Page 2 of A Heart to Find (Sweetheart Island #2)

With laughter fresh on their lips, Keira and Megan walked arm in arm into the conference room, where the kind staff in the lobby directed them for the orientation.

The Matchmaking Moment, as it was playfully referred to.

“Can you believe this place?”

Megan mumbled low enough so only Keira would hear her.

Keira could only shake her head.

She had seen photos on the resort’s website, but nothing could prepare her for the Sweetheart Island Resort live and in person.

The conference room was large and filled with more people than she could count. Soft lighting illuminated small, cozy tables tucked away in all the corners. Waitstaff mulled about, delivering drinks to desperately anxious guests. Keira grabbed two from a passing tray.

Megan thanked her, but Keira threatened to keep both for herself. She needed something to quell the raging wildfire in her belly.

Handing the drink over somewhat begrudgingly, Keira fought the urge to leave.

Then again, maybe leaving would be the smart thing to do.

She didn’t really need a love like her grandparents had, did she? She didn’t need companionship. She didn’t need romance. She had a full life, a great job, friends who were always there for her…

More introspective than she had allowed herself to be over the past year of tribulations, Keira wondered if she had invested in this matchmaking thing for the right reasons.

Megan nudged Keira, bringing her back to the present and the warm-in-spite-of-its-size room.

“There are so many cute guys here. I’m dying to know which one is mine.”

Mine.

Such a simple word.

But one Keira hadn’t related to for longer than she wanted to remember.

“Are you seeing them all, Keira?”

“To be honest, I was fixated on those portraits on the walls of all the happy couples.”

“We’ll be featured on those walls one day, my friend!”

Before Keira could respond, someone tapped on a microphone. The buzz of conversation in the room died down in reverence to the speaker at the podium.

“Hello everybody, and welcome to the Sweetheart Island Resort. My name is Hannah Willows, and I am one of the founders of this beautiful, life-changing place. Who’s ready to have their dreams come true?”

Nervous laughter turned into applause after someone in the front bravely started clapping.

Hannah shared stories about the history of the resort. She teared up as she told the story of how she lost her husband long before she should have, and how meeting Olivia Matthews in the widow support group they both attended had led to the dream of starting this matchmaking resort. Neither of them wanted to find a new partner when they knew they had already lived full lives with their respective soul mates, but the idea of turning away from the world of love was too much to bear.

Her smile returned as she opened her arms and gestured to the eager crowd.

“So Sweetheart Island Matchmaking Resort was born!”

She went on to detail how she and Olivia had decided they would bask in the glow of their past romantic lives while playing Fairy Godmother–using their exclusive matchmaking science, of course–to individuals who needed a nudge toward their soul mates.

Soul mates.

Sweat formed on Keira’s hands and in her armpits. This wasn’t a good start. What if her match wanted to shake hands? Oh no—would she actually have to wipe her hands on her pants?

This was too much.

She barely registered the rest of what Hannah Willows was saying. All she could hear was a pounding in her head and the rush of nerves telling her to get up and run.

“Keira, they called your name!”

“What?”

Keira shook her head as if to clear the pounding away.

“They called you. They said to go over to the wall over there to meet your match. I hope I’m next!”

Dread dried her lips, so she licked them furiously before chewing on her bottom lip. She caught herself and stopped, all while trying to move through a room that seemed to swim around her.

She couldn’t appear nervous. She had to project confidence.

She wanted to find the love of her life and get started on living the partnered life she dreamed of. She wanted kids of her own who could never be taken from her, a home to share with a man who respected her, one who could make her laugh and only cry tears of happiness.

Images of her future life—a somewhat passive man sitting by the fire with her cat, Snuggles, on his lap while sipping hot cocoa Keira had made for him after he cooked a lovely meal for her—helped her spine straighten.

This was getting real.

She handed the card that had been in her orientation packet to the woman on the side of the room she had been directed to. Any second now. She’d be meeting the future love of her life. Her very own Mr. Right. A man who was as invested in finding his soul mate as she was… otherwise, he wouldn’t be here.

A man like no other she had ever met.

Keira smiled as the lady handed her a card the size of a business card. She glanced down at the name, wondering if one day they’d name their child after him or if they’d want the name to stop with her husband.

But then the name on the card registered with her brain.

Jared Marshall.

First, she felt the blood drain from her face.

Then she almost fell over.

