He was going to tell her tonight after dinner. No more excuses. He had put things off far too long and the time had come to confess everything. Maybe she would be so happy at the guilty verdict that she would be in a forgiving sort of mood.
Or maybe she would evict him and throw all his belongings out of her house.
He hoped not. He hoped she would find it in her to understand his motives. But either way, he owed her the truth.
Conan barked behind the door and a moment later, it swung open, revealing a vision in pale green.
From the first time he saw her, Max had considered Anna Galvez beautiful, with those huge brown eyes and her glossy dark hair and classically lovely features.
But right now she was truly breathtaking.
She had piled her hair up in a loose, feminine style, with curls dripping everywhere. She wore a sexy dream of a dress with a low back that showed off fine-boned shoulders and all that luscious skin of hers. She also wore more jewelry than he’d seen on her—a diamond choker and matching bracelet and slim, dangly earrings that glittered in the foyer light.
She looked lush and sensual and he wanted to stand in the foyer of Brambleberry House all night just looking at her.
“Wow,” he murmured. “You look incredible. I know that sounds completely lame but I can’t think of another word for it.”
“Incredible is good.” She smiled. “Come in. I’m just about ready.”
He wanted to devour her but he was afraid of messing up perfection so he stood inside the doorway while she picked up a filmy scarf from a side table and wrapped it around her shoulders, then grabbed one of those tiny little evening bags women managed to cram huge amounts of paraphernalia into.
Conan padded over to her wearing one of his pathetic take-me-with-you looks. The dog brushed against her and Max held his breath. Meredith—hell, most women he knew—would have gone ballistic to have dog hairs on one of her fancy party dresses but Anna simply laughed and scratched the dog’s chin.
“I’m sorry, bud, but you know you can’t go with us to the Sea Urchin. You wouldn’t want to. You’d be bored senseless, I promise. But we’ll be back later and we’ll play then.”
The dog heaved a massive sigh and headed for his favorite rug, but in that instant, that tiny interaction, Max felt as if the entire house had just collapsed on top of him.
Emotions washed through him, thick and raw and terrifying, and for an instant of panic, he wanted to turn on his heels and walk out of Brambleberry House and just keep on going.
He was in love with Anna Galvez. Not because she was achingly beautiful or because she made his heart race and the blood pool in his gut.
But because she was strong and courageous and smart and she made him believe in himself again.
He was in love with her. How the hell had that happened?
One minute, his life had been going along just fine. Okay, maybe not perfect. His shoulder problems were proving to be a major pain and he had no idea if he would still be in the army in a few weeks. But he had been dealing with the setbacks in his own way.
And then this woman, with her stubborn independence and her brilliant smile and her ambitious dreams, had knocked him on his butt. She talked to her dog and she knew her way around a wood chipper and she filled his soul with a peace he never realized had been missing.
“Max? Is everything okay?”
How long had he been staring at her? Too long, obviously. He drew in a ragged breath and realized she was watching him with concern while Conan seemed to be grinning at him.
“Yeah. Yeah. Fine. You just dazzle me.”
He could tell she thought he was talking about her appearance and he decided not to correct the misconception.
“Thank you.” She smiled. “The jewelry is Abigail’s. She never went anywhere, even to the grocery store, without glittery stuff dripping from every available surface. She used to tell me, ‘My dear girl, a woman my age has to use every available means at her disposal to distract the eye from all these wrinkles.’”
He could hear Abigail saying exactly that and he suddenly missed his aunt desperately.
“You don’t need any jewels,” he said. “You’re stunning enough without them. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”
Her mouth parted slightly as her eyes softened. “Oh, Max,” she whispered. “I do believe that’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“It’s the truth,” he said gruffly.
She smiled with stunning sweetness and stepped forward to press her mouth against his.
His heart seemed to flop around in his chest like a rockfish on the line and he could barely breathe around the tenderness inside him. He kissed her, almost desperate with the need to touch her, taste her, burn every moment of this in his mind.
The magic he always found with her began to coil and twine around them and he closed his eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him as if she couldn’t bear to let go.
He was wondering just how long it might take for her to fix herself up again if he messed up all this perfection when Conan suddenly barked urgently and raced to the door.
A moment later, he heard the front door to the house open and children’s laughter echo through the house.
Anna pulled away from him with a startled gasp, then her face lit up with joy. If she was breathtaking before, right now with her eyes bright and a wide smile lighting her features, she was simply staggering.
“They’re back!” she exclaimed.
He couldn’t seem to make his brain work. “Who?”
“Julia and the twins! Oh, this just makes this entire day perfect. Come on, you’ve got to meet them.”
She looked a little windblown from the passion of their kiss but she linked her hand with his and opened the door. Conan rushed out first, just about tripping over his feet in his rush to greet two dark-haired children who were starting up the stairs, their arms loaded with backpacks.
“Conan!” both children shouted, dropping their bundles and hurrying back down the stairs.
The dog barked and jumped around them, licking first one and then the other while the boy and girl giggled and hugged him.
“Hey, I need a little of that love.”
