Tessa tried to push open the lid, but the latch caught.He locked it.She wiggled the chest hoping it would give, unsure how she would lock it back up, and knocked off a shirt in the process. She hadn’t spotted a key in any of her searching. But no matter how she rocked the chest, the lid wouldn't give.
“I guess we’re not breaking into that,” she said to Raven, who stood beside her, head tilted. The husky, too, seemed to expect to find some hidden treasure inside. Tessa lifted the shirt off the floor. Instinct caused her to start folding it, but Tessa stopped midway. Liam would notice since it hadn’t been folded to begin with. Rolling it into a wad, she left it on the chest.
“Time to go.” At the door, she noticed Raven hadn’t moved. “What is it, girl?”
The glimmer of something shiny caught her eye near Raven’s front paw.It can’t be.
The heart-shaped necklace Tessa had desperately been searching for lay on the floor, as if placed there for her to discover all along. It must’ve fallen out of the shirt’s pocket. Tessa threaded the silver chain through her fingers and clutched it against her chest, such relief washing over her. She had thought it lost, and that shattered her heart.
Raven let out a whine, and it quickly brought Tessa back to reality. Hating to part with the treasure at all, she stuffed the necklace back in the pocket from whence it came. “What are you doing with my necklace, Liam?” she muttered. Just because she claimed to be looking for a watch didn’t mean he believed her. He had to know.
So why had Liam let her suffer?
Raven nudged her arm with her wet nose. “You’re right. We better get out of here before we get caught.”
Tessa poked her head out into the hallway, finding it deserted. With a sigh of relief, she motioned Raven out of the room. Just as she was relocking the door, a voice startled her.
“What are you doing, Aunty Tessa?” Caroline stepped out from the window nook she’d been hiding in. How had she not heard the girl’s feet pad down the hallway?
“Hey, sweetie. Just forgot something.”
“Isn’t that Uncle Liam’s room?”
Well, dang. The four-year-old was smarter than she gave her credit for. She had Whitmore in her blood for sure. “Yes, it is.” No sense in lying to the girl about that. “We were looking for Raven’s treats.”
“They’re in the kitchen.”
Of course they are. “Oh, I didn’t know that. Do you want to show me?” The sooner they got away from the scene of the crime, the better. Tessa just had to figure out how to drop the ring of room keys off before someone heard them jingle in her pocket. “Raven really wants a treat, don’t you, girl?”
Tessa followed the duo to the kitchen. She’d dropped theTword so much that Raven’s tail was wagging more than usual. Hopefully, the diversion would keep Caroline from spilling the beans to anyone else. Either of her sisters—or worse, Liam—would never buy the treat excuse.
Chapter Fourteen
Liam
“What happened in here?” Liam stood in the kitchen doorway, his eyes widened by the chaos that lined every counter. Half a dozen mixing bowls, several sets of measuring cups, and more ingredients than one found in the baking aisle of Freeman’s Grocery filled every surface.
Tessa turned at his voice, a smear of flour on one cheek. Resisting the urge to wipe that smudge away was futile. He didn’t care who saw him kiss her. He would because he wanted to. Their kisses were like dynamite—unstable and incredibly explosive. There was no way Tessa could deny her feelings after a second one.
“Baking contest.”
“I thought we were digging clams.” He pulled her toward him by the sides of her apron, forcing her to slow down for a moment and look him in the eye. He’d worked late last night catching up on all the promises he’d fallen behind on since Tessa arrived back in town, and tried to get a little ahead so they had more time to spend together.
“We are. In an hour.”
“Sweetheart, I don’t think an hour is enough time to tidy up this kitchen. How many things are you making?” He finally wiped away the smear of flour with his thumb, unable to keep his eyes off her lips. She wore a light layer of lipstick today, but he didn’t care if he wore the dark pink shade, too. Another night of tossing and turning had led him to the only logical conclusion—he was as much in love with Tessa Whitmore today as he had been thirteen years ago. Maybe more.
“Well . . .” Her gaze swept the busy counter. “There’s blueberry cream cheese cookies, blueberry-lemon pie bars, blueberry cheesecake egg rolls—though I’m not crazy about those—and blueberry bread pudding. I thought about a good old-fashioned blueberry pie, but that’s never really fared well for me. Pies hate me.”
He gave a chuckle, remembering that an early challenge on the show involving pies had nearly got her booted off. The only thing that saved her was a blindfolded palate test. She’d been the only one to get all of the flavors correct.
His hand dropped to her shoulder, his breaths ever so heavier. “You can only enter one, Tess.”
“That’s why I’m experimenting. I’ll enter the best one.”
“And do what with the rest?”
She shrugged, her eyes flickering at the counter behind him, but her feet firmly planted in place. “We have plenty of guests. I’m sure they’d be happy with complimentary goodies. The rest . . .” She gave it a moment of thought, then returned her eyes to his. “We can give them away at the festival with business cards for the lodge!”
