A former navy SEAL undercover...and into temptation

Going undercover at the historic Poppy Gold Inns should be easy for former navy SEAL Gabe McKinley. But it’s not. He needs to find out who’s sabotaging his family’s company...and his prime suspect is the resort’s lovely—and fiercely protective—manager, Tessa Connor.

The more he gets to know her—and the more they get under each other’s skin—the more Gabe doubts that Tessa could be the culprit. But has his military focus been compromised by his need to kiss her blind? Because as they get closer to danger, Gabe risks the one thing he fears: falling for Tessa.

What if somebody was watching one of them?

Unable to think of anything else to divert suspicion, Tessa rose on her toes and pressed close to Gabe.

“Tessa?” he whispered again, this time against her mouth.

“Human-shaped shadow across the way,” she mumbled.

Instantly his arms pulled her tight. He turned, making their profiles more visible to the garden, and gave her a thorough kiss.

He touched her lips with the tip of his finger. “Sleep well.”

His eyes glittered in the light spilling out of the living room and Tessa could have sworn it was from laughter. A minute later he released her and Tessa grabbed the door frame for support.

Gabe McKinley’s social skills might be rusty, but he knew how to kiss in no uncertain terms.

Dear Reader,

I loved visiting the California Gold Country as a child. One of my earlier novels is set in this beautiful region, and I’ve always wanted to return to it as a location. So I created Poppy Gold Inns, a bed-and-breakfast complex in the historic district of a former gold-mining town called Glimmer Creek.

Undercover in Glimmer Creek grew out of this setting, and is about the manager of Poppy Gold, who has returned to her childhood home following her mother’s untimely death. Tessa is strong, idealistic and devoted to the business that helps support her family and hometown. But what does an idealist do when she meets a cynical former navy SEAL who’s trying to catch the culprit stealing corporate information from her clients?

Classic Movie Alert: It probably isn’t old enough yet to qualify as a classic, but I enjoy the 2001 film The Majestic, about another cynical man who is transformed by love and the good-hearted people in a small town. Check it out!

I enjoy hearing from readers and can be contacted c/o Harlequin Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, ON M3B 3K9, Canada.

Julianna Morris

Undercover in Glimmer Creek

Julianna Morris

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JULIANNA MORRIS grew up in a large, active family that was always competing, which included playing word games such as Perquackey and Scrabble. She also read voraciously, bringing stacks of books home every week from the library. Julianna hasn’t lost her love for games or books and takes them with her even while exploring places such as Glacier National Park and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Of course, her computer is always packed as well, because inspiration is never far away in such beautiful locations.

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To Eli, thank you for your service.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

TESSA CONNOR KNELT on the hardwood floor and looked at the cat under the four-poster bed. “Please come out, Mr. Fezziwig.”

Mr. Fezziwig yawned and continued bathing himself. He felt the room was his exclusive property and the people who rented the deluxe bed-and-breakfast suite were merely servants who catered to his whims.

“Believe it or not, the guests coming to stay tonight don’t like cats,” Tessa said. “I know you think there’s something wrong with their opinion, but twenty-five years ago they honeymooned in this room, and they’re sentimental about it.”

The enormous brown tabby yawned.

“I understand how you feel, but you have to—”

“Tessa, I want you to meet the new maintenance employee,” interrupted her father.

Tessa straightened and looked toward the door where her dad stood with a tall, unsmiling man.

“Hey, Pop.” Tessa got to her feet and walked over to shake hands with the new guy. Lord, he had the most gorgeous gray eyes she’d ever seen...and the hardest to read. “You must be Gabe McKinley. Welcome to Poppy Gold Inns. My father is a terrific boss. You’ll enjoy working with him.”

“Thankfully, these days I mostly mulch flowerbeds and jockey a lawn mower around,” Liam Connor declared. “Tessa handles everything at Poppy Gold except maintenance.”

They exchanged an affectionate look, yet a familiar stab of sorrow went through Tessa. She’d always expected to take over Poppy Gold when her parents retired, but then her mother had died a year and a half ago. She still remembered feeling as if the world had stopped turning, and it had been even worse for her father. For months he’d gone around in a shocked fog, barely eating or sleeping. When he’d decided running the business alone was too much for him, she’d resigned from her position in the contracts division at her grandfather’s company in San Francisco to help out. Poppy Gold wasn’t just a business to her—it was home.

“Your father has been showing me around,” Gabe McKinley said. “You have quite a setup here, Ms. Connor.”

“It’s Tessa. We’re informal at Poppy Gold. We... Oh, you finally came out,” she exclaimed as a furry body butted her leg. She bent down and scooped Mr. Fezziwig into her arms. His purr boomed until he fixed his gaze on the new employee; the purring stopped as if turned by a switch, and his mouth opened into a long-drawn-out hiss.

Whoa.

Generally Mr. Fezziwig liked everyone, which made him ideal for the Victorian Cat Mansion, one of fifty-plus historic buildings that had been converted to a complex of bed-and-breakfast inns and visitor facilities. These days they hosted business retreats and special events along with tourists. The Victorian Cat was unique because of the amiable felines who lived there—repeat guests usually requested a specific cat for their visits, rather than a room.

“It may take me a while to become accustomed to calling my employers by their first names,” Gabe said stiffly.

“Pop is your employer, not me,” she clarified.

“Gabe is a veteran,” her father interjected. “This is his first position since getting out of the navy.”

“Thank you for your service.” Though it was an automatic response, Tessa meant it sincerely. Pop and one of her maternal uncles had done a tour in the army, while another uncle had died flying a navy jet.

“Er...yeah.” Gabe peered around the room. “I understand you have some sort of patchwork quilters group coming in a few days. And the day they leave, a number of executives are arriving for a retreat.”

“That’s right. Thomas International Products is one of our best business contracts, though it’s a fairly small group this time.” Tessa shifted the cat she held, uncomfortable for several reasons. For one thing, Mr. Fezziwig weighed a ton, and for another, there was something about Gabe McKinley that made her vaguely wary. Her father tried to hire veterans who were struggling to adjust to civilian life, but Gabe didn’t seem the type to struggle with anything.

Appearances can be deceiving, she reminded herself. Yet it was difficult to picture him pruning trees and replacing sod torn up by energetic kids. He seemed more like someone accustomed to giving orders, instead of taking them.

“Could you finish the tour for Gabe?” her father asked. “I just got a call that an order needs to be picked up from the Sullivan Nursery down in Stockton.”

“Sure, Pop. Are you taking the long truck?”

“No, the old one. It’s large enough.” He turned to Gabe. “Poppy Gold has a 1928 AA pickup. People have fun seeing it and think it’s great that such an old truck is still being used. Tessa, can you also show Gabe our fleet of antique vehicles? I hadn’t gotten that far with the tour.”

“No problem. Call when you get back. If you aren’t busy tonight, come over and I’ll fix you dinner.” Tessa kissed his cheek.

When she was alone with Gabe McKinley, she gestured at Mr. Fezziwig. “Just let me deal with this fellow. I’ll be right back.”

Gabe must have missed the “I’ll be right back” because he walked with her to the opposite end of the Victorian Cat. Since no guests had checked in for the day, she’d left the access open to her private, two-story apartment.

“So you live on-site,” he commented.

“Yes, though Guest Registration handles check-ins.” She put Mr. Fezziwig on a chair by the window and ran a finger down his neck. He was still looking at Gabe suspiciously, and Tessa understood exactly how he felt. Gabe had walked right in, past a sign marked Private. “But living at the Victorian Cat works out well, because if one of the cats doesn’t have company for the night, they can stay with me.”

“How often does that happen?”

“We aren’t always fully booked during the off-season, but the closer we get to summer, it’s rare to have rooms available. We try to have something unique about each of the B and Bs, and returning guests have their favorites. Cat lovers usually pick the Victorian Cat, while railroad buffs prefer the Gold Rail Hotel, and so forth.”

“It must be difficult to manage the bookings.”

“We have staff dedicated to reservations and event planning. Poppy Gold Inns is the biggest employer in Glimmer Creek,” Tessa said proudly, “and we support other businesses by buying local whenever possible and outsourcing various services.”

Gabe nodded as if interested, though it was impossible to tell anything from his face. Honestly, they’d only just met, but it was hard to imagine an emotion daring to crack his iron jaw.

“You appear to have a good many antiques. Do you have live-in staff to keep an eye on things at night? I haven’t noticed any video cameras.”

It was probably an innocent question, but it seemed odd to Tessa. She’d dealt with a wide range of new employees and eager beavers who asked everything under the sun on their first day, but Gabe’s manner seemed more like an IRS auditor than an eager beaver. Not that it was fair to make snap judgments; he was still adjusting to civilian life. Anyway, her father would have run a background check before hiring him.

“Actually, we don’t have live-in staff. Security is on duty around the clock, so you won’t need to get involved with those issues,” she said carefully. “Guest Registration is at Old City Hall, which is located by the original town square park.”

“I see.”

Tessa firmly escorted Gabe out and locked the door behind them. “Now, what have you been shown so far?”

“The working areas for Maintenance, including the greenhouses, orchards and vegetable gardens. Also the general employee facility.”

“All right, we’ll go to Old City Hall next.”

They stepped out into the Victorian garden surrounding the large house. Birds twittered in the spring sunshine, splashing in the birdbath and perching on the edge. The California foothills were always beautiful, especially in the historic Gold Country, but spring and summer were the seasons that Tessa particularly loved.

She didn’t even mind the hot days. As a kid she’d swum in the creek when the temperature went up, panned for gold dust in the shallows and picnicked along the shore with friends and family. However busy her parents might have been running their bed-and-breakfast business, they’d tried to join her adventures. Lately Tessa didn’t have much time for adventures, but someday she hoped to get back to them.

“This way,” she said, pointing north.

* * *

CAREFUL, GABE WARNED himself as Tessa Connor continued the tour of Poppy Gold. It was a bad idea to ask too many questions. After all, he was supposed to look like a navy vet, working his first job after leaving the service.

Actually, it was his first job, but he hadn’t applied to Poppy Gold because he needed to make a living. Between his twenty-year retirement from the navy and being a part owner of the family company—Thomas International Products—he had a generous income.

Gabe left running TIP to his younger brother; the thought of being stuck behind a desk all day was more than he could swallow, and doing it for the family company would be that much worse. A muscle in Gabe’s jaw twitched. The company was another reminder of his lousy childhood with a work-obsessed father and a vodka-guzzling mother. He’d enlisted when he was eighteen to get away from the misery at home.

Nevertheless, when Rob suspected a problem with industrial espionage, Gabe had insisted on helping. As a former navy SEAL, Gabe had experience in putting together missions and following suspicious activities around the world. And that didn’t include the joint operations he’d done with the CIA. Together, he and Rob had narrowed down the most likely location where information leaks could have occurred—Poppy Gold Inns. TIP had been holding executive retreats, training and strategy meetings at the small conference center for the past two years.

