That Night on Thistle Lane

Five

Noah slept fitfully and awoke wishing he had sent a check for the neonatal ICU instead of attending the masquerade ball. He could have gone straight back to California after hiking in the White Mountains or stayed in California altogether. Either way, he’d have spared himself meeting the potential love of his life and letting her slip through his fingers.

It was his own fault. He never should have left his princess and chased after his mystery man, if, indeed, that was who he’d spotted.

There had to be a way to find her.

He decided he didn’t want to deal with email and voice mail and “accidentally” dropped his iPhone in the water-filled bathroom sink.

The people who truly needed to reach him would figure it out.

He got dressed, appreciating his normal black trousers and black shirt. No more hiking clothes, no more swashbuckler cape. He went down for breakfast and tried to act as if he’d had a good night.

Once he had coffee, he decided he probably shouldn’t have tossed his phone into the sink.

He’d run into people last night from his MIT days. Rumors were circulating about what was next for him now that NAK had gone public. One account had him staying on as CEO, another shifting into research and development. Focusing on his Central Coast winery. Getting deeper into venture capital, starting a new business, devoting himself to philanthropy, moving into academia.

None of the rumors were true, if only because Noah had no idea what was next for him beyond whole-wheat pancakes and warm Vermont maple syrup for breakfast.

He’d finished his pancakes when Dylan and Olivia wandered into the restaurant and joined him at his table. Waiters quickly brought out fresh place settings. Olivia had on lightweight jeans and a green linen top that matched her eyes. Dylan was in jeans and a hiking shirt, as if he hadn’t thought about being at the Boston hotel this morning. Noah hadn’t, either. He just generally wore the same thing.

Olivia sat next to Dylan. She looked radiant, comfortable in her own skin in a way she hadn’t on Noah’s brief trip east in early spring.

He’d been assaulted by black flies then, he remembered.

“Loretta called,” Dylan said. “She said she emailed you and left you a voice mail and thought she’d hear back by now.”

“Phone’s broken.”

“Dropped it again?”

“In the sink. Water damage.”

“Ah.” Dylan shifted his gaze to Olivia. “Noah breaks a lot of phones.”

“You get distracted and drop them?” she asked.

Noah ignored Dylan’s obvious amusement at her question. “You could say that.”

Dylan grinned. “He gets pissed off and kills his phone.”

“Not often,” Noah said, keeping his attention on Olivia. “Dropping my phone in water is an indulgence but the alternative is to get distracted by the thing.”

“It’s how his mind works,” Dylan said, leaving it at that. “What does Loretta want with you?”

Noah glanced past him and looked out tall windows as Boston slowly came to life on a quiet, sunny Saturday morning. “I guess I’ll call her and find out.”

“Noah?”

He heard the concern in his friend’s voice and shifted back to him. “It’s all good, Dylan. No worries.”

Dylan was clearly unconvinced. “Loretta has no official role with NAK. She’s my lawyer and business manager, and my friend. You two aren’t cooking up a surprise party. Something’s wrong. What?”

“You’re moving on. I don’t want you to worry about this stuff.”

“What stuff?” Dylan asked, eyes narrowed, alert. “What’s going on, Noah? You might as well tell me. I’m not going to quit badgering you until you do.”

Badgering was one of Dylan’s qualities that had been most helpful and necessary during the past four years. It also could be inconvenient and, occasionally, annoying. But Noah saw that he had to tell him.

He shrugged. “Some guy’s on my tail. He was here last night. At least I think it was him. I could be wrong—”

“But you’re not.” Dylan took a breath. “Early fifties. Six feet tall. Dark hair with a lot of gray. Black suit. No costume.”

Noah wasn’t surprised Dylan could describe the man. Between his years on the ice and at NAK, he missed nothing. He’d honed his natural instincts about people, their motives and character. He’d turned down a larger role with NAK, but he’d been indispensable in transforming Noah’s ideas and technical skills into a viable—and ultimately highly successful—company.

“Did you talk to this man you saw?” Noah asked.

Dylan shook his head. “He was watching you dance with your princess. Was she with him?”

“Why would you think that?”

“She left the ballroom right after he did. I tried to follow her but she disappeared before I could catch up with her. I didn’t see the older gentleman.”

“Did you recognize him?”

“No,” Dylan said without hesitation, then turned to Olivia. “What about you? Did you see this man?”

She set down her coffee cup. “I spoke with him briefly. I think he’s the one you’re talking about. He asked what I knew about the woman Noah was dancing with.”

“How did you respond?” Noah asked, keeping his tone neutral.

