The next morning, Natalie got ready for the day and headed downstairs to her dad’s office. She tapped on the open door and walked in to where he sat at his little table, Bible in hand. Through the bay window, the sun peeked out behind the trees several acres beyond. Its glow was a dismal gray-yellow behind thickening clouds. It matched the heavy weight of her heart, and Natalie glanced away.
“I’m heading out. Love you, Dad,” she said softly, kissing his cheek.
“Love you, too,” he said. “Remember, don’t go anywhere alone.”
She’d heard the instruction dozens of times over the course of her life. It used to drive her crazy. Now, it just made her sad. In some ways, her father was the strongest person she knew, but he was also the most broken. Natalie didn’t blame him for that. His only son had been abducted while on a field trip to the Baltimore Aquarium. It should have been a fun, benign experience for Liam and his kindergarten buddies. Instead, he’d died that day, and a little bit of Natalie’s parents had died, too. Liam’s death had forever shaped their family, and fear had become a constant shadow.
By the time Natalie was a teenager, she had become tired of it. Tired of self-defense classes and Stranger Danger workshops. Tired of constant security and banned sleepovers. What had happened to her brother would never happen to her, and she’d resented her father for his delusion that he had any control over the bad things that could come her way.
When she’d gone off to college eagerly at seventeen, she had tried to refuse her dad’s offer of security, including a high-end surveillance system in her dorm, and a couple of bodyguards to keep an eye on her.
Dad, she’d pleaded years ago. You’ve done everything you can to prepare me for the world. You have to let go and let me have some independence and privacy.
The tears had flooded his eyes so quickly Natalie hadn’t had any warning. They’d seemed to take her dad by surprise, too, his shoulders heaving under the strain of decades of grief.
At that moment, she knew she would accept a whole fleet of bodyguards if it made her dad feel better.
To compromise, she’d agreed to never walk alone at night and to carry mace wherever she went. When she’d later moved into an apartment, she’d agreed to a security system. But she’d become complacent about security over the years.
Thankfully, her dad had known it. If he hadn’t sent Luke after her to the Riviera, all his fears may have finally come true.
The thought unsettled her. Kyle may have returned, and she may have been in no real danger last night, but whoever had attacked her in Mexico, whoever had been waiting for her in her apartment in Charles Village, was still on the loose. She wouldn’t feel safe again until he was caught, his motives revealed. She slipped on a pair of heeled sandals from the foyer closet and left the house, her heart already flipping at the sight of Luke waiting for her by the SUV.
“All set?” he asked, sunglasses shading his eyes as he opened the door for her.
She nodded, scooting across the seat and greeting Carson, who was driving.
“To Timeless Treasures, right?” Carson asked as Luke climbed in next to Natalie and shut the door.
“Right.” She glanced over at Luke, her heart sinking at the rigid set of his shoulders, the sunglasses that hid his thoughts.
She refused to feel awkward. One incredible moment, one earth-shattering kiss, shouldn’t ruin what felt like a growing friendship.
“You must be exhausted,” she said finally, in an attempt at conversation.
“I’m used to it,” he said simply.
“Did you figure out how the reporter got in?”
“Jordan turned off the motion detector to a far west section of the fence—for exactly forty-four seconds. At forty-five, an alarm would have sounded. Gave the reporter just enough time to get in.”
“Wow. When did he do it?”
“Around 2:30 p.m. The guy pretty much set up a lookout behind one of the trees, obviously a spot Jordan had told him would avoid the cameras. He had a bunch of shots of you on his camera from earlier in the day. Guess he was camping out to get more.”
“How do you keep that from happening again?”
“Simple. Some programming on the authorization system, and requirements for a supervisor override if anyone tries to turn off a sensor.”
“Smart. Do you really think Jordan was looking for evidence like he said he was? Something to link me to Kyle’s disappearance?”
“Hard to say,” Luke admitted. “What else could he have been looking for?”
“I don’t know. Valuables? Money?”
“He’s had other opportunities to look for those things, Natalie. He’s been assigned security here before. And the reward the police were offering was enticing.”
“But Shield pays well. He lost his job for a shot at ten grand.”
“He wasn’t banking on getting caught. The ten grand would have been a quick and easy bonus, especially if he kept his identity anonymous to the public.”
“Will the police do anything about it?”
“I doubt there’s much they can do about it,” Luke said.
“It was breaking and entering, as far as I’m concerned,” Natalie said.
“Police may or may not see it that way. Speaking of police, I had a message from Officer Canto earlier this morning. The guy trying to break into your room at the resort bribed a housekeeper. They caught and fired the housekeeper, but they didn’t find the intruder.”
“Probably because he followed me back here,” she muttered.
“Maybe so. Looks like we’re here.” The SUV slowed in front of Timeless Treasures. The Masons had been in business for three generations and specialized in unique, high-quality craftsmanship. Hannah’s dad, Ron, had always offered reasonable prices and done quality work, and Hannah was carrying on the family legacy. Natalie knew her friend would give an on-the-mark assessment of her ring.
