Sam shook his head and smiled. “What’s her name?”

Garret winked. “Shania. She’s gorgeous. And amazing-brilliant, talented. She’s really something special. And in two days, we’re flying to Geneva for a couple of weeks to do some serious boarding.”

Sam pulled his brother in for a brief, hard hug, then let him go again. “I’m not gonna worry about you anymore, Garret,” he said with a smile. “I think you’re going to do just fine.”

Garret’s features sobered and he nodded as if accepting an award. “Thanks for that, Sam,” he said. “I really will be all right, you know. So now that I’m off your worry list, why don’t you tell me all about Anna and we can figure out a way to get her back in your life?”

“I’ll tell you,” Sam said, draping one arm over his brother’s shoulders to steer him over to the chairs. “Then you can tell me all about Shania. As for me, I’m doing whatever I have to to get Anna back.”

Nine

Christmas was over and New Year’s Eve was just a day away. Anna had buried herself in work, wishing away the holidays, wanting to get lost in the dark, gray days of January. A storm was settling in over Crystal Bay and the cold damp suited Anna’s mood perfectly.

Maybe her father was right. Maybe the new year would be filled with lots of opportunities. But at the very least, time would be passing. And the more time passed, the easier it would become to get over Sam.

At least, that’s what Anna fervently hoped.

“For now, though,” she told herself firmly, “I’m going to concentrate on work and try to put everything else out of my mind.”

Sounded good in theory, but Sam’s image would never completely leave her thoughts. He was with her, sleeping and waking. He was always there, just behind the mental door she tried repeatedly to close.

“How’s it coming, Anna?”

“What?” She jolted and her grip on the paintbrush in her hand tightened. Whipping around, she looked at Mateo Corzino as he walked toward her. The owner of Corzino’s, home of the best lasagna on the California coast, Mateo had hired her to do a mural on the wall of his restaurant.

It was a big job that could keep her busy for a couple of weeks. He wanted a view of a Sicilian harbor, fishing boats tied up at a dock, complete with cliffs and sand-colored buildings in the background. And he wanted it to look as though the view was seen through a crumbling wall. She was eager to dig in, loving the challenge and a crumbling wall was one of her favorite effects. If only she could fully concentrate instead of having her heart and mind torn in two.

“Jeez,” he said with a grin, “didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Sorry.” She shook her head and laughed a little. “I guess I was just thinking so hard I didn’t hear you come up.”

He glanced at the wall where she’d just begun laying down the dark brown tracer lines that would eventually look like cracks in old plaster.

“It already looks real,” he said, a touch of awe in his voice. “I don’t know how you do it.”

Pleased, Anna smiled and wiped her fingers on a paint rag. “Well, I don’t know how you make that amazing sauce of yours either, so we’re even.”

“Speaking of that, I’d better get back to the kitchen. My wife’s minding the stove and the baby.” He looked at the wall again and nodded in appreciation. “You need anything, you give a shout. The restaurant won’t be open until dinner, so no one will bother you.”

“Thanks, Mateo,” she said, but he was already gone, hurrying back to his family. She heard a deep baby giggle coming from the kitchen and then Mateo’s wife laughed along.

Anna sighed and turned back to her paints. Emptiness filled her as she reached up to paint another jagged line on the wall. As she did, she felt as though she were capturing in paint the cracks in her own broken heart.

She worked for another hour or two uninterrupted. Then she heard a frantic knocking on the glass door behind her. Anna ignored it, figuring that Mateo would be rushing out to take care of an overeager customer. But when the knocking continued, Anna sighed, and stepped out from behind a tall, potted ficus tree.

Clarissa was standing outside the restaurant, leaning up against the glass, shading her eyes so that she could look inside. A second later, that frantic knocking started up again.

Mateo finally headed out of the kitchen and Anna stopped him. “I’ll take care of it, Mateo. Sorry.”

“Oh, sure,” he said, recognizing Anna’s stepmother. “No problem.”

Anna hurried to the door, turned the lock and opened it. “Clarissa, what is it? What’s happened?” Then she saw her stepmother’s eyes were red and swollen, tears streaming down her face. Grabbing hold of the woman, Anna demanded, “Is it Dad? Is he okay?”

Clarissa nodded, gulped audibly and lunged for her. Hugging Anna tightly, she tried to talk around her own tears, but the words were garbled.

