Page 65 of Seaside Cowboy's Marriage of Convenience

Out of earshot on the beach, he wrapped his arm around Kennedy, needing her close to him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t with you when everything happened. I was supposed to be your hero.”

Her lovely lips curved up. “Don’t you know it? You’re already my hero. You always have been. And don’t apologize. You left the house because you respected my wishes. I have larger boundaries than most, and our relationship would never work if you crossed them.”

His arm dropped.

“No, please keep hugging me. I realized you’re in my circle of love now.” She chuckled as she looked at him, but it might be because Caramel licked her face again. “I don’t want the distance between us to be longer than my fingernail.” She lifted one hand. “And I wear my fingernails very short.”

He laughed and drew her close as they walked in the sand, happy she was back in his life. Happy she was close. Just... happy.

Then her expression grew sober. “Uncle’s ex-wife—Zoey’s mother—tried to poison me with a chocolate cupcake.” She grimaced. “He’ll be devastated by this.”

Austin stopped in his tracks, and the beagle bumped into him and squealed in protest. “Wait a moment. The woman you always looked up to? Tried to poison you?”

Kennedy’s shoulders slumped forward. “Yes.”

He tried to wrap his mind around this, but it kept unwrapping. “Why would she do that? Unless... Oh, it couldn’t be because...”

Kennedy nodded. “Yes. She orchestrated her own daughter’s kidnapping.”

“Unbelievable.”

“I probably wouldn’t believe it, either, if I didn’t live through it.” As the puppy started wiggling in her arms again, Kennedy placed the little one on the sand. “Can I trust you to stay here?”

“We’ll keep an eye on her. And maybe Smiley will, too.” Austin let the beagle off his leash, and Smiley kept the puppy away from the ocean like a protective older brother.

“Good boy.” Austin petted the beagle while the puppy sneezed from the ocean spray that doused her.

Then Kennedy kicked off the white shoes matching her sleeveless dress. “The water looks warm enough. I feel like I need to wash off some of the dirt I’ve experienced in the last hour.” She walked into the water.

Watching the dogs from the corner of his eye, Austin rolled up his jeans, took off his sneakers, and followed her, the water cool against his soles. Then she told him the rest of the story as they strolled in the shallows hand in hand while the waves rolled in and the pets romped nearby.

“So you didn’t eat the cupcake?” Leave it to him to ask the obvious. But he still needed the reassurance she didn’t even inhale the scent of poison.

“Thankfully, no. Right before my aunt pressed me to eat the cake she brought me, Rachel sent me more photos of the festival crowd in Lazoria. In one of them, I saw a woman who I’m sure is my cousin, with exactly the right birthmarks. But beside her, another, somewhat older woman in sunglasses caught my attention. Even after all the plastic surgeries she’s had, I recognized her based on her birthmarks, too. She should’ve covered those with makeup, but thankfully for me, she didn’t think of that.”

Kennedy shivered and stooped. Water lapped her hem as she buried her hands under it as if she needed to wash away any residue. “She seemed so anxious for me to eat the cupcake, so I pretended to break off and eat pieces but instead tucked them in my sleeves. As a child, I often had to eat things I didn’t like without complaining. I learned how to hide them, instead, and dispose of them later. The police took my sweater as evidence.” She lifted her face to the sun, then washed her hands, and splashed salty water onto her arms. Some droplets landed on her dress, but she didn’t seem to notice. “I had to think fast. Even if my suspicions she kidnapped her daughter were right, I had zero proof. And she could easily disappear half the world away. So I pretended to be sick, as if I’d been affected by poison. Then she admitted it.”

Everything in him went cold, even if he knew the outcome. “But what if she didn’t believe you? What if sheshotyou?”

The beagle barked again, keeping the puppy away from the ocean. Austin mentally promised him a treat when they returned home.

Home... Such a beautiful word.

“I grew up with people who constantly pretended things. Like that we were a happy family at social gatherings while miserable alone with each other. I learned to pretend, as well. I got so good at it that sometimes I couldn’t figure out the real me.” She sighed. “But at least in this case, those skills became useful.”

“Promise me you’ll never do anything like that again.” He squeezed her fingers. “Please.”

“I promise. But my bluff paid off. Once she knew I had my phone on and Rachel heard her admit to poisoning me and kidnapping Zoey, she confessed when the police arrived.” Kennedy scooped up water and again let it slip through her fingers.

“You were brilliant, as always. Scared me to death but... still brilliant. But if she was hiding for so long, why did she appear with her daughter in public?”

Kennedy glanced at their pets, then the clear sky. “It’s been decades, and they were in a tiny country on the other side of the world. After all these years, I guess Auntie wasn’t as vigilant. She might’ve regretted it when she realized these days people take photos and videos and everything can end up on social media. She has connections in the small town, and when my uncle and I started searching for the person who took that video, the gossip got to his ex-wife. My guess is she threatened Mme. Lavigne to get her and her niece to remove the video.”

“What about what happened to your assistant and Emma? Did she have any part in those incidents?”

“Not in Emma’s case. It appears Emma faked the assault to make herself look like a victim. But Auntie did pay someone to cut the brakes in my car. She didn’t think Mason would take the car without my permission.” She drew a deep breath and pushed her hair away from her face.

He stopped, the water reaching his ankles, and searched her eyes. “That’s not it, is it? There’s more?”

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