediate as her reaction was to him, he still unnerved her on some levels. His attentive behavior since their not-so-friendly first meeting definitely was appealing, as was the way he looked at her as if she was all woman, but coming so close on the heels of her broken engagement she still felt nervy, distrustful. And while it was flattering at the time that he’d obviously wanted to keep her company all to himself yesterday, when she’d thought about it late last night she’d started to get the niggling feeling that he had some ulterior motive for doing so.

Maybe she was just overreacting. After all, it wasn’t every day a woman had to accept that she’d been efficiently lied to for the better part of two years by a man she’d trusted enough to want to marry. The dull ache that seemed to permanently reside in her chest intensified.

In the clothing store, wearing a beautiful dress and anticipating an afternoon with a handsome man, it had been easy to lay the mess of their shattered engagement entirely on Trent’s shoulders...but deep down she felt it had to be her fault. How could she not have seen Trent and Zac’s interest in one another? How could she never have suspected a thing? Sure, her relationship with Trent had been cool, their sex life minimal, but she’d put that down to the type of man he was. And she’d loved him—believed they had a future together. Just went to show what a rotten judge of character she really was, she told herself with a rueful glance in her rearview mirror.

She pulled her car to a halt outside the front of an old detached garage next to the cottage and got out. Maybe she was just being paranoid. Actually, more than maybe and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Her experience with Trent had been a rude and very unpleasant awakening. It wouldn’t do her any harm at all to be a little less eager to salve her mortally wounded pride with the company of a handsome man, even if he did have the power to make her heart skip.

The cottage was old, probably circa early 1900s, but very well maintained by the look of things. A large deep veranda stretched invitingly along the front of the house and around to one side. She hoped the interior was as appealing. Tamsyn grabbed the plastic bags Penny had enthusiastically filled with what she’d deemed to be the essentials to see her through the next day or so. Tam had been overwhelmed by the other woman’s generosity, even more so when Penny had refused any payment for the items. As a result, Tamsyn doubted she’d need to make her way into town for supplies for several days, given the fresh meat, milk, eggs and other items the hotelier had given her.

The key slid smoothly into the front door lock and turned easily. Feeling almost as if she was trespassing, Tamsyn stepped inside.

Dust motes floated on the gilded rays of morning sun that streamed in through windows to her left, but aside from that, the place looked well kept. Almost as if the owners had stepped outside for only a moment.

“Prrrrp.” She jumped at the sound as a sleek black cat followed in through the front door behind her, eyeing her carefully with its golden eyes before winding in and out of her legs and purring.

“Well, hello,” Tamsyn said, bending down to stroke the cat. “I guess you’re one of my responsibilities while I’m here, hmm? What a shame no one thought to tell me your name.”

The letting agent had mentioned that a neighbor had been caring for the animals at the house, but that they’d be her responsibility for the duration of the tenancy. How hard could it be, right? A few chickens, a cat. It wasn’t rocket science.

The cat looked up at her and blinked slowly before lithely jumping up onto the windowsill and grooming itself in the sun. For some reason, the animal’s presence made Tamsyn feel more at home. She took her supplies through to the compact and slightly old-fashioned kitchen and put them in the refrigerator. Through the window over the kitchen counter she could see a vast, somewhat overgrown, vegetable garden.

She wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed tight. It shouldn’t be so exciting to have this—temporary—home of her own. After all, she’d grown up on an amazing estate. But it was her family’s estate, never solely hers. She’d never truly been on her own. It was surprising how much she liked it. She really was pretty self-sufficient for the next few days. If she didn’t want to, she needn’t go anywhere. But how would she find her mother if she didn’t keep going out into the community and asking around?

Tamsyn groaned aloud as another thought came to her. The internet. Of course. Why hadn’t she thought of that?

Because her mind had been too distracted with other thoughts—thoughts of Trent and, more so, thoughts of the tall, enigmatic man who lived at the top of the hill—she’d completely discounted using her smartphone to do an internet search for her mother. As soon as she’d unpacked she’d get right onto it.

Tamsyn turned on her heel and nearly screamed when something brushed against her leg. The cat. Oh, God, her heart was racing. Living on her own, albeit with a resident feline, was going to take some getting used to.

The cat rubbed against her, twining in a figure eight between her legs and purring loudly before stalking toward a cupboard with its tail in the air. Sitting in front of the cupboard, it began to scratch.

“Oh, no, don’t do that,” Tamsyn said, hastening over.

She pushed the cat away from the door, but it determinedly moved back in front and began scratching again. Curious, and not a little fearful that perhaps there might be a mouse inside, she opened the cupboard. A sigh of relief flooded through her when she saw the bag of dried cat food sitting on the bottom shelf of what was obviously a pantry.

“You’re hungry, that’s what it is, isn’t it, Puss?”

She looked around for a bowl and spied a small plastic mat on the floor near a glass-paned door, an empty bowl and a water dish sitting side by side. The cat purred its obvious approval as she collected the empty dishes and rinsed them out at the kitchen sink before drying them and refilling them with cat biscuits and water.

“There you go,” she said, putting them back on the little mat and running her hand down the cat’s black furry back.

