You mean apart from my husband cheating on me and receiving huge amounts of money without telling me?
“Nothing comes to mind,” I say. “If anything, Warrick’s been more supportive than usual. He’s enthusiastic about my mead. Oh, but have you spoken to my neighbour, Harry? He and Warrick had a screaming barny over the fence the day before he disappeared.”
“They did?” Wilson’s eyes narrowed. “This wasn’t in your statement.”
“I only just remembered, I’m sorry.” I run my fingers through my hair. “It’s all been a lot. Harry’s harmless, but he’s an odd sort. He’s upset with me because the village garden show is coming up, and I’ve won eight years in a row, and he thinks I should be disqualified. He believes I’m a witch, and that I use magic to make my flowers bloom perfectly, which he considers cheating.”
I shake my head sadly to show the officers how silly this is. Rafe leans back and stares at me with those huge ocean-blue eyes.
You do use magic in your garden, don’t you, honey witch? Oh, you are full of surprises.
“He thinks…what?” Wilson’s lips twist with derision.
“Harry believes my whole family are witches.” I shrug. I don’t likepretending that magic is silly when it’s one of the few things I have left that connect me to my mother and grandmother, but I’ll do it if it will get them to look into Harry. “It all started with something between Harry and my grandmother. I don’t know what, but he’s always looking over the fence and taking photos of my plants to send to the committee. This particular day, he was yelling at me. Warrick stepped in and told him to leave me alone, and Harry didn’t like that, so they got into it a bit. Eventually, Harry went inside his house. You never know, he might’ve seen Warrick leave that morning, maybe he went after him and…”
“Thank you. We’ll have a chat with Harry.” Hayes folds the papers and hands them off to Wilson. He glances around the shop. “This is an ambitious project.”
“It is.” A wobbly smile forms on my lips. “I’m nervous. I’ve never run a shop before, although I did once have a market stall. I just hope people enjoy my mead?—”
“Do you think opening a brewery is normal behaviour for a wife whose husband has gone missing?” Wilson cuts in, her voice sharp.
“I don’t know what’s normal. I only know what I’m doing. And I know that if I did bump off my husband, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to draw attention to myself by opening a shop,” I say. “Warrick might not have been the man I thought he was when I married him, but if I sit at home and think about what might’ve happened to him, I’ll drive myself to ruin. So I’m keeping myself busy. If he gets back and throws a wobbly about me opening this shop, I’ll remind him about the lingerie, and we can call it even.”
If he comes home, the only thing you’re doing is kicking him out and then having a wild affair with someone hot and profoundly inappropriate who will make you scream so hard that you forget his name,Rafe whispers inside my head.I volunteer as tribute.
I rub my burning cheeks, hoping that Wilson doesn’t notice them.
Wilson’s lips purse. She’s unconvinced. Inspector Hayes offers me a smile that I think is supposed to be reassuring but just looks tired. He swats half-heartedly at the bee clinging to his collar. “If you’reserving alcohol, you’ll need a license,” he says. “And certification for your brewing facility. I take it that you have that all sorted?”
Oh, shite.
I nod frantically. “Oh yes, absolutely. That’s all in hand.”
“Good, good. We’ll be in touch if we have any news.”
The door slams shut behind them.
I grip the edge of the counter so hard that my knuckles burn. Rafe leaps off my shoulder with a defiant yowl. A moment later, a very tall, very naked presence presses behind me.
…a wild affair with someone hot and profoundly inappropriate who will make you scream so hard that you forget his name…
“I’m guessing from the expression on your face that you didn’t know about the lingerie or the money?”
I shake my head. It’s all I can manage when Rafe’s bare chest presses into my back, his heart beating against my ribs, his breath warm against my earlobe.
“Then it’s a good thing your husband’s gone missing, because if he were here, I’dkillhim.”
From the dark tone in his voice, I believe him.
And his threat should disgust me, because I don’t believe that violence solves problems. But it makes a hot thrill buzz through my veins. My bees dart around our heads.
“You don’t even know Warrick,” I breathe. “He might’ve had a reas—hey!”
I yelp as a hand grabs me under the chin, spinning me around so that my arse is trapped against the counter and a very angry, verynakedRafe is only an inch from my face, his shoulders taut, his eyes blown out – the blue ocean captured by a blackened storm.
“The wordshe might’ve had a good reasonhad better not be coming out of your mouth. Stop defending him. He was cheating on you. He was hiding money from you,andhe’s been making you feel so small for so long that you no longer believe you’re anything without him. And yet the moment he’s gone, you remember that you have dreams, and you take steps to make them real. You’re clever, and capable, and utterly enchanting, Autumn Abernathy, and underneathall that self-doubt is a wild streak that would drive any decent man to ruin. That bastard disappearing from your life is the best thing that could happen to you, and even if this meadery is a huge disaster, which it won’t be because of your aforementioned brilliance, you’d still be better off without him. If I can convince you of that, I’ll have more than earned your help breaking my curse. Are we clear?”
My heart cracks against my ribs.