“I didn’t, really. I just said I was there to enjoy the evening. I had the feeling he knew you, Noah. I didn’t think anything of it. We spoke for less than a minute. Then he moved on. Is he a problem?”

“He’s an unknown.” Noah poured himself more coffee from a small silver pot. “He might not be a problem at all. I spotted him a few times in San Diego.”

“How many is a ‘few’?” Dylan asked.

“Three. At a restaurant where I was enjoying a nice fish dinner with a friend.”

“One of your actresses?”

Noah ignored him. “Then at the fencing studio. Third time was outside our offices. I ran into Loretta and we agreed she’d see if she could find out who he is and what he wants.”

“Why not use one of your own people?”

“Who are my people nowadays, Dylan?”

Dylan tapped his fingers on the white tablecloth. “Noah, is there any reason this guy would bird-dog you? Personal, professional—anything?”

Noah pushed away his untouched coffee refill. “Not everyone needs a reason.”

“What does Loretta say?”

“She’s stumped. I hoped it’d turn out to be a case of too much time on my hands. Then I saw this strange man again last night. It’s too big a coincidence for me to spot him in San Diego and then in Boston.”

Dylan sat back. “I’ll talk to Loretta and take care of this.”

Noah shook his head. “No, Dylan. Thank you, but Loretta and I are handling this on our own.”

“Any ideas who he is, what he wants?” Dylan asked.

“No.”

“Is he stalking you or what?”

“I wouldn’t say stalking.”

Dylan took in a sharp breath. “Maybe you should involve NAK security. You’re worth a lot of money. Your company recently went public. You’ve made a few enemies in the process.”

“I don’t think this is about money, enemies or power. It feels different.”

“Personal?”

“Maybe.”

“An ex-girlfriend’s father?” Olivia asked. “Something like that?”

Noah smiled at her. “You’re assuming I have an ex-girlfriend.”

“More like a legion of them,” Dylan muttered. When Olivia raised her eyebrows, he added, “Noah’s high-profile. A lot of women want to have a night on the town with him, at his expense. Deep down, though, he’s still the high school geek who was better at math than most of his teachers. I wasn’t, in case you were wondering.”

“In other words,” Noah said, his eyes on Olivia, “I have a low threshold of trust where women are concerned.” He sat back, wishing now he’d waited longer to have his pancakes. “I also get dumped a lot.”

“Because you don’t like being used,” Dylan said. “Maybe you flipped the switch of one of your actress’s crazy uncles, or someone is seizing the moment to see what they can get off you. We can speculate all morning. It won’t get us anywhere.”

“And it’s not a problem until it’s a problem,” Noah said.

“This man hasn’t made direct contact with you?”

“Not yet, no.”

“Maybe he sent you one of the emails you didn’t want to read this morning.”

“I’m not worried, Dylan,” Noah said truthfully. “If he wanted to physically harm me, he’s had several chances.”

“He could know you’re a master fencer and a brown belt in karate.”

“I hope he does.”

“What if he’s looking up dirt on you so that he can harm NAK?” Olivia asked. “What if he wants to harm you—your reputation?”

“Let him try. I have no skeletons in the closet.” Noah gave her a slight smile. “I’m not that interesting, Olivia. More than likely this man is just angling for money.”

Dylan eyed Noah. “Any chance there’s a connection to me?”

“I have no reason to think so, or that there’s a connection to Knights Bridge.”

“Knights Bridge?” Olivia sat forward. “Why would there be a connection to Knights Bridge?”

Noah regretted his offhand comment and tried to reassure her. “I’m sure there isn’t one.” He decided to change the subject. “Unless my princess is hiding there. Are you positive you two didn’t recognize her? She had quite arresting eyes. Almost turquoise. They reminded me of your friend Maggie’s eyes but the color was deeper.”

Olivia reached suddenly for the cream pitcher. “Really? I wonder who she could be.”

She greeted the waiter a little too cheerfully when he arrived with her and Dylan’s breakfasts. Noah glanced at Dylan and saw that he noticed her reaction, too.

The description of his dance partner had obviously struck a nerve with Olivia.

Noah smiled. His princess might not be so lost, after all.

* * *

Knights Bridge was even prettier than Noah remembered from his visit in early April. Having leaves on the trees helped. He sat up front with Dylan while Olivia pointed out various landmarks from the backseat. She explained that the building of the Quabbin Reservoir and the subsequent flooding of much of the Swift River Valley had changed the development of the town, putting it off the beaten track and giving it a “time has stopped here” feel that was, both Olivia and Dylan again insisted, deceptive.

Maybe so, Noah thought, but that didn’t mean he wanted to do more than float in and out again. He had a chartered jet scheduled to meet him at a nearby private airport that evening.

