“I intend to get to know the real you.”

When one of Charleston’s oldest families is infiltrated by a beautiful stranger, tycoon Paul Watts vows to reveal the truth. But then his grandfather’s health miraculously improves after mistaking Lia Marsh as a long-lost granddaughter, and Paul has no choice but to follow along. While he must expose Lia, soon he’s the one with the secret—he desires the woman who could destroy everything he holds dear...

CAT SCHIELD is an award-winning author of contemporary romances for Mills & Boon Desire. She likes her heroines spunky and her heroes swoonworthy. While her jet- setting characters live all over the globe, Cat makes her home in Minnesota with her daughter, two opinionated Burmese cats and a goofy Doberman. When she’s not writing or walking dogs, she’s searching for the perfect cocktail or travelling to visit friends and family. Contact her at www.catschield.com

Also by Cat Schield

The Black Sheep’s Secret Child

Little Secret, Red Hot Scandal

The Heir Affair

Upstairs Downstairs Baby

Substitute Seduction

Revenge with Benefits

Two-Week Texas Seduction Taken

by Storm

Secret Child, Royal Scandal

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Seductive Secrets

Cat Schield

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09274-6

SEDUCTIVE SECRETS

© 2019 Cat Schield

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Epilogue

About the Publisher

One

Paul Watts entered the hospital elevator and jabbed the button for the fourth floor with more force than necessary. In two hours he was leaving Charleston to attend a week-long cybersecurity conference. His gut told him this was a mistake. His eighty-five-year-old grandfather’s medical situation wasn’t improving. Grady had been hospitalized six days earlier with cerebral edema, a complication arising from the massive stroke he’d suffered three months earlier that had affected his speech and left one side of his body paralyzed. In the midst of this latest medical crisis, the family worried that Grady wouldn’t last much longer. Which was why Paul was rethinking his trip.

Despite the excellent care he was receiving from the doctors, the Watts family patriarch was failing to rally. At first the doctors and physical therapists had agreed that the likelihood of Grady making a full recovery was better than average given his excellent health before the stroke and his impossibly strong will. But he hadn’t mended. And he hadn’t fought. The stroke had stolen more than his voice and muscle control. It had broken Grady Watts.

Although he’d stepped down as CEO of the family shipping empire a decade earlier and turned over the day-to-day running of the corporation to Paul’s father, Grady had remained as chairman of the board. Not one to slow down, he’d kept busy in “retirement” by sitting on the boards of several organizations and maintained an active social life.

Accustomed to his grandfather’s tireless vigor, stubbornness and unapologetic outspokenness, Paul couldn’t understand why Grady wouldn’t strive to get well, and thanks to the strained relationship between them, Paul was unlikely to get answers. Their estrangement was an ache that never went away. Still, Paul refused to regret his decision to pursue a career in cybersecurity rather than join the family business. Stopping bad guys satisfied his need for justice in a way that running the family shipping company never would.

The elevator doors opened and Paul stepped into the bright, sterile corridor that ran past the nurses’ station. He offered brief nods to the caregivers behind the desk as he strode the far-too-familiar hallways that led to his grandfather’s private room.

His steps slowed as he neared where Grady lay so still and beaten. No one would ever accuse Paul of being fainthearted, but he dreaded what he’d find when he entered the room. Every aspect of his life had been influenced by his grandfather’s robust personality and Grady’s current frailty caused Paul no small amount of dismay. Just as his grandfather had lost the will to go on, Paul’s confidence had turned into desperation. He would do or support anything that would inspire Grady to fight his way back to them.

Reaching his grandfather’s room, Paul gathered a deep breath. As he braced himself to enter, a thread of music drifted through the small gap between the door and frame. A woman was singing something sweet and uplifting. Paul didn’t recognize the pure, clear voice and perfect pitch as belonging to anyone in his family. Perhaps it was one of the nurses. Had one of them discovered that his grandfather loved all kinds of music?

Paul pushed open the door and stepped into his grandfather’s dimly lit room. The sight that greeted him stopped him dead in his tracks. Grady lay perfectly still, his skin gray and waxy. If not for the reassuring beep of the heart monitor, Paul might’ve guessed his grandfather had already passed.

On the far side of the bed, her back to the darkened window, a stranger held Grady’s hand. Despite her fond and gentle expression, Paul went on instant alert. She wasn’t the nurse he’d expected. In fact, she wasn’t any sort of ordinary visitor. More like someone who’d wandered away from an amusement park. Or the sixth-floor psychiatric ward.

Pretty, slender and in her midtwenties, she wore some sort of costume composed of a lavender peasant dress and a blond wig fastened into a thick braid and adorned with fake flowers. Enormous hazel eyes dominated a narrow face with high cheekbones and a pointed chin. She looked like a doll come to life.

Paul was so startled that he forgot to moderate his voice. “Who are you?”

The question reverberated in the small space, causing the woman to break off midsong. Her eyes went wide and she froze like a deer caught in headlights. Her rosy lips parted on a startled breath and her chest rose on an inhalation, but Paul fired off another question before she answered the first.

“What are you doing in my grandfather’s room?”

“I’m...” Her gaze darted past him toward the open door.