Feeling well-satisfied with herself, Tamsyn went back out to her car and grabbed her suitcase. This time, she turned to her right as she came back in. The bedrooms had to be down this way, she thought as she tried each door as she got to it. There were two bedrooms to choose from, one bathroom and one door that was locked. Tamsyn chose the smaller of the two bedrooms and unpacked her meager belongings. It was hardly worth the bother, she thought as she hung up the couple of things she’d bought and stuffed her small collection of underwear into a drawer. Compared with her walk-in closet at home, she had majorly downsized.

Home. Another wave of homesickness washed over her. She should call her brother, reassure him she was okay and tell him of her plans. Before she could talk herself out of it, she pressed the quick dial for his mobile number.

“I was beginning to think I’d have to send out a search party for you,” he answered.

While there was a teasing note in his voice, Tamsyn could hear the underlying concern.

“I did say I’d call in few days. I’m fine, by the way,” she assured him. “Thanks for asking.”

“Ready to come home yet?”

“Not anywhere near it, Ethan. How are you managing without me?”

“We’re coping surprisingly well. Aunt Cynthia has really come into her own taking over for you, you’d be impressed.”

Tamsyn felt his words like a physical blow. Sure, she’d walked out on them, but couldn’t they have missed her—even just a little bit? Nobody had missed her, it seemed. She hadn’t even had so much as a text or email from Trent. Not that she wanted to hear from him, but they’d been engaged over a year and had gone out for several months before that. Surely she’d warranted something from him, some explanation, anything. She quashed the thought. She’d walked away from him and his lover, and everything associated with them. That was her choice, as was her mission to find her mother. It was time to stop looking back and to keep her sights firmly fixed on her new future.

Forcing a smile to her lips, she said, “Hey, can you check something for me?”

“Name it.”

“The address Mom’s checks are sent to—can you give that to me again?”

“Sure, just give me a minute to find the email,” her brother replied.

In the background she could hear him using his usual hunt-and-peck keyboard skills to pull up the information. She smiled to herself. Computers were a necessary evil in Ethan’s book—he’d much rather be blending his world-famous wines and watching over their production as if they were his children heading out to a first day at school. While he was busy, Tamsyn scrabbled in her handbag for a pen and notebook.

“Found it,” he said a moment later. He rattled off the address.

“That’s weird,” Tamsyn replied, chewing on the end of her pen. “That’s the address I went to on Saturday, but the man there said he hadn’t heard of Mom.”

“Let me check with Dad’s solicitor and get back to you. Could be someone made a mistake somewhere.”

Or it could be that someone was lying to her. The thought echoed around in her mind. Could Finn be deliberately keeping information about her mother from her? Surely not. What would be the point? It’s not as if he stood to gain anything by it.

“Okay, thanks. Send me a text or email when you know, okay? In the meantime, I’ve decided to take a short-term lease on a cottage here. I want to spend more time poking around, see if I can bump into anyone who might know her and how I can find her.”

“Tam, are you sure you’re doing the right thing? Maybe if she’s hard to find it’s because she doesn’t want to be.”

“It’s not about what she wants anymore,” Tamsyn said with uncharacteristic firmness. “This time it’s about what she owes me. I deserve to know why she left us, Ethan. I need to know.”

She heard her brother sigh in frustration. “By the way,” Ethan said, “I talked to Trent. He told me what happened.”

Tamsyn felt as if a fist had closed around her heart and her lungs burned, reminding her to draw in a breath.

“R-really? Ev-everything?” she stuttered.

“With a little coaxing.” The steel in Ethan’s voice left her in no doubt that her brother had not been his usual urbane self when approaching her ex-fiancé. He continued before she could gather her thoughts together. “I don’t blame you for needing some time out. He duped us all, Tam. Led us all to believe he’d love you the way you deserved to be loved. He was promising something he couldn’t deliver. No matter his orientation, what he did to you was wrong on every level. You deserved better than that and you still do. Isobel’s so mad I had to physically restrain her from heading into town to deal with him. I just wanted you to know, we’re in your corner. Whatever you need from us right now, it’s yours.”

Tears throbbed at the back of Tamsyn’s eyes and she stared up at the ceiling in a vain attempt to force them back. If she let go now, she didn’t know if she’d be able to stop, and if Ethan heard her crying he’d be here faster than she could blink. This was her mission, her goal. She had to do it for herself. For once in her life she wasn’t doing something to please someone else, this was all about her.

She focused, instead, on the idea of Ethan’s fiancée, Isobel, and the very idea of the tiny blonde going head to head with Trent in a fight. It was enough to calm her—to almost make her smile.

“Thank you,” she managed to whisper then drew in a steadying breath, one that made her voice stronger. “I’ll be in touch when I learn anything, okay?”

“It’ll have to be okay,” Ethan conceded. “And I’ll check that address and get back to you later today.”

Tamsyn said goodbye and severed the connection, feeling a little as if she’d cut off a lifeline. She was grateful for the distraction when the sound of tires on the graveled driveway drew her attention out the window. She watched as a now-familiar SUV pulled in next to her rental. An all new tightness replaced the pain that had been in her chest only moments ago as Finn stepped down from the vehicle and started toward the house.

Ignoring her body’s sudden and unsettling awareness of him, she examined the question that now hovered foremost in her mind. Did some of the answers she sought lie with Finn Gallager?

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