Of course, his princess could change everything. He’d hang out for a day or two in Knights Bridge and brave mosquitoes and its one restaurant if there was a chance he’d find out more about her.

Dylan turned onto a back road that wound toward Quabbin, his ease with the twists and turns suggesting a familiarity that reminded Noah that his best friend was, without a doubt, moving on from NAK. Less certain was whether he and Olivia planned to keep a home in San Diego. Noah would. Four New England winters during his years at MIT were enough for him.

Not that he had any reason to move to Knights Bridge or anywhere else in New England.

The Farm at Carriage Hill was located in a picturesque mix of meadows, woods and stone walls. Its hand-painted sign, decorated with a cluster of chives, worked with the 1803 house with its cream-colored clapboards and rich blue front door. As he followed Olivia through her kitchen out to the stone terrace, Noah could see that she was turning her vision for her historic house into a reality. Even subtle changes were infused with her sense of color and design, and her love for her hometown. According to Dylan, she’d always planned on returning to Knights Bridge to open her own version of a bed-and-breakfast, even if her departure from Boston hadn’t been entirely on her terms.

“Dylan and I will make lunch,” she said. “You can wait out here and familiarize yourself with New England herbs and flowers.”

“You’re assuming I want to know New England herbs and flowers.”

She laughed. “Yes, I am.”

She went back inside, and Noah sat at the round table and observed the backyard. It really was attractive. Small-town life suited Olivia. He hadn’t known her when she lived in Boston and worked at a prestigious design studio, but he knew from Dylan that she’d lost a major client in an underhanded way to a friend whose career Olivia had helped revive. The experience had served as a catalyst for her to transform her life.

One could only move forward from where one was standing, Noah thought as he stretched out his legs and tried to relax. Pretending otherwise was a fast way into trouble. He knew from hard experience that where he was standing at any given moment wasn’t always where he wanted to be, or should be. That was just life. Not everything was under his control. Mistakes, incompetence, good intentions, bad intentions, good luck, bad luck, human nature—lots of things beyond his control played a role.

Of course, a lot under his control played a role in determining where he was, too. His own screwups, his own limitations, his own lack of vision and purpose.

Were they what had this mystery man on his tail?

Noah sank back in his chair, appreciating the quiet surroundings. Olivia certainly did have a knack with flowers and herbs. She came through the back door with a tray of sandwiches, her big, ugly dog trailing behind her.

He looked up at her as the dog, a German shepherd with a healthy mix of black Lab and probably several other breeds, promptly flopped down under the table, his big black-and-brown head on Noah’s feet. “What’s his name again?”

“Buster,” Olivia said, placing the tray on the table. “He adopted me when I first moved back here.”

Dylan followed her onto the terrace, carrying two glasses of iced tea. He set one in front of Noah. “Maybe you should get a dog, Noah.”

He eased his foot out from under the dog’s head. “Does Buster have a brother?”

“I hope not,” Dylan said with a mock shudder.

Olivia grinned at him. “I thought you and Buster had bonded.”

“We have, but one Buster is enough.” He winked at her as he handed her the second glass of tea and sat across from Noah. “All the world needs.”

Buster gave a deep, satisfied sigh from under the table. The dog was visibly calmer than when Noah had met him in April. A few months in Olivia’s care no doubt had helped. Buster had clearly endeared himself to Dylan, despite an inauspicious meeting.

Now here they all were—Olivia Frost, Dylan McCaffrey and Buster.

Noah smiled at what a great family they made. He’d never seen Dylan happier, and Olivia was fast becoming a friend herself. Noah helped himself to a chicken salad sandwich. It had some kind of herb in it. Fresh tarragon, he thought. If his princess was in Knights Bridge, was she into herbs, too?

“Who’ll be minding Buster while you two are in San Diego?” he asked casually.

“Maggie will be in every day,” Olivia said. “She and I are basically business partners. We’re thinking about doing the paperwork to make it official. We work so well together.”

“And she lives in Knights Bridge and likes herbs,” Noah said.

“She also likes her mother’s goats,” Dylan added, his tone neutral. As he’d explained to Noah, the bonds between the people of Knights Bridge were sometimes tricky to navigate. The Frosts had been in the Swift River Valley and surrounding hills for generations. Despite Dylan’s newly discovered roots in the region, he was still an outsider.

“Maggie loves herbs and goat’s milk,” Olivia said with a laugh. “I don’t know that much about goats, but the milk is perfect for the artisan soaps Maggie and I are making.”

Noah tried to keep any reaction to himself as it sank in that he was talking goats and soap at a two-hundred-year-old house on a dead-end road, surrounded by meadows, shade trees, green grass and a lot of flowers and herbs. It was a first.