“Geez, Paul, calm the hell down,” said a voice from behind him. It was his younger brother, Ethan. His softer tone suited the hospital room far better than Paul’s sharp bluster. “I heard you all the way down the hall. You’re going to upset Grady.”

Now Paul noticed that his grandfather’s eyes were open and his mouth was working as if he had an opinion he wanted to share. The stroke had left him unable to form the words that let him communicate, but there was no question Grady was agitated. His right hand fluttered. The woman’s bright gaze flicked from Paul to Grady and back.

“Sorry, Grady.” Paul advanced to his grandfather’s bedside and lightly squeezed the old man’s cool, dry fingers, noting the tremble in his knobby knuckles. “I came by to check on you. I was surprised to see this stranger in your room.” He glanced toward the oddly dressed woman and spoke in a low growl. “I don’t know who you are, but you shouldn’t be here.”

“Yes, she should.” Ethan came to stand beside Paul, behaving as if introducing his brother to a woman dressed in costume was perfectly ordinary.

This lack of concern made Paul’s blood pressure rise. “You know her?”

“Yes, this is Lia Marsh.”

“Hello,” she said, her bright sweet voice like tinkling crystal.

As soon as Ethan had entered the room her manner had begun to relax. Obviously she viewed Paul’s brother as an ally. Now she offered Paul a winsome smile. If she thought her charm would blunt the keen edge of his suspicion, she had no idea who she was dealing with. Still, he found the anxiety that had plagued him in recent days easing. A confusing and unexpected sense of peace trickled through him as Grady’s faded green eyes focused on Lia Marsh. He seemed happy to have her by his side, weird costume and all.

“I don’t understand what she’s doing here,” Paul complained, grappling to comprehend this out-of-control situation.

“She came to cheer up our grandfather.” Ethan set a comforting hand on their grandfather’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” he told the older man. “I’ll explain everything to Paul.”

What was there to explain?

During the brothers’ exchange, the woman squeezed Grady’s hand. “I’ve really enjoyed our time together today,” she said, her musical voice a soothing oasis in the tense room. “I’ll come back and visit more with you later.”

Grady made an unhappy noise, but she was already moving toward the foot of the bed. Paul ignored his grandfather’s protest and shifted to intercept her.

“No, you won’t,” he declared.

“I understand,” she said, but her expression reflected dismay and a trace of disapproval. Her gaze flicked to Ethan. A warm smile curved her lips. “I’ll see you later.”

Embroidered skirt swishing, she moved toward the exit, leaving a ribbon of floral perfume trailing in her wake. Paul caught himself breathing her in and expelled the tantalizing scent from his lungs in a vigorous huff. The energy in the room plummeted as she disappeared through the doorway and, to his profound dismay, Paul was struck by a disconcerting urge to call her back.

Now just to get answers to the most obvious questions: Why was she dressed like that and what was she doing in Grady’s room? But also why had she chosen to tattoo a delicate lily of the valley on the inside of her left wrist? He wondered how his brother could be taken in by such guileless naivete when it was so obviously an act.

This last point snapped Paul out of whatever spell she’d cast over him. Grabbing his brother’s arm, Paul towed Ethan out of the hospital room, eager to get answers without disturbing Grady. Out in the hall, Paul closed the door and glanced around. Lia Marsh had vanished and he noticed that didn’t bring him the satisfaction it should have.

“Who is she?” Paul demanded, his unsettled emotions making his tone sharper than necessary. “And what the hell is going on?”

Ethan sighed. “Lia’s a friend of mine.”

Paul dragged his hand through his hair as he fought to control the emotions cascading through him. He focused on his anxiety over his grandfather’s condition. That feeling made sense. The rest he would just ignore.

“You’ve never mentioned her before,” Paul said. “How well do you know her?”

A muscle jumped in Ethan’s jaw. He looked like he was grappling with something. “Well enough. Look, you’re seeing problems where there aren’t any.”

“Have you forgotten that Watts Shipping as well as various members of our family have been cyberattacked in the last year? So when I show up in Grady’s hospital room and there’s a strange woman alone with him, I get concerned.”

“Trust me—Lia has nothing to do with any of that,” Ethan said. “She’s really sweet and just wants to help. Grady has been so depressed. We thought a visit might cheer him up.”

Paul refused to believe that he’d overreacted. And Ethan was transitioning into the CEO position at Watts Shipping, replacing their father who planned to retire in the next year. Why wouldn’t his brother take these various cyber threats seriously?

“But she was dressed like a...like a...” It wasn’t like him to grapple for words, but the whole encounter had a surreal quality to it.

“Disney princess?” Ethan offered, one corner of his mouth kicking up. “Specifically Rapunzel from Tangled.”

“Okay, but you never answered my question. Where did you meet her?” Paul persisted, making no attempt to rein in his skepticism. Ethan’s persistent caginess was a red flag. “What do you know about her?”

When meeting people for the first time, Paul tended to assess them like it was an investigation and often struggled to give them the benefit of the doubt. Did that mean he was suspicious by nature? Probably. But if that’s what it took to keep his family safe, then so be it.

“Can you stop thinking like a cop for two seconds?” Ethan complained.

Paul bristled. It wasn’t only Grady who hadn’t supported his decision to join the Charleston PD after college and several years later start his cybersecurity business.

“What’s her angle?”

