The High Price Of Secrets

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.