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Daddy, I’m scared. Please help me. I don’t know what to do.

It was so dark but she didn’t want to cry in case the bad man came back. How would Daddy know how to find her? Was she going to die just like Mommy?

She heard the footsteps. Oh no, it was the bad man. It was the bad man. He was coming back. He was...

Kayleigh sat straight up in bed, her back soaked with sweat, trying to claw her way out of the nightmare. Her eyes darted around the room. Where was she? This wasn’t her house. Was she on assignment?

She caught sight of the elaborate floor-to-ceiling curtains. Everything clicked into place. No, she was at her father’s house, in her old bedroom. Someone had pulled the blackening curtains too tightly. She would never normally keep herself in the dark like this.

The dark contained too many nightmares. Too many times the bad man tried to come back and get her. Even though she was no longer that ten-year-old and the bad man had died in prison years ago.

Kayleigh’s breathing evened out and she sat up, swinging her legs off the side of the bed. She was jet-lagged, returning from a photography assignment in Indonesia, and hadn’t been able to get to sleep until nearly dawn, so she still felt groggy—something she was used to with her profession as a nature photographer that sent her all over the world. It would pass. Even more quickly once she got to her own home and surroundings.

Her father had met her at the airport and brought her here, to his house, rather than take her to her own. She’d been too tired to fight again about not having live-in security and had reluctantly agreed to sleep in her old room.

Live-in security, especially one of her father’s goons, was not an option. Her independence was the most important thing to her. If she wanted to have an unreasonable fear of the dark, that was her prerogative, as long as she could do it on her own.

Kayleigh got out of bed, pulling the curtains wide to let the midafternoon sun chase away the lingering darkness before getting dressed. Thankful she rarely bothered with much in the way of hair or makeup, she made her way to the kitchen. She warmed up the plate of leftovers one of the housekeepers had left for her and sat down at the kitchen island to eat alone.

Nothing new about that. She’d been eating alone for years, even when she’d lived here. Her dad was always busy, and they rarely shared a meal.

Although it wasn’t like she was really alone. There were security people all over this house, even in the far corner of the kitchen, although none of them talked to her.

She was halfway through her meal when her dad’s assistant, Gwendolyn, came through the kitchen doorway. “There you are. I thought that jet lag might really take you out this time. How was Indonesia?”

Kayleigh smiled at the older woman. She was the most bearable of all Dad’s employees.

“I liked it. It was a lot more rugged than I was used to. Perfect for the theme of the shoot.”

“What was that again?” Gwendolyn snatched a bottle of water and came to sit next to her at the island.

“Surviving nature. Showcasing different plants that can kill humans and how dangerous they can be if they’re not respected.”

It had also been perfect to add to her secret personal project about how certain plants survived even when they shouldn’t. It was a passion project she’d been working on for years. Kayleigh hoped to someday make a book out of her collection of shots.

She spent a couple of minutes explaining her Indonesia shoot to Gwendolyn. She wasn’t sure the older woman was truly interested, but she was at least pretending enough to make it seem so.

Indonesia had been amazing, even under the circumstances she’d been traveling, which definitely weren’t luxurious—mostly camping in the wild. That was how Kayleigh preferred it. She would rather be alone with her camera and wildlife than in this giant mansion full of people, none of whom were actually listening or talking to one another.

“We’re glad you’re back, dear,” Gwendolyn said. “Your father worries whenever you’re not around.”

Kayleigh somehow refrained from rolling her eyes. “Dad worries when I am around. The only time he doesn’t worry is when I’m sitting right next to him.”

Gwendolyn shook her head. “We can’t blame him for that, can we, after everything that happened to you as a child?”

Given that Kayleigh was still having nightmares about it nearly twenty years later, blaming her father for still being overprotective felt hypocritical. “I guess not.”

Gwendolyn had been working for Leo for three years now. She was a big improvement over the much younger assistants he’d tended to hire for the past couple decades, who may have been a pleasure for Dad’s guards to look at, but weren’t nearly as organized or as friendly as Gwendolyn. Kayleigh had hoped there might be some sort of romance between the older woman and her father, but that had never transpired.

Their conversation was interrupted by Jasper, Leo’s head of security, storming into the kitchen straight to the coffee maker, pouring himself a cup without a word to either of them.

Jasper wasn’t Kayleigh’s favorite person on his good days. Jasper in a snit was completely unbearable.

“Everything all right?” Gwendolyn asked him. “You seem to be a little flustered.” Part of her job was sometimes unruffling the feathers that Leo was quick to ruffle.

Jasper took a sip of his coffee then crossed his beefy arms over his chest. “Leo makes it a lot harder to do my job when he cuts me out of the loop.”

The older woman raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure he’s not cutting you out of the loop on anything. You’re his head of security.”

“He is in there talking to some bigwig from a private security company. If he’s got a problem with how security is being run here, he should let me know.”

Kayleigh understood why her dad kept Jasper around. They both were very old-school, shoot-first-ask-questions-later type of men. Jasper reveled in asserting his power over others, and tended to hire men for his security team similar to himself.

Kayleigh concentrated on eating the rest of her food while Gwendolyn attempted to talk Jasper out of his pout—there was really no better word for his behavior. Kayleigh stayed out of it; she preferred talking to him as little as possible. At least now, after eating and shaking off the grip of the nightmare, she was feeling better.

“Ms. Delacruz, your father would like to see you if you have a moment.”

Kayleigh was midway through one of her last bites as another member of the security team showed up in the doorway.

“Me too?” Jasper asked.

The man shook his head. “No, sir. Only Ms. Delacruz.”