“She doesn’t have one. She’s exactly like she seems.”

Paul snorted. A cosplay fanatic? “What else do you know about her?”

“I don’t know,” Ethan complained, growing impatient. “She’s really nice and a great listener.”

“A great listener,” Paul echoed, guessing that Lia Marsh had taken advantage of Ethan’s distress over their grandfather’s illness. “I suppose you told her all about Grady and our family?”

“It’s not as if any of it is a huge secret.”

“Regardless. You brought a complete stranger, someone you know almost nothing about, to meet our dying grandfather.” Paul made no effort to temper his irritation. “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking Grady might enjoy a visit from a sweet, caring person who has a beautiful singing voice.” Ethan gave him such a sad look. “Why do you always go to the worst-case scenario?”

Paul stared at his brother. Ethan behaved as if this explanation made all the sense in the world. Meanwhile, Paul’s relentless, logical convictions prevented him from grasping what sort of eccentricities drove Lia Marsh to parade around as a storybook character.

“She was dressed up. I just don’t understand...”

Ethan shrugged. “It’s what she does.”

“For a living?”

“Of course not,” Ethan countered, showing no defensiveness at all in the face of his brother’s sarcasm. In fact, he looked fairly smug as he said, “She dresses up and visits sick children. They love her.”

Paul cursed. Actually, that was a damned nice thing to do.

“How did you meet her?”

Ethan frowned. “I’m a client.”

“What sort of a client?”

“None of this matters.” Ethan exhaled. “Lia is great and your trust issues are getting old.”

A heavy silence fell between the brothers as Paul brushed aside the criticism and brooded over Ethan’s caginess. He hated being at odds with his brother and wasn’t sure how to fix the disconnect. With less than a year between them in age, he and Ethan had been tight as kids despite their differing interests and passions. Paul was fascinated by technology and could spend hours alone, turning electronic components into useful devices, while Ethan was more social and preferred sports over schoolwork.

Both had excelled through high school and into college. And while they’d never directly competed over anything, once Paul decided against joining the family business, a subtle tension started growing between the siblings.

“You might as well tell me what’s going on because you know I’ll investigate and find out exactly who Lia Marsh is.”

Lia Marsh blew out a sharp breath as she cleared the hospital room and fled down the empty hallway, noting her thudding heart and clammy palms. While Ethan hadn’t glossed over his brother’s suspicious nature, she hadn’t been prepared for Paul’s hostility or the way his annoyance heightened his already imposing charisma. Unaccustomed to letting any man get under her skin, Lia studied the phenomenon like she would a fresh scratch on her beloved camper trailer, Misty. Unexpected and undesirable.

Usually her emotions were like dandelion fluff on the wind, lighter than air and streaked with sunshine. She embraced all the joy life had to offer and vanquished negativity through meditation, crystal work and aromatherapy, often employing these same spiritual healing tools with her massage clients. Not all of them bought into new age practices, but some surprised her with their interest. For instance, she never imagined a businessman like Ethan Watts opening his mind to ancient spiritual practices, but his curiosity demonstrated that it was never wise to prejudge people.

Someone should share that warning with Paul Watts. He’d obviously jumped to several conclusions from the instant he’d spotted her in his grandfather’s hospital room. The unsettling encounter left her emotions swirling in a troubling combination of excitement and dread, brought on by a rush of physical attraction and her aversion to conflict.

Distracted by her inner turmoil, Lia found it impossible to sink back into her role of Rapunzel as she stole along the corridor lit by harsh fluorescent lights. Her gaze skimmed past gray walls and bland landscapes. Recycled air pressed against her skin, smelling of disinfectant. She longed to throw open a window and invite in sunshine and breezes laden with newly cut grass and bird song. Instead, she dressed up and visited sick children, offering a much-needed diversion.

Heading down the stairs to the third-floor pediatric wing, Lia collected her tote bag from the nurses’ station. Since signing up to volunteer at the hospital these last few months, she’d been a frequent visitor and the children’s care staff had grown accustomed to her appearances. They appreciated anything that boosted their patients’ spirits and gave them a break from the endless rounds of tests or treatments.

The elevator doors opened and Lia stepped into the car. She barely noticed the mixed reactions of her fellow passengers to her outfit. Minutes later Lia emerged into the late afternoon sunshine. She sucked in a large breath and let it out, wishing she could shake her lingering preoccupation with her encounter with Paul Watts. Lia picked up her pace as if she could outrun her heightened emotions.

The traffic accident that had totaled her truck and damaged her beloved camper had compelled her to move into a one-bedroom rental on King Street until she could afford to replace her vehicle. Her temporary living arrangement was a twenty-minute walk from the hospital through Charleston’s historic district. She focused on the pleasant ambience of the antebellum homes she passed, the glimpses of private gardens through wrought iron fencing, and savored the sunshine warming her shoulders.

Caught up in her thoughts, Lia barely noticed the man leaning against the SUV parked in front of her apartment until he pushed off and stepped into her path. Finding her way blocked, her pulse jumped. Lia had traveled the country alone since she was eighteen and had good instincts when it came to strangers. Only this was someone she’d already met.

