“She and Shana took a hiatus. Even I don’t know where they are. A beach somewhere, I’m guessing.” Reaching into his inside coat pocket, Tanner pulled out a white envelope. “She asked me to give this to you.” Chase accepted the letter and Tanner rose from his chair.
“Good luck,” Zach said, heading for the door. “And thanks for your help.”
Tanner walked out, and Chase sat back down at his desk. As he opened the letter, the paper seemed to burn his hands.
Wearing a bright orange-striped bikini, a big straw hat and a pair of white oversize sunglasses, Harper lay on a lounge chair beneath an umbrella on the pool deck.
A few feet away on the opposite side of the umbrella in a white bikini that showed off her perfect figure, Shana read a sexy romantic suspense novel. The beautiful couple entwined on the cover made Harper’s throat tighten.
She hadn’t seen Chase since the shoot-out at her father’s warehouse. In the days that followed, Agent Tanner had kept her informed. He’d told her that her father had turned state’s evidence against Luis Montoya, knew Montoya was dead, knew she and Shana were no longer in danger.
Still, after Shana’s kidnapping and the bloody scene at the warehouse, Harper figured they both needed time to recover.
She looked across the blue water of the swimming pool to the beach beyond and the white surf washing up onshore. They were staying in a two-bedroom oceanfront suite at the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach, a room that cost a small fortune. After what Shana had suffered because of Harper and her father, her friend deserved at least a brief luxury vacation.
They both did.
But for Harper, the sad truth was, she would rather be back in Dallas with Chase.
Her eyes stung behind her dark glasses. Just thinking about him, remembering her painful decision, made her heart hurt.
Instead of going to Chase when she had been released from protective custody, she and Shana had each packed a bag and the two of them had flown down to Florida, leaving the business in Tony’s and Debbie’s capable hands for the few days they planned to be gone.
Before she’d left town, she had asked Zach Tanner to deliver a letter to Chase. Harper still remembered every painful word.
Dear Chase,
I will never be able to thank you enough for what you have done. You saved not only my life, but the lives of my brother and Shana, people who mean the most to me in the world. For that, I will always be grateful.
I know you have feelings for me, and you must know I have deep feelings for you. But the truth is you’re a Garrett. You and your brothers are Dallas royalty. Your family is respected and revered. My father is a criminal, a man who will spend years in prison.
I’m his daughter. That is never going to change. It would always be a cloud hanging over your head.
I’m saying goodbye with no regrets for the time we spent together. I will always treasure those memories and keep them close to my heart. I hope you have a wonderful life, and know that I will never forget you.
With warmest gratitude,
Harper
PS Please don’t call. I’m asking you as a favor. It’s better to end things this way.
In the safe house, she hadn’t been allowed to take calls. Honoring the request in her letter, Chase hadn’t phoned since he had received her note.
She lifted her sunglasses and wiped the wetness from her eyes. She missed him so much. She hadn’t put into the letter what she really wanted to say. That she was desperately in love with him, that she ached for him every minute of the day, that for her there would never be another man who could replace him.
But telling him she loved him would only make him feel obligated in some way. He cared for her, yes, but loved her? He had never said those words, and even if he had, no way could they ever marry—it wouldn’t be fair to Chase.
For the rest of her life, her father’s sins would stand between them. Like a member of the Gambino family or the Luccheses, people would stare at her and whisper as she passed. That wasn’t the kind of life a man like Chase deserved.
A shadow moved over her. She glanced up to see Shana smiling down from beneath the wide brim of her hat. “I’m going in. You probably should, too. We’ve both been out for quite a while.”
“Thank God for sunscreen,” Harper said.
“True.” Shana checked her oversize wristwatch. “It’s almost five o’clock. Why don’t we shower, go down to the bar and have a drink?”
Maybe a drink would numb her a little, ease some of the pain that wouldn’t leave her. Harper nodded. “One of those fruity cocktails with the little paper umbrellas sounds good. I’ve been thinking about it all afternoon.”
Rising from the lounge, she grabbed her towel and her beach bag and followed Shana through the door into the elegant hotel, down the hallway leading to the elevators.
