But Liam couldn’t lose even one tree to insects, not when it was something he could prevent. Yes, his father planted new trees every year, but they didn’t produce very well the first year, and the goal was to expand, not let trees die when there was a perfectly acceptable course of action to get them healthy again.
His shiny shoes boasted too much dust by the time the inspection finished, and he thought of Serenity and Kimmie at the beach. The mountain of unread emails in his inbox also taunted him, and he made a quick decision.
He could read emails at the beach.
Twenty minutes later, he’d changed into his swim trunks and a T-shirt and driven to the lake. Kimmie’s favorite spot was just past cabin eleven, the cabin farthest to the north on the east side of Forbidden Lake. His family owned all the property here, even the beaches, and it seemed like this afternoon was a popular day to bring kids to play after school.
He still managed to find Kimmie building a sand castle along the shoreline, with Serenity lounging on a towel in the sand several feet away. He paused in his approach to watch them. Kimmie called to Serenity, and she said something back, that smile filling her whole person.
I’d say yes.
Liam wasn’t quite sure what he was doing, but he knew he wanted to do it. He didn’t really have much at stake.
Yeah, he thought as he started walking again. Only your reputation. Your family’s reputation. Your standing in the community.
Because if word got out that he’d been dating his au pair? He didn’t think his employees would look at him with the same level of respect.
“Hey,” he said as he arrived next to Serenity. “Thought I’d play hooky this afternoon and join you guys.” He didn’t look at her as he spread his towel on the sand beside her and sat down. “You know you have to give her warnings when it’s time to go. She loves the beach.”
“She told me,” Serenity said, her eyes obscured by her sunglasses. “About the beach. Not the warnings.”
Liam busied himself with applying sunscreen to his nose and the tips of his ears, thinking he probably wouldn’t burn but it was better to be safe. Heather would’ve made him and Kimmie wear sunscreen, as she was fairer and sometimes burned in the shade.
“My wife, uh, late wife, loved the beach.” Liam laid back and closed his eyes as the sun burned into his retinas. “But she’d cover herself from elbow to knee.” He chuckled, the memories sweet instead of soul-sucking as they’d been in the past. “She sometimes burned if she was out for even ten minutes. I still have some of her beach hats in my closet.”
Serenity did the exact right thing. She reached over and touched his arm, her fingers sliding down to his and holding on.
Liam pulled in a slow, slow breath, his fingers curled around hers. She squeezed his hand and let go, and called, “Kimmie, five minutes.”
He smiled toward the heavens, this moment in time like so many he’d had before. He didn’t let his thoughts run too far ahead of themselves. He just enjoyed the warm sunshine, and the woman breathing next to him, and the laughter from his little girl.
The next day, Serenity moved into the basement apartment. Liam deliberately didn’t help her, though he probably would’ve at least offered to bring in some boxes if he didn’t find her the most charming, beautiful woman on the planet.
A few days passed, and school got out. He picked Kimmie up that day and took her for ice cream, so Serenity could have the morning off to visit her mother. She was supposed to be back by noon, and her car was parked in the driveway when Liam pulled up just after eleven.
“Serenity’s here,” he said. “You run in and give me the thumbs up, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.” Kimmie got out of the car and went up to the door. He waited, as she always went to find her nanny first before giving him the signal that he could go.
When she reappeared, she looked panicked and tears streamed down her face. Liam couldn’t get out of the SUV fast enough, and he jogged toward her. “Kimmie, what’s wrong?”
“Serenity is bleeding,” she said, her voice pitched so high that Liam could barely understand her.
“What?” He scooped his daughter into his arms and hurried into the house. “Serenity?”
“She’s in the living room,” Kimmie said, sniffling.
Liam set her down and rounded the couch to find Serenity lying there. She’d been crying too, at some point, but her tears were gone now. His heart raced as he took in her puffy eyes, the dried blood along her upper lip, and the way her hands shook. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” she said, but there was heavy deception in her voice.
