Jackson sat straight behind the wheel of his car, parked on the grimy side street in East Austin. “It won’t be easy to fool this woman.”

“Did you send her the package?”

“Yes. She should have gotten it yesterday.” His hands trembled a little when he thought about leaving the neatly wrapped box on her doorstep. “You are always so calm?”

“My cool head is why you keep me around.” He heard the smile in her voice.

“Is that the reason?” His anger leached out in his tone.

“Now. Now.”

The woman, Sara Wentworth, slid out of the Lexus and her designer heels clicked with each crisp step. A sleek blue blouse draped slim shoulders and was tucked into a white pencil skirt that showed off a narrow waist and hips. She carried a briefcase that was as expensive as her diamond earrings and pearl necklace. A French manicure and a neat haircut finished the look of a woman used to the finer things.

“She looks nice. Perfect.”

“Fine clothes and a smile hide so much. We both know that.”

Annoyance snapped. “You always do that.”

“Do what?” She sounded amused.

He gritted his teeth, his gaze on Sara as she moved toward the old warehouse. “Bring up the past.”

“The past never goes away. It is with us forever.”

“Some people leave the past behind.”

“Maybe. But not you. And certainly not me.”

“I want to.”

“You never will as long as I’m around.” Her laughter rumbled in his ears.

For a long moment he was silent and sullen. He hated it when she taunted him. She could be such a bitch.

“Now you are mad,” she teased.

“I am.”

“Was it something I said?” She laughed.

He would not be baited. Not today. “We have a job to do. Today. In the here and now. We can quibble about the past another time.”

“You are no fun.”

“Focus on the woman. Sara Wentworth.”

After a brief silence she said, “Vice president of commercial sales. She’d moved up the ladder quickly and managed to make a sizeable fortune beyond what her family has given her.

“By everyone’s standards she is the model of success. Perfect. Had a tight hold on the brass ring.”

“She’s not what she seems,” she said.

“I know.” But he didn’t need her pointing out Sara had mastered the art of elaborate disguise to hide bitter sadness. Once Sara had wanted to leave this life and go on to a better existence. Though she’d failed the first time, he wouldn’t fail this time.

“Can you do this alone?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll see.” Her smart-ass undertone jabbed at his temper, teasing it as if it were a bear in a cage, but he didn’t have time for another argument. He had a job to do.

Irritated, he drove into the parking lot and got out of his car. He adjusted his jacket and moved toward her, careful not to startle her. Rory’s weakness had been booze. Sara’s was making money. She was as addicted to it as Rory had been to the bottle.

“Ms. Wentworth?” His voice was clear and direct.

She started, turned abruptly, and then faced him. She studied him a beat, clearly assessing threat, and then, finding none, her painted red lips widened into a smile of white teeth. “Mr. Corwin, good to see you again.”

He grinned and extended his hand as he approached. He kept his gaze indirect, his posture slack, nonthreatening. “Sorry I had to miss our meeting yesterday. I had to fly back to D.C.”

“No problem.”

This close he could smell the subtle rich scent of her perfume. “I’m excited about the property.”

She appraised his expensive sports jacket, the rich tan accentuating a white starched shirt and his heavily creased khakis. Appreciation flared and she smiled. “I am, too. How many restaurants did you say you wanted to open in Austin?”

“I’m starting with the one. I’ve a chain back East but want to take the Texas expansion slow. I’m conservative about growth.”

“Texas loves business.”

He grinned, knowing his smile melted hearts. “That’s what I hear.”

She reached for a ring of keys and unlocked the padlock on the property’s front door. “The property is fifteen thousand square feet, three levels, and has lots of freezer space as you requested.”

“Excellent. Let’s look at the freezers first. They need to be large.”

She grinned, bright, her eyes all but flashing dollar signs at the possible sale. “Right this way.”

He thought about the other woman in the car waiting and watching. He couldn’t disappoint her. “Great.”

One down, four to go.

Chapter Seven

Tuesday, June 3, 12 P.M.

The site selection for Bonneville Vineyards had not been scientific. Greer’s aunt had said many times she’d chosen the land because it had felt right, whole and spiritual. Twenty years ago when the thousand-acre site had beckoned Lydia away from the social circles of Austin, she’d known little about growing grapes or terroir, the juxtaposition of soils, climate, and topography. She’d only understood the land rolled and swayed like a beckoning hand and the old ranch house had been in need of a new occupant.

And so on a cold January day two decades ago, Lydia had moved into the nineteenth-century ranch house made of board-and-batten walls and encircled by a wide porch. She’d spent those first months restoring the house and making it habitable and then in the spring had planted her first vines.

What Lydia lacked in science she made up for in luck. She’d inadvertently chosen the perfect site to grow grapes. Though Texas was a land of extremes—cold, heat, hail, and drought—Bonneville enjoyed the right blend of moisture-laden soil, hot Texas sunshine to nourish the vines, and gentle steady breezes to chase away pests.

And as Bonneville had welcomed Lydia, so it had greeted Greer with meandering hillsides, orange-yellow sunsets, and temperate breezes. She’d been too battered to appreciate the beauty initially, but soon the land had eased her sour moods and guided her away from grief. Now she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

“Good morning, Miss Templeton,” José West said.

She smiled. “Good morning, José.”

José West was a midsize man with thick arms and deeply colored skin from years in the sun. There’d been a time when he could heft one-hundred-pound sacks of fertilizer without a thought, but in the last year much of that boundless strength had waned. The graying at his temples had deepened and his eyes no longer sparked with challenge.

He had been managing Bonneville Vineyards for twenty years, and he’d not been pleased when Lydia had brought Greer to Bonneville. He’d made it clear he did not have time to babysit. Greer had made it clear she did not want to work in the dirt with a gruff man. But Lydia had insisted in a not-too-friendly tone that the two get along. “The grapes do no care about your problems,” she had shouted to them both.

Neither liked the other but both respected Lydia enough to try. And so Greer had followed José to his truck that first morning at sunrise. She’d had a terrible headache, still limped from her accident, and had wanted only to return to her bed and pull the covers over her head. José, mumbling in Spanish, had grumbled about moody teenage girls. When she’d glanced back at Lydia hoping for a reprieve, she’d found her aunt smiling.

By noon of that first day, Greer had been covered in sweat. Her hands had ached and her legs covered with scratches from the vines. To say her mood had lightened would have been a lie. José had explained how to prune the dead vines and leaves and watched as she’d practiced. Midday, he’d ordered her to return to the main house to rest her injured leg. Though she’d never have admitted it then, she would confess now there’d been a flicker of accomplishment when she’d limped to the waiting truck.

José had come again for her the next day and again on the next. She’d followed him, sullen and silent, into the fields. That first harvest season, neither had spoken more than six words to the other. But she’d learned how invasive weeds could be to the Texas Hill Country vines and how to curse them in both Spanish and English. She’d grown adept at jiggling the truck’s spark plug so it would fire and the engine would start. At harvest time, she’d learned to sharpen the blade of her pruning knife and how to cut, twist, and toss a cluster of grapes quickly and gently.