“You know what they say—you don’t get to choose your relatives.”

Tobias thought of his mother. “No, you don’t.” He opened the door wider. “Would you like to come in?”

“This time I would. Carl’s supposed to be working, but who knows if he actually is. He could be loitering around the corner, for all I know. He spends more time trying to avoid work than getting anything done.”

“Too bad work avoidance doesn’t pay better.”

“He’d be a millionaire.”

Tobias laughed without mirth. No matter how pathetic that was, it was true. “What’s going on?” he asked when Uriah had shut the door behind him.

“I’m concerned,” Uriah admitted.

“About what?”

“About you.”

“Why?”

“Carl mentioned Harper this morning. He knows you’re seeing her.”

“How?”

“I guess she’s driving an expensive Range Rover that’s somehow distinctive. And she’s the talk of the town right now, the ex-wife of some big rock star. I didn’t recognize her name when you introduced us that night, but then…I wouldn’t.”

“Why would Carl care who I’m dating?”

Uriah shook his head. “Only Carl can answer that. It makes no sense to me, either. But he’s always getting into other people’s business, trying to cause trouble—and I’m telling you, he seems to think it’s a pretty big deal that Harper’s been over here.”

Tobias rubbed the beard growth on his chin. “What do you suppose he might do with that information?”

“Does she know about your past?”

Tobias said nothing.

“That’s what I was afraid of. Carl’s unhappy that I’m not more upset by your record, Tobias. He claims you’re dangerous and shouldn’t be allowed on the property. Keeps trying to drive that point home.”

“He hated me from the first moment he laid eyes on me.” The feeling was mutual.

“It’s nothing you’ve done. He hates you because I respect you, and I can’t respect him. Love isn’t always enough. Anyway, Harper’s big-shot ex-husband is in town. Carl saw him at the coffee shop this morning. I wanted to tell you that, too.”

“I already know Axel’s in town,” Tobias said. “He got in last night.”

Uriah studied him for several seconds. “Does he know about your past?”

“I hope not.”

“Then you might want to do something to remedy the situation.”

Tobias appreciated Uriah’s warning. But he had no way of protecting himself. His only hope, at this point, was that Carl wouldn’t recognize the full power of the weapon he held, and the next three days would prove uneventful. If Carl didn’t give him away, it was entirely possible that Harper and her family would be so consumed with the holidays they wouldn’t pick up on local gossip, and that Axel would leave without learning of Tobias’s past.