“Anna Banana!”
The little boy jumped up from hugging the dog and launched himself at Anna. She gave him a tight hug then turned to gather the less rambunctious girl to her as well.
“How are you, my darlings? I know you’ve only been gone a week, but I swear you’ve grown a foot in that time! What have you been eating, Maddie? Ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner?”
The girl giggled and shook her head. “Nope. Only for breakfast and lunch. We had pizza and cheeseburgers the rest of the time.”
“You’ve been living large in Montana, haven’t you?”
“We had tons of fun, Anna! You should have come with us! We went on a horseback ride and we went sledding and skiing and then we went to Boise and visited Grandma and Grandpa for three whole days,” the boy exclaimed.
The girl—Maddie—dimpled at her. “You look super-pretty, Anna. Are you going to a ball?”
Anna smiled and hugged her again. “No, sweetheart. Just to dinner at Chloe’s dad’s hotel.”
“Ooh, will you bring me a fortune cookie?” the boy asked. “I love their fortune cookies.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Anna promised, just as a slim blond woman tromped through the door carrying a suitcase in each arm. She dropped them as soon as she walked into the foyer and saw Anna greeting the children, and Max watched while the two women embraced.
“I just heard. Sage just called me. Oh, Anna, I’m so happy about the guilty verdict. Will is, too.”
“Yeah,” Maddie said with a grin. “You should have heard him yelling in the car. My ears still hurt!”
Anna laughed and looked behind them. “Where is Will?”
“He’s getting the rest of our luggage off the roof rack. He should be here in a m
oment.”
The woman glanced over Anna’s shoulder at Max and though she gave him a friendly smile, he thought he saw a kind of protective wariness there. It made him wonder what Anna might have told her friends about him.
“Hi,” she said. “You must be Harry Maxwell.”
The false name scraped against his conscience like metal on metal. He didn’t know what to say, loathe to perpetuate the lie any more than he already had.
Anna saved him from having to come up with a response. “I’m sorry,” she exclaimed with a distracted laugh. “I was so happy to see you all again, I forgot my manners. Max, this is Julia Blair and her children Maddie and Simon. Julia, this is Lieutenant Harry Maxwell.”
He nodded hello, then reached forward to shake Julia’s outstretched hand.
“We’re interrupting something, aren’t we?” she said. “You both look wonderful and you’re obviously on your way out.”
“We’re heading to the Sea Urchin to celebrate the verdict,” Anna said.
“We can do it another time,” Max offered. “I’m sure you two probably want to catch up.”
“No, go on. Keep your plans,” Julia said. “We can catch up later tonight over tea when the kids are in bed.”
Max said nothing, though he thought with fleeting regret of the last two nights when he had slept with her in his arms.
“I was going to shut Conan in my apartment while we’re at dinner but you’re certainly welcome to take him upstairs with you. I’m sure he’ll be so much help while you’re trying to unpack.”
“Thanks,” the other woman said dryly.
“Let me help you with your luggage,” Max said.
Julia gave a surprised glance at his omnipresent sling. “You don’t have to do that.”
“You’d better let him,” Anna said with a laugh. “The man doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“Doesn’t he?” Julia murmured.
Max felt his face heat and decided he would be wise to beat a hasty retreat. He picked up one of the suitcases and carried it up and set it on the landing outside the second-floor apartment. He was just heading back down for the second suitcase, when he heard a male voice from the foyer below.
“We were only gone eight days. Why, again, did we need all these suitcases?”
Max froze on the stairway, his heart stuttering. He knew the owner of that voice.
And worse, the man knew him.
“Wow, Anna. You look fabulous!”
Anna beamed at Will Garrett, who lived three houses down. Will was not only a gifted carpenter who had done most of the renovation work on Brambleberry House but, more importantly, he was a dear friend.
“I would say the same for you if I could see you behind all the suitcases,” she said with a laugh.
“Here. How’s that?” He set down the luggage and pulled her into a close hug. She hugged him back, her heart lifting at the smile he gave her. Every time she saw Will, she marveled at the changes in him these last six months since he and Julia had fallen in love again.
Before Julia and her twins came to Brambleberry House, Will had been a far different man. He had been lost in grief for his wife and daughter who had been killed in a car accident three years ago.
Anna had grieved with him for Robin and Cara. She and Sage—and Abigail, before her death—had worried for him as he pulled away from their close circle of friends, drawing inside himself in the midst of his terrible pain.
They had all rejoiced when Julia moved in upstairs and they learned she had been his first love, when they were just teenagers.
The two of them had rediscovered that love and together, Julia and her twins had helped Will begin to heal.
“I heard the good news about that idiot Fletcher,” Will said, too low for the children to overhear. “I couldn’t be happier that he’s finally getting what’s coming to him. Maybe now you can put the whole thing behind you and move forward.”
She thought of the progress she had made, how she had brooded far too long about everything. Her perspective had changed these last few days, she realized, thanks in large part to Max.