Paul Watts had the sort of green eyes that reminded her of a tranquil pine forest, but the skepticism radiating from him warned Lia to be wary. Despite that, his nearness awakened the same buzz of chemistry that she’d noticed in the hospital room.

He wasn’t at all her type. He was too obstinate. Too grounded. Merciless. Resolute. Maybe that was the attraction.

“You were hard to find,” Paul declared.

Ethan had told her Paul was a former cop who now ran his own cybersecurity business. She suspected his single-minded focus had stopped a high number of cybercriminals. Her skin prickled at the idea that he’d do a deep dive into her background where things lurked that she’d prefer remained buried.

“And yet here you are,” she retorted, dismayed that he’d run her down in the time it had taken her to walk home.

She wasn’t used to being on anyone’s radar. To most of her massage clients she was a pair of hands and a soothing voice. The kids at the hospital saw only their favorite princess character. She relished her anonymity.

“Is everything all right with Grady?”

“He’s fine.” Paul’s lips tightened momentarily as a flash of pain crossed his granite features. “At least he isn’t any worse.”

“I didn’t know him before his stroke, but Ethan said he was strong and resilient. He could still pull through.”

“He could,” Paul agreed, “except it’s as if he’s given up.”

“Ethan mentioned he’d become obsessed with reuniting with his granddaughter these last few years,” Lia said. “Maybe if you found her—”

“Look,” Paul snapped. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but you need to stay away from my grandfather.”

“I’m not up to anything,” Lia insisted, pulling her key out of her bag as she angled toward the building’s front door. “All I want to do is help.”

“He doesn’t need your help.”

“Sure. Okay.” At least he hadn’t barred her from connecting with Ethan. “Is that it?”

She’d unlocked the door and pushed it open, intending to escape through it when Paul spoke again.

“Aren’t you the least bit curious how I found you?” he asked, his vanity showing. Given her minimal electronic footprint, tracking her down left him puffed up with pride. No doubt he wanted to brag about his prowess.

Despite the agitation making her heart thump, Lia paused in the doorway and shot him a sidewise glance. While Paul exuded an overabundance of confidence and power, she wasn’t without strengths of her own. She would just have to combat his relentlessness with freewheeling flirtation.

While teasing Paul was a danger similar to stepping too near a lion’s cage, Lia discovered having his full attention was exhilarating.

“Actually.” Pivoting to face him, Lia summoned her cheekiest smile. Everything she’d heard from Ethan indicated that Paul was ruled by logic rather than his emotions. Challenging the cybersecurity expert to confront his feelings was bound to blow up in her face. “I’m more intrigued that you wanted to.”

Two

King Street melted away around him as Paul processed his response to Lia’s challenging grin. Her expression wasn’t sexual in nature, but that didn’t lessen the surge of attraction that rocked him, demanding that he act. He clenched his hands behind his back to stifle the impulse to snatch her into his arms and send his lips stalking down her neck in search of that delectable fragrance. Frustrating. Intolerable. This woman was trouble. In more ways than he had time to count.

What was her endgame? Money, obviously.

Based on the fact that she’d chosen to live in one of downtown Charleston’s priciest neighborhoods, she obviously had expensive taste. After meeting Ethan, she’d obviously targeted him, using their grandfather’s illness to ingratiate herself. Was she planning on getting Ethan to pay off her debt or to invest in some sort of business?

“Ophelia Marsh, born March first—” he began, determined to unnerve her with a quick rundown of her vital statistics.

“Fun fact,” she interrupted. “I was almost a leap-day baby. My mom went into labor late on February twenty-eighth and everyone thought for sure I would be born the next day, which that year was February twenty-ninth. But I didn’t want to have a birthday every four years. I mean, who would, right?”

Her rambling speech, sparkling with energetic good humor, soured his mood even more. “Right.” He had no idea why he was agreeing. “Born March first in Occidental, California...”

“A Pisces.”

He shook his head. “A what?”

“A Pisces,” she repeated. “You know, the astrological sign. Two fish swimming in opposite directions. Like you’re a goat,” she concluded.

Paul exhaled harshly. Horoscopes were nothing but a bunch of nonsense. Yet that didn’t stop him from asking, “I’m a goat?”

“A Capricorn. You just had a birthday.”

He felt her words like a hit to his solar plexus. “How did you know that?”

Her knowing his birthday filled him with equal parts annoyance and dismay. He was the security expert, the brilliant investigator who hunted down cybercriminals and kept his clients’ data safe. To have this stranger know something as personal as his birth date sent alarm jolting through him.

“Ethan told me.”

“Why would he do that?” Paul demanded, directing the question to the universe rather than Lia.

“Why wouldn’t he?” She cocked her head and regarded him as if that was obvious. “He likes to talk about his family and it helps me to picture all of you if I know your signs. You’re a Capricorn. Your mother is a Libra. She’s the peacekeeper of the family. Your father is a Sagittarius. He’s a talker and tends to chase impossible dreams. Ethan is a Taurus. Stubborn, reliable, with a sensual side that loves good food.”

This quick summary of his family was so spot-on that Paul’s suspicions reached even higher levels. Obviously, this woman had been researching the Wattses for some nefarious purpose. What was she up to? Time to turn up the volume on his questioning.

“You don’t stay in one place for very long,” he said, remembering what he’d managed to dig up on her. “New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, now South Carolina, all visited in the last twelve months. Why is that?”

