by Jill Snow
“So, not quitting your job anytime soon to become the wife of a mountain man?”
“Tonya…”
Her friend laughed. The line crackled again, warping the sound and her next words. Lily struggled to decipher them.
“I’m only teasing. I’ll get the information you requested.” Static filled the line again. “…email?”
“Yeah. Email is great.” Lily wasn’t entirely sure what her friend had said but the connection only appeared to be worsening. “Thank you,” she said quickly, hoping Tonya heard. “I appreciate it.”
Crackling. “…an hour.” With a flippant laugh, Tonya ended the conversation with, “Go have fun with your mountain man.”
With a sigh and a shake of her head, Lily stared at her phone as the signal jumped from nothing to one bar and back again, like a flickering candle flame. She powered off the phone and stuffed it into her pocket.
She had an hour to kill. Luckily, she also had a reality newspaper article to write, so she stood and clucked her tongue, calling for Wookie to follow as she went inside. She had work to do.
Chapter 18
When Lily powered up her phone again, an hour precisely had passed. She’d completed her article while combing her fingers through Wookie’s fur in comfort. She didn’t want to impose on Ruby to use the internet until she was certain there was an email awaiting her.
Unfortunately, when she stared at her phone, she was greeted with a red X next to the empty bars and a warning of No Service Found. She glanced out the window at the flapping tree branches. The wind had picked up since she had gone inside. Could that have impacted the cell phone signal? She checked her mobile data connection just in case. Nada. Not even an Edge network.
With a sigh, she stuffed her phone away. She would have to ask Ruby for use of the internet, after all. It’s to help Ruby, Lily reminded herself, though she suspected the campground owner would protest if she knew. She hadn’t even wanted to consider the possibility of sabotage. What had she said when Ethan had informed her about the figure in the woods last night? He hadn’t returned since breakfast, so Lily had no idea what was being done. If she’d had a working cell phone signal — and his number — she might have called. Would it be too presumptuous of her to ask for his number when this was all over? Maybe she’d come back to Greendale someday.
But he’d confessed that he wouldn’t be around much longer. Maybe this spark between them wasn’t meant to last past this week. She’d have the memories of their time, but she was sad to think that was all she would have when she returned to her old life.
She was starting to feel like such a different person out here. Self-sufficient, a go-getter. Like she really could do anything she put her mind to.
Calling for Wookie, she exited the cabin to put her mind to making this sabotage on Ruby’s campground stop. Fortunately, she found the old woman making cookies in the kitchen and was told to go right into the computer room.
“I’ll have coffee on in a minute,” Ruby informed her.
She knew by now that Lily would never say no to coffee. Instant just wasn’t the same.
Booting up her laptop, she settled it on the edge of the desk, shuffling the keyboard out of the way. Ruby hadn’t yet noticed that Lily used the cable rather than her dinosaur of a computer, but at the moment she was occupied in paying attention to Wookie, who shamelessly begged for attention and a cookie she was destined not to have. The moment Lily entered her information on the login screen of her laptop, she crouched to connect the cable. She was on the internet inside five minutes.
It took another five for her to load her email, but she tried not to be impatient and meandered out into the kitchen for that promised coffee. As she sat back in the cramped storage room, the hot mug cradled between her palms, she found precisely what she hoped.
From: Tonya Fielding
Subject: The info you wanted and a gift from your fairy godmother ;) (Go get ’em!)
With a smile, Lily shook her head and opened the email. She sipped her coffee as it loaded, immediately clicking on the attachment to save time. She skimmed through the table of contents Tonya had made for her, noting a few of the permits and inspections that she would want to take a closer look at later. Clicking the button to download the full document rather than preview it, she exited to the email itself.
The moment the email formed on her screen, Lily forgot the coffee. When the tilted mug slashed hot liquid onto her hand, she hissed and shoved the cup aside. This couldn’t be right. Tonya must be playing a practical joke on her.
