The Holiday Secret

“Okay.” Bea slid off the chair, the bounce in her step noticeably absent as she shuffled out the door.

“Please don’t be upset with her,” Ellery said the moment they were alone. “Bea was the one who showed me to my room last night, so I didn’t think it would be a problem if I invited her in.”

Ellery’s explanation didn’t seem to satisfy Carter Bristow. Just the opposite, in fact.

“Bea showed you to your room?”

Way to go, Elle. Now she’d probably gotten Karen Bristow in trouble, too.

It explained the innkeeper’s hesitation when Ellery didn’t object to Bea accompanying her upstairs. Karen knew someone who would.

Carter Bristow might help out at the inn, but it was obvious he didn’t embrace Karen’s “enter as friends, leave as family” motto.

He stepped out of the doorway and into the room, which immediately seemed to shrink in size.

“I have rules in place for Bea’s protection,” he said tightly, confirming her suspicions. “She doesn’t always understand boundaries.”

Ellery hadn’t realized Carter was so tall. He was also broad in the shoulder and narrow in the waist, with a lean but muscular frame that Ellery guessed was the result of an active lifestyle, not a gym. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t on duty, either. Carter Bristow took command of his surroundings with an economy of words and motion.

And judging from the interaction Ellery had witnessed between father and daughter, it seemed he approached parenting in much the same way.

His daughter.

Ellery still couldn’t believe it. There was no physical resemblance between the two that she could see. Unlike her father, there wasn’t a hint of a cloud in Bea’s blue eyes. Her golden hair, freed from the pigtails she’d worn the night before, had framed her heart-shaped face in a riot of loose curls. Carter’s sienna-brown hair was cropped close to his head, effectively discouraging any rebellious behavior.

Ellery cast a discreet glance at Carter’s left hand. No wedding ring.

What had Bea saidwhen Ellery inquired about her family?

Just me and Daddy...

Ellery opened her mouth, ready to apologize for her part in encouraging Isabella to break a family rule, but Carter didn’t give her the opportunity.

“The main roads will be plowed and salted by checkout time,” he said. “You shouldn’t have any trouble getting to wherever it is you’re going.”

Distracted by her thoughts, and, if Ellery was completely honest, the intriguing glints of mahogany scattered throughout the grain of stubble on Carter’s jaw—it took a moment for his words to register.

“I’m not checking out today.”

The temperature in the room immediately dropped several degrees. “I assumed you ended up here last night because of the weather.”

“No, coming to the Evergreen was always the plan.” An impulsive plan. But still.

“Why?”

The blunt question caught Ellery off guard. She could only imagine how many times Carter had employed that same tactic to extract a confession from someone.

“It’s the perfect place for a change of scenery, don’t you agree?” Ellery said lightly. For good measure, she punctuated the question with a bright smile.

Not only did Carter Bristow not smile back, some undefinable emotion crackled in his eyes, there and gone as swiftly as a flash of summer lightning.

“Enjoy your stay, then.”

Before Ellery could respond, he was gone. The door closed with a soft click behind him.

Ellery collapsed into the closest chair.

In spite of the fact that Carter Bristow had seemed all too ready to send her on her way—again—the urge to confide in him had been surprisingly strong.

He was a county deputy who lived five miles from Castle Falls. Wouldn’t he know the people who lived in the town on a personal basis as well as a professional one?

But Ellery had already broken one of the promises she’d made to Jameson.

As if on cue, her cell began to ring.

Ellery dragged in a breath, exhaled a silent prayer for strength, and reached for her phone.

Ignoring Jameson Ford’s call would only postpone the inevitable.

“I know it’s early,” the attorney said without preamble, “but I made some phone calls and found a private investigator who has a reputation for being thorough and discreet. I explained the situation and Dwayne Howard agreed to make the case his top priority.”

Ellery’s hand tightened around the phone. “That won’t be necessary.”

“You decided not to pursue the matter?” The relief in Jameson’s voice was almost palpable. Which only made what Ellery had to admit even more difficult.

“No...because I’m already here. In Castle Falls.”

Silence.

Ellery could almost see Jameson pacing the floor of his office the way he did the courtroom when new information called for a change in strategy.

“I thought we agreed it would be best not to rush into anything, Ellery,” he finally said. “You need more facts before you let these people into your life.”

By these people, Jameson meant the siblings that Ellery had been separated from for the past twenty-five years.

Brendan. Liam. Aiden.

Those were the signatures she’d seen on the document. Names without faces.

Brothers.

Ellery had been in Haiti, visiting one of the many orphanages the Marshall Foundation supported, when the Kane brothers had contacted the private agency that had handled her adoption. And no matter what happened in the future, Ellery’s life had changed the moment Jameson had given her a copy of their letter. A piece of her past that Ellery hadn’t even known was missing forty-eight hours ago.

Ordinarily, she would have taken Jameson’s advice. More than a respected attorney, Jameson Ford had been her father’s closest friend. But in this situation, Ellery knew she couldn’t sit back and wait for a private investigator to complete an investigation.

“I don’t want to read about them in a report.” Ellery wanted to see where they lived.

Wanted to see them.