Beauty from Pain(81)

“Who is she?”


Psycho bitch. “Number three.”


“A previous companion?”


“Yes, of the deranged sort. Crazy stuff has gone down with that woman. She found out my real identity after our relationship ended and she’s been stalking me for three years. Because I travel so often, it’s hard for her to keep up with my whereabouts. When she can’t find me, she causes mischief at the vineyards to draw me out.”


“What has she done?”


“Countless things, but the most recent include the fire at Chalice and the crop poisoning at Marguerite.”


“I didn’t know about a poisoning.”


“She’s the reason I had to leave Avalon after Christmas. She hasn’t been able to find me since I came to Wagga Wagga. I think I evaded her after the fire at Chalice and that’s why she poisoned Marguerite—to bring me onto her turf at Lovedale.”


“That’s where she’s from?”


“It is, but I didn’t give her the opportunity to find me. I had a private investigator locate her first so I’d have the upper hand. I contacted her and told her to meet me in our old spot. She thought she was coming because I wanted to rekindle our relationship. I confronted her about the fire and the poisoning, but of course, she denied doing either.”


“Did you sleep with her?”


“Hell no, but not because she didn’t try. I turned her down and told her there was someone else. She didn’t take it well, so we didn’t part on good terms. Convincing you to leave me was her way of proving she could f*ck with my personal life.”


“She almost succeeded. I would’ve left last night if I’d had a place to go. I was going to the airport this morning to make arrangements to fly home.”


I kick off my shoes and crawl into bed next to Laurelyn. I need to feel her against me to prove she isn’t gone. I don’t tell her how glad I am she’s still here or about the fear I had when I thought she was leaving me. Maybe she already knows. If she does, she doesn’t mention it. She lets me pull her close, and I’m content with simply holding her in my arms after almost losing her.


33


Laurelyn Prescott


I’m almost glad Audrey came. Lachlan is forced to give me insight he would’ve never volunteered. I now understand why he’s so secretive about his life, and I can’t really say I blame him if that’s the kind of bat-shit crazy he’s had to deal with.


We don’t talk after I tell him about how I was going to leave. He holds onto me like he’s afraid I might get up and sneak away in the night. He was scared when he thought I was leaving him. I heard it in his voice and saw it in his eyes.


I somehow make it to sleep with him wrapped around me, and he’s still holding on when my phone vibrates on the nightstand at seven o’clock. I’m sure it’s Daniel calling to see if I’m ready to leave.


Lachlan rolls away from me and grabs it before I’m able to make a move. “Daniel, Miss. Beckett won’t be needing you to drive her this morning after all.”


After he ends the call, he rolls back to me. “You’d be leaving me right now if I hadn’t come home early.”


He’s right, yet I don’t want to admit it, so I say nothing. He pulls me close again, the same way he held me all night. “We have two more months together. Please, don’t plan to leave again unless it’s a mutual decision.”


“Okay.”


“Promise me, Laurelyn. I don’t want to worry about coming in and finding you gone one day.”


“I promise.” He relaxes with my assurance and I know this is the end of it. He’ll never bring it up again because he believes me.


“What would you like to do today?” he asks.


“I wasn’t expecting you to be here, so I asked Addison to meet me for lunch before the whole Audrey thing happened.”


“That’s fine. I seem to have fallen down on my office work since you’ve been around, Miss Beckett. My books could stand a little catching up.”


“Mr. Henry, you’re blaming your lack of productivity on me?”


“Only my lack of concentration,” he explains. “It always seems to be on you these days.”