He handed over their tickets, and they walked into the large banquet room that had been set up with various stations for eating and tasting. The very expensive admission included food and samples of wines and beer, as well as a generous contribution to the shelter.

"There's Tyler,” Zach said, nodding. He took Ashlyn's hand and dragged her along as he made his way through the crowd.

"Tyler!” he called. A tall, dark man looked in his direction and broke into a big grin.

They greeted each other with back-slapping hugs.

"This is Tyler Gregg,” Zach said. “Ashlyn Farrell."

"Oh, I've seen you on TV,” Ashlyn said, with a star-struck smile. Oh oh. Tyler had women all over him, all the time. Talk about a chick magnet. Luckily he was happily married, but Zach couldn't help but be just a tad annoyed at Ashlyn's reaction to his friend. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her to him to remind her whom she was with.

"Nice to meet you.” Tyler flashed white teeth.

"Is Chloe here?” Zach asked.

"Yeah, she's here somewhere,” Tyler said. “Over there. She's ticked because she can't sample any of the wine."

Zach raised a brow in question, and Tyler grinned. “Yup, she's pregnant."

"Congratulations, man!” Zach slapped his back again. “Wow!"

"When is she due?” Ashlyn asked.

"In September,” he replied, looking proud and happy.

They talked for a few minutes, until Tyler had to get back to work.

"His food is so good,” Zach said. “Some time we'll have to drive up to Santa Barbara and have dinner at his restaurant."

"That would be nice,” Ashlyn murmured, not as enthusiastically as Zach would have liked. He'd noticed that any time he mentioned doing something in the future, she got kind of quiet, and he wasn't sure why. It bugged him.

Connor joined them, and they moved around to the different tables. At the first table they sampled tuna sashimi with yuzu sauce and a slice of jalapeño, served with Gold Coast Pale Ale.

"Awesome,” Zach said approvingly. “The spicy jalapeño brings out the citrus character in the beer."

"A good, clean match,” Connor agreed. Ashlyn gave a baffled smile.

Moments later, they sampled roast lamb accompanied by baby carrots and pureed parsnips. To go with it was Surf Coast's Oak Aged Beer.

"What's so special about this?” Ashlyn asked, sampling the beer. It was different—the carbonation was lighter and crisper.

"It's aged in oak barrels,” Zach explained. “Something new I wanted to try. This is our first batch. I think the oak gives it hints of vanilla and toffee and citrus."

Ashlyn nodded as if she knew what he was talking about.

"The lamb brings out the beer's savory characteristics, and its caramel sweetness accentuates the rich, roasted flavor of the meat."

The three of them turned in surprise and found Tyler standing there grinning.

"Couldn't have said it better myself.” Zach toasted him with his beer glass.

"That beer is great,” Tyler said with a nod of approval. “You need to keep making that."

"Thanks.” Zach grinned.

"Are you going to enter it this year in the Great American Beer Festival?"

Ashlyn looked from Tyler to Zach with wonder.

"Oh yeah,” he said. “This one's a winner."

"All your beers are winners."

"Well, that one I made from pumpkin last year didn't do so well..."

"Pumpkin!” Ashlyn gasped. “That's crazy!"

Zach shrugged. “I like to try new things. And I actually liked it. But not many other people did."

They smiled at each other, something passing between them, warm and connecting.

As they finished samples of cheese, a cute little brunette approached Connor.

"Hey, Connor,” she said warmly. “How are you?"

Connor returned her greeting, but appeared unsure of whom the girl was. “We met at a party. I'm Misty Earl, a friend of Leanne's."

"Oh, yeah.” Connor's scowl didn't seem to deter her.

"I heard about you and Jessica,” Misty said sympathetically, putting a hand on his forearm. “That's too bad."

Zach watched her hit on his brother. Didn't seem like Connor was too interested, though, as he brushed her off—and not with a lot of finesse.

"Word is out you're on the market,” Zach told him, repressing a grin.

"Fuck off,” Connor snarled and went off for more beer.

Zach shook his head. Ashlyn stood there, nibbling her bottom lip, her eyes full of concern.

"He'll be okay,” he told her. “Come on."