Attached to the email was a PDF of the bylaws in Greendale, Montana. But it seemed Tonya had done a little digging of her own. She linked an article about Overnight Billionaire: Veteran Sells Backpack Design for Billions.
“This is ridiculous,” Lily mumbled under her breath as she clicked on the link. The browser crawled as it loaded the page. Her suspicions jumped into overdrive even as she tried to tell herself that this was just a practical joke. She’d find the page and it would say it was a late April Fool’s prank.
Instead, it loaded an article written last year about an ex-Ranger, honorably discharged from service, who had turned an idea into billions of dollars. The billionaire’s name was Ethan Thomas. A slow-loading picture on the page line-by-line revealed more of the hairline, dark eyes, chiseled nose, kissable mouth, and rugged jaw that she had come to know so well.
Ethan wasn’t a handyman. He was … a billionaire?
It didn’t make any sense. He was fixing Ruby’s campground, after all. If he had money, why would he do that?
He’d also recommended that she hire somebody to fill his place.
She flipped back to the email her friend had sent, reading the bullet-point Tonya had compiled, right down to the fact that Whereabouts Unknown for Recluse Billionaire Ethan Thomas.
He’d lied to her. This entire time, she’d thought he was a handyman and even after she’d told him the real reason she was here, he’d looked her in the eye and lied to her. Here she was, falling for the man—
No. Not falling for him. She couldn’t be. Certainly not in the light of … all this.
Ethan Thomas was … was nothing to her. What was she to him, a convenient campground fling? Not that they’d done more than kiss, but those kisses… She’d thought that he liked her.
But no, she wasn’t good enough for him to confess the truth. Why would she be? A girl who couldn’t even find her way around in the woods? What would Ethan want with someone like that. She was just a no-strings-attached something. A convenient, pretty distraction. That was the real reason he hadn’t wanted her help. The real reason he hadn’t confessed any of this.
It would have been so simple to say, “I’m actually a vacationer here, just like you.” Instead, he’d let her think that he was Ruby’s employee. How could she have been so stupid? How could she call herself a reporter when she hadn’t had the least suspicion that Ethan was more than what he seemed. And she’d risked losing the contest by confiding in him her real reason for being here.
She felt like such a fool.
You don’t need him, you can break the case of the saboteur on your own and you sure as heck can survive in the woods on your own now too. She stared at the screen, at the words Billionaire Ethan Thomas until she believed it. Her chest burned with anger, betrayal, and a slew of other emotions that she didn’t want to contemplate. If she had to look at him again…
No, she just wanted to get away.
Thrusting herself back from the desk, she wiped her eyes and stormed away, leaving her computer behind. Ruby met her in the kitchen with a worried look.
“Did you get some bad news, dear? Why don’t you sit down and talk about it?”
The very last thing Lily wanted to do was to burden Ruby. She felt foolish and silly mooning over a guy that obviously didn’t even care enough about her to tell who he really was... She firmed her chin and held back the torrent of emotion threatening to capsize her. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’d like to go for a hi
ke. You have maps of the trails in the front room of the lodge, don’t you?”
When Ruby nodded, Lily had her answer. She snapped her fingers to call her dog to her as she left the lodge to retrieve the map and solidify her plans. All she needed was a tent and she could spend the rest of her time in the forest, only coming back to the lodge to send her boss the articles he wanted. Ironically, she’d bought herself one of the all-in-one backpack-turned-tents that Ethan Thomas had apparently designed.
It was the only part of him she wanted to see again.
Like Ethan had suspected, Sheriff Lincoln couldn’t do anything about a trespasser on such a large area of land unless Ethan managed to document proof or catch the criminal in the act. Ethan got the sense he wanted to, but he was simply understaffed. Without surveillance cameras, and across so much ground, Ethan didn’t have a prayer of providing proof. However, he vowed to remain vigilant and keep the fiend away from Lily and her cabin, even if he had to camp out in her backyard.