Relieved that her father was all right, Anna patted the woman’s back until she calmed down, then pulled away and said, “What’s going on, Clarissa? Why are you crying?”

“Oh,” the woman said, rummaging in her black bag for a handkerchief, “it’s just so wonderful…”

Anna’s heart picked up a normal rhythm. Not bad news, then. She waited impatiently for her stepmother to wipe her eyes and blow her nose. Then, at last, Clarissa spoke again.

“I had to find you, Anna,” she said. “Tell you right away. I know how worried you’ve been for your father and you just had to know the good news.”

Patience, Anna reminded herself, though the opposite feeling was pumping through her fast and hard. You needed patience with Clarissa.

“If it’s good news,” Anna said softly, steering Clarissa to a chair, “then I definitely want to hear it.”

But Clarissa didn’t want to sit down. She stopped suddenly, gave Anna another hard, tight hug and stepped back, giving her a brilliant smile. “Thank you, Anna. I don’t know how you did it, but thank you.”

“I don’t understand,” she said, feeling that hard-won patience begin to dissolve. “What are you thanking me for?”

Clarissa’s eyes widened and her smile got even brighter.

“You don’t know? I can’t believe you don’t know,” she said. “I thought for sure you were behind this somehow, but now…”

Anna took a breath and blew it out again. “Honestly, Clarissa, I do love you, but if you don’t tell me what’s going on soon-”

“Of course, of course.” Clarissa grabbed hold of Anna’s paint-stained hands and said, “It’s Sam Hale. He contacted your father yesterday…Hale Luxury Autos has signed an exclusive contract with Cameron Leather.” Her tears started again in earnest, but her brilliant smile never wavered. “Your father’s company is safe, Anna. He’s so relieved. So happy. I thought you had talked to Sam about this. Somehow arranged it all and I had to come and thank you for whatever you’d done.”

“Sam called Dad?” she echoed, her heart jumping into an accelerated beat. She hadn’t talked to Sam in days, but he’d called her father. Done this to help her father.

Hope leaped to life in her chest and she silently prayed that this meant what she thought it might. Dazzled, confused, Anna realized that Clarissa was talking again and forced herself to pay attention.

“He did. They met this morning with Sam’s and your father’s lawyers and settled it all in an hour. Everything’s taken care of and, oh, Anna, it’s so wonderful to see your father really happy again.” Clarissa reached out and hugged Anna tightly before letting her go. “It’s as if a boulder had been rolled off his shoulders.”

“Why would Sam do this?” Anna wondered aloud, not really expecting an answer. Was it possible that he did feel more for her than want?

“I don’t know, dear,” Clarissa said softly. “I thought he’d done it for you.”

Why would he, though? she asked herself. Why, when she’d broken it off with him, refused to take his calls? Why would he do something so wonderful?

Anna tore off the oversize apron she normally wore when she was working. Bunching it together, she passed it off to Clarissa and said, “I have to go. Will you tell Mateo I’ll be back?”

“Going to Sam?” Clarissa asked softly.

“Yes,” she said, frantic now to see him. She had to know why he’d done this. Had to know if he felt even half as much for her as she did for him.

“Good for you, honey,” her stepmother told her, reaching out to pat her cheek. “You go on. I’ll tell Mateo. But come to the house for dinner tonight, all right? I know your father will want to share this with you. We can celebrate.”

“I will, Clarissa,” Anna said and impulsively kissed the woman’s cheek.

Hopefully, she thought as she ran out the door, there would be a lot to celebrate.

Ten

Sam cursed as he jammed his thumb on the undercarriage of the Bentley. Should have known better than to be out here working, he told himself as his thumb throbbed in time to his heartbeat. His mind wasn’t on the work and that was a recipe for danger.

But as he’d given his staff two weeks off, he hadn’t been able to face going into an empty building. Instead, he turned and went into the small office off the garage. He stood in the doorway, staring at the painting Anna had completed what now seemed like a lifetime ago.

The illusion of the ocean view was so clear, so real, he half expected to feel a breeze sliding through that painted-on window. Then his gaze dropped to the hidden snake peeking out of the flower vine. He scowled as he realized that he’d deserved to have her immortalize him like that. Damn it, he cared for her and he hadn’t told her. He’d let his own suspicions drive her away when all he really wanted was her. Here. Now.

“This isn’t helping,” he muttered, trying to find something to do. Something to occupy his mind so it wouldn’t automatically turn to-