“Did you get mugged?”
“Yes,” she said, but he could tell she’d simply seized onto the excuse as he’d said it. He glanced at Kimmie, who hovered near the end of the couch.
“Sweetheart,” he said, moving over to her and crouching down in front of her. “Can you go get a washcloth for Serenity, please?” He put his hands on her shoulders. “Get the stepstool and get a new one out of the laundry closet. Run the water until it gets warm and squeeze as much out as you can.” He touched his forehead to hers. “Can you do that?”
She sniffed and nodded.
“All right. Go on then.”
Liam waited for her to scamper down the hall, and then he turned back to Serenity. “That might take her five minutes,” he said, sitting next to her on the couch. “So start talking.” He glared at her. “And the truth, Serenity. I know you weren’t mugged.”
She met his glare with one of her own and held it for a few seconds. She deflated with a sigh. “Fine, I wasn’t mugged. My mother…she got scammed, and I managed to get a phone number of one of the guys. I went to meet him this morning, and let’s just say it didn’t go well.”
Liam gaped at her. “Alone? You went alone?”
Her expression said it all. “I was fine.”
“Have you seen yourself?” he asked, feeling protective of her. “What happened?” The sink in the kitchen started to run, and their time was almost up.
“I don’t think he appreciated me showing up where he works,” she said. “And I guess they’re not looking for new recruits.”
“Where did you go?” he asked.
“Some dive north of here,” she said.
“How did you know to go there?”
She cut him a glance and pressed her lips together. The sink turned off, and Liam felt his opportunity slipping away. “Fine, don’t say. But promise me you won’t go again, especially not alone.”
Her hesitation did little to soothe him. “Serenity?”
“All right.”
“Why don’t you just call the police?”
“I have no proof.”
“It’s not your job to get the proof,” Liam said, standing when Kimmie came into the living room. “So let’s get you cleaned up.” He took the washcloth from his daughter and knelt down in front of Serenity.
Something tender passed between them, and Liam really wanted to perpetuate a relationship with her. But for now, he’d settle for getting her cleaned up, learning more about her, and making sure she didn’t go chasing bad guys by herself again.
Chapter Six
Serenity’s cells vibrated as Liam’s strong, capable hands touched her face in the most careful way. The heat from the cloth stung her hurt lip, and she sucked in a breath. He pulled back, his eyes seeking hers.
“It’s fine,” she said. She had been incredibly stupid trying to go after the scammers on her own. But Greg had called her that morning. She’d thought he’d reconsidered his position on needing more names to scam.
But he’d simply pocket-dialed her. As soon as she realized that, she remained silent and listened to him talk to someone else in the room. And she’d heard him give an address in a tiny community just north of Forbidden Lake.
She had the morning off, so she’d gone.
“There you go,” Liam said, sitting back on his haunches. “Take this into the kitchen, bug,” he said to
Kimmie, and she obeyed him.
She extended her hand to him, and he allowed her to pull him up. Her hand lingered on his, but she pulled away in the end. Just like she had at the beach yesterday. She felt like a yo-yo, up one moment and down the next.
Her attraction to Liam felt magnetic, but she knew the rules. She’d never broken them. Never even been tempted to break them.
He leaned forward, his voice husky and quiet when he said, “I’m willing to keep this a secret.”
“Which part?” she asked.
“All of it.” He straightened as Kimmie returned to the room, her tiny dog clutched in her arms. “You two will be okay here today?” He glanced from his daughter to Serenity.
“Yep,” Serenity said, pushing herself to standing. Her knee hurt, but Liam hadn’t seen that she’d skinned it, and she wasn’t going to tell him. “Right, Kimmers?”
The little girl burst into giggles. “Kimmers.”
Liam smiled, dropped a kiss on her forehead, and met Serenity’s eye as he headed for the door. “Just think about it.”
And then he was gone.
She didn’t need to think about it. The idea of a secret relationship with him had a measure of excitement slipping through her that she hadn’t felt in ages.