In the meantime, it couldn’t hurt to tell Ruby about the incident, so she could take extra precautions as well. He parked his truck in front of the main lodge on his way back from town, and hopped down to find her. She wasn’t in the front room, but he didn’t bother ringing the bell. Instead, knowing this campground as well as he knew the cabin he slept in, Ethan sought out the owner in her personal quarters. As he neared, he smelled the sweet aroma of baking cookies. She must be nearby.
As he stepped into the kitchen, she looked worried. The cookies were cooling on a rack, but she vigorously scrubbed at an invisible spec of dirt on the countertop, her eyebrows pinched together.
“Ruby?”
She glanced up, her expression smoothing. Her smile didn’t quite seem as friendly as usual, however. “Ethan, how are you?”
“Not bad. I’ve just come from speaking with Jake in town.”
At the sheriff’s name, Ruby frowned. “Oh?”
“We had an incident last night that I thought he should know about. Someone was lurking in the woods near Lily’s cabin. Her dog scared him off, but I thought he should be aware in case there’s something he can do. You should be extra cautious, as well. Make sure you lock your doors at night, just in case.”
“Out here?” She laughed, but it was a bit hollow. “There’s nothing to worry about. Did you see this fellow’s face?”
“No. Just his silhouette. He ran when I came out with my shotgun.”
“Then we have nothing to worry about. Keep a shotgun handy and whoever it is will run right off when you warn them.”
Ethan wasn’t so sure about that. “I’m afraid it might be the person doing harm to your campground.”
With her chin set in a stubborn line, it was clear to Ethan that Ruby didn’t want to consider such a possibility. “It’s a coincidence that all this has happened lately. I’m sure it was bound to happen at some point.”
“Just be careful,” he said slowly.
Her worried expression returned for a moment, before she offered him a cup of coffee. “I put on the pot not ten minutes ago.”
He accepted, cautious. “Did something happen? Did you get a visit from the Town Council again?”
“Oh, no, nothing like that.” She quickly fixed him a mug of coffee as she spoke. “Would you care for a cookie? They’re fresh from the oven.”
“Thank you.” He snagged one off the wire rack, juggling it between his fingers as the soft cookie threatened to fall apart in his hands. As he lifted it to bite into the treat, his gaze strayed toward the open door to what appeared to be a computer room. An old monitor and keyboard were shoved to one side of a simple desk to make room for a laptop on the edge. “Was Lily here?”
“She was. Left her computer…but I’m sure she’ll be back soon. There’s a storm brewing.”
He plucked another warm cookie off the rack and walked toward the computer room. His cabin was next to hers, so he’d see her before Ruby did. Thinking to save her the trip, he entered to collect the computer.
He stopped short in the doorway as he glimpsed the open screen.
Whereabouts Unknown for Recluse Billionaire Ethan Thomas.
We know where he is now, don’t we? ;)
Lily had been researching him? Had she known who he was the entire time? He took a step back, then another. She’d played him. Here, he’d been contemplating investing in a newspaper in Greendale, a newspaper she could run. It would keep her nearby and he would get to keep the peaceful existence he’d found at Pinecrest Lodge.
That must have been her plan this entire time. When had it started? Before she even came here? It was a brilliant plan. Use her innocent can’t-survive-in-the-wilderness act to get close to him and earn his trust while he naively thought she hadn’t the faintest idea who he really was. And then use him.
Just like everybody else.
Chapter 19
Lily had never had time for love. She was always working, always trying to prove that she was good enough to succeed. Now, in the middle of earning herself a promotion, she’d finally found the time to connect with someone else on a deeper level and—
And it was all a big fat lie.
Tears poured hot and thick down her cheeks, cooled by the vicious wind rattling the tree branches. Wookie danced around her feet, whining and turning back, only to return to Lily again. Apparently Wookie wanted Lily to go back to Ethan, a man who had lied to her, used her for his own fickle entertainment.