They’d contacted the FBI with the information, but the agent had said it was only supposition at this point. “Bring us real evidence and we might be able to do something,” the agent had declared.

He and Rob had decided the best way to get the necessary evidence was for Gabe to go undercover. In the past two years, the company had lost millions in deals that had fallen through; it couldn’t continue.

“This is Glimmer Creek’s original city center,” Tessa said, stopping and gesturing around a picturesque park, complete with a gazebo-style bandstand and large fountain. “The town has a different center now, of course, in front of the new city hall. Not that it’s new any longer since it was built in the 1930s, but that’s what it’s called.”

“Why did they build it instead of using the original building?” Gabe asked, trying to sound more like a new employee than an investigator.

“The story is too long to tell right now, but it’s tied up with family history on my father’s side. The short version is that my grandfather owned all of the land and buildings in this part of town before he deeded them to my parents to start Poppy Gold. Before that it was nicknamed Connor’s Folly.”

Connor’s Folly? Obviously that was part of the long story Tessa didn’t have time to tell him.

“Your grandfather must be well-off.”

“Granddad is the owner and president of Connor Enterprises in San Francisco.”

Gabe glanced around at the thriving tourist village—even for a tourist trap, the place was appealing. The extent of preservation reminded him of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

But appealing or not, it was still the most likely source of TIP’s problems. Other than Rob’s office, Poppy Gold was the only location where certain pieces of company information had been brought together, and the failed contract negotiations had always occurred shortly after a visit to the B and B facility. Rob might have suspected some of his executives were responsible, but different execs had been at the meetings each time, often from divergent areas of the company’s operations.

Hacking had also been ruled out because his brother had started keeping data on upcoming deals and contracts off-line. He’d even moved all the files onto a computer that wasn’t hooked up to the internet.

He looked back at Tessa Connor. As the manager, she was in the best position to know everything that was going on at the conference center, but whether she was an ally or an enemy was unclear. She could even be the culprit. While Rob thought highly of Tessa, it didn’t mean she was innocent.

Gabe almost snorted.

His brother’s judgment was probably clouded by Tessa’s slim figure and sparkling eyes. For that matter, Rob had a hard time believing anyone would steal from TIP in the first place, which was why it had taken him so long to acknowledge the problem. Gabe, on the other hand, didn’t have trouble believing the worst of anyone.

“Come on, I’ll show you Poppy Gold’s reservation hub,” Tessa said.

While the remaining tour of Poppy Gold was thorough, Gabe couldn’t pry another shred of personal information from her. He was lousy at chitchat, but it shouldn’t have been difficult since Tessa seemed to chatter away with the slightest provocation. She even had conversations with cats.

Still, Gabe noticed that the tour didn’t include anything related to security. He just didn’t know if the omission meant anything. Working in Poppy Gold’s security division would have been his top choice, but naturally they did far more extensive background checks on those employees than ones in grounds maintenance. It was likely that his connection to TIP would have been revealed and questioned.

“Have you found a place to live?” Tessa asked after they returned to the maintenance center. Though located in a modern building, it had a Victorian-style facade that blended well with Poppy Gold’s ambiance.

“I’ve rented a furnished studio in town.”

“You were lucky to find something local—we don’t have many rentals in Glimmer Creek. I don’t see any other employees around. They must all be out working. Did Pop tell you what to do for the rest of the day?”

“Mow the lawns and edge the walkways around these two houses.” He pointed to a map on the wall. “I understand you primarily use electric equipment to minimize noise.”

“That’s right. We have riding mowers for the large areas, like the old city center park, but whenever possible, we coordinate using them around the guest schedule. Have you been given a locker assignment?”

Gabe shook his head.

Tessa unlocked a cabinet, consulted a ledger and gave him a key. “This is to locker 5A—work gloves and other protective gear should be in there already. I’ll let you get started, but be sure to take your breaks and lunch. If you have any questions, check with the reservations desk and they’ll find me.”

She left quickly, and Gabe wondered if she was eager to get rid of him. Not that he’d blame her. She managed the conference center and surely had more urgent responsibilities than giving new-employee tours and evicting ornery felines from rooms where they weren’t wanted.

* * *

TESSA HURRIED ACROSS Poppy Gold to the Glimmer Creek Train Depot. She tried not to be a micromanager, so she had established her office away from Old City Hall. Since she handled most of the business clients, it was also nice to have the quieter work space.

“Hey, Jamie,” she called to her eighteen-year-old cousin, who was dressed in period costume and talking to a group of schoolchildren.

Jamie waved back. Close to half of Poppy Gold’s employees were related to Tessa in one way or another. In Jamie’s case, she was Tessa’s maternal uncle Daniel’s daughter and had started working at Poppy Gold Inns right after graduating from Glimmer Creek High. She was rather young for her age, which was why Uncle Daniel and Aunt Emma hadn’t pushed her to leave for college immediately.

Tessa’s office was on the second floor, and she gazed out the window for a moment, loving the peaceful scene. The abandoned train track had never been torn out, and it ran like a ribbon through the countryside, much overgrown, leading to the old railroad spur turnaround. Only the section that ran along the edge of Poppy Gold was in good condition. On it sat a steam engine and two passenger cars from the 1870s, sparklingly restored, looking as if they had just arrived at the station. Their visitors loved the train, and in peak seasons, the passenger cars were filled with picnickers.

Tessa thought about the lunch baskets available at the general store, packed with fried chicken, baked ham on biscuits, fresh-baked bread and other goodies. The baskets were more Hollywood illusion than authentic flavors from the 1800s, but they were popular. And there might be things Poppy Gold could do to simulate a train ride.

She jotted a note in her “idea” book. It was filled with things to do at Poppy Gold, supplementing the plan she’d made in college. Her parents had begun to implement her concept a few years ago, but there was always more to do. In a way it made her feel even more responsible, knowing that turning the business into a conference center was something she’d urged them to try. She’d helped, coming home weekends and spending vacations there, but a lot had fallen on her mom’s and dad’s shoulders.

Now it was mostly on her.

She pressed a hand to her stomach. Suggesting changes as an eager college student was a lot easier than carrying them out herself. Where had all the blind certainty of her youth gone? Maybe the final vestiges had been lost with her mother’s death.

“Hey,” Jamie said, poking her head through the office doorway. “The school group is gone. Mom made peach pies last night and sent one for you.”

She came in holding a Tupperware pie-taker. Tupperware containers were ubiquitous in Glimmer Creek thanks to two of Tessa’s maternal great-aunts who’d thrown so many parties to sell the stuff that it was stockpiled in everyone’s basements. Glimmer Creek was filled with relatives on her mom’s side of the family.

Tessa’s mouth watered. Nobody made pies like Aunt Emma. “My taste buds thank her, but my hips aren’t so sure.”

“Like you need to worry. Can you believe it? Mom even said to eat it with ice cream because you’re too skinny. She never says that to me.”

“I’m not skinny,” Tessa denied automatically. Her female relatives kept trying to feed her, claiming she’d lost weight since returning home, but they worried too much.

If they weren’t trying to fix her up with a guy, they were urging her to eat more.

“You’re skinnier than me.”

Jamie tugged at her costume and stuck out her bottom lip in the mock pout she’d perfected as a four-year-old. The same as most Fullerton women, she was a late bloomer and still carried a few childhood pounds she couldn’t seem to lose. Tessa had gone through the same phase herself.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Tessa urged.

“That’s easy for you to say. My face is so round. I look like a chipmunk that’s stuffed its cheeks with nuts.”

“Lance doesn’t seem to think so.”

Jamie’s eyes filled with delight at the mention of her boyfriend. “Isn’t he wonderful?”

Tessa smiled, though she didn’t know a great deal about the young man her dad had hired several months earlier, other than what Jamie had told her.

Lance Beckley was one of the Poppy Gold employees who hadn’t grown up in the area. He’d shown up on his motorcycle, wandered around town a couple of days and then applied for a job in the maintenance department. Pop had hired him to clear brush and dig rocks from the area where they hoped to plant two additional orchards. Tessa had been concerned when she heard he was the biker who’d invaded Poppy Gold, roaring up and down the streets, but he hadn’t caused any problems since then.

When her cousin had gone back to work, Tessa made calls to several clients, booking a destination wedding for a CEO’s daughter, along with three corporate retreats and a class reunion.

At 1:00 p.m. she got up to do her usual quick walk through Old City Hall and around the grounds. At the Mayfair Mansion she stopped and watched Gabe McKinley working in the garden. The lawn at the nearby Calaveras House was already smartly groomed, so he’d obviously started there first.

His shirt stretched over his shoulders, his muscles flexing as he lifted a load of clippings onto a cart, and she felt an unwelcome warmth in her abdomen. She didn’t want to be attracted to a guy like Gabe, even in passing.

He noticed her and bobbed his head without stopping his work. Then she noticed he was about to yank one of the plants from behind the sundial.

“No, wait,” Tessa cried, dashing over. “That’s supposed to be there.”

* * *

GABE STARED AT the plant he’d been about to pull. It was supposed to stay? He hadn’t touched the flowerbeds since Liam Connor had told him to work on the lawns, but this thing had looked too weedy to leave behind. The gardens in general seemed chaotic, with masses of different flowers crowded together. He guessed it was attractive, but it wouldn’t do any harm to impose some order.

Tessa crouched and patted the ground around the base of the weed he’d grabbed, though she seemed to avoid touching the plant itself. “Uh...Pop must have forgotten to say you shouldn’t do anything on the flowerbeds until you receive some training.”

“Oh.” Gabe’s instructions from the elder Connor had been distracted, to say the least; Liam gave the impression that his thoughts were somewhere else entirely. Age-related memory problems were also a possibility, despite him seeming too young for senility. “This isn’t a weed?”

“No, it’s foxglove. This one has already flowered, but wait until you see it next year. I’m not sure foxglove belongs in a true Victorian garden, but we love it.”

“Are you a horticulturist, too?”

“Just an enthusiastic amateur. My mother did the research and designed all our gardens and...er...planted most of the perennials and biennials herself. She liked the natural style of the late-Victorian era. Formal gardens wouldn’t suit Poppy Gold nearly as well.”

Liked. Past tense.

That must mean Liam was a widower. While it was information, it wouldn’t have much bearing on his investigation. Gabe shifted restlessly. He preferred direct action to covert activity, but this was something he had to do for Rob. A part of him still felt guilty for escaping to the navy and leaving his younger brother alone with their parents.

“So, what did you study in college?” Gabe asked, trying to make the question sound casual. Apparently he didn’t succeed, because Tessa became guarded again.