“So,” she said. “I didn’t have time to visit my mom this morning. How do you feel about a field trip to town?”
“All right,” Kimmie said. “Can we get some of that baked potato soup at the Garden Bar?”
Serenity chuckled and smoothed back Kimmie’s hair. It felt wispy beneath her fingers, and she wondered if the girl would let her braid it. “It’s summer, sweetie. You want soup?”
“They have the best soup ever,” Kimmie said. “And they’ll put in as much cheese as you want.”
“Oh, well, we have to go, then.”
“Really?”
“I’ve never heard of the Garden Bar,” Serenity said. “It’ll be an adventure.” She grabbed her purse and started for the door before she noticed that Kimmie didn’t come with her. Serenity turned back to her. “You okay?”
“Why didn’t you call my dad for help?” she asked.
Serenity realized she’d scared the little girl. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’d only been here for a few minutes, and I was….” Catching my breath. “I was going to.” She slipped her hand into Kimmie’s, and they left the house.
The girl wasn’t a huge talker, which was a big change from the two girls she’d had in France. “There’s this shop in Paris that sells the best pastries,” she said, glancing at Kimmie. “Do you know what pastries are?”
“Like treats,” she said.
“Right. Like treats,” Serenity said, continuing the story about how she’d go there every Wednesday morning when she didn’t have to work. “I think I tried everything in the shop over the months. Everything was delicious.”
“What was your favorite?”
“My absolute favorite?” She pretended to think. “I love macarons. And eclairs. But my favorite thing ever were the croissants.” She could almost taste the buttery layers, the flakiness in the dough.
“My grandma makes chicken salad on croissants,” Kimmie said, always so practical. Serenity grinned at her as she pulled into her mother’s driveway. She looked at the house, which needed a fresh coat of paint. The yard needed to be trimmed, and Serenity knew there were dozens of other problems with the property.
“All right, here we are.” She sighed and grabbed her phone. “We’ll just stay for a few minutes. Then we’ll go get that soup. All right?”
Kimmie nodded, her eyes a bit rounder than before.
“My mom’s name is Selma,” she said. “She’s sometimes asleep, so maybe we won’t have to stay at all.” She got out of the car and waited for Kimmie near the hood. They went up the sidewalk together, and she’d just knocked when the roaring of a motor drew her attention from the front door.
A huge, black truck roared past the house, the tires twice as big as on a normal truck. She’d seen Greg for a good twenty seconds in the mechanic shop where she’d shown up, and she felt certain it was him. Fear flowed through her like river rapids, and she opened the door and practically shoved Kimmie inside. “Go,” she said, still looking over her shoulder. “Go.”
Once behind the closed and locked door, Serenity’s heartbeat calmed—at least until she saw her mother.
“Mom?” she asked, the panic hitting her for the second time in the space of ten seconds. She crossed over to her mother’s favorite recliner, where she sat, her eyes closed and her head bent at an unnatural angle. “Mom?” She reached out carefully, very aware that she’d brought Kimmie here, and touched her mom’s shoulder.
Her eyes fluttered open, and relief hit Kimmie hard between the ribs. “Mom.”
“Hello, Audrey,” she said, her eyes closing again almost instantly. So it was not a good day for a visit. The house held a sour odor too, something Serenity would address another time. She returned to Kimmie, shielding her from the appeared-to-be-dead form of her mother. But she didn’t want to go back outside quite yet either.
“What a mess,” she whispered, inching Kimmie backward until she could see through the peephole. She didn’t detect anything out of the ordinary, but her view was severely limited. And if Greg had followed her…then he knew where she lived. He knew where Kimmie lived.
Serenity regretted her decision to go to the mechanic shop that morning, and not only because she still had a faint pulse in her upper lip. She got down to Kimmie’s level the way Liam had. She’d been hoping to use some of her first aid training and get herself cleaned up before anyone saw her crying and bloody. But Kimmie and Liam had come home so soon, something she was realizing he did a lot.
