She hadn’t wanted to be seen before. But she definitely didn’t want to be seen now, for all the same reasons and one other—she’d let herself in without knocking. They hadn’t set up a routine, and he’d given her the key, so she felt as though she had a way to justify her actions. But she was still loath to run into him, so she ducked into the first room she could reach without making any noise.

It was a bedroom suite, but it wasn’t one most people would choose if they had their pick of all seven bedrooms in the house, which was why she was so surprised to find a suitcase on the floor.

Oh, no! She’d chosen the room where Maxi’s friend was staying.

She could hear the man she’d spoken to earlier tell his visitors—a collection of adults and some children, judging by the jumble of older and younger voices—that it’d been great to see them.

She’d been right to get out of the entry hall even if she had ducked into his bedroom. They were leaving—she would’ve run into them, no question.

Her heart pounded as they made plans to see each other tomorrow and finished their goodbyes. They seemed to be relatives of some sort, but she wasn’t focused on deciphering the specific connections between them. She was trying to figure out a way to escape.

There was a door that led into a private garden. She remembered that. But she also remembered it was enclosed with a high wall and no gate.

She was deliberating on whether or not she could make it to the back entrance when silence fell, but then footsteps began to cross the marble entryway, once again coming in her direction.

No way would she be caught in his bedroom! With nowhere to go to escape and no time in which to find a good hiding place, she dropped to the floor and slid under the bed.

Three

Seth’s eyes slowly scanned the room. She was in here somewhere. After he’d heard the computerized voice of the alarm system announce that someone had come into the house, he’d seen movement in the atrium. He’d assumed it was the woman he’d met at the guesthouse—who else could it be?—and thought she’d eventually come out and say something to him. But when he’d nearly encountered her in the entryway while walking his family to the door, she’d darted away, her long black hair flying behind her. And he knew where she’d gone because his bedroom suite was the only room close by.

What could she possibly want in his room? And what was Maxi thinking, having someone so strange take over the care of his property?