“Business. It looks as if you’re almost done here. Since it’s your first day, I’m sure Pop won’t mind if you take the rest of the afternoon off. Just return the equipment to Maintenance.”

“I can’t quit early. You know what they say—a day’s work for a day’s pay. I’ll find something to keep me occupied.” Gabe was elated. With Liam gone, he would have an ideal chance to poke around and get a better lay of the land.

Her lips tightened. “All right, but don’t do anything to the garden beds. I need to get back to my office.”

Gabe was almost amused. The only thing he’d learned for certain was that Tessa Connor was protective of the plants her mother had put in the ground. He couldn’t imagine being sentimental that way himself, but it was Tessa’s business. Of course, his own mother had been pickled with alcohol for most of his childhood, so he was unlikely to get maudlin about her mementos.

The truth was, he knew too much about the dark side of human nature, yet he still found most people incomprehensible.

CHAPTER TWO

TESSA RETURNED TO her office, still not sure what to make of Gabe McKinley. He obviously worked hard—the lawns around the two houses had been cut and trimmed with military precision, without a blade of grass or speck of dirt out of place. Yet she also had the feeling he didn’t know anything about the kind of work he’d been hired to do.

There was nothing unusual about having an inexperienced employee, particularly in grounds maintenance, but normally Pop was fierce about warning new staff not to touch his wife’s Victorian flowerbeds until they’d been properly trained.

Tessa’s stomach rolled.

Fifteen months ago her father had called to say the business was falling apart and he was considering selling Poppy Gold. Though he hadn’t asked her to come back, she’d immediately gone to her grandfather’s office and resigned. She still didn’t know if it had been the right decision... There were so many memories that haunted Liam at Poppy Gold. But she’d been certain he would regret selling the place where he’d fallen in love and spent so many years restoring.

It had also been a little selfish. Tessa couldn’t bear the thought of losing Poppy Gold; she missed her mother terribly, and the place was a connection both to Meredith Connor and her own childhood.

The rest of the afternoon passed slowly, and by four o’clock Tessa was on edge, wondering if her father was back from Stockton, and if he was, why he hadn’t called. He got depressed, and this time of year was a tough one for him—her parents’ thirty-second wedding anniversary was rapidly approaching.

It wasn’t fair.

People weren’t supposed to die of pneumonia. With modern medicine and all the antibiotics available, it shouldn’t have happened. Meredith Connor should still be here, making everyone happy, especially her husband.

Tessa rubbed her aching forehead. She’d always hoped to fall in love like her parents and have children, but after watching her father’s agony, she was wary about feeling that much. Not that it mattered—at the moment she was far too busy for romance. She couldn’t take the chance that Poppy Gold might fail; too many people depended on them.

Not that she had anything against romance. She’d dated in college and occasionally in San Francisco, though never to the point of genuinely committing her heart. One of her old boyfriends had complained she was rushing too fast toward her future to think about the present, but she didn’t agree. There was so much to do, and she didn’t see any harm in graduating high school and college early.

A short time later her father walked in, looking more tired than usual. He sat down with a groan. “Sorry about being late. I got a flat tire. I would have called but my phone was dead.”

“That’s okay, Pop. Sorry about the tire.”

Tessa made a mental note to check the charge on his cell phone when he was taking a day trip out of town, especially if he was taking the 1928 AA truck. He never used to be absentminded, but a lot had changed in the past eighteen months. It was even possible that he’d spent part of the time down in Stockton just staring into space. The occasions she found him zoned out completely were less frequent now, but they still happened.

“It’s just one of those things. How did it go with Gabe?”

“Fine, as far as I know. I showed him around and left him at Maintenance. Later I saw him working on the lawns around the Mayfair Mansion and Calaveras House. Everything was spotless.”

Tessa decided not to mention Gabe’s attempt to uproot a foxglove plant; her father didn’t need anything else to upset him.

“Good. He seems nice.”

Nice?

Maybe she’d missed something.

Tessa knew that two of her worst faults were a quick temper...and a bad habit of making snap decisions about people. Sometimes she was right, sometimes she wasn’t. But there was no denying that her first impressions of Gabe McKinley weren’t positive.

“What do you know about him?” Tessa asked.

“The usual sort of things from his application. Twenty years in the navy, but no job since getting out. He listed his skills as general mechanic, heavy machinery operation, scuba diving and underwater rescue.”

“Scuba diving and underwater rescue? There’s so much call for that at Poppy Gold,” she muttered wryly. “How about KP or maintenance experience? I thought all servicemen and women had that sort of thing under their belts.”

Liam waved his hand. “People don’t always like claiming they worked in the mess or scrubbed the officers’ head. Gabe didn’t list any prior duty assignments, but he has a spotless record—not even a speeding ticket. Do you think there’s a problem?”

“Of course not,” Tessa said hastily. “I’m just curious. He isn’t that personable.”

“Give him a chance,” Liam urged. “Life is structured in the military. It may take him a while to get accustomed to how we do things.”

“I know, Pop. It’s just that our guests expect everyone to be friendly and he’s rather...poker-faced.” Grim and forbidding was a better description, but she didn’t want to sound too negative.

“I’ll remind him to smile more.”

“Is he one of your referrals from Admiral Webster’s office?” Over time they’d become acquainted with a high-ranking officer in each of the military branches who now made referrals to Poppy Gold. Sometimes it was for a job, sometimes it was a request to provide a few days at Poppy Gold to service members or their families as a respite from stress or other problems. It had started with one of her father’s old army pals who was now a general.

“No referral. Gabe just applied. We ended up talking all afternoon last Saturday. Well, I’d better get over to Maintenance. The nursery got the red astrachan apples we wanted. We should have enough ground prepared in a few days to plant them.”

“Shouldn’t apples be planted in very early spring or late fall?”

“Yes, but the nursery promised to replace any that don’t thrive. Apparently their supplier has trouble getting organic astrachans. Anyhow, I also got a big load of organic fertilizer. I’ll unload everything and come over after I clean up.”

“Move the truck into the garage and have one of your guys take care of it tomorrow,” Tessa urged, frowning. She didn’t like her father lifting heavy items by himself. He rarely paid attention to what he was doing—five months ago he’d pulled a hamstring and had suffered minor injuries in other mishaps.

“I’ll be fine. When do you want me for dinner?”

“Seven thirty is fine.”

“I’ll see you then.”

Tessa sat for a minute after he left, then jumped up. She headed for Maintenance, stopping only to change into jeans and leave Aunt Emma’s peach pie at her apartment in the Victorian Cat. Fortunately she had a separate entrance, so she wasn’t delayed by guests wanting to chat.

“Pop?” she called, walking around the end of the main maintenance building. She froze. His antique heavy-duty truck was parked by one of the storage sheds, but instead of one man, she saw two—her father and Gabe McKinley. They were chatting and even chuckled together at one point.

Interesting.

“What are you doing here, Tessajinks?”

Gabe had just hoisted a bag of fertilizer onto his shoulder, but he paused and looked up. “Tessajinks?”

Tessa smiled along with her father, though she was surprised that he’d used her childhood nickname in front of a stranger. “It’s from when I was little. You know...jinks, from high jinks.”

“My daughter was a carefree, fun-loving toddler,” Liam explained, “but very well behaved, of course.”

“That’s right, I was a perfect angel,” Tessa added, relieved that he didn’t seem saddened by the recollection from a happier time.

“Yes, it’s now that she’s a handful.” Liam shook a finger at her. “She loved to play hide-and-seek, but she would get so excited, she giggled when anyone got near her hiding place. I could tell you stories—”

“But he won’t, because you’d just be bored,” Tessa interrupted, becoming uncomfortable. She was an only child and knew her fate in life was to be the subject of all of her father’s “gab and brag” tales, but her instincts told her to keep revelations at a minimum around Gabe McKinley. Even revelations that were twenty-seven years old.

“To be frank, I’m not a kid person,” Gabe said. He barely seemed to notice the heavy load balanced on his shoulder.

“You’ll change your mind when you have a family of your own,” Liam assured him.

“I’m not going to have a family,” Gabe replied. His tone and expression suggested it was a carefully considered decision, rather than a casual bachelor’s attitude.

Liam shook his head. “That’ll change when you meet the right woman. It did for me.”

“I’m also not planning to get married.” Gabe carried the fertilizer to the shed and set it on a pile of other sacks. He immediately went to the truck and grabbed another bag.

Pop seemed at a loss, and Tessa was annoyed. Her father sometimes offered opinions better kept to himself—she thought of it as small-townitis—but Gabe didn’t even seem to realize how curt he’d been. And after all, he was the one who’d volunteered he wasn’t a “kid person.” But kid person or not, he’d better be nice to the children who visited Poppy Gold.

Eyes narrowed, she went to help, but Gabe let out a sharp “I’ll do it” as soon as she reached for one of the bags.

“I may be little, but I’m tough,” she informed him, “and I’m sure your shift ended a couple of hours ago.”

Liam lifted the bag she’d intended to unload. “That’s what I said, but he insisted.”

Gabe shrugged. “I’m new to Glimmer Creek, so I don’t have much else to do.”

“We’ll still pay for the extra time,” Tessa asserted. Pop sometimes hinted that she was too stubborn. He might be right, but she had to be stubborn on fair employment practices.

* * *

GABE DIDN’T CARE about a few extra dollars in his paycheck; for that matter, he wasn’t comfortable about taking any pay since his actions had ulterior motives. As for helping to unload supplies, he’d hoped it would provide another one-on-one opportunity to talk with his new “boss.” The Connor name and the family’s connection to San Francisco had been bothering him. Later he would research it on the internet and see if anything came up, but he’d hoped to learn something in passing from Liam.

“We don’t have much nightlife,” Liam said, “but the library is open most evenings, along with several cafés and a country bar. The Gold Shanty is quite popular with our guests.”

“Actually, I’m going to check out the weight machines at the staff fitness center. It’s available twenty-four-seven, right?”

“Yes. Access it using your employee code,” Tessa replied, giving him a cool look. Maybe she thought he was trying to impress her by mentioning working out.

The sooner he found out what was going on at Poppy Gold, the better. Then he wouldn’t need to worry about other people’s reactions. Ultimately he planned to buy land in the mountains where he’d design and test equipment for the SEALs and other emergency response teams.

Since signing out of work, he’d explored the conference center and learned the location of every feature. It hadn’t taken long—he had ample practice memorizing data for his missions. He now had a mental map of the facility and building floor plans securely established in his brain, along with the details of the operations handbook.

“I’ll help,” hailed a voice as Gabe reached for the next bag in the back of the truck. It was a young man, and he came over with a girl dressed in a Victorian costume.

Gabe gritted his teeth. So much for a private chat with Liam Connor. It was after hours and they weren’t in a public area, yet people were popping out of the woodwork.

