Falling For You (Sapphire Bay Book 1) Read online

  He opened his front door. Sherlock followed him inside. “Sounds impressive.”

  Caleb sighed. “You already knew, didn’t you?”

  “Natalie told me she was an artist. I looked at her website last night and it listed where she’d exhibited. Can you send me the link to the article you found?”

  “I’ll email it now. There’s something else you need to know. Her last three paintings sold for more than fifty thousand dollars each.”

  His eyes widened. “Are you sure?” He didn’t know much about art, but there couldn’t be many artists who sold their work for that much money.

  “I’m positive. I contacted a friend who works at a gallery in Los Angeles. Natalie’s one of the most popular artists in America, but no one knows much about her.”

  Gabe had already guessed that she valued her privacy as much as he did.

  “Did you know two of her paintings were stolen?”

  Gabe poured himself a cup of coffee. “I did.”

  “There was a lot of hype about who was behind the burglary, but no one has been arrested.”

  “What kind of hype?”

  “I’ll send you another article. The Italian police are looking at a mafia connection to the burglary.”

  The coffeepot banged against the kitchen counter. “What kind of articles were you reading?”

  “I know,” Caleb said. “It sounds like something out of your novels, except it’s true. What if Natalie left Venice because she’s worried the burglars will come back? There were three paintings in her studio, but only two were stolen.”

  Gabe looked through the kitchen window. Sapphire Bay had become a magnet for people on the run. “How do you know she’d finished three paintings?”

  “The reporter said there were three.”

  “You know what the media are like. They could have been lying.” Gabe had been placed in the center of more than one false story. And no matter what he said, most people believed what they read. “If Natalie’s life was in danger she wouldn’t come to Sapphire Bay.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s too remote.”

  Caleb snorted. “That’s why most of us are here. You might want to let her know about the articles. If I found them, someone else could, too.”

  “I’ll talk to her when she gets back from town.”

  “Good. I’d better keep working. I’ll see you at six o’clock.”

  “Bye.” Gabe left his phone on the counter and opened his laptop. Any discussion with Natalie about her paintings wouldn’t end well. If she’d come here to keep a low profile, it might have just backfired. Especially if someone connected her to Sapphire Bay.

  Natalie took a plate of cookies out of her truck. She’d called Brooke before she left the cottage. The cookies were her way of saying thank you for offering her a bed when she’d first arrived.

  She checked the address on the piece of paper she was holding and smiled. Brooke’s house was adorable. With deep blue wooden siding, white trim, and a red door, it was warm and welcoming.

  Brooke had told her to follow the driveway around the back of the house and knock on the garage door. As soon as Natalie’s hand left the door, it opened.

  “You made it.”

  The sweet smell of chocolate made Natalie’s tummy rumble. “Your directions were easy to follow. These cinnamon cookies are for you. Thank you for offering to help me when I arrived in Sapphire Bay.”

  Brooke took the plate and smiled. “You didn’t need to bake me cookies, but thank you anyway. I was about to stop for a drink. Do you want to join me?”

  “That would be great. I’ve been sorting through my art supplies all morning.” Natalie looked over Brooke’s shoulder. “Wow. This isn’t what I expected to see.”

  The garage had been converted into a commercial kitchen. Stainless steel counters ran across one wall and down the center of the room. Three large mixing bowls sat beside refrigerators that were as tall as Natalie, and pots and pans in all shapes and sizes filled a wall of metal shelves.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  “This is where I create my confectionery. For the last couple of hours I’ve been wrapping chocolate fudge for the craft fair.”

  “It smells wonderful.” On the center island, bags of fudge were neatly stacked in boxes.

  Brooke grinned. “It’s my granddad’s secret recipe.”

  “This looks like it’s more than a hobby.”

  “One day I want to open my own confectionery store but, for now, I work from home and send orders to stores around Montana.” Brooke took a container off one of the shelves. “Try some.”

  Natalie bit into the fudge and sighed. It wasn’t the super smooth type she usually ate. This fudge had a dense, textured chewiness that melted in her mouth. “It’s delicious.”

  “Making bulk quantities of the recipe is different from making smaller amounts, but I’m pleased with how it turned out. Come and have a hot drink.”

  Natalie followed Brooke out of the garage. “How long have you been living in Sapphire Bay?”

  “About eighteen months. I was a nurse in Arizona before I moved here.”

  “That’s a big change.”

  Brooke stepped inside her kitchen. “I was only supposed to stay for two weeks, but I loved it so much that I decided to move here. Would you like coffee, hot chocolate, or cold apple cider?”

  “Apple cider would be great.”

  “What brings you to Sapphire Bay?” Brooke asked.

  “I need to paint two canvases for an exhibition that’s only a few months away.”

  “That’s why you were checking your art supplies. What do you paint?”

  “Landscapes. I like the way I can use oil paints to add texture and life to a scene.”

  “Did you bring any finished paintings with you?”

  “There are a few of my older canvases at my grandparents’ cottage. Most of my work is sold as soon as it’s displayed in exhibitions or galleries.”

  Brooke handed her a glass of cider. “I’m impressed. Most artists struggle to make a decent living. Do you know what you’ll paint while you’re here?”