She was ready to move forward, to refocus her efforts on saving both stores. Through hard work, she had built something good and worthwhile. She couldn’t just give up all that because of a setback like Gray Fletcher.
She looked up and saw Max standing motionless on the stairs. She smiled up at him, awash in gratitude for these last few days and the confidence he had helped her find again.
“I need to introduce you to our new tenant. Will, this is—”
He followed her gaze and suddenly his eyes lit up. “Max! What are you doing here?”
Max walked slowly down the stairs and Anna frowned when Will gave him that shoulder tap thing men did that seemed the equivalent to the hug of greeting she and Julia had shared.
“Why didn’t anybody tell me you were living upstairs? This is wonderful news. Abigail would have been thrilled that you’ve finally come home.”
Anna stared between the two men. Will looked delighted, while Max’s expression had reverted to that stony, stoic look he had worn so often when he first arrived at the house.
Her pulse seemed unnaturally loud in her ears as she tried to make sense of this new turn of events. “I don’t understand,” she finally said. “You two know each other?”
“Know each other? Of course!” Will exclaimed. “We hung out all the time, whenever he would visit his aunt. A couple weeks every summer.”
“His…aunt?”
Will gave her an odd look. “Abigail! This is her nephew. The long-lost soldier, Max Harrison.”
Anna drew in a sharp breath, her solar plexus contracting as if someone had socked her in the gut. She stared at Max, who swallowed hard but didn’t say anything.
“That’s impossible,” she exclaimed. “Abigail’s nephew’s name was Jamie. Not Harry or Max. Her Jamie. That’s what she always called him.”
“My full name is Maxwell James Harrison. Abigail was the only one who called me Jamie.”
She was going to hyperventilate for the first time in her life. She could feel the breath being slowly squeezed from her lungs. “Max Harrison—Harry Maxwell. I’m such an idiot. Why didn’t I figure it out?”
“I can explain if you’ll let me.”
Lies. Everything they shared was lies. She had kissed him, held him, slept with him, for heaven’s sake. And it had all been a lie.
She pressed a hand to her stomach, to the nausea curling there. First Grayson and now Max. Did she wear some invisible sign on her forehead that said Gullible Fool Here?
All her joy in the day, the triumph of the guilty verdict, the fledgling hope that she could now regain her life seemed to crumble away like leaves underfoot.
Julia, with her usual perception, must have sensed some of what was racing through Anna’s head. She quickly stepped in to take control of the situation.
“Will, kids, let’s get these suitcases out of the entryway and upstairs to the apartment. Come on.”
The children grumbled but they grabbed their backpacks and trudged up the stairs, Conan racing ahead of them in his excitement at having them all back.
In moments, the chaos and bustle of their homecoming was reduced to a tense and ugly silence as she gazed at the man she thought she had fallen in love with.
Most people call me Max. She remembered his words, which very well might have been the only honest thing he had said to her since he moved in.
She moved numbly back into her apartment, only vaguely aware that he had followed her inside.
A hundred thoughts raced through her head but she could only focus on one.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes,” he answered. Just that, nothing else.
“What am I missing here?” she asked. “Why would you possibly feel like you had to lie about your relationship with Abigail and use a false name?”
He rubbed a hand at the base of his neck. “It was a stupid idea. Monumentally s
tupid. All I can say is that it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“That tells me nothing! Who wakes up in the morning and says, ‘gosh, I think I’ll create a false identity today, just for kicks’?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Then explain it to me!”
Her hands were shaking, she realized. This felt worse than the slick, greasy feeling in her stomach when her accountant had discovered the first hint of wrongdoing at the store. She was very much afraid she was going to be sick and she did her best to fight down the nausea.
“I was stationed in Fallujah when Abigail died. I didn’t even know she died until several months later.”
“Wrong!” she exclaimed. “Sage notified Abigail’s family. I know she did! Not that it did any good. Not a single family member bothered to come to her funeral.”
“Sage notified my mother. Not the same thing at all. I told you my relationship with my mother is difficult at best and she never liked Abigail. The only reason she let me come here all those summers was because she thought Abigail was loaded and would eventually leave everything to me. Meredith didn’t think to mention to me that Abigail had even died until two months after the fact, and then only in passing.”
“How can I believe anything you tell me?”
He closed his eyes. “It’s true. I loved Abigail. I doubt I could have swung leave to attend a great-aunt’s funeral but I would have moved heaven and earth to try.”
“So how do we get from here to there?”
He sighed. “My mother is between husbands, which means that, as usual, she’s short on cash. She suddenly remembered Abigail had this house that was supposed to be worth a fortune and she seemed to think it should have come to me, as Abigail’s only living relative. And of course, to her by default if something happened to me in the Middle East. Imagine her dismay when she found out Abigail had left Brambleberry House to someone else. Two strangers.”
The nausea roiled in her stomach, mostly that he could speak of his own mother regarding his possible demise with such callousness. “This was about money?”
“I don’t give a damn about the money!” he said, with unmistakable vehemence. “My mother might but I don’t. This was about making sure Abigail knew what she was doing when she left the house and its contents to two complete strangers.”
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