Summer Lovin' (Costas Sisters 2)

"No."

Zoe blinked. "Excuse me?" She thought he'd be understanding. Reasonable.

"No, I won't disappear. We'll all deal with Sam together, your family and mine," he said, his gaze encompassing both Zoe and his uncle.

She could see from his clenched jaw that he wouldn't budge on this issue. Apparently, she didn't know Ryan as well as she'd thought.

* * *

IN THE SPA, ZOE FOUND Sam having a grand old time. She sat with her bare feet in a pedicure tub full of bubbling water. Her nails had been freshly done. She had a mud pack spread across her face and she was currently applying the same salve to Ima Pig's skin. When she finished, she lifted the animal's hooves and held them under the dryer along with her own nails.

Zoe stepped closer. Sure enough, Ima's nails, or whatever they were called on a pig, had a bold red color that matched Sam's.

Zoe cleared her throat.

Sam glanced up, saw Zoe and jumped. Her nails hit the fans. She put Ima on the floor, then glanced at her hands and frowned. "You made me mess my manicure."

"I'm going to mess more than that. Do you realize that everyone in the family is out looking for you? Connor checked all the hospital emergency rooms. Mom and Dad and Ari and Quinn are driving all over creation, knocking on your friends' doors, and you're here having a pampering session!" Zoe yelled, not caring about disturbing other customers.

Sam glanced down, obviously duly chastised. Then without warning, she threw herself at Zoe, sobbing like crazy. "I'm sorry. I was going to run away. I was. And then when I got down the tree by my window, I saw that guy."

Zoe's nerves went on alert. "What guy?"

"The guy that was in my room the other day. He was lurking in the shadows by the house. Right beneath my window," she said, eyes wide.

Theatrics aside, Sam had obviously been spooked.

"Are you sure he was the same person?" Zoe asked, then shivered. Because if Sam was right, they'd been searching for someone with a beef against her parents, but maybe someone wanted something from Sam.

"I'm sure. He had dark hair like the guy who was in the kitchen that morning, ugly face with big teeth and everything. I got scared and I hid behind the tree. Even if I wanted to go back, I couldn't. I'm good, but not even I could climb back up that tree as easily as I got down. And I didn't want him to see me and end up following me. I could end up like someone on those Without a Trace or CSI shows, you know?"

"Heaven forbid!" Zoe said.

"Well there was no place for me to go even if I changed my mind. The alarm was set and I'd forgotten my key, and I couldn't just ring the doorbell and tell you all I was going to run away again, so I just hid, praying that man wouldn't see me," she said, her voice rising.

"Slow down, okay?"

"Okay." Sam sniffed and drew a deep breath. "When I looked out from around the tree again, I didn't see him there. So I started to walk, sticking close to the house, and then I saw Francesca opening up the spa and I thought, safety in numbers."

"So you told her you wanted a manicure."

Sam nodded. "Besides I didn't want to leave you guys. I really didn't. So I thought I'd hang out with Francesca and maybe by the time Elena came to work, I'd have figured out some story and wouldn't get in any trouble."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Trouble is your middle name, missy. Go wash the mud pack off your face. By then let's hope everyone will be back and we can deal with all this." She prodded Sam's back.

"I'm going," she muttered. She picked up Ima and they started for the bathroom. Five minutes later, Sam and Ima returned, all cleaned up.

Zoe ushered them to the door, pausing at the front desk where Francesca sat. "Don't you have something to say?" Zoe asked Sam.

"Thanks for this morning," Sam said. "And I'm sorry that I lied."

Francesca smiled. "You're a good girl, Samantha. You take care of yourself and that piglet."

"I will."

They traipsed back to the house, Sam dragging her feet as they walked. "You called everyone and told them I'm okay?" she asked in a low voice.

Oh boy, Zoe thought. Now came the fun part. "I didn't call. I came right over to get you. Ryan made the calls for me."

As Zoe had expected, Sam dug in her heels. "If he's there, I'm not going back."

"Something tells me you're in no position to be making demands right now. Besides, you can't hate Ryan just because he's related to you."

"Well where has he been up until now?" Sam pouted like a little girl, but in her eyes Zoe saw the ache deep in her heart.

"I'm sure he can answer that better than I can." Zoe met Sam's gaze. "But my understanding is that when your mom ran away, he was young, about your age. And by the time he was able to start looking, she'd managed to make herself hard to find. He just found out his sister had a child and he came to find you right away." Again, she found herself defending Ryan at the expense of her own interests.

"So maybe he can come visit once a year at Christmas," Sam muttered.

Out of the mouths of babes, Zoe thought and she couldn't help but laugh dryly.

* * *

WHILE ZOE HAD GONE to pick up Sam from the spa, Ryan had talked his uncle into taking his car and making himself scarce. Ryan would have liked him to stay, but the family didn't need an unfamiliar face and more important, neither did Sam.

When she'd returned, he'd waited while Sam had had her reunion with everyone and then sat through the Costases' lectures about running away and letting everyone worry about her. Then Sam had gone to her room while the family had excused themselves to meet alone in the kitchen.

Now Ryan sat with them in the den. Actually, he sat apart from them, as nobody wanted to get within inches of him. They stood united on one side of the room protectively huddled around Sam who'd stomped down from her room. All except Zoe eyed him with distrust and Ryan shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"We found footprints near the tree where Sam said she saw the intruder," Quinn said.

"I told you!" Sam raised a victory hand in the air.

Zoe sighed, grabbed Sam's wrist and pulled her arm back down. "Go on," she said to Quinn.

"We have nothing specific to tell us that this person is targeting Sam, but it's the only conclusion since he was in her room the first time and beneath her window this morning. Add to that she's seen his face and can identify him. If you ask me, Sam's definitely at risk."

Each family member murmured in agreement, and then Quinn continued. "We talked in the kitchen and we agree that Sam needs to get out of here for a while."