She regained her balance and tried to dig deep for a sense of humor.

“I’m sorry, there’s been a mistake.”

A big mistake.

The lady smiled and compared the card to her clipboard.

“Nope, it’s all good. Look, he’s right here.”

The room chose that moment to spin again. She wanted to run, but her feet stayed planted on the floor.

There was no way.

No way at all.

The universe couldn’t be this cruel.

“Let me introduce you,”

she thought she heard the lady say.

But Jared stepped forward, grabbed a hand she no longer cared was clammy, and smiled into her eyes.

“Thank you, Stephanie. Funny enough, no introductions are necessary.”

What was so funny about this?

“I think I’m going to throw up.”

She tried to pull her hand away, but Jared held tight and put another hand on her back, guiding her to the corner of the room. Maybe if her hand had stayed slick, she could have slipped out of his grasp.

His voice was gentle and full of concern.

“Are you okay? Here, sit down. I’ll get you water.”

He tried to flag down a waiter.

“I’m fine.”

She jerked her hand away without making her displeasure too obvious to the surrounding people.

Or so she hoped.

“Who told you I’d be coming here? How did you convince them to manipulate the results? And why?”

Wrath bubbled up inside her like a volcano lying dormant too long.

“And whose idea of a joke is this? I spent a lot of money to be here.”

Humiliation coursed through her. She wasn’t ashamed that she had put her faith in a matchmaking system, but she never expected him to witness it.

She had spent not only the vacation fund she had been saving to treat herself to a “someday”

trip out of New Hampshire, but also the money she had set aside for new living room furniture.

“I’m as shocked as you are.”

His voice was smooth and reassuring. Almost convincing. But she didn’t feel reassured, and she sure as heck didn’t want him to convince her of anything!

“You can’t be shocked if you set the whole thing up. I have to speak to someone. You’ve had your laugh. Now leave me alone. For good.”

Trying to remain calm so she didn’t shove all the happily mingling couples out of the way, Keira stormed toward the front of the room, hoping she could speak directly to Hannah. As one of the founders of this resort, she’d probably have strong feelings about this joke. Her stellar reputation was on the line, after all.

She could practically feel Jared breathing down her neck as she rushed through the crowd. Like a dragon taunting its next victim. Except dragons could be tamed.

Jared could not.

“Excuse me, Ms. Willows?”

Hannah turned around and burst into a wide, friendly smile. Wider and friendlier than the circumstance would soon demand.

“Hello, hello!”

She looked at the name badge hanging from Keira’s neck.

“Keira. Lovely name. Are you enjoying yourself so far?”

“The island is wonderful. What I’ve seen of it, anyway. I just have a problem I’m hoping you can help me clear up.”

Hannah held onto the podium where she had been standing and lifted her leg to pull off her high-heeled platform shoe, then switched to remove the other.

“I’m so sorry. These things are killing me.”

Standing barefoot, she smiled brighter.

“What can I help you with, daffodil?”

Keira shifted from one foot to the other, unsure how to tell this woman, who was obviously tremendously proud of her resort, that someone had made a grave mistake.

“Oh dear. Something is troubling you. I apologize once again for not making the match unveiling more fun. We had a whole scavenger hunt planned and prepared, but as I explained in the intro speech, I put the box with all the clues down for a minute outside and snow from the roof slipped off and buried the entire box. So we had to go with the more boring introductions. I promise we’ll make it up to you with more fun activities as we proceed.”

“It’s not that. Not at all. I have no problem with your methods. It’s just…”

“Oh and just look at the handsome man you got paired up with. That grin on his face tells me he feels like he won the lottery with his match.”

“Well that’s the thing…”

“Crunching crocodiles, the balloon tower is about to fall. Excuse me for a moment.”

Without hesitation, Hannah Willows barreled through the crowds, seemingly without fear of having her bare toes crushed in the sea of high heels and giddy romantic anticipation, and disappeared in a cloud of Keira’s unwanted, unshed tears.

She would not shed a tear in front of this man. He didn’t deserve to see her upset.

“Keira, can we please go somewhere to talk? I don’t want this thing to get messed up before we try.”

Jared’s deep voice tore through her mental fog and threatened to destroy the air of nonchalance she desperately grasped at.

A bubble rose from her gut, swelling up to her throat. She fought to temper it, to hold back the rush, but before she could speak, it burst–spilling out in a wave of hysterical laughter.