“This is Lance Beckley,” Tessa said, “and my cousin Jamie Fullerton. Lance is in Maintenance, while Jamie works in Guest Services. Lance, Jamie, this is Gabe McKinley. He just started today.”

Gabe said hello as Lance jumped into the truck bed and began shifting bags from the front to the back so they could be unloaded more easily. He was probably showing off to his girlfriend, though it hardly seemed necessary since they both looked like lovesick puppies.

It won’t last, Gabe thought to himself.

Love was just a series of chemical reactions that didn’t survive for long.

* * *

JAMIE WATCHED LANCE WORKING, and though they’d been dating for several weeks, excitement went through her. He was the most awesome guy in the world. They got together every afternoon, and on most days she was so anxious to see him that she didn’t wait to change out of her costume.

Lance made working at Poppy Gold even better, and she already loved it here. Though his shift started earlier than hers, they could sometimes have lunch together, or just get a chance to say hi.

“How is your class going?” Tessa asked.

“Um...not so good.” Jamie squirmed. She was taking a night course in early California history down in Stockton, but lately she hadn’t been attending many of the classes. “I might drop it.”

“Your mom won’t be happy about that.”

Her mom wasn’t happy about Lance, either. “She just doesn’t understand what it’s like to have a boyfriend.”

“I don’t want to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but she understands better than you think,” Tessa told her. “She just wants you to keep your options open.”

All of a sudden Jamie remembered that Poppy Gold had paid her tuition, and her face got hot. “I’ll pay the money back if I don’t finish the class,” she said quickly. She hated studying or sitting through lectures when she could be with Lance, but it also bothered her that she hadn’t been attending. It was the same as breaking a promise.

“I’m not worried about the tuition, but what about having Lance drive to Stockton with you? He could wait while you’re in class, and you’d have the trip down to the valley and back to be together.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Jamie agreed doubtfully.

She was sure her cousin was going to say one of those things like, “If he really cares about you...” but Tessa was looking at Uncle Liam.

Jamie sighed. Sometimes it was sad to see Uncle Liam because he was unhappy so often. Her mom and the rest of the family had worried that he’d leave and they’d never get to see him again. They said it didn’t make sense that in-laws sometimes stopped acting like family when their wife or husband died. It was hard enough without Aunt Meredith; if Uncle Liam was gone, too, it would be awful. She just wanted him to start smiling more.

“Hey.” Tessa nudged her. “What are you looking so gloomy about?”

“Nothing.” It wasn’t true, but Jamie didn’t want to upset her cousin. “Uh, you know, Mom is uptight about Lance. Do you think it’s his motorcycle?”

“Could be. Motorcycles make some people uncomfortable—especially in Glimmer Creek since those two biker gangs got into a fight here a few years ago.”

“Lance isn’t in a gang.”

“I realize that, but take a car to Stockton if he wants to go with you. It’ll make Aunt Emma happier, and I won’t get into as much trouble for suggesting you go together.”

Jamie laughed. “Mom could never get mad at you.”

“I wouldn’t count on that.”

Lance dusted his hands and came over. “We’re all done, ma’am...I mean, Tessa. Are those the new apples for the orchard?” He pointed to the rows of trees that had come off the truck last.

“Some of them. I understand a section of the ground is nearly ready for cultivation.”

“Yes...ma...uh, Tessa. I should be able to start planting by the end of this week.”

“Great. Pop will show you what to do when you’re ready.”

Jamie stepped closer to Lance. He had a hard time calling Tessa and Uncle Liam by their first names, as if he’d get in trouble for doing it or something weird like that. She’d guessed that Lance had gotten into some kind of trouble before coming to Poppy Gold, but Uncle Liam had still hired him. Lance wouldn’t talk that much about the past—he could be moody sometimes—but she was crazy about him, anyhow.

“Let’s go down by the creek,” she whispered. “Unless you’re hungry.”

“Let’s eat later.” Lance put his arm around her waist, and they said goodbye.

“It really is okay to call them Tessa and Liam,” she said, holding up her long skirt as they went to her favorite place along the stream.

“I know.”

She took off her shoes and stockings to stick her feet in the water. Her dresses were hot when the weather warmed up, but she loved the costumes, especially the elegant hats. A lot of Poppy Gold employees who worked in areas such as Guest Registration or giving tours liked to wear costumes. The historical society made them, and she got first pick because her mom was the president.

Lance poked around the rocks in the creek with a stick. “I wish that was real gold down there, not pyrite.”

“If it was real, it wouldn’t be there any longer,” Jamie said practically.

“But it—”

Suddenly he slipped on a rock, pitching forward into the water.

A shriek escaped Jamie, and she splashed to his side. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Dumbass thing to do,” he muttered, rubbing his head. “And you got your costume wet.”

“That doesn’t matter. Let’s go sit down.”

“At least we’re cooler now,” Lance said once they were settled on the creek bank with just their toes in the flowing current.

She laughed and squeezed his hand.

“Does anyone ever find real gold in the creek?” Lance asked after a few minutes. “I know there’s a place where people pan for it, but I haven’t heard that they get any.”

“Sometimes they do. And when I was little I heard that someone in California went hiking and kicked a cow patty—only it wasn’t a cow patty, it was a big lump of gold. Pounds and pounds of it.”

Lance’s eye widened. “Really?”

“Yeah. People in Glimmer Creek started kicking cow patties for a while after that, but it is poop, you know.”

“I wouldn’t care about the poop if I found that much gold, because then I could really take care of you. And I’m going to. Someday I’ll make it big, and you won’t have to worry about anything.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d talked about taking care of her, which was old-fashioned, even in Glimmer Creek, but really cute.

“I’m not worried, so don’t start kicking cow poop for me.” She put her head on his shoulder, so happy she could cry.

* * *

GABE LIFTED WEIGHTS at the fitness center for over an hour before returning to the small studio he’d rented in town. It was actually a cottage, in a cluster that had once been an old 1920s motor court. Despite their age, Glimmer Cottages were well maintained, and they were only a block from Poppy Gold.

In his room, Gabe pulled out his computer and opened his internet browser, linking through his smartphone. Finding the information he wanted didn’t take long, and he cursed as he stared at the screen. Tessa was the granddaughter of Patrick Connor, who owned Connor Enterprises, a huge import-export company, just like the one the McKinley family had started two generations back.

Since the two businesses were in the same field, it could certainly help Connor Enterprises to undercut TIP. One of the major agreements that had fallen through for TIP was a deal to import specialty food items from Southeast Asia. In turn, it had caused the failure of a chain of contracts under negotiation, costing TIP a small fortune. According to the Connor Enterprises website, it also imported comestibles from Southeast Asia.

Gabe quickly connected with his brother on Skype.

“Hey, bro,” Rob answered. He was obviously still at his office at TIP. “Having fun plunging toilets?”

“Very amusing. My duties are limited to grounds maintenance, but I’m volunteering to be on call for anything else.”

Rob’s eyebrows shot upward. “Grounds maintenance? You’re kidding, right? You can’t tell a petunia from an oak tree.”

Gabe winced. “Don’t remind me. Earlier I was going to pull a weed when Tessa Connor objected—turns out it was something called foxglove that her mother had planted.”

“Isn’t that stuff poisonous?”

Poisonous? Gabe tucked the information away. It was interesting but not particularly relevant.

“I’ll have to look it up. What do you know about an import company called Connor Enterprises?”

His brother’s face sobered. “It’s only one of TIP’s biggest business rivals, that’s all. Oh, damn... Connor. Surely there isn’t a connection.”

“Sorry to disappoint you. Tessa is the owner’s granddaughter and worked there until a year or so ago. As far as I can tell, she and her father are Patrick Connor’s only heirs, aside from his wife.”

“I’m surprised Liam isn’t working in the family company. Maybe he’s a rebel like you.”

Gabe ignored the rebel comment. He wasn’t a rebel, but it would have gagged him to work for TIP. The only thing he’d regretted about enlisting so young was not being around to look after his younger brother.

“How did Liam end up in Glimmer Creek?” Rob wondered.

“I’ll try to find out. Tell me why TIP started coming to Poppy Gold in the first place.”

“All I know is that someone in the personnel department recommended it. I’ll look into the details, but I can’t believe Tessa or her father are involved. They just aren’t the type.”

Gabe kept his face expressionless. His brother would be much better off if he developed a more realistic outlook on human nature. “It’s a fairly big coincidence, so we have to consider the possibility. Can you determine whether Connor Enterprises has profited directly from the information leaks? For example, did they get any of the contracts you lost?”

“I suppose. Are you still confident no one there will connect you with TIP?”

“It’s unlikely, provided we act like strangers when you get here. I needed to keep a low profile when I was a SEAL, and the TIP webmaster has never posted my picture or personal history on the company website—”

“Because you refused to allow it,” Rob interjected.

“And all TIP business documents identify me as David G. McKinley Jr.,” Gabe continued. “In addition, you and I don’t look alike.”

“True, I’m much better-looking.”

“Only in your dreams.”

Rob chuckled. He was fair and blue-eyed and possessed a boyishness that charmed women and disarmed opponents. Gabe, on the other hand, was dark-haired, taller, leaner and combat-scarred, and no one had ever accused him of being charming. Yet despite their differences, they’d always gotten along.

“I would have thought you’d crack the case wide open in four or five hours,” Rob told him. “Six at the most. I’m a taxpayer, I expect more from all that training you got in the navy. What does it cost to train a SEAL these days, twenty million bucks?”

Gabe snorted. “Not quite.”

“Tessa has a lot at stake here, too, since Poppy Gold’s reputation could be affected. I know we discussed it already, but it might be easier to simply ask for her help.”

“That isn’t a good idea. She and her father are logical suspects with their close ties to Connor Enterprises.”

“I suppose.”

They talked a while longer before logging off.

Skyping had made staying in contact easier over the past few years, though Gabe hadn’t always been able to connect in remote locations or when he was in a communications blackout.

Frowning, he reviewed both the town’s website and the one for Poppy Gold Inns to be sure he hadn’t missed anything in his original research. There was no information about Poppy Gold’s owners on either site, though there were several pages on the history of Glimmer Creek, maintained by the local historical society. The conference center also had a Facebook page with a huge number of “likes” and glowing customer comments. Basically, visitors loved everything from the fresh-baked cinnamon rolls to the distinctive weather vanes on the rooftops.

Gabe absently rubbed his left shoulder where he’d taken a bullet a few months before. It still ached at times, which was partly why he’d retired at thirty-eight instead of staying in the service as a desk jockey. If he couldn’t see himself behind a desk at TIP, it would be almost as distasteful in the navy. The navy docs had cleared him for active duty, but he’d known that his arm wasn’t quite as strong as it used to be. The difference would matter only in a life-or-death situation...but that was the problem. The risk of letting down a member of his SEAL team was too great.