In his experience grifters liked to work an area and move on when things became too hot. Her pattern fit with someone up to no good. She might be beautiful and seem to possess a sweet, generous nature, but in his mind her obvious appeal worked against her. He knew firsthand how easily people were taken in by appearances. He was more interested in substance.

“I’m a nomad.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I like life on the road. It’s how I grew up.” She paused to assess his expression and whatever she glimpsed there made her smile slightly. “I was born in the back of a VW camper van and traveled nearly five thousand miles in the first year of my life. My mother has a hard time staying put for any long period of time.”

Paul was having a difficult time wrapping his head around what she was saying. For someone who belonged to a family that had lived within ten square miles of Charleston for generations, he couldn’t fathom the sort of lifestyle she was talking about.

“Was your mother on the run from someone? Your father? Or a boyfriend?”

“No.” Her casual shrug left plenty of room for Paul to speculate. “She was just restless.”

“And you? Are you restless, too?”

“I guess.” Something passed over her features, but it was gone too fast for him to read. “Although I tend to stay longer in places than she did.”

Follow-up questions sprang to Paul’s mind, but he wasn’t here to dig into her family dynamic. He needed to figure out what she was up to so he could determine how much danger she represented to his family. He changed subjects. “Where did you and Ethan meet?”

“He’s been a client of mine for about a month now.”

“A client?” Paul digested this piece of information.

“I work for Springside Wellness,” she said, confirming what Paul had already unearthed about her. The company was a wellness spa on Meeting Street that operated as both a yoga studio and alternative treatment space. A lot of mind, body, soul nonsense. “Ethan is a client.”

This confirmed what Paul had gleaned from his brother’s explanation about how he knew Lia. Still, Paul had a hard time picturing his brother doing yoga and reflexology. “What sort of a client?”

“I’m a massage therapist. He comes in once a week. I told him he should probably come in more often than that. The man is stressed.”

Her answer took Paul’s thoughts down an unexpected path. “Well, that’s just perfect.”

Only it wasn’t perfect at all. A picture of Lia giving Ethan a massage leaped to mind but he immediately suppressed it.

“I don’t understand what you mean,” she said, frowning. “And I don’t have time to find out. I have to be at work in an hour and it takes a while for me to get out of costume. Nice to meet you, Paul Watts.”

He quite pointedly didn’t echo the sentiment. “Just remember what I said about staying away from my grandfather.”

“I already said I would.”

With a graceful flutter of her fingers, she zipped through the building’s front door, leaving him alone on the sidewalk. Despite her ready agreement to keep her distance, his nerves continued to sizzle and pop. Logic told him he’d seen the last of Lia Marsh, but his instincts weren’t convinced.

Paul shot his brother a text before sliding behind the wheel, urging him to reiterate to Lia that Grady was off-limits. Thanks to this detour he was going to have to hustle to keep from being late for his charter flight.

Ethan’s terse reply highlighted the tension between the brothers that seemed to be escalating. The growing distance between them frustrated Paul, but he couldn’t figure out how to fix what he couldn’t wrap his head around.

Pushing Ethan and the problem of Lia Marsh to the back of his mind, Paul focused his attention on something concrete and within his control: the upcoming conference and what he hoped to get out of it.

As much as Ethan had thoroughly enjoyed seeing his brother utterly flummoxed by Lia in a Rapunzel costume, as soon as Paul headed off to dig into her background, Ethan’s satisfaction faded. Leave it to his brother to chase a tangent rather than deal with the real problem of their grandfather’s condition. In the same way, Ethan’s brother had neatly avoided dealing with Grady’s disappointment after Paul chose a career in law enforcement over joining Watts Shipping and eventually taking his place at the helm of the family business. Nor had Paul understood Ethan’s conflicted emotions at being the second choice to take up the reins.

While Ethan recognized that he was the best brother to head the family company, he wanted to secure the job based on his skills, not because Paul refused the position. Also, it wasn’t just his pride at issue. Ethan was adopted and in a city as preoccupied with lineage as Charleston, not knowing who his people were became a toxic substance eating away at his peace of mind.

Although no one had ever made him feel as if he didn’t belong, in every Watts family photo, Ethan’s dark brown hair and eyes made him stand out like a goose among swans. Not wishing to cause any of his family undue pain, he kept his feelings buried, but more and more lately they’d bubbled up and tainted his relationship with Paul.

He’d shared some of his angst with Lia. She was a good listener. Attentive. Nonjudgmental. Empathetic. Sure, she was a little quirky. But Ethan found her eccentricities charming. That Paul viewed them as suspect made Ethan all the more determined to defend her.

Clamping down on his disquiet, Ethan reentered his grandfather’s hospital room and noted that Grady’s eyes were open and sharp with dismay. Had he heard the brothers arguing in the hallway? Although Grady never shied away from confrontation, before the stroke, he’d confided to Ethan that he was troubled by his estrangement from Paul and also the growing tension between the brothers. Ethan knew Paul was equally frustrated with the rift, but none of them had taken any steps to overcome the years of distance.

“Sorry about earlier,” Ethan murmured, settling into the chair between Grady’s bed and the window. “You know how Paul can get.”