  “I want to focus on Flathead Lake. I have a lot of happy memories of the time I’ve spent either in or around the water.”

  “It sounds like you made the right decision to return to Sapphire Bay.”

  “I hope so.”

  “It’s okay to be unsure.” Brooke studied her with a serious expression in her eyes. “Sometimes you have to trust that you’re where you need to be.”

  Natalie thought about her grandparents and her mom and dad. There were a lot of things to be thankful for, but it was the things that made her heart ache that had brought her home. She wanted this visit to be so much more than a chance to create two paintings. She needed to forgive herself for the choices she’d made and learn to like the person she’d become.

  She looked at Brooke. “I’m glad I met you.”

  “I’m glad I met you, too. Welcome home.”

  Chapter 3

  Gabe knew a lot of people liked country music. The playlist on the local radio station was full of songs by Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, and Dolly Parton. If you enjoyed music about achy-breaky hearts and love gone wrong, Sapphire Bay was the place to come. What he hadn’t expected to see were hundreds of people waving American flags and wearing Ryan Evans Fan Club T-shirts.

  “I thought you were exaggerating when you said there would be a lot of people here. Where did they come from?”

  Caleb pulled him out of the way of a lady pushing a stroller. “Beats me. Mabel said she got inquiries from people as far south as Texas. It’s just as well I bought our tickets when I did.”

  Gabe looked over his shoulder. The line of people waiting to buy concert tickets hadn’t shrunk since they’d walked through the makeshift gates.

  “We’re sitting over there in the VIP area.” Caleb pointed to an old, gnarly oak tree on the right-hand side of the stage. “If anything goes wrong wi
th the sound system I’m not far away.”

  “I thought you’d be backstage.”

  “Not this time. Ryan brought his own sound technicians. All I had to do was set up everything.”

  For Caleb’s sake, Gabe hoped nothing went wrong. Even though they weren’t sitting far from the stage, it would still take a few minutes to move through the crowd.

  “Gabe!”

  He turned around, searching for the person who’d yelled his name.

  “Over there.” Caleb pointed to a woman waving a red sun hat in the air. “Is that Natalie?”

  Gabe watched a smile appear on Natalie’s face. “It is.”

  “Come on,” Caleb said as he changed direction. “We’ll need to be quick. The concert starts in fifteen minutes.”

  “You don’t need to say hello. I can meet you by the tree.”

  “Are you kidding? You might not be intrigued by your neighbor, but I am.” Caleb kept walking toward Natalie.

  “What do you mean ‘intrigued’?”

  “She’s a woman with a mysterious past. Sapphire Bay is a great place to hide, but she might need our help to cover her tracks.”

  Gabe frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “I know a thing or two about creating decoys. It wouldn’t take much to confuse whoever is looking for her.”

  “We don’t know if anyone’s looking for her.”

  “A wildly attractive artist, who by all accounts is close to being a millionaire, is on the run from someone who broke into her apartment. With your imagination and my IT skills, we could convince most people that she’s living in New Zealand.”

  “You should have been a writer.”

  Caleb grinned. “I’d make a better undercover agent. Just call me Bond. James Bond.”

  Gabe shook his head. “MI6 wouldn’t be safe with you around.” He moved the blanket Caleb had given him to his other arm. “Don’t ask Natalie about her personal life.”

  Caleb stopped in the middle of the walkway. “Why not?”

  “She might not want to talk about it.”

  “Most people enjoy talking about themselves. It’s only when you’ve got something to hide that it becomes uncomfortable.”

  “She isn’t the only person who likes their privacy,” Gabe reminded him. “When was the last time you talked about your work?”

  “I can’t talk about my latest project. I’ve signed a confidentiality agreement.”

  Gabe’s eyebrows rose. “Can you tell me anything about what you’re doing?”

  “I told you—I’m building a computer network.” Caleb pulled his baseball cap lower. “We’d better move before we get trampled by the crowd.”

  Gabe sighed. The sooner they said hello to Natalie, the sooner they could leave. “There are now eleven minutes until the concert starts.”

  “That’s plenty of time.”

  He wasn’t so sure. There were a lot of people looking for somewhere to sit. They’d be lucky to make it back to their seating area.

  They hadn’t walked more than a dozen steps when Caleb turned around. “Have you told Natalie that we know about the burglary in Italy?”

  “No. I haven’t seen her since you called me this morning.”

  Caleb seemed genuinely worried. “You need to tell her.”

  “If I tell her, she’ll think we’ve been snooping into things we should have left alone.”

  “It was investigative journalism. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t a homicidal psychopath.”

  Gabe snorted. He already had one of those in his life. “You were being nosy.”

  “I had the best of intentions. What if she thinks we only want to talk to her because she’s a successful artist?”

  Gabe wasn’t sure when Caleb’s discovery had become his problem, but it was there all the same. And if he were honest, he’d sooner tell Natalie what Caleb had found. His friend was one of the nicest guys he’d met, but he loved drama.

  And if there was one thing Gabe didn’t need in his life, it was more drama.

  Natalie pulled her sun hat onto her head. “They’re coming.”

