Shaking, she buried her face in her palms. She felt sick to her stomach. She had just begun to like Allison, to see her as a trusted friend. And now this.

Brianna’s fist pounded the dashboard. For Allison to betray her was bad enough. But to betray her own husband—Brianna’s generous, loving father who’d given the woman everything her greedy little heart desired—that was truly unforgivable.

And Garrett—he was a single man now. But that didn’t make it all right to carry on with his partner’s pretty young wife. For years, Brianna had considered him her friend. But he would never be her friend again. She remembered how Allison had warned her away from him. Never in a million years would she have guessed that Allison wanted Garrett for herself.

The lying, conniving, faithless bitch!

What now? Brianna knew she wasn’t ready to go home and face her father. She needed to cool down. And she needed to talk to Liam.

Looking around, she realized that she wasn’t far from the Lakeside Forest Wilderness Area, a natural hiking park in the heart of Branson, with miles of winding trails. A peaceful walk might be just the thing to calm her nerves before she decided what to do next.

After parking at the trailhead, she tightened the laces on her sneakers, took her phone, and locked her purse in the trunk. She chose one of the easier trails that wound through thickets of oak, redbud, hickory, and the tall, cedar-like trees called ash junipers. As a little girl, Brianna had hiked this trail many times with her mother, who had known all the trees, flowers, and animals along the way. How she wished her mother could be with her now.

* * *

Allison had tried to call Burke twice. There was no answer on his cell or on the house landline. Only after the third try did she remember overhearing a phone conversation yesterday between Burke and his friend Hoagie—something about going out for burgers and beer today.

It would be like Burke to turn off his cell phone, or even leave it at home, when he was with friends. He hated having a good conversation interrupted by a ringing phone. If he was out with Hoagie, she’d have no way of letting him know about finding the fake contract until he got home. Worse, she couldn’t tell him about the fiasco in Garrett’s office.

All she could do was keep looking for Brianna.

When she’d run outside to stop the girl, Allison had left her purse, with her car keys, in her desk. By the time she’d run back to get it—without encountering Garrett, thank heaven—Brianna’s car was nowhere in sight.