Two small bells clanged gently against the glass door, signaling their entrance. Hannah looked up from a customer she was helping and excused herself. She wore a lilac blouse and black dress pants, her gorgeous red hair falling in pretty waves over her shoulders.
“Natalie!” Hannah cried, pulling her into a tight hug.
Then her gaze moved to Luke.
“This is Luke,” Natalie said. “He works for Shield.”
Hannah smiled and shook his offered hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Her attention switched back to Natalie, her smile falling. “I’ve been so worried... How are you?”
“That’s a complicated question,” she said, glancing around at the already busy shop.
“Maybe I can come by tonight?” Hannah suggested. “We can catch up?”
“That would be perfect.”
She handed the ring to her friend.
Hannah held it delicately, her manicured nails a pretty pink.
“I’ve been secretly wanting to take a closer look at this since you got it.”
“Why?” Luke asked.
Hannah laughed as if he had just told a very good joke.
“To see how close of a replica it is,” she explained with an amused grin. “I’ll take a look at it after lunch. I’ve got a couple of repairs to finish up first. Let me just log it in and give you a receipt.”
Natalie laughed. “I trust you not to abscond with it.”
“I’ll be quick,” Hannah said, and Natalie knew there’d be no arguing. Hannah was by the book, a rule follower to a T. “Hold on, though, I was just in the back looking for a new roll of printer paper.” She set the ring in a midnight blue velvet tray and disappeared into the back.
“Unique place.” Luke moved to a display of restored antique rings and pearl necklaces.
“The family’s owned it for almost eighty years,” Natalie said. “I’ve never visited a jewelry chain that even comes close.”
“I’ve never seen rings like these,” Luke agreed, turning the rotating display.
Natalie stepped closer to him, her arm brushing his. Several shimmering pearl necklaces hung in the display case, their gold clasps polished and shiny. “This necklace looks a lot like the one that was stolen.”
“The family pearls?”
She nodded. “The only difference is the clasp. The one on my great-grandmother’s necklace was really intricate. In fact, I brought it here for repair before the wedding because the clasp had broken.”
“Wow. Your great-grandmother’s? Quite an heirloom.”
“Her husband gave it to her on their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and it’s been passed to every Harper family bride ever since.”
“Will you get a replacement?” he asked. “Start a new tradition?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “It won’t be the same.” Her heart sank at the realization, knowing that someone would wear that necklace and be oblivious to the generations of love it had wrapped around it. “It wasn’t just the pearls. There was a tiny hand-stamped pendant at the back, hanging from the clasp. A heart.”
“What was engraved on it?” He turned to her, his face so close she could see the gold specks in his deep brown eyes.
Something fluttered low in her belly. “Love never fails.”
Natalie’s words were whispered out soft and sure, like a promise, her nearness testing all the resolve Luke had managed to wrangle late last night and all through this morning. A touch of pink stained her cheeks, and she moved a step away, looking down at the diamond rings again. “I guess my great-grandmother was a romantic at heart. She and her husband were married for seventy-six years before he died. Her heart gave out the next day.”
“Hence, the legacy behind the necklace,” Luke remarked. “I’m sorry it—”
“Okay, here we go,” Hannah called as she came back into the room, a roll of printer paper in her hand. She quickly loaded the new paper and printed the receipt, yanking it from the dispenser and handing it to Natalie. “I think the media caught up with you. Sorry you’ve got to go face the dragons out there.”
Natalie peeked out the front window and squared her shoulders. “Oh, that’s nothing,” she said with an easy smile. He could see her professionalism shine through, knew she was donning the public-relations cape. He admired her for that as they said goodbye, and she walked outside with an unreadable face and relaxed posture.
There were at least seven reporters with cameramen and vans waiting outside, questions flying from every direction, and Natalie walked through the small crowd unfazed, climbing into the SUV and settling in for the short ride as Carson pulled away from the little jewelry shop.
Luke glanced over at her, knowing it was time to tell her about the decision he’d made last night. “Hunter will meet us on-site to take over my shift,” he said as the vehicle pulled onto the highway.
“Right. You’ve been working some serious overtime.”
“It’s not that, Natalie.”
She met his gaze, a question in her eyes.
“I’m stepping away from your case.”
A nearly imperceptible flash of hurt crossed her face. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, and he rushed to explain.
“Last night, I knew better than to let you run alone. It was a decision that could have cost you your life.” He didn’t tell her that he’d realized he’d gotten too close to her, that his feelings for her had clouded his judgment.
“I insisted,” Natalie pointed out quietly. “Plus, I wasn’t actually in any danger. It was just a reporter.”
“You could have been, though. That’s the point. What if it hadn’t been a reporter?”
“But—”
“I’ve already made the decision,” he said, cutting her off. “It’ll be better for both of us.”
Natalie said nothing, but nodded and turned her attention out the window, and Luke couldn’t help but wonder what might have been between them in another time and another place.