“This is the most bizarre thing that has ever happened in my life.”

Tears streamed over her cheeks, but they were from laughing so hard her stomach ached.

When she managed to open her eyes and calm her laughter a bit, she took note of Jared’s raised eyebrows and the smile that had always made her knees threaten to give out on her. He smiled with one side of his mouth drawn upward, creating a crease in his cheek that made her want to trace her finger over it.

Time had deepened the crease slightly, giving him more of a rugged, well-traveled look as opposed to the boyish look she had once known.

But there would be no tracing of anything. She wouldn’t look at him. Think about him. She certainly wouldn’t give him the time of day to try to talk to her.

She knew what she wanted, and it wasn’t him.

“What are you even doing here?”

The words tumbled out of her as forcefully as the laughter had.

“You are the last person on Earth I’d expect to see at a matchmaking resort. You hate love. You hate romance. You want to roam the world without any strings to hold you down, remember? So did you come here to break hearts? To boost your ego and to have a story to tell some fellow backpacker at a hostel in Europe? What’s your deal, Jared?”

At least he had the good sense to look ashamed.

Embarrassed, even.

Until his eyes took on that familiar twinkle that made her insides feel as though they were full of shining stars.

He reached out to grab her hand. She jerked away, pretending she had an itch on the back of her neck.

She couldn’t let him touch her.

“I’m here for the same reason everyone else is here.”

She studied his eyes, marveling at how he could look so sincere. So invested. So handsome.

Hannah Willows rushed up behind Jared, placing her hand on his arm as she reached over to wrap her other arm around Keira’s shoulders.

“I’m so sorry for having to drop our conversation so abruptly, buttercup. Might we have a word in private?”

Keira nodded, relief coursing through her. She’d get out of this mess. She’d be back on track to finding her true love.

And she could wipe the memory of Jared Marshall out of her head for good.

After directing Jared to the refreshment table with instructions to sample the herb cheese she had imported from Holland especially for tonight, Hannah led Keira out of the crowded ballroom and down the rustic hall to a corner where trees—real or fake, she couldn’t tell—towered over benches, providing semi-secluded seating areas. Glass walls shielded them from the winter cold while allowing a glimpse of the snowy hills outside. Old-fashioned lanterns glimmered with soft yellow lighting, making the snow look warm and alive.

“Now that we have some privacy, please tell me what’s got you so upset when you should be feeling the first stirrings of a love match.”

“Ms. Willows, I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be here. But I can’t be matched with that man. There has to have been a mistake. I don’t know how or why, but somehow the guy I was matched with got someone to play this joke on me.”

“Joke?”

Keira nodded vigorously.

“Not a funny one. But I’ve had my fill of trying to make a relationship work with Jared. I’m hoping we can get this fixed and maybe you could introduce me to my real match?”

Hannah closed her eyes and shook her head. She folded her hands in front of her and then opened her eyes to peer into Keira’s soul.

That’s what it felt like, anyway.

“Never you fear. We will fix this right away.”

Hannah reached out and ran a gentle hand over Keira’s cheek.

“How do you know him?”

“We went to school together. High school. Well, middle school, too. He hurt me. Badly.”

Keira shivered at the memories that threatened to rob her of this chance at happiness.

Hannah stiffened visibly.

“I don’t know how he slipped past our careful background checks and personality profiles. He abused you?”

“No, no. Not like that. He wouldn’t abuse anyone.”

“Sometimes abuse is subtle. Was he a bully in school? Did he call you names? Isolate you from family? Threaten your pets?”

“No, none of that. He never did anything to make me feel unsafe.”

“Then I’m not sure I see what the problem is…”

Keira sighed, feeling more and more pathetic by the second.

“He was my first love. Well, I loved him. We were together for a while. It ended badly.”

“Did he cheat? Forgive me for prying, but I need to present this case fully to our team so we can learn from our error.”

“I don’t think he did.”

Keira threw her hands into the air, frustrated at her inability to express the damage he had done.

“Things ended abruptly. And then I never saw him again.”

Hannah studied Keira for so long, Keira wondered if she had been slapped onto a specimen slide for a scientist’s perusal. The back of her neck started itching—for real this time—and she could practically feel hives emerging on her chest.

“How long ago did this breakup occur?”

She had never felt so small. So irrational. So…dramatic.

Keira stared at Hannah’s still-bare feet as she tried to force the words past her tightening throat.