The goats, he’d learned, belonged to Maggie’s widowed mother and were a source of both tension and enjoyment within the O’Dunn family.

Obviously in a happy mood, Olivia sat between him and Dylan. “I’ll give you some samples of our goat’s milk soap. We’re still tinkering before we test-market it here. Maggie’s on top of all the regulations.”

“Complicated?”

“Not too bad unless we make actual medicinal claims.”

“Which you won’t?”

She shook her head. Noah saw that his interest surprised her, but she was the love of his best friend’s life and he wanted to know about her and what she enjoyed. With Carriage Hill getting off the ground and the betrayal of her friend over stealing a client behind her, Olivia’s natural optimism had clearly returned.

Falling in love didn’t hurt, either.

Noah thought of his princess. He could feel the curve of her hip, see the warmth in her eyes, the soft swell of her creamy breasts. Why had he left her? Why hadn’t he let the mystery man come to him?

Because he hadn’t wanted his life in San Diego—who he really was—to intrude on the moment. The fantasy they both were enjoying.

Either that, or he hadn’t known what the hell he was thinking.

He wasn’t thinking she’d disappear, that was for sure.

“Noah?” Dylan asked with a frown.

He sighed. “Mind drifting. Thinking about hiking in the mountains, then playing a swashbuckler at a ball—I’ve got mental whiplash.”

“Not a chance,” his friend said without hesitation. “You never have mental whiplash, whatever that is.”

“It’s a big change to go from waking up in a sleeping bag on a mountain to dancing at a charity ball that night.”

Dylan was still obviously unconvinced. “You knew the deal. There were no surprises.” He shifted, then smiled. “Except for your princess. I guess she could have you whiplashed in a number of ways.”

“Funny, Dylan,” Noah said.

He grinned. “I thought so.”

As they finished their simple lunch, Noah noticed a woman come out of a small shed at the far end of the yard. She had a cobalt-blue scarf tied around her head and long, dark strawberry curls trailing down her back. She started up a bark-mulch path, and Noah saw she wore a deep red top that accentuated her breasts and shorts that shaped slim hips. Her sport sandals, though, looked as if they’d gone up and down Mt. Washington a time or two.

When she reached the terrace, she stayed on the path and motioned toward a raised flower bed as she addressed Olivia. “The slugs got to the miniature dahlias, Liv. They’re so gross. I put out slug bait and trimmed back the worst of the damage.” She shuddered, then smiled brightly. “I was admiring the gardens and couldn’t resist going on slug patrol when I saw the carnage.”

“Yuck,” Olivia said. “I hate slugs. Only thing worse are ticks.”

Noah glanced at Dylan. Slugs? Ticks? What had happened to bucolic small-town New England?

Dylan seemed to read his mind, with obvious amusement. “Ticks suck blood and can be hard to see,” he explained, not that an explanation was necessary or desired.

“Oh, sorry,” Olivia said. “Noah, this is my friend Phoebe O’Dunn. Maggie’s sister. Phoebe, this is—”

“Noah. Noah Kendrick.” He got to his feet and put out a hand. “A pleasure, Phoebe.”

She wiped a palm on her hip and smiled as she shook his hand, her skin warm, soft, her fingers long and slender. “I wore garden gloves when I took on the slugs, but you never know. It’s nice to meet you, Noah. I hope you’re enjoying Knights Bridge.”

“Hard not to on such a beautiful day, despite images of slugs and ticks.”

“Sorry about that,” she said, the twinkle in her eyes belying her words. “Are you here for long?”

“That’s not the plan.”

Noah saw that her eyes were a similar turquoise to her sister’s but shook off any comparison with his princess from last night. The false eyelashes, the heavy makeup—how would he be able to tell for sure? He doubted he’d recognize her voice. He wasn’t good at that sort of thing.

Now if he could touch her hips...

He shook off that thought, too. Whatever Olivia knew about his dance partner and wasn’t saying, it didn’t involve this attractive slug-hunter in scarf and muddy clothes.

Definitely not the same turquoise eyes.

With one smooth movement, Phoebe pulled off her scarf and gave her curls a shake once they were free. She seemed natural, unselfconscious. In her element, he thought.

“Well, if you do decide to stay on,” she said, “we’ll make sure you’re not bored.”

Noah felt his eyebrows go up and heard Dylan give a little cough behind him.

“Phoebe’s the town librarian,” Olivia added quickly.

“She can keep me in reading material, then.” Noah smiled at Knights Bridge’s redheaded librarian. “Nothing like a good book.”

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