With a frown, he did a long series of push-ups, hoping to clear his mind of everything else.

* * *

TESSA WOKE UP in the middle of the night, a recurring nightmare making her heart race.

“Mrrrooow,” cried Mr. Fezziwig, and she reached out a hand to stroke his fur. A low purr rumbled in his chest, gradually growing louder until it resonated like a motorboat.

She let out a breath and tried to shake off the dream. In it, she fell into a dark, nameless depth, and as always, she’d awakened before she could catch herself.

Mr. Fezziwig rolled until his back was snuggled against her chest, and she tucked her chin on top of his head, appreciating his comforting presence. She wished she could keep him in her apartment permanently, but he was a social cat and delighted in the parade of humans through his life.

“Hey,” she whispered to Mr. Fezziwig, “why don’t you like Gabe McKinley?”

He just purred.

Tessa closed her eyes. Though the occasional whispers of sound through the house usually didn’t disturb her, tonight each one seemed magnified. But the most annoying part of not being able to go back to sleep was that she couldn’t stop thinking about Poppy Gold Inns’ newest employee.

There was something about Gabe that nagged at her. He seemed familiar in a way. She just couldn’t figure out why. If she’d met him casually, it wouldn’t matter, but anything that affected Poppy Gold was important.

She might have to look him up on the internet. He didn’t seem the type for social media, but who knew what she might find?

Stop it, she ordered.

Being in charge was still rather new to her, and she tended to overthink everything. Besides, her father liked Gabe and he usually had good instincts about people. She needed to learn to trust that.

CHAPTER THREE

ON THURSDAY GABE went to the fitness center before dawn as he had the previous two mornings. He always started his day with exercise, but he had also discovered it was a good time to meet other Poppy Gold employees.

While he didn’t really need to question them—just listen as they chatted and teased each other—he was drawn into their conversations, regardless. It was the same with the employee lunchroom. They were a gregarious group.

“I heard you just got a new car,” he commented to Cheryl Clark as they ran side by side on the treadmills. Poppy Gold employees didn’t gossip about the guests, but they made up for it talking about each other. It was a great source of information.

“Yeah, a cherry-red Mercedes,” Cheryl said breathlessly. “Picked it up a few weeks ago. Brand-new. A real beauty.”

Gabe nearly missed a step. A Mercedes was an expensive vehicle for a low-level housekeeper, and he’d heard she was dating a guy who worked at the local drugstore—unlikely to have any wealth to share with her.

“Mercedes are nice cars,” he said. “I’ll have to take a look for it in the employee parking area.”

“That baby purrs like a kitten. I love it.” She switched to a cool-off pace. “That ass, Nate, thinks it’s stupid. He says I should have bought a truck like him, but I wanted something that says luxury. Besides, what do I need a truck for?”

Nate Dixon worked in the Poppy Gold maintenance division and had just bought a new, fully loaded truck. He’d proudly shown it off in the employee parking lot two days ago during lunch. Then he’d sniggered about Cheryl’s “snooty” choice. Before Gabe could ask what kind of car she’d chosen, one of the other employees had mentioned Nate boasting about paying off the house he’d bought a couple of years before.

The conversation had given Gabe two potential suspects—Poppy Gold employees spending well beyond their apparent income. He was still checking them out. There was nothing to explain their spending on the internet, but the local newspaper had only a limited online presence. He’d have to see if there were back issues at the library.

On the other hand, would Cheryl or Nate boast about their acquisitions if they had anything to hide?

Probably.

He’d dealt with a wide range of people over the years—dictators, spies, technology thieves—anything the navy chose to call on a SEAL to handle. His joint operations with the CIA had given him an even broader scope of experience. And one of the things he’d learned was that people liked to show off, whether it was their money, knowledge or power.

* * *

BY FRIDAY MORNING Lance had finished tilling a section of the ground that would be used for the new apple orchard, and he watched carefully as Mr. Connor showed him how to plant the saplings. He was grateful to Poppy Gold for hiring him and didn’t want to mess up, though the way they did things seemed weird. Why grow apples when you could just buy them at a grocery store?

“I’ve never heard of red astrachans,” he said.

Mr. Connor smiled. “Most people haven’t. They’re an heirloom apple. My grandmother grew up on a farm and loved both the red and white varieties. She always claimed they made the best pies. I told Tessa how good they’re supposed to be, so she suggested planting them at Poppy Gold.”

“You’ve never tasted one?”

“Afraid not. By the time I came along, my great-grandparents’ orchard had become a parking lot for a shopping center.” Mr. Connor handed him the shovel. “Think you can take it from here?”

“No problem,” Lance assured him.

Planting trees should be a piece of cake compared with cutting brush and digging out rocks. He’d never seen so many rocks, and the roots were even tougher to get out. Not that he minded. Doing all that cutting and digging sort of cleared his head.

He was especially proud of the wall he’d built with the rocks. Liam had mentioned they expected to build walls with the extra rocks and had been pleased when Lance had started the job without even being told.

It was weird living in a dinky joint like Glimmer Creek, though. He wasn’t even sure why he’d stopped there; he’d just wanted to get away from all the crap in Sacramento. If anything, he would have expected people in such a small town to be even snottier than in the city, figuring they wouldn’t like outsiders, but a lot of them were nice. Of course, a few still looked at him funny, especially when they saw his bike.

Jamie’s mom was a doctor and didn’t seem too sure of him, either—probably because a guy who dug out rocks wasn’t that impressive. But he wasn’t going to dig holes and cut brush forever; he’d promised Jamie that he would take care of her, and it was exactly what he planned to do.

Now he just had to figure out how.

Lance remembered the story about an old cow patty turning out to be gold and decided Jamie was right; kicking cow droppings probably wasn’t going to make him rich.

He’d never known anyone like her. The girls in high school had giggled all the time and teased him about being too quiet. But Jamie didn’t mind when he wanted to be quiet; they would just hold hands and take a walk or something.

Not that he’d dated many girls in school. He’d found out that most parents didn’t approve of their daughter going out with a foster kid, especially once they heard his dad was in prison. It was as if they thought you were damaged if you didn’t have a regular family. The school counselor had claimed he was exaggerating, but Lance didn’t think so. He’d never forgotten a story he’d read about how “amazing” it was that some rich guy had succeeded, despite growing up in foster homes. He may not have gotten good grades in school, but he wasn’t stupid.

Mr. Connor left and Lance began measuring out the proper distance to put between the trees, marking each spot before digging the second hole. Planting each tree took a while, and he was sweating by the time he finished planting the fourth red astrachan.

Just fourteen more to go, he thought, wiping his forehead. It might be easier to dig big holes than pull out rocks, but it was still hard work. For a moment he felt kind of dizzy, so he gulped down some water. Mr. Connor kept telling him to drink enough fluids, especially on a warm day, and would put extra sports drinks in his pack, just to be sure.

Lance put the bottle away and watered the fourth tree. Then he picked up the shovel and began digging a hole for the next one.

* * *

TESSA HURRIED OVER to Old City Hall midmorning. She was playing catch-up on her work as usual, but she wanted to greet the leader of the Talmadge Guild Association before the first meeting. The guild was now on its third visit, and while they could be fussy about their arrangements, they were nice people.

“Hi, Charlotte,” she called, spotting the chairwoman getting out of the courtesy shuttle they provided from the perimeter parking areas.

Charlotte Angstrom turned and smiled. “Good morning, Tessa. Did you orchestrate this lovely weather for us?”

Tessa grinned. “Absolutely. The ballroom is arranged for the banquet tonight and the concert hall for this afternoon’s meet and greet. Do you need any help getting set up?”

“I’d be happy to assist.” The unexpected sound of Gabe’s deep voice made Tessa jump, and she realized he’d come around the corner of Old City Hall, carrying a wide push broom.

Charlotte beamed. “How nice of you to offer. I’m Charlotte Angstrom,” she said.

“Gabe McKinley.”

“Gabe is a new employee,” Tessa explained. “He’s always eager to help where needed.”

In the four days since Gabe had started with Poppy Gold, he’d been very keen to volunteer for anything that needed doing.

“Excellent,” Charlotte said briskly. “I’m a tired old lady, so it’s wonderful to have a pair of willing hands. Join me upstairs.” She turned and strode up the steps of Old City Hall like a general going to war.

“Don’t buy that ‘tired old lady’ bit,” Tessa advised Gabe. “Charlotte is the founder of Angel Bite Cookies. She has more drive than both of us put together.”

“Is that a big company?”

“They’re huge. Angel Bites went from a business started in her kitchen to one of the most popular gourmet cookie-makers in North America.”

“Now she leads a crafters’ association?”

“Her son convinced her to retire, so she got involved in several organizations. But she still takes time to develop new recipes for the company. You should taste her Little Devils. They debuted last year and are absolutely divine.”

“Little Devils from a company called Angel Bites?”

“Mmm, yes. They’re a dark chocolate cookie with a hint of hot chili pepper. Incredible.”

Amazingly, a smile lurked in Gabe’s eyes. “I’ll take your word for it. I’d better go assist Ms. Angstrom before I get court-martialed. She reminds me of a commanding officer I once had—he was easy to get along with, provided everything got done his way.”

Tessa had to laugh. Charlotte could be a challenge.

Gabe went inside Old City Hall, and Tessa started her final review of the arrangements. The guild offered classes on making American patchwork quilts at the annual conference. This year the reservations had skyrocketed, and they were using all the meeting spaces available at Poppy Gold.

The other participants had begun arriving by the time Tessa finished. She was racing from the far side of Poppy Gold toward the concert hall when Gabe made another one of his unexpected appearances.

“Um, hi,” Tessa said, her pulse jumping with surprise. For a tall, strong guy, he could move awfully fast.

“Hi. Liam is concerned that you might not have eaten.”

Tessa looked at her watch and saw it was after one o’clock. Her dad often had someone track her down to see if she’d eaten lunch, but he usually sent a member of the family.

“Tell him I’ll get something after I stop in at the guild meet and greet.”

Gabe handed her a covered cup and a straw. “He figured as much, so he made something. I volunteered to bring it over since I was coming this way to do cleanup on the parking areas.”

Resigned, she unwrapped the straw and stuck it in the cup. It held one of Liam’s special concoctions—blended frozen fruit, yogurt and protein powder. As a teen she’d been very active, hating to stop for meals, so he’d begun making smoothies. Her dad had always been a mother hen, and since it gave him something productive to think about, she didn’t object to him fussing at her now.

The biggest problem was when he hinted about grandchildren and suggested she start dating again. She wasn’t opposed to the idea, even with her concerns about the risks of falling in love; she just didn’t have time. Perhaps in a year or two when things had settled down at Poppy Gold.