“Sweetie,” she said, putting a quick smile on her face. “Let’s race to the car, okay?”
Kimmie didn’t seem much like a racer, but she nodded. Serenity drew in a deep breath, cast one more look over her shoulder at her sleeping mother, and opened the door. She dashed alongside Kimmie, scanning the street in both directions. She’d never considered Forbidden Lake as a hotbed for criminals, as nothing ever seemed to happen in the sleepy lakeside town.
And nothing happened now. Kimmie got in and buckled her seat belt while Serenity did the same. “Finished,” Kimmie cried out triumphantly, throwing both hands into the air. She wore a huge smile, and Serenity grinned back at her.
“You totally won,” she said, still clicking her belt into place. “I’m guessing you want a lot of cheese on your soup.”
That evening, Serenity had just pulled a store-bought tray of chicken enchiladas out of the oven when Liam got home. “Something smells good,” he called, the sound of his keys hitting his desk echoing down to the kitchen, where Serenity worked while Kimmie colored in a Japanese coloring book.
“Hey,” Serenity said when he appeared in the kitchen, loosening his tie in the sexiest of ways. She did a double-take when she saw the seriousness on his face.
“Can I talk to you for sec?” he asked, glancing at Kimmie.
“Sure.” Serenity looked at the girl too, and then tossed down the oven mitts. She followed Liam back to his office, and she wondered if that would be where they shared their first kiss. She seemed to spend so much time with him in here.
“Is this about what you said this morning?” she whispered. “I haven’t had time to text you. I—”
“It’s not about that,’ he said, his eyebrows drawing down into a V. “Kimmie texted me, and she said you took her to visit your mother?”
Serenity blinked, this topic as far from what she’d expected as it could get. “Yeah, um, this morning, right after you left.”
Liam’s eyes stormed, and since he hadn’t turned on a light in the office, only the waning sunlight provided any illumination on his face. He seemed dark and dangerous in that moment, and a flicker of fear flamed in Serenity’s chest.
“You realize her mother died of the same disease your mother has,” he said, his voice fre
aky calm in a freaky low tone.
“I—oh.” Serenity had no idea what to say. “I’m so sorry.”
“She got freaked out. She said she called you the wrong name and that she looked dead.”
“She was just sleeping.”
“Kimmie is seven years old,” Liam said, as if she needed reminding. “I gave you time off so you could visit your mother. I didn’t expect you to take my daughter with you.”
“It won’t happen again, sir,” Serenity said, feeling foolish and small, especially compared to this tall, powerful man. Her boss. The owner of the orchards. Basically, the owner of her life, her future, her career.
He deflated, dropping his gaze to the floor. “You don’t need to call me sir.” His hand slid down her arm, scattering goosebumps across her skin. “Remember?” Their fingers aligned, and he leaned closer to her.
“I remember,” she whispered, letting her eyes drift close, letting her fantasies about what it would be like to kiss him have their moment inside her mind. He felt so much older than her, though he really wasn’t. He was definitely forbidden though, and that made him all the more enticing.
“Have you thought about what I said this morning?” he asked, his breath cascading over her ear and down her neck.
She fought against a shiver, choosing to turn the action into a nod instead. “I have.”
“And?”
She looked up at him, that gorgeous face only a few inches from hers. She’d been over every angle of their forbidden relationship, and she had a lot at stake. Her job, her whole career. Just because her time at Heartland was almost over didn’t mean she couldn’t keep working in the childcare industry. There were plenty of other organizations that would love to have someone with her expertise.
But not if she got fired for improper relations with a client.
And yet…something from his soul called to hers, and she wasn’t sure what it was. She didn’t know him very well at the moment. But she wanted time to learn everything, know everything, feel everything with him.
So she looked at his mouth and then back into his eyes, so hopeful and expectant. “I’m pretty good at keeping secrets.”
The Owner's Secret Client Page 4