He didn’t expect Grady to answer. In the weeks following the stroke, Grady had made some progress with the paralysis. He still couldn’t walk or write, but he’d regained the ability to move his arm, leg and fingers. It wasn’t so much his body that had failed him, but his willingness to fight.

Grady’s lips worked, but he couldn’t form the words for what he wanted to express. For the first time in weeks this seemed to frustrate him.

“He worries about you,” Ethan continued. “Seeing Lia here was a bit of a shock.” He couldn’t suppress a grin. “Did you like her Rapunzel costume? The kids down on the pediatric floor really loved her.”

Grady started to hum a toneless tune Ethan didn’t recognize. And then all at once he sang a word.

“Ava.”

Ethan was shocked that Grady had spoken—or rather sung—his daughter’s name. “You mean Lia,” he said, wondering how his grandfather could’ve confused his daughter for Lia. Blonde and green-eyed Ava Watts bore no resemblance to Lia, with her dark hair and hazel eyes. Then Ethan frowned. Had Lia ever come to visit as herself or was she always in costume? Maybe Grady thought she was blonde. And then there was the age difference. If Ava had lived, she’d be in her forties. Of course, the stroke had messed with the left side of Grady’s brain where logic and reason held court. Maybe he was actually mixed up.

Ava had been eighteen when she’d run away to New York City. The family had lost track of her shortly thereafter. And it wasn’t until five years after that that they found out she’d died, leaving behind an infant daughter. The child had been adopted, but they’d never been able to discover anything more because the files had been sealed.

“Ava...baby,” Grady clarified, singing the two words. How had he learned to do that?

“You think Lia is Ava’s daughter?” While Grady nodded as enthusiastically as his condition allowed, Ethan’s stunned brain slowly wrapped itself around this development. Grady was obviously grasping at thin air. With each year that passed he’d grown more obsessed with finding his missing granddaughter.

“Ava’s daughter is here?” Constance Watts asked from the doorway. “Where? How?”

Ethan turned to his mother, about to explain what was going on, when his grandfather’s fingers bit down hard on Ethan’s wrist, drawing his attention back to the man in the bed. Grady’s gaze bore the fierce determination of old, sending joy flooding through Ethan. What he wouldn’t give to have his grandfather healthy and happy again.

“Ethan?” his mother prompted, coming to stand beside him.

“Lia...” Grady sang again, more agitated now as he tried to make himself understood.

“Lia?” Constance stared at her father-in-law, and then glanced at her son for clarification. “Who is Lia?”

But when the answer came, it was Grady who spoke up. “Ava...baby.”

After her run-in with Paul Watts the day before, the last place Lia expected to find herself was seated beside Ethan in his bright blue Mercedes roadster on the way to the hospital to visit his grandfather. Overhead, clouds dappled the dazzling February sky. Around them the sweet scent of honeysuckle and crab apple blossoms mingled with the sound of church bells coming from the Cathedral of Saint Luke and Saint Paul. It was a glorious day for driving with the top down, but this was no joyride.

“I’m really not sure this is the best idea,” Lia said, shuddering as she pictured her last encounter with Paul Watts. “Your brother was pretty clear that he didn’t want me anywhere near your grandfather.”

“Paul’s occupation makes him suspicious,” Ethan said. “And Grady’s illness has made him even more edgy. Add to that the fact that he doesn’t like surprises and that explains why he overreacted at finding a stranger visiting his grandfather.” Ethan shot her a wry grin packed with boyish charm. “And you were dressed like Rapunzel so that had to throw him off, as well.”

Lia rolled her eyes, unmoved by his attempt to lull her into giving up her argument. “Are you sure Paul will be okay with me visiting?”

She craved Ethan’s reassurance. No one had ever treated her with the level of suspicion Paul Watts had shown.

“He wants Grady to get better just like the rest of us.”

“That’s not the same thing as being okay with my visiting,” she pointed out, the churning in her stomach made worse by Ethan’s evasion. Paul’s bad opinion of her bothered Lia more than she liked to admit.

“Look, Paul’s not in town at the moment so you don’t need to worry about running into him. You just visit Grady a few more times and be the ray of sunshine that will enable him to improve and by the time Paul gets back, Grady will be on the mend and Paul will realize it was all due to you.”

“I think you’re overestimating my abilities,” she demurred, even as Ethan’s praise warmed her. Each time she’d visited Grady she held his hand and sung to him, pouring healing energy into his frail body.

“Trust me,” Ethan declared, taking his espresso-colored eyes off the road and shooting a brief glance her way. “I’m not overestimating anything. Your visits have been transformative.”

“But I’ve only been to see him four times,” Lia murmured, determined to voice caution. If Ethan gave her all the credit for his grandfather’s improvement, what happened if Grady took a turn for the worse? “I can’t imagine I made that much of an impact.”

“You underestimate yourself.” Ethan spun the wheel and coasted into an empty spot in the parking garage. “He started communicating a little yesterday by singing the way you suggested. That’s given him a huge boost in his outlook and he’s growing better by the hour. You’ll see.”

In fact, Lia was excited to see Grady improve. She believed in the power of spiritual healing and trusted that she could tap into the energy that connected all living things and bring about change because she willed it. It didn’t always work. Some concrete problems required real-world solutions. For instance, the broken axle on her camper trailer and her totaled truck.