Of course, her Glimmer Creek relatives were also in full matchmaking mode. Just a few weeks earlier she’d been invited to dinner at her aunt Polly’s house, only to discover Polly had invited the high school principal as well...who just happened to be single. He was a nice guy and had called a couple of times since, but Tessa wasn’t interested. No sparks.

She started walking toward the concert hall again, and Gabe fell into step next to her. It wasn’t uncommon to have employees try to score points with her, but he didn’t seem the type.

In spite of her reservations and the lack of information she’d been able to find about him, she couldn’t deny that he worked hard. He also seemed to relate well to her father; the previous evening she’d found them in Maintenance, talking away as they poked through the innards of the 1928 pickup. It was Pop’s favorite vehicle, and he didn’t let just anyone touch it. Then she’d heard they’d gone to dinner together. She would have teased her father about having a bromance, but she didn’t think he’d understand.

“Ms. Angstrom mentioned you were business associates in San Francisco before she retired,” Gabe commented.

Tessa shrugged. “I made a lot of contacts working for my grandfather. In college, too.”

“Those contacts must be helpful now that you’re running Poppy Gold. Do many of them book conferences here?”

“Some. We’ve had corporate retreats, weddings, class reunions, all sorts of stuff. My folks began promoting Poppy Gold as a conference center three years ago, so some of our clients have been coming here since then.”

Tessa gulped down the last mouthful of the smoothie and shivered, despite the warm air. She tossed the cup in a trash can near the entrance of the concert hall.

“I’ve got work to do, and you mentioned needing to work on the parking lots, so you’d better get going,” she said firmly.

* * *

BEFORE GABE COULD LEAVE, he felt a vibration under his feet.

A truck?

He looked around, expecting to see the antique truck that Liam favored. For the most part Poppy Gold restricted modern vehicles in the old town area, though they used electric golf carts when needed.

The vibration grew more pronounced, and he heard a faint roaring sound.

Visitors began running through the doors of the concert hall crying, “Earthquake!”

Without batting an eye, Tessa directed everyone to the old town square park across the street, at the same time urging them to watch their step and remain calm. When the rush had ended, she got on the radio.

“Central dispatch, this is Tessa. I’m with Gabe McKinley. We’re fine. Let’s follow Response Plan C. Gabe and I will team up and start checking buildings, beginning with the concert hall, going counterclockwise. Let my father know where Gabe will be for a while.”

“Okay, Tessa. I’ll take the lead from Old City Hall.”

“Thanks, Aunt Polly.”

Gabe lifted an eyebrow. Response Plan C had been discussed in the operations handbook and was far more extensive than such a minor event warranted. It included accounting for employees and making a visual sweep of every space in Poppy Gold. There were no preassigned teams, so emergency coordinators called on whoever was available. The goal of the plan was to continue services with as little disruption as possible while checking to ensure both buildings and guests were all right.

“Damage seems unlikely,” he said to Tessa. “The quake was minor.”

“I know, and all the buildings were reinforced a few years ago, but I want to do a quick check, anyway. Besides...” Tessa continued, dropping her voice, “a number of the conference attendees are older. If any of them have health problems, there’s no telling how they’ll react, particularly if they’ve never been in an earthquake. What’s minor to us may not be minor to them.”

“I understand.”

They went inside the concert hall and inspected the main room, restrooms, storage areas and kitchen, ensuring no one was there who might have been injured in the rush to exit the building.

“The concert hall is okay,” Tessa reported to her aunt on the radio.

“Got it, Tessa.”

Before continuing to the next building, they went out to speak with the guests in the small park, only to have Charlotte Angstrom inform them that she had everything in hand. She had her expert quilters giving impromptu lectures on the history of American patchwork to relax everybody. In the meantime she was marking names on her roster to account for everyone who’d registered.

Tessa nodded. “Thanks, Charlotte. It’s fine to go back inside now.”

“Heavens, I know that. I’ve never seen so much drama in my life—one of our guild members from the East Coast yelled for everybody to run outside, and it practically started a stampede. I wouldn’t even get out of bed for a quake this small.”

“I can’t imagine an earthquake daring to wake you up,” Tessa teased.

The older woman chuckled and marched off with her clipboard.

“That’s a very impressive lady,” Gabe murmured.

“She certainly is. I’ve always—”

“Ms. Connor, where’s Jamie? I can’t find her,” interrupted an anxious voice.

“Take it easy, Lance, Jamie is fine.” Tessa patted the young man’s arm. “I heard her status reported over the radio. She was giving a tour to a school group and has taken them to the general store for lemonade.”

The alarm on Lance Beckley’s face began to fade, and his breathing slowed. “Oh.” He looked at Gabe. “I wasn’t scared, except for Jamie. Honest.”

Gabe didn’t know why the kid had wanted to make the assertion to him—they’d spoken only a few times—but he inclined his head in acknowledgment.

“Lance, I want you to report to Polly Murphy,” Tessa said. “She’s coordinating in Old City Hall and will let you know if there’s something you need to do.”

“Okay.”

Lance left, and they headed first to the historic church, then to the Gold Rail Hotel. Most of the occupants had gone to the guild’s meet and greet, though a few remained in the downstairs parlor—primarily husbands who’d already called their wives to check on them and had returned to relaxing with their newspapers. While focused on the task at hand, Gabe also noted that Tessa carried a master key, giving her access to all rooms in the historic building.

From there they went to the Glimmer Creek Train Depot. It was quiet, with historic re-creations and discreet exhibits about early California railroad history on the ground level.

“The Beckley kid sure overreacted,” Gabe commented as they climbed the stairs to the second floor.

“He was worried about Jamie.”

“There wasn’t any cause for concern. The other day he mentioned growing up in California, so he must have experienced earthquakes.”

“I think it’s sweet that his first thought was for Jamie’s safety,” Tessa murmured, opening doors and looking into each office.

She really was a sentimentalist, or else putting on a darned good act.

“You don’t know it was his first thought,” Gabe retorted. “He might have just told you what you wanted to hear.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you always this cynical?”

“I’m just being realistic.”

“That isn’t what I call it.”

A static burst came over the radio, followed by a report to Tessa that two large pottery planter pots had knocked together and cracked in the garden at the Victorian Cat.

Damage to a garden feature seemed inconsequential, but the expression on Tessa’s face tightened. “Thanks, Aunt Polly. How are the cats?”

“They seem to be fine, but Mrs. Canter asked if you could stop by when you have a chance. Moby Dick is hiding, and she wants to be sure that he’s all right.”

“Will do. The train depot is clear.”

“That’s everything, then. The city building inspector is doing a walk-through, but he doesn’t anticipate any issues,” explained the woman on the other end of the radio. “Are you, um, going over to see your dad?”

Tessa pressed a finger to her temple. “After I stop in at the guild’s meet and greet and before I check on Moby Dick. Is Pop at the VC?”

“Yes.”

“Thanks.” Tessa glanced at her watch. “Will you also call Sarah and see if she has additional munchies available to put out at the concert hall? It might improve the mood over there.”

“Already done. Talk to you later.”

Gabe stayed with Tessa as she walked toward the concert hall again. “Who is Sarah?” he asked.

“What?” Tessa gave him a distracted look. “Oh, one of my cousins. She has a bakery and catering business. We have a contract with her to provide all the food and beverages served at Poppy Gold.”

Gabe thought about the interrelations of family working for the conference center. Having so many people intimately connected meant more potential cohorts who might be willing to look the other way in case of wrongdoing. Even when appalled by their behavior, people often hesitated to blow the whistle on a relative.

The old town square park was quiet once more, and they found everyone back in the concert hall. A few were nervously discussing the earthquake, but most were chatting about the upcoming conference and classes. Contrary to what he would have expected, a number of them were fairly young.

“I thought everyone from a craft organization would be a grandmotherly type,” he commented when he and Tessa were back outside.

“Don’t say that to anyone in there,” she advised hastily. “The guild gets all ages. People are fascinated by American patchwork. It’s one of the few art forms that originated in the United States. My mom used to have weekly quilting bees, and our guests loved attending.”

“You aren’t going to revive the custom yourself?”

“When I have more time. Possibly this fall. You should head back to Maintenance now,” Tessa suggested as they crossed the street.

“I thought we were teaming up for the rest of the day on earthquake tasks.” Gabe tried to make the comment sound innocent. He was having trouble getting a handle on Tessa, so an excuse to spend the afternoon with her was a windfall.

“We were only teamed for the building checks following the earthquake.”

“I should still check with your father to see if he wants me to work on the parking lots, or if there’s something more critical now.”

* * *

WHILE IT WAS a valid consideration, frustration welled in Tessa. She wanted to talk to her dad in private. Liam was unpredictable these days, but it was a fair guess that he’d be unhappy about any damage at the Victorian Cat. It had been the first place her parents had restored when they were developing Poppy Gold, and they’d lived in the apartment there until she was four.

On the other hand, maybe it would help to have Gabe around. The two men obviously got along well, though Tessa wasn’t sure what Pop saw in the former navy man. They were complete opposites. Her father, despite the realities of running a large bed-and-breakfast business, still had faith in people, while Gabe seemed to be a hard-nosed skeptic with the sensitivity of a bulldozer.

“All right,” she acceded reluctantly.

Tessa walked swiftly toward the Victorian Cat. The earthquake, however minor, had disrupted a busy afternoon, but at least the staff’s emergency-preparedness training had paid off.

“Hey, Pop,” she called as she entered the garden and saw him cutting faded roses from a bush.

He smiled, though he still looked melancholy. The broken ginger jar–style pots were nearby. They were tall and made of fired cobalt pottery. Seven of them surrounded a birdbath, with flowers spilling over the sides. A smug brass cat sat in the middle of the water, as if daring any bird to come for its daily bath.

It was one of the focal points her mother had created in the gardens at Poppy Gold, and a pang went through Tessa. The rounded sides of two pots had smacked together, and nearly identical chunks of pottery had broken off, exposing the soil inside.

“We were lucky—it looks as if this is the only damage,” she said, determinedly upbeat. “But it’s okay. We can turn the pots so the breaks are pointed toward the birdbath until we get them repaired or replaced. The holes won’t be visible once the trailing flowers grow out more.”

“Yes, of course. That’s what your mother would have done. Did you get your lunch? I worry when you don’t eat.”

“You don’t need to worry, but I drank your smoothie.” She kissed his cheek, thinking that he was far more prone to missing meals than her. “Thanks, it was delicious.”

“Thank Gabe, he brought it to you.”

“Mmm, yes. He wants to know if you have a special work assignment for him,” she said.

“If needed, I can stay with Tessa and continue helping with any earthquake-related tasks,” Gabe volunteered.

“We’re done,” Tessa said adamantly. “Checking on Moby Dick and Mrs. Canter is mostly a social call. Pop, wasn’t Gabe supposed to be inspecting the parking areas?”

