“Tessa, baby, I don’t know about that.”
“Why not?” If there was a downside to this town, Grace wanted to know up front.
His glance flickered in her direction for a heartbeat before his gaze returned to Tessa, like it bothered him if he looked away from her for too long. “I’m sure my wife told you that it was a quaint town and it is. But locals in Hamlet, they’re not so fond of outsiders.”
“Outsiders?” echoed Grace. “You mean like people who aren’t from there?”
“It’s a very close-knit community,” Lucas explained. “Outsiders are rare. You might think it’s a good place to hide, but that might only be from another outsider. Inside of Hamlet, you’d have to be prepared for everyone there to know who you are. And wonder what you’re doing there.”
Tessa leaned her head back, meeting her husband’s gaze. “Luc, you know what it did for me and I was an outsider.”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts. When you ran downstairs, I started to think about it. I owe Hamlet. Maria, too. It’s a win-win. Grace goes somewhere she can be safe, where this jerk of hers can’t find her, and Maria gets a new guest. Ophelia would be perfect and you know it.” A hint of a devilish grin crossed her innocent lips as she used her pointer finger to nudge him in the side. “Might go a long way in ge
tting her to forgive you, too.”
“Forgive me for what? As far as I’m concerned, she has nothing to be upset about.”
“That’s only because she doesn’t know yet.” As if remembering that Grace was still there, Tessa explained what she meant. “Lucas hasn’t told his sister that we eloped. It’s been almost a year and she still thinks we’re only dating.”
Lucas wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her back up against his chest as he rested his chin along the top of her head. He nuzzled her gently. “Is it a crime to want to keep you all to myself?”
Tessa giggled. “Not at all.”
Grace found it hard to swallow. Watching their sweet display roused a whole mess of emotions in her. Anyone with eyes could see how in love the two of them were. Lucas’s devotion to Tessa was absolute.
In the beginning, she thought she found that with Tommy. But there was a thin line between devotion and obsession. She learned very quickly that Tommy didn’t only want to love her.
He wanted to own her.
Would Lucas act the same way if his beloved wife decided she’d had enough of his affection and wanted to leave him?
She didn’t know, and she hoped to God that Tessa never had to find out.
4
There wasn’t much that Grace had that she couldn’t replace. All of her pictures and keepsakes were stored safely at her parents’ house in Connecticut. Her costumes and mementos from her time in her ballet company were in storage under a phony name. There were clothes, her well-worn and broken-in toe shoes, a couple of books, her laptop. Everything else she could buy again when she needed it.
Her twin set of luggage was stowed in her bedroom closet. It felt like only yesterday since she unpacked it last, hoping she wouldn’t have to look at the black and white floral print for a long, long while.
Ah, well. Maybe… maybe next time.
Zipping open the larger of the two cases, she plopped it on her bed and got to work. After two successful moves, she’d become a pro at fitting all of her essentials into a pair of suitcases.
In the middle of rummaging through her living room, searching for where she had left her laptop charger, she heard a knock at her door. She immediately froze, going as still as a statue.
Barely an hour and a half had passed since she made the rash decision to go. No one knew except for Tessa and Lucas. She hadn’t even called her landlord yet.
What if—
It couldn’t be—
She gulped.
Could it?
“It’s just me, Grace.”