Meditating hadn’t gotten Misty fixed. She’d needed money and a mechanic for that. But after asking for help, the universe had found her a wonderful job, terrific coworkers and an affordable place to live. She’d been offered a solution at a point when she was feeling desperate.

Ethan shut off the engine and hit her with an eager grin. “Ready?”

“Sure.” But in fact, she was anything but.

When they got off the elevator on the fourth floor, Ethan’s long strides ate up the distance to his grandfather’s hospital room, forcing Lia to trot in order to keep up.

As they neared Grady’s room, Lia spied a familiar figure emerging. “Hi, Abigail,” Lia said, as the distance between them lessened. “How is Grady doing today?”

For a moment the nurse looked startled that a stranger had called her by her name, but then she took a longer look at Lia and her eyes widened. “Lia! I didn’t recognize you out of costume.”

Lia gave an awkward chuckle and glanced at Ethan. “I’m not sure Grady will recognize me, either.”

“Mr. Grady will know who you are.” The nurse’s reassuring smile did little to ease Lia’s nerves. “There’s a keen mind locked up in there.” She glanced at Ethan and when he gave her a confirming nod, Abigail continued, “He’s going to be so glad you’ve come today. Your idea to encourage him to sing has worked wonders. He’s so excited to be able to communicate with people again.”

Beside her, Ethan radiated smug satisfaction.

“That’s great,” Lia said, delighted that her suggestion had produced a positive result.

“His family and all the staff are so thrilled that things started to turn around yesterday. He’s doing so much better that the doctor thinks he’ll be able to go in a few days.”

“Wow,” Lia murmured, “that’s wonderful news.”

“We’re so glad she showed up when she did,” Ethan declared. “She’s worked a miracle.”

“Please stop,” Lia protested, the praise making her uncomfortable. “The credit really should go to all of you who’ve been taking such good care of him this whole time.”

“There’s only so much medicine can do when the will to keep on living is gone,” the nurse said.

“Mind over matter,” Ethan said. “People don’t give it enough credit.”

“They certainly don’t,” Abigail agreed before heading down the hall toward the nurses’ station.

Ethan set his hand on Lia’s elbow and drew her into Grady’s hospital room. As soon as she stepped across the threshold, Lia was struck by the room’s buoyant energy. The first time she’d visited Grady Watts, he’d been an immobile lump beneath the covers, unconscious and unaware that she’d taken his hand and softly sung to him. Today as she stepped closer to the bed, she noticed that he was wide awake and eagerly watching her approach. The directness of his gaze reminded her of Paul and she shivered. Ethan had mentioned his grandfather had a sharp temper and forceful manner when crossed.

Grady wiggled his fingers and she took his hand. His dry skin stretched over bones knobby with arthritis. She gave his fingers a light squeeze, shocked at the rush of affection for someone she barely knew. Yet was that true?

Usually she moved on every couple months and rarely got tangled up in people’s lives. In this case, her accident extended her time in Charleston, leading to numerous massage sessions with Ethan where he’d spoken at length about his family. As the weeks turned into months, Lia had grown ever more invested in their stories until she almost felt like part of their circle.

“Hello, Grady,” Lia said, her voice warbling as affection tightened her throat. “It’s Lia. You probably didn’t recognize me without my costume. How are you feeling today? You look really good.”

Grady’s fingers pulsed against hers as he acknowledged her with two sung words. “Ava daughter.”

Ethan had explained how Grady had been desperate to reunite with his missing granddaughter before the stroke, even speculating that the patriarch’s illness had been brought on by the crushing disappointment of a recent dead end. Since then, Grady had brooded nonstop about what had become of her and the family’s failure to bring her back into the fold.

“That’s right, Grady,” Ethan said, beaming at Lia. His eyes held a wicked twinkle as he added, “Ava’s daughter has come home at last.”

Delighted by the news, Lia glanced at Ethan and noticed the way the handsome businessman was regarding her with purposeful intent. Her heart began hammering against her ribs as the import of what Ethan was saying struck her. She shifted her attention to the man lying in the hospital bed and she caught her breath to protest. But before she could voice her sharp denial, she saw the love shining in Grady’s eyes for her. No. Not for her. For his missing granddaughter.

Head spinning, Lia turned her full attention on Ethan. “What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that Grady knows you’re his granddaughter.” Ethan gripped Lia’s elbow with long fingers while his eyes beseeched her to go along. “I explained how Paul located you through one of those genetic testing companies. It’s long been Grady’s dream to reunite you with your family. And now here you are.”

Lia’s mind reeled. The position Ethan had put her in was untenable, and to drag his brother into the mix was only going to create more drama. But the sheer joy in Grady’s eyes tied her tongue in knots. This could not be happening. She had to tell the truth. She wasn’t Ava Watts’s long-lost daughter. To claim that she was the missing Watts granddaughter would only lead to trouble.

“We need to talk about this,” Lia growled quietly at Ethan. She put her hand on Grady’s shoulder. “We’ll be right back.”

Leaving a confused Grady behind, Lia fled out into the hallway. To her relief, Ethan followed her. Worried that Grady might overhear their conversation, Lia grabbed Ethan’s arm and towed him down the hall toward the waiting area near the bank of elevators.