“Oh, yes, he can continue with that,” Liam said. He turned back to the roses, his hand shaking as he cut an additional faded bloom from the bush and dropped it in a basket.

Tessa hurried into the Victorian Cat, pleased to be alone. Gabe’s watchfulness made her nervous.

Upstairs she knocked on the door of the Tea Party suite and called, “Mrs. Canter, it’s Tessa from Poppy Gold management. You wanted me to check on Moby Dick.”

A moment later, a white-haired lady opened the door. “The poor dear was sitting on my lap when the earthquake started, but now he’s hiding under the bed.”

She stepped back, and Tessa crossed to the bed to peer under the edge. Moby Dick stared back at her, blinked and began purring. The little faker. He was a flirt, pretending to be shy when guests arrived, then allowing them to coax him with treats.

He came out and head-butted her leg.

“How wonderful,” Mrs. Canter exclaimed. “You have such a way with cats, Tessa. I knew he’d feel better if you reassured him.”

Tessa dropped several treats on the ground, and Moby Dick gobbled them up. “We’re old buddies. I wouldn’t worry about him. He’s...um, resourceful.”

She’d almost said manipulative, but Mrs. Canter was one of those cat lovers who thought they were perfect angels without a devious bone in their bodies. Her twice-a-year visits to Poppy Gold had begun when Tessa was a teenager and Moby Dick was a tiny ball of white fur.

“How are you doing, Mrs. Canter?” Tessa asked. “I hope you didn’t get shaken up too badly.”

The elderly woman chuckled. “Goodness, I live in Tacoma, Washington. I’ve been through my share of earthquakes, including the Nisqually Quake in 2001. That one was a six point eight, and it cracked the foundation on my house.”

“I’ve only been in minor quakes. Something that powerful must have been frightening.”

Mrs. Canter shook her head. “Mostly I was annoyed when a plant upended over my computer keyboard. Potting soil everywhere. Fortunately the CPU was under the desk and got spared.”

“That’s good to hear. I have to go now, but I hope to see you again before you leave.”

Out in the hallway, Tessa drew a deep breath. She’d wanted to make some client phone calls that afternoon, but it might be best to continue making rounds and ensure everything was running smoothly.

CHAPTER FOUR

LANCE DIDN’T GET a chance to talk to Jamie until she finished her shift at 5:00 p.m. When she came out of Old City Hall, he pulled her close.

“I tried to find you after it happened,” he said. “Tessa told me you were okay and asked me to report to Mrs. Murphy.”

Jamie snuggled in. “I was with a school group.”

“Were you scared?”

She tipped her head back and scrunched her nose. “Not really. We don’t have many earthquakes around Glimmer Creek, but I was so busy telling the kids it was all right that I didn’t think about it.”

“Yeah. I got dizzy before it happened, but now I think it was a small tremor before the bigger quake.”

Jamie looked worried. “What if it wasn’t? You hit your head in the creek on Monday. What if you cracked your skull or something? You know my mom is a doctor and she could—”

“No,” Lance interrupted.

He didn’t want anything to do with a doctor...especially if it was Jamie’s mother and might involve X-rays or something. A few years ago, the school nurse had insisted he go to the emergency room after one of his “accidents,” and they’d asked a bunch of questions. Knowing his foster father would be furious if he told the truth, Lance had lied about falling from a skateboard. After all, it wasn’t as if they were going to do anything to keep the creep from knocking his foster kids around, so why make more trouble for himself?

“Please, Jamie, there’s nothing wrong with me,” he added, seeing hurt in her face.

She didn’t understand; her family had asked all sorts of questions the few times they’d met, like what he wanted to do with his life and about his folks. The Fullertons were nice and didn’t push when he gave them vague answers, but he wasn’t stupid. “Nice” kids had families. If Jamie’s parents learned he’d grown up in foster care and about the mess in Sacramento, they might say she had to stop seeing him.

“I just want to go sit by the creek. Okay, Jamie?”

She didn’t mention it again, but she still seemed worried as she brushed his hair back from the sore spot on his forehead. It was nothing. He’d gotten worse than that a hundred times.

At the creek they sat down by the water, and he pulled a small box from his pocket. “I got something for you.”

Jamie opened the box, and she brightened when she saw the bracelet with a miniature, silver, poppy flower charm attached. “I love it.”

He helped her put it on, and she turned her wrist back and forth, admiring the bracelet, before kissing his cheek.

“It’s perfect, but you don’t have to keep buying me stuff.”

“I like to.”

“I like giving you presents, too,” Jamie said. She reached into her pocket and handed him a bag from the gift emporium on the pedestrian shopping street. Inside was a new pair of sunglasses. “I hope they fit. I know you don’t like wearing a hat.”

“They’re awesome.”

Lance’s chest ached as he put on the sunglasses. He’d hardly ever gotten presents growing up. Sometimes one of his foster mothers had given him a gift for his birthday or Christmas, but it would mostly be stuff she would have bought him anyhow, like a shirt or socks.

But Jamie gave him real presents, not even waiting for his birthday.

He gulped and kissed her.

The idea of losing Jamie was more than he could stand. Somehow he had to find a way to prove to her family that he wasn’t a loser on a loud, beat-up motorcycle. They wanted her to go to college, not just take a few night courses the way she was doing now, so they’d never think a maintenance guy at Poppy Gold was good enough.

Jamie leaned against him as he tried to think of ways to make more money.

Poppy Gold paid him okay, and the Connors were the nicest people he’d ever met besides Jamie, but once the orchards got planted, would they be willing to have him do something else? Or would he need to find a way to start over again?

* * *

“THANKS, STEPHEN,” TESSA said to the city building inspector after he’d given her an all-clear report on Poppy Gold’s buildings.

“Wood-frame structures are fairly resilient in small quakes, but it doesn’t hurt to check,” he said earnestly.

She tried to keep from smiling. Stephen Seibert was an eager beaver—recently out of graduate school—and he relished any opportunity to employ his knowledge.

“Your concern is appreciated,” she assured him.

He grinned and left, probably intent on continuing his efforts in the rest of Glimmer Creek.

Tessa had spent the afternoon talking to guests and employees to be sure they weren’t worried about the earthquake. You never knew how people would react. A few of their out-of-state visitors had rattled nerves, but on the whole, everybody was calm.

At the end of the day she stepped out of Old City Hall and saw Gabe emptying a trash can in the park.

She sighed and walked over, wondering if she’d been too curt with him earlier.

“Hasn’t your shift ended?” she asked.

“I looked at the maintenance checklist and saw a few things that didn’t get done today because of the quake. So I told Liam I’d take care of the ones that were highest priority. I’m just finishing up.”

“I appreciate it, but be sure to put in for overtime.”

Gabe cleared his throat as she started to turn away.

“Tessa, why are the broken ceramic pots a big deal? They’re just flowerpots.”

She hesitated, unsure he’d understand how it hurt her father to lose anything connected to her mother. She’d never seen two people as close as her parents. They’d lived for each other, and that made it even harder to think about falling in love herself. How could anything live up to the standard her mom and dad had set? At the same time, she really wanted children. She knew she could do that on her own, but if possible, she wanted to give her kids a mom and a dad.

“I’ve mentioned that my mother designed the gardens. She died unexpectedly a year and a half ago, and Pop is still struggling,” Tessa said slowly, trying to ignore the empty sensation in her stomach. “He feels connected to Mom when he’s surrounded by the things she loved, so when he found the pots were damaged, it was like losing another little part of her.”

“You, too?”

“In a way. Have you ever lost someone who meant that much?”

“I saw death in the navy, but nobody close.”

“I’m sure it’s still hard to lose someone you’ve served with or were trying to help.”

A strained expression flashed across Gabe’s face and was gone so fast she couldn’t guess the source. Despite the way he’d dismissed the deaths he’d seen, it seemed to her that few people were genuinely impervious to sorrow. They just pushed it down and refused to acknowledge it existed. Still, whatever pain Gabe might feel, he deserved his privacy.

“You were telling me about your mother,” he prompted as he replaced the liner in the trash can he’d emptied.

“My mom got involved in everything, whether it was the church rummage sale or a campaign to buy new books for the library. It seemed impossible she could go so quickly. The whole town was in shock when she died. Everybody adored her.”

* * *

GABE WAS WILLING to concede that many parents were better than his, but Tessa’s mother must have had her share of faults, and putting her on a pedestal couldn’t be productive.

It was just one of those strange things that happened with grief.

One of his men had lost his fiancée in a skiing accident, and after he returned from the funeral, he’d called her the most beautiful and talented woman in the world, along with a few other superlatives. He’d also seemed distracted and depressed and had spent a great deal of time reading his fiancée’s Bible. Gabe had sent him to the base chaplain for counseling and then put him back on leave.

“How did your parents meet, anyway?” he asked, trying to keep his tone casual. It still seemed curious that Patrick Connor’s son had ended up in a town like Glimmer Creek.

“After Pop got out of the army, he didn’t want to go into the business right away, so his father sent him to Glimmer Creek to sell the family holdings here. A week after arriving, he met my mom at an ice-cream social, and it was love at first sight. They got married a month later.”

“That sounds like the plot of one of those sappy made-for-TV Christmas movies,” Gabe muttered, a second later realizing how rude he must have sounded.

Tessa’s lips thinned, then she smiled. “It does, doesn’t it? We used to joke about it. Pop would say he wanted Tom Hanks to play him and Meg Ryan to play my mom.”

“Did your mother have Meg Ryan’s blond hair and blue eyes?”

“Yup, just like me. Only Mom was taller. I’m the shrimp in the family.”

“I’m having trouble sorting out your relatives. They seem to be everywhere.”

“That isn’t surprising. My mom’s side of the family is all over Glimmer Creek, and a lot of them work for us.”

“But your paternal grandfather owned Poppy Gold?”

“That’s tied up with the town’s history and how Poppy Gold was originally called Connor’s Folly. Glimmer Creek was a mining camp during the 1849 Gold Rush, and Seamus O’Connor, my great-great-something grandfather, got rich here.”

Gabe tried to recall the California history he’d learned as a kid. “I thought most of the forty-niners barely found enough gold to buy food, much less become wealthy.”

“Yeah.” Tessa grinned. “That’s because they were paying three dollars for a single egg and twenty-five dollars a pound for cheese. Seamus quickly realized he could earn more gold selling groceries to prospectors than by breaking his back panning for it. Eventually he sold supplies from Placerville to Sonora. Made a fortune, even by today’s standards.”

Gabe frowned. “Where does the folly come in?”

“Well, in the late 1880s Seamus dropped the O from the beginning of his last name and moved his base of operations to San Francisco. But his great-grandson, James Connor, was a huge believer in preserving cultural heritage...or at least the heritage of the family business. So during the Great Depression, James came back and bought the old part of Glimmer Creek, piece by piece, to preserve it.”