Zach knew lots of people there and, social animal that he was, he spent the evening mingling, introducing Ashlyn to everyone, keeping her close at his side. But fun as the party was, he couldn't wait to get Ashlyn home and into his bed. He wanted to make her come, feel her tumble in his arms as he pleasured her, making up for earlier when he'd selfishly taken his own satisfaction up against the wall.

To Zach's amusement, Connor was fending off another woman when he went to find him to leave.

"If you're not ready to leave, I'm sure you can find another way home,” he suggested wickedly to Connor.

"I'm ready,” Connor snapped, and he left the girl standing there without even a goodbye.

"You don't need to be an asshole,” Zach muttered to him as they walked out.

"I really don't give a shit."

Again, Zach noticed Ashlyn looking fretful as they walked into the dark parking lot. Connor's misery really seemed to get to her. He was glad that she cared about his brother that much already ... it could only mean she cared about him too.

Chapter Eighteen

They met at Java Jack's again. Jessica was a little more tanned this time, but looked like she hadn't been getting a lot of sleep. She was still a beautiful woman, but dark circles shadowed her eyes and fine lines bracketed her mouth. She was clearly just as miserable as Connor. I'm doing the right thing, thought Ashlyn, and the fact that this might reunite the husband and wife almost made up for the likelihood she was also destroying whatever was growing between her and Zach.

"So what's this about?” Jessica asked warily. Ashlyn had called her that morning to arrange the meeting.

Ashlyn inhaled a long breath. “Well,” she said, “I'm afraid I have a confession to make to you. It's come to my attention that when I met up with your husband for the decoy job, I ... had the wrong man."

"Huh?” Jessica's elegant brows pulled together.

"Did you watch the video?” Ashlyn asked softly. Jessica shook her head and looked like someone was pulling out her French-manicured fingernails.

"No,” she said in a small voice. “I couldn't bring myself to actually watch it. I just couldn't stand to watch Connor with another woman. That would just ... kill me."

"You really should have looked at it,” Ashlyn said ruefully. “Because it wasn't Connor. It was Zach."

Jessica's brows rose. “Zach?” She paused. “I don't get it."

"That night I went to Doc McCue's, Connor never showed up. But Zach was there. I'd only seen the photographs you gave me, and they look a lot alike. So I thought it was him."

"But ... how could you? They look alike, but not identical."

"I know,” Ashlyn said regretfully. “But they look enough alike. He told me his name was Zach, but I thought he was just using a fake name. I knew Connor had a brother, but I didn't know his name."

She could see Jessica's mind working. “So ... Connor never cheated on me?"

Ashlyn shook her head. “Not with me,” she said. “I am so sorry about this. I can't tell you how bad I feel."

Jessica's tanned face flushed. “So I kicked my husband out and destroyed my marriage over ... nothing?"

Her voice rose, and Ashlyn glanced around the coffee shop.

"I'm sorry,” she said again. “Really, really sorry.” Her face felt hot and tight.

Jessica was almost spluttering. “But you ... I can't believe this!"

Ashlyn was silent, playing with the coffee cup in her hands.

"This is outrageous!” Jessica went on. “I paid a lot of money for that investigation..."

"Oh.” Ashlyn hadn't thought about that. “We could probably refund your money."

That meant confessing to her dad too. Which she had to anyway. He needed to know what was going on. Damn. Her heart plummeted to her toes.

"I should think so!” said an outraged Jessica. “In fact, I should sue your ass!"

Oh no. This was going really badly.

"I don't blame you for feeling that way,” Ashlyn said desperately. “I really don't. Like I said, I just feel horrible about this."

Jessica glared at her.

"If you want, I can talk to Connor and explain what happened,” she offered. “I'll tell him it was all my fault."

"No!” Jessica's response was swift. “God, no, don't tell him what I did.” She was thinking again, her eyes darting about. “Just stay away from him,” she warned Ashlyn and stood up, eyes flashing. “You'll hear from my lawyer."

She stormed out of the coffee shop, and Ashlyn let her forehead thunk down on the table while she tried to calm her wildly beating heart.

Well, Jessica would have to pick up the pieces herself; there was nothing more she could do. She couldn't breach client confidentiality by going to Connor and trying to make things right. She would do it, if it would help. But Jessica clearly didn't want her husband to know about what she'd done.

Now that she'd told Jessica, she had to tell her dad. He was not going to be impressed. After classes, she went to the office, figuring her dad would still be there. Brenda was just leaving.