She couldn’t do that. In fact, she didn’t think she could stand to look him in the eye long enough to tell him that she never wanted to see him again. She just wanted to find a hollow in these trees, set up her tent—the salesman had assured her it was a simple feat, though she hadn’t yet tried it—and stay here until she had to slink back to her real life. Besides, the hiking and tenting part would be an addition that Dave wasn’t going to have in his articles.
At least there was no one but Wookie around to see how heartbroken she was. It was ridiculous. She barely knew Ethan. In fact, she knew him less than she’d thought. So why did it hurt her so much to know that nothing could ever happen between them? She’d been seduced. Not in body, but in heart. And it hurt.
Turning her face up to the sky, she welcomed the sting of the wind. Dark clouds gathered, hailing rain. She would be glad when it fell. At least then, no one would be able to tell the raindrops on her cheeks from the tears.
What an idiot she’d been.
Ethan needed a brisk walk to cool down, but the crisp smell of pine and rain to come did nothing to mitigate the torment biting into his chest. He stormed through the forest, twigs and pine needles crackling underfoot as he sought the peace he so often found here in the mountains. In nature, he finally returned to a state of equilibrium, away from the greedy, grasping people who filled his life. That someone had managed to locate him in his isolation felt like the sting of a Band-Aid ripped from a raw wound. The fact that someone had first made him believe that she saw him, Ethan, not his money, made the betrayal even worse. Where was he supposed to go from here? No corner of the world felt safe.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. He almost threw it away before he realized that it couldn’t possibly be Lily. He hadn’t given his phone number to her. Though, given that she had found him when he hadn’t wanted to be found, perhaps she had used her reporter wiles to hunt for his phone number, too. He ground his teeth. How could he have let himself fall prey so easily?
Maybe because a part of him, out here, was unguarded. He felt safe here. More like himself and less like a cornered animal on display for everyone to gawk at. His nightmares were fewer. And after meeting Lily, they had lessened even more. She was…
He couldn’t know what she was because it had all been an act. As his phone fell silent, he dug it out of his pocket to delete whatever message she’d left in his voicemail. Instead of the unfamiliar number he expected, he saw his sister’s name. Jordan. He almost stuffed the phone into his pocket again, but curiosity overwhelmed him. Right now,
when he felt so lost, he longed to hear his sister’s voice again. Before he’d gotten rich and she’d taken advantage of him, they had been as thick as thieves. He would have done anything for her.
Static crackled through the line as he dialed into his voicemail box. He plugged one ear to drown out the growing wind as he lifted the phone to his other ear.
His sister’s heavy sigh filled the recording, cutting in and out. “…don’t know why I’m still trying. …know that you’re okay. Call. Text. Send a postcard! …miss you.”
Following the beep in his ear signaling the end of the message, Ethan felt numb. He shut his eyes, listing the five senses in an attempt to ground himself. Then he listened to the message again. He didn’t hear a woman desperate to leech off of him. There were easier ways than spending all these months leaving him messages.
Maybe Jordan really cared. Had he made a mistake in assuming the messages were just asking for money? Had he become so jaded that he just assumed the worst of everyone without giving them the benefit of the doubt. Even his own sister.
He listened to another of her messages, then another, then another, until the storm overwhelmed the cell signal and he couldn’t even hear static off the connection. No signal, read the alert. His hand trembling, he put his phone in his pocket and continued to walk.
Jordan cared for him. She always had. In one of her early messages, she apologized for what her now-ex boyfriend had done. He told me he’d gotten that money from an under the table job. I only realized the truth of what had happened after you left. I kicked him out. Ethan, I’m sorry.
When he’d gotten rich, Ethan had bought her a house, paid off her student loans. He’d given his sister a fresh start, and with a good job she should have been able to support herself. Until her ex had started leeching off of her. Ethan realized now that Jordan hadn’t been the one milking him for money—she’d never mentioned it. She had gone with him to the rehabilitation follow-ups after the nightmares got too much for him and he was jumpy at the least little sound. She had encouraged him to develop and sell his design. When he had been out of a job and his PTSD made him too erratic to keep a job, she had housed him and fed him without asking for a dime.