“He was buying when everyone else was losing their shirts,” Gabe mused.

“That’s one way to look at it. James paid top dollar for the Victorians and remaining gold miners’ cabins, along with two hotels, the concert hall, courthouse, stores and city hall. Heck, he even purchased the old 1851 jail. Basically, almost everything from the town’s historical and cultural heyday. He couldn’t get the library that Andrew Carnegie built for Glimmer Creek, but almost everything else went.”

“Which is why the townspeople called it Connor’s Folly,” Gabe guessed.

“Yup, they laughed all the way to the bank. Even more after James bought the train station—trains had long since stopped running through the area. But he gave the town enough funds to build a new city center and modernize the water and sewer system, so Glimmer Creek thought it was worthwhile to relocate their operations.”

“Generous of him.”

Tessa nodded. “The way everybody saw it, James Connor spent a fortune on worthless land and buildings, and they got the money they needed to survive the Depression. Everybody was happy, though Glimmer Creek often worried that the Connors would eventually sell to developers.”

“Which meant they were happy when your father fell in love with a local girl and decided to live here.”

“Thrilled.”

“So how many relatives do you have?”

“Quite a few, though on the Connor side it’s just Pop and my grandparents in San Francisco. Mom, on the other hand, had nine brothers and sisters. Except for Uncle Kurt, all of them have three or more kids, as well. Most live around Glimmer Creek, along with great-aunts and great-uncles and all sorts of first and second cousins.”

Gabe suspected that tracking Tessa’s relatives could be a challenge. Rob had suggested asking her to help in the investigation, but she was still a suspect. Even if she wasn’t guilty, it seemed as if half of Poppy Gold employees were her relatives—and statistics alone suggested that one of them might be involved in the information thefts from TIP. Being related to Tessa wouldn’t necessarily keep them from seizing an opportunity to make illicit money.

And if she was responsible for the thefts, the damage to Poppy Gold Inns would be incalculable.

Before he could say anything else, Tessa straightened her shoulders. “I need to get going. As I said, be sure to put in for overtime. Thanks for your extra effort.” Her brisk tone was reminiscent of Charlotte Angstrom’s no-nonsense manner. “Have a good evening.”

Gabe watched her walk away with wry acceptance, surprised he’d gotten her to talk as much as he had. He just wasn’t the sort of guy who grew on people.

After signing out, he found Liam Connor in his office, gazing at a picture, oblivious to everything else. Recalling how the older man’s hands had trembled while working on the roses, Gabe looked around, half expecting to see a bottle of whiskey or another alcohol of choice. He’d seen the same tremor in his mother’s hands often enough.

“Is everything all right?” he asked finally.

Liam blinked and focused on him. “What? Yes, of course. I was just thinking about how much everything keeps changing, no matter how hard we try to keep it the same.”

Gabe sat in one of the chairs and stretched out his legs. For the past few days they’d chatted for a long while after work and had even gone out to eat together, though he still hadn’t asked the questions he wanted to ask. Maybe now was a good time.

“Do you miss managing Poppy Gold?” he asked.

“No. My...my wife mostly handled the business end. Things got a bit out of hand when I began running it alone. I considered selling, so Tessa quit her job in San Francisco to come back and take over.”

Interesting. Did “out of hand” mean they’d had financial trouble? Yet even as the question formed in Gabe’s mind, he dismissed it. Money problems could lead to bad decisions, but Poppy Gold still appeared quite prosperous.

“Tessa seems competent,” he said. “She never seems to stop moving.”

“She’s been that way since she was little. Full of energy, just like her mother. She came up most weekends from San Francisco to help out, even before my wife...” His voice trailed, and pain filled his eyes.

Gabe thought about Liam’s nickname for his daughter—Tessajinks. On the wall hung a photo of a mischievous-looking golden-haired toddler—presumably Tessa—who fit the cheeky name. Looking at it gave him an odd sensation. His years in the service had carried him into every corner of the globe, and he’d encountered children in the worst circumstances. Injured, hungry, sometimes staring into space with blank eyes... His gut clenched, and he forced his thoughts away from the images he could never quite forget.

His cell phone rang, and he pulled it out, seeing his brother’s name and number on the display. Talking to him would have to wait; Gabe turned the phone off and returned it to his pocket.

“Does Tessa hope to move back to San Francisco at some point?” he asked casually.

Liam seemed surprised by the question. “I don’t think so. She always wanted to run Poppy Gold Inns one day, but after getting her MBA, she went to work for my father’s company to gain management experience.”

Gabe raised an eyebrow. “She couldn’t do that here?”

“Of course. She just thought it would please her grandfather to spend time with him. He’s getting on in years.”

“He must have hoped she’d step into his shoes when he retired.”

Liam let out a snort of laughter. “Patrick Connor will never retire. He enjoys empire building too much.”

It didn’t sound as if Liam got along any better with his father than Gabe did with his own. “Isn’t Poppy Gold an empire?”

“Poppy Gold is modest by comparison to Connor Enterprises, but it doesn’t matter. This is our home. After we started the bed-and-breakfast business, I discovered an interest in historical restoration, so that’s been my primary focus. I’m grateful to my grandfather, James Connor, for preserving the old part of Glimmer Creek. Dad, of course, didn’t feel the same. He felt it was a waste of money.”

“So he agreed with calling it Connor’s Folly.”

“That’s right. Once Dad was grown they would have arguments about keeping ‘useless’ property with so much expensive upkeep, though he didn’t try selling until James was gone. Sadly, Granddad died in a boating accident soon after handing the company over.”

“Maybe that’s why your father doesn’t believing in retiring.”

This time a genuine laugh came from Liam. “Yup, he says it’s dangerous. Mostly I think he’s seen too many men of his generation retire and die of heart attacks within a year. It’s a question of priorities. Don’t define yourself by work, Gabe. Family is what matters.”

“I’m not that close to my family. Most of them, anyway.”

“Sorry to hear it.”

Gabe checked his watch; Rob would be getting impatient, wondering if something was wrong. “I wish I could stay, but I need to make a call.”

“Of course. By the way, if you have navy friends who want to visit, they can stay in the John Muir Cottage. We keep it reserved for active service members, as well as veterans and military families going through a rough time. We might have to coordinate visits, but the house is separated into several different spaces, so a room is usually available.”

“No.”

Liam looked taken aback by the emphatic refusal, and Gabe was annoyed that he’d let down his guard. He didn’t know how to define the members of his former SEAL team. They were men he’d trusted with his life more times than he could count. At the same time, he couldn’t afford to disrupt his investigation.

“That is, I appreciate the offer,” he added quickly, “but it isn’t necessary. I don’t know anyone who could get leave right now, and California is a long way from where they’re stationed. It’s good to know about the cottage, though. Do service members just ask to stay here?”

“Not exactly. It began with an old friend from the army. We stayed in touch after getting out, and Randall rose quickly through the ranks. When the wife of one of his men was ill and the family needed a break but couldn’t afford to go anywhere, he called and asked if they could stay at Poppy Gold for a week. Everything evolved from there. We also get referrals for veterans having trouble finding jobs.”

“That’s nice.” Gabe was impressed. A number of places offered discounts to the military, but Poppy Gold was going beyond that.

“It’s the least we can do. Have a good evening, Gabe. Thanks for all the help today.”

“Uh, sure.” Both Liam and Tessa had a habit of thanking Poppy Gold employees for their work. Gabe was never certain how to respond since he was in Glimmer Creek with ulterior motives.

Back at his studio cottage, he quickly connected with Rob via Skype. “Sorry I didn’t answer earlier, I was talking to Liam again,” he explained.

“No problem. I understand there was a bit of excitement this afternoon.”

“Minor quake, barely worth mentioning.”

“Good to hear.” Rob leaned closer to the camera on the computer. “I wanted to tell you that my research doesn’t show any direct benefit to Connor Enterprises from any of the information leaks.”

Gabe was unaccountably relieved, maybe because he didn’t want to think Liam was guilty. “That’s good. Did you find out who recommended Poppy Gold as a place for TIP’s executive retreats?”

“It was through Poppy Gold promotional efforts. The personnel department says they kept getting brochures in the mail, stacks of them, and thought the place looked interesting. Then they got a phone call from the Poppy Gold marketing department, discussing the facility and amenities. It seems innocent enough.”

“Except that TIP is an import-export company and the Connors are connected to a company in the same line of business. That’s why I wanted to know how you started coming here. Coincidences bother me.”

Rob shook his head. “You’re still trying to pin this on Liam and Tessa?”

“I’m trying to pin it on whoever is guilty. There’s a difference.”

“Whatever. What have you discovered on your end?”

Gabe thought back to the last time he and his brother had spoken. “For one, I’ve learned more about why Tessa returned to Glimmer Creek, rather than staying in San Francisco.”

“Anything questionable?” Rob asked.

“No. Tessa’s mother died, and her father had trouble running the place alone. I also gather that Liam and his father are radically different.”

“I’d say that was like you and Dad, except the two of you might be more alike than you realize.”

“Not a snowball’s chance,” Gabe retorted. “It’s okay to be a workaholic if you don’t have a family.”

“If you say so. What else?”

“I keep thinking that someone in Housekeeping or Maintenance could be our culprit. If one of those employees was found in a guest’s rooms, it probably wouldn’t be questioned. So I’ve got an idea for setting a trap.”

Quickly he laid out his plan. A small group was coming for the supposed “executive retreat,” and Rob had reserved one of the large mansions on one side of Poppy Gold. Gabe wanted his brother to request a last-minute change to a Victorian on the other side of the historic district. That way, the thief might reveal his or her identity by asking for a switch in work assignments. At the very least it would give Gabe someone to investigate.

In the past five days he’d mostly learned about two employees who seemed to be spending more than they earned, though he had to be careful about asking too many questions. He was also compiling a list of Poppy Gold staff from various posted work schedules and would soon have a private security firm do background checks.

“I’d have to come up with a good excuse. Even then, Tessa may not be able to accommodate us,” Rob said at length.

“She’ll try. From what I’ve seen, she’s obsessed with client satisfaction.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Gabe narrowed his eyes. His brother seemed to offer a defense whenever he said something that might be critical of Poppy Gold’s manager. “Hey, are you interested in Tessa? I hope not, because that could make things sticky.”

Rob chuckled. “She’s appealing, but I’ve got enough to think about without starting anything like that. How about you?”

“Give me a break. Anyway, I’m going to make a copy of the work assignments for when you’re here and track any alterations.”

“All right. Good night for now.”

“Night.”

Gabe disconnected. While he’d love to have already solved the case, he hadn’t actually expected to learn much before his brother’s visit to Poppy Gold. He’d just wanted to spend a few days getting familiar with the facility.

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