“Have you lost your mind?” she whispered as soon as they reached the empty family lounge. “How could you tell him I’m his granddaughter? And why put Paul in the middle of it? He’s going to be furious.”

“Grady came to that conclusion all by himself,” Ethan explained. “And the reason I gave Paul credit was to help repair the strained relationship between him and Grady.”

“Your brother will never go along with this.”

“He will when he sees the way Grady is recovering. Overnight his whole prognosis has changed. And it’s all because he believes you’re his granddaughter. It was his deepest desire to reunite with her and now he has a reason to live.”

“But I’m not his granddaughter. Why would he think I am? I don’t look like any of your family.” Lia’s heart twisted as she realized her protest might rouse Ethan’s angst over being adopted.

“You could be Ava’s daughter.” Ethan lifted his hands in a beseeching gesture. “We’ve been trying for years to find her with no luck. I told you that after my aunt died, her baby was adopted and the records were sealed. Believing you’re her has given Grady a reason to go on. Do you seriously want to go back in there and break his heart? He’s been so depressed since the stroke. In less than a week you’ve brought him back from the brink of death.”

Lia closed her eyes and spent several seconds listening to the pounding of her heart. This could not be happening. And yet it was.

“I just can’t do this.”

Besides being wrong, even if she agreed to a temporary stint as Grady Watts’s missing granddaughter, there was no way Paul was going to let her take on the role.

“You can,” Ethan insisted. “Making people feel better is what you do.”

“Sure, but not like this,” Lia protested. “And I don’t want to lie to your family.”

“I understand, but they aren’t any good at keeping secrets. We’ve never thrown a successful surprise party or gotten into trouble without everyone in the family knowing about it. For this to work we need to leave them in the dark or else risk that someone will slip up and give you away.”

From Ethan’s aggrieved tone, this obviously bugged him, and Lia sympathized. Having been isolated from relatives all her life, she couldn’t imagine having so many people in her business. Yet there was a flip side. Ethan could also count on his family to have his back.

“And what about Paul?” she quizzed. “Surely he’s already dug up enough info on me to know I’m not your cousin.”

“Let me handle my brother.”

Lia slid sweaty palms along her jean-clad thighs. “Damn it, Ethan. You can’t deceive your grandfather this way.”

“I can if it means keeping Grady alive,” Ethan said and his voice held genuine pain.

“It’s a lie,” Lia insisted, but she could feel her determination failing beneath the weight of Ethan’s enthusiasm. “A big fat dangerous lie. And you know I wasn’t planning on sticking around Charleston much longer. Misty is fixed. I almost have enough saved to replace my truck.” While this was true, Lia didn’t have enough to buy a quality vehicle she could trust. “It’s time I got back on the road.”

“All you need to do is stay a couple weeks until Grady’s completely out of the woods and then we can reveal that a huge mistake was made with the genetic testing service.” Something in Lia’s expression must have betrayed her weakening resistance because Ethan nodded as if she’d voiced her agreement. “I’ve thought the whole thing through and I know this will work.”

If she hadn’t grown fond of the handsome Charleston businessman since he’d become her massage client six months earlier, she never would’ve agreed to hear him out, much less consider such a wild scheme, but the pain Ethan felt over his grandfather’s illness had touched her heart. Plus, he’d made the whole scheme sound so reasonable. A couple of weeks of playacting and then she’d be on her way again. A bubble of hysteria rose inside her. What were more lies on top of the ones she was already telling?

“But I’ll be lying not just to Grady, but your whole family. It’s a cruel thing to do to all of them.”

“I’ve thought about that, too, but if we do this right, they’ll be so happy that Grady is healthy again that it will make the eventual disappointment of you not being family easier to bear.” Ethan gripped her hands and hit her with a mega dose of confident charm.

Lia was rallying one last refusal when the elevator doors opened and a slender woman in an elegant suit the color of pistachios stepped off. Instead of immediately heading for the hallway that led to the hospital rooms, she glanced toward the family lounge. Her expression brightened when she spied them.

“Ethan,” she said, coming toward them. “Glad to see you here.”

“Hello, Mother.” Ethan dipped his head and kissed her cheek. “This is Lia.”

Constance Watts was every inch a genteel matriarch of the South with her blond hair styled in a long bob and her triple strand of pearls. Her keen blue eyes assessed the jeans and thrift-store T-shirt Lia wore and she braced herself for censure, but Constance only smiled warmly.

“Ethan told me all about you,” Constance said, her captivating Southern drawl knotted with emotion.

“He did?” Lia hadn’t yet agreed to the scheme and bristled at Ethan’s presumption.

“Of course.” Constance glanced from Lia to her son. “He said Paul found you through a genetic testing service.”

“I’m really—” Lia began.

“Overwhelmed,” Ethan broke in, closing his fingers around her hand and squeezing gently. He snared her gaze, his eyes reflecting both determination and apology. “And can you blame her? Finally connecting with her real family after all these years is pretty momentous.”

Ethan’s need and his mother’s elation were a patch of quicksand, trapping Lia. To her dismay, she began nodding.

“Ava’s daughter is finally home,” Constance murmured, stepping forward and embracing Lia. “You are going to make Grady so happy.”

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