“Really? Enough to tell me what the favor is you’re doing for Kenzie?” he asked, his emotionless voice carrying across the expanse between them.

“Please don’t ask me that,” she pleaded, stepping toward him, her hand outstretched. “I-I gave him my word.”

“And your little ride to Bear Mountain last night with your sister?” he asked. “Did you promise not to tell me about that, either?”

She took a step back, bumping into the door.

“I’m chief of police, sweetheart. You don’t think I’d hear about a TarStone Resort snowcat roaming through town in the wee hours of the morning? So where’d you and Camry go until six this morning?”

Silence spanned the distance between them.

“I see,” he said finally. “Funny how trust can be selective.” He touched his fingers to his forehead in a brief salute. “I’ll see you around town.”

At that, he turned and walked off into the night.

Megan watched until he disappeared into the shadows, then went back inside, running past the people heading to the dining room as her mother carried in the cake. She ran up the stairs to her childhood bedroom, threw herself down on her bed, and stared up at the ceiling, unable even to cry.

She’d hurt Jack badly. She’d seen it in his eyes and heard it in his voice, and feared he was so wounded, he might never be able to forgive her.

The door opened and her mother walked in, quietly lay down on the bed beside her, and also stared up at the ceiling in silence.

“I’ve really done it this time, Mama,” Megan whispered into the moon-softened darkness. “I think I broke his heart tonight.” She turned her head toward her mother. “Will I be able to mend it, the way he did mine?”

“I don’t know, baby. Women are more resilient than men are in matters of the heart, because hope is the very fabric of our being. If it wasn’t, the human race would have died out several hundred generations ago, since we wouldn’t have brought children into a world wrought with war, hunger, pain, and heartache.” Grace looked over and smiled sadly. “But men…men aren’t as lucky. For them, everything seems to be cut and dried. Black and white. All or nothing.”

“I told Jack I trusted him, but when he asked me about Kenzie and the dragon, I couldn’t tell him.”

“Why not?”

“Because I promised I wouldn’t.”

“And your promise to Kenzie is more important than your love for Jack?”

Megan rolled onto her side and propped herself up on one elbow to face her mother. “Are you saying I should have broken my promise?”

“I’m saying that you shouldn’t have given your promise to Kenzie to begin with. He asked you for a favor, and that you keep it between yourselves, but you were under no obligation to go along with his terms. You could have told Kenzie that Jack came first in your life.”

“But he wasn’t really in my life at the time.”

“And when he was? Did you tell Kenzie you could no longer keep his secret? That you’d either have to stop whatever your favor is, or tell Jack about it?”

Megan threw herself onto her back again, blinking up at the ceiling. “I hadn’t thought about that. Kenzie dictated the terms of the favor, and I just blindly went along with it.” She frowned over at her mother. “I am such an easy mark. I want everyone to like me, and I can’t live with myself if they don’t. Look at how much I covered for Winter this past fall when she was fooling around with Matt.” She sighed and stared back up at the ceiling. “I can see now that my heart wasn’t anywhere near as broken as I let on when I came home. I knew deep down inside that Jack had sent me away for a good reason, but I still carried on like an idiot.” She looked at her mother again. “I was afraid everyone would think I was a failure for running home to my parents, pregnant and without a husband.”

Grace laughed softly. “You did cry a lot.” She propped her head up on her hand and squeezed Megan’s arm. “But the only person who has to like you is the man you love, baby. If your heart belongs to Jack Stone, then he is your priority. He should have your unconditional trust, respect, and total devotion. And Jack strikes me as the sort of man who would return those qualities in spades, given the chance.”

“He would,” Megan whispered. “So how do I fix it?”

“You start by telling Kenzie you can no longer abide by the conditions of his favor, and that if he wants to continue whatever it is the two of you are doing down in the lab every day, then he has to let you tell Jack. If not, then you can’t continue to help him.”

“And the dragon?”

“You stop pussyfooting around that damn thing and tell Jack everything you know about it.”

“But that would be telling him about the magic. And the rule is, Daddy and Robbie have to tell him.”

Grace gave Megan a motherly smile and patted her arm. “The day you gave away your heart, your responsibility to your father transferred to Jack. The men in this family might want to control every situation, but that doesn’t mean we have to let them.” She sighed. “I still say Walter wouldn’t have panicked if Elizabeth had been the one to tell him our family history. It’s much less intimidating for a man to hear something like that from the woman he loves instead of from his future father-in-law—especially when that happens to be Grey.”

“But how do I tell Jack?”

“With love, baby,” she said, patting her arm again. “And timing. You pick the proper time and place, preferably right after he’s eaten. Men are much more agreeable when their bellies are full.”

Megan sighed. “Thanks, Mama. I think I get it now.”

“Do you? Because it’s not as simple as walking up to Jack and reciting a laundry list of all your secrets. You not only have to trust him completely, you’re going to have to make him feel that he can trust you with his secrets.”

Megan scrunched up her face at her mother. “And if he won’t tell me his secrets?”

“Then it’s not really love, is it? That’s how your heart knows it’s the real thing,” Grace said, slipping a strand of Megan’s hair behind her ear. “Along with trust, devotion, and respect, you also need intimacy between you. Those are the four cornerstones your love should stand on.”

“Like you and Daddy. Do you think Jack and I will have what the two of you have thirty-four years from now?”

“Yes,” Grace said, rolling off the bed and standing up. “Why don’t you stay here tonight, rather than going back to your house? You and Camry must be tired from your ride up Bear Mountain last night.”

Megan sat up with a snort. “How does everyone know about that?” Her eyes widened in alarm. “Does Daddy know?”

“Does it matter?” Grace asked, walking to the door. “It’s not your father you must answer to now, but Jack.” She arched one eyebrow when Megan opened her mouth to protest. “Are you about to tell me you wouldn’t mind if Jack snuck off in the middle of the night without telling you?”

“Of course I’d mind.”

Grace nodded. “You’re not seeking permission like a child, Megan—you’re discussing something you feel strongly about. There’s a huge difference between the two, and it goes a long way to creating an equal and honest relationship.”

“I get it. Truly. Go back to the party before the cake’s all gone.”

“You’ll be okay?”

“I’ll be just peachy,” she said, lying back down and folding her hands over her belly with a smile. “Walker and I are going to lie here and figure out how we’re going to explain the magic to Jack.”

“Walker?”

“I’m having a boy, and we’re naming him after Jack’s brother, Walker.”

Grace rushed back to the bed and gave her a huge hug. “Congratulations! Your father is going to be so excited to have another grandson.”

“Let’s not tell him just yet, okay? Or else he’ll spend the next three months trying to talk Jack into changing his last name to MacKeage.” She shook her head. “Just like he’s tried with every son-in-law who gave him a grandson.”