  Brooke clambered to her feet. “He’s with Caleb.”

  “Who?” Natalie frowned. She’d seen the tall man walking in front of Gabe before—she just couldn’t remember where.

  “Caleb Andrews. He owns an IT consulting business and lives about twenty minutes north of you.”

  “He looks worried about something.”

  “I saw him when I was setting up my stall for the craft fair. Caleb organized the sound system for the concert. He’s probably hoping nothing goes wrong.”

  Natalie smiled. “Is there anyone you don’t know in Sapphire Bay?”

  Brooke looked around the field. “There are a lot of people I don’t know at the moment. But I’ve met most of the residents at the Saturday morning market. Even if they don’t have a sweet tooth, they buy my candy for their friends and family.”

  Even though Natalie was a teenager when she’d left Sapphire Bay, she remembered the close sense of community, the way everyone looked out for each other. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed that feeling until now.

  Brooke sighed. “It’s not every day that you see two handsome men heading toward you. Why did you want to see Gabe?”

  “I need to give him something.”

  “Now?”

  “It’s important. I was supposed to give him a whistle when I got back from my walk, but I was longer than I thought I’d be.” From behind her sunglasses, Natalie studied Gabe. His short black hair framed a face that was strong and kind. Brooke was right. In a quiet, unassuming way, he was one of the best-looking men she’d met. A restless energy surrounded him, drew her closer and left her wondering what was behind his steel-gray eyes.

  She’d thought Caleb looked worried, but Gabe looked worse. “Hi, Gabe.”

  “Hi.” He looked at his friend. “Caleb, this is Natalie Armstrong. My neighbor and owner of the cottage I’m renting.”

  Caleb held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I saw you at the general store when you first arrived in Sapphire Bay.”

  Natalie smiled. “I thought I’d seen you before. How long have you lived here?”

  “About twelve months. I’d be happy to show you the tourist hot spots.”

  “I forgot to warn you about Caleb,” Brooke said with a grin. “He can be extremely charming when he wants to be.”

  “Which is most of the time,” Caleb replied.

  Gabe cleared his throat and looked at Natalie. “Did you want to see me about something?”

  She nodded and handed him the whistle. “This is for you. By the time I arrived home you’d left the cottage. I didn’t need to use it, but thanks for thinking of me.”

  For some reason, Gabe looked uncomfortable. “That’s okay. Did you enjoy your walk?”

  Her walk had been everything she needed and more. “It was amazing. I’d forgotten how colorful the stones are on the bottom of the lake. And the sound of the water washing to shore is so relaxing. I’ll have to allow lots of time for hiking while I’m here.”

  Gabe slipped the whistle into his pocket. “If you want to take my whistle with you again, just ask.” He moved out of the way of a person wanting to sit behind Natalie. “Caleb and I should head to our seating area. Enjoy the concert.”

  “You could sit with us,” Brooke said. “There’s plenty of room and we have food.”

  Gabe looked at Caleb.

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Caleb said quickly. “Why don’t you sit with us? Mabel gave us tickets not far from the stage. No one will complain if you join us.”

  Before Natalie could say anything, Brooke picked up their picnic basket.

  “That’s the best idea you’ve had since I met you.”

  Natalie looked at Gabe, then at Caleb. Something didn’t feel right. “That’s nice of you, but we’re—”

  “Happy to accept your offer,” Brooke said. She handed Natalie the blanket and smiled at
Caleb. “Lead the way.”

  Brooke and Caleb stepped around a family sitting on the ground.

  Natalie looked helplessly at Gabe. “I’m sorry. If you have other plans we could sit somewhere else.”

  “It’s okay. I don’t mind company.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. You’ll see more of the concert from where we’re sitting.”

  Natalie silently followed Gabe across the field. He didn’t seem happy that they would be sitting so close, but what could she do? Caleb and Brooke were well ahead of them, chatting away like long lost friends. Gabe, on the other hand, was as talkative as a block of wood.

  When they stopped behind a line of people, she made sure she wasn’t standing too close to him. He was probably annoyed that he was seeing more of her than he wanted to. She’d have to make doubly sure that she stuck to her side of the cottage and didn’t disturb him. Keeping out of his way wouldn’t be too hard. As soon as she started painting, he wouldn’t see much of her, anyway.

  She jumped when Gabe touched her arm.

  He pointed to a gap in the crowd. “We should go that way. It will be quicker than waiting for this line to move.”

  She ignored the tingle of awareness shooting along her arm. Gabe wanted her to respect his personal space and, so far, she hadn’t stopped bumping into him. It was time to distance herself from her neighbor and concentrate on why she’d come to Sapphire Bay.

  Later that evening, Gabe sat at his desk, writing the next scene in his novel. It could have waited until tomorrow, but he was restless and needed something to take his mind off Natalie.

  She’d hardly spoken to him all night. They’d been at a concert, so that shouldn’t have worried him. Even when she sat on the far side of Brooke, he hadn’t been concerned. It wasn’t until the band left the stage for a thirty-minute break that he knew something was wrong.

  Maybe she’d discovered that he’d been snooping into her personal life? Caleb might have said something about the burglary or asked too many questions about why she was here.