Kayleigh glanced over at Jasper, pretty sure she could see steam coming out of his ears. He followed behind her as she left the kitchen, despite not being directly invited.

She knocked on her father’s office door. “Hi, Dad. You wanted to see me?” Jasper followed her inside but she didn’t say anything about it.

“There you are, honey. How are you feeling?” Leo came from around his desk to give her a hug and she hugged him in return.

“A little jet-lagged, but otherwise not too bad.”

She wasn’t about to mention the nightmare and fear of the dark. That would lead to more arguments about security.

She pulled back, taking a seat. Leo sat in the chair next to her instead of going back around his desk.

“You should have just taken me straight home rather than bring me here from the airport, Dad.”

Leo didn’t even pretend to be repentant. “It was late, and you know how I already feel about you living in that house alone.”

She swallowed a weary sigh. “We’ve been over this before.”

“I know we have. But things have changed with my business. I’m dealing with some dangerous people and I would like for you to consider having live-in security until the merger is finished.”

“Your business is always dangerous. That has been true for as long as I can remember. So my answer is still no.”

She’d learned over the years to make a firm stance from the beginning.

“Live-in security would be the best thing for you.” Jasper took a step forward. “I’m willing to take on the assignment myself, if that will make you feel any more comfortable.”

She knew her smile was completely false but there was nothing she could do about it. “No, thank you.”

There was no way Jasper was going to be her live-in security. He and all the little clones he’d hired were part of the problem. But it was more than that.

She refused to give up her freedom, refused to have someone living in her shadow twenty-four hours a day. It would drive her crazy. Her privacy and independence were too hard-won and too important.

“You’re just being stubborn,” Jasper said.

Her fake smile slid away. “I’m not being stubborn. I’m a grown woman, and I have the right to live the way I want to.”

“You know what? She’s right,” Leo said.

Both her and Jasper’s heads spun around to look at him.

“What are you up to?” she asked. “You’ve never given up a fight that easily in your entire life.”

Leo let out a little chuckle. “Maybe I finally realize that arguing with you is pointless.”

“Probably because I learned how to argue from you.” She couldn’t help but smile at her dad. He drove her crazy sometimes, and she knew his business practices were questionable at best, but she loved him.

Plus, his agreement with her made Jasper mad, so double bonus.

“How about if we compromise?” Leo said.

Her eyes narrowed. “Depends on your definition of ‘compromise.’”

“You don’t have any photography assignments for the next couple of weeks, right?” he asked.

“That’s correct.”

“What if I don’t insist on any sort of live-in security—” Leo held out a hand to silence Jasper, who was obviously about to argue the opposite “—but you agree to stay in one of the family estates until this crazy merger I’m working on is over.”

“Two weeks?”

He nodded. “Three at the most. After that, things should be much more settled.”

Kayleigh studied her father through narrowed eyes. She’d learned over the years not to ask for details regarding his businesses. If he was really this concerned for her safety, then this merger must involve some truly questionable people.

“Fine. I’ll stay at the Lake Austin house. Will that work?”

“Yes, that will work well,” Leo concurred.

Jasper immediately excused himself. “I need to go check on a few things around the house, sir, if that’s okay?”

“Yes, go ahead.” Her father shooed him with his hand.

As soon as Jasper closed the door behind him, she turned back to Leo. “You know what he’s doing, right? He’s going to set up security at the Lake Austin house right now. I’m sure he’ll come back in a couple of hours with some elaborate plan to present to you.”

Leo let out a little chuckle. “Subtle, Jasper is not. And I also know you’re not going to Lake Austin, so why don’t we talk about what your real plans are?”

Kayleigh couldn’t help but smile. “I hate the Lake Austin house. You know that. I’m going to Lake Ray Roberts.”

She expected more of an argument from him, but he actually looked pretty pleased at her announcement.

“I thought you might say that.” Leo slipped an arm around her. “I promise I won’t let Jasper know. But, fair warning, I’ve already scheduled some landscaping work to be done out at Ray Roberts. So don’t freak out if you’re not alone.”

She shot him a side look. “Is the landscaper one of Jasper’s men?”

Leo squeezed her shoulder. “Definitely not. I promise.”

“Fine. As long as I don’t have anyone following me around in a suit and earpiece, then I’m good. I’ll head out in the morning.”

He kissed her on the top of the head. “Thank you for humoring your old man. I’m hoping this merger is the last one that might potentially bring danger to our doorstep. It’s...different than some of my others.”

The phone on his desk rang, so she gave him a little wave as he answered and she left his office. Rather than go back to her room, she turned to the left, deciding to walk outside.

She knew why she did it. She’d long since stopped trying to deceive herself about why she walked outside whenever she was at her dad’s house. She wanted to go by the jacaranda tree. Their tree. Hers and Weston’s.

Except for its purple blooms in the spring, the jacaranda was pretty unassuming. Not as big as many of the other trees or colorful as the other plants. Nobody tended to pay much attention to it.

But today someone was under the jacaranda, tending to some of the shrubbery around it. She wasn’t familiar with any of Dad’s current landscapers and wasn’t going to say anything. But as she walked by, the man stared at her from where he was crouched.

“Be careful with that tree. It’s important to me,” she said.

“I’m glad to hear that, Kayleigh.”

Something inside her mind shifted at the sound of the voice. She could now see traces of the little boy she’d known in the features of the man in front of her. Her eyes grew big.

“Weston? Is that really you?”

She blinked rapidly in surprise, taking in his dark skin and handsome face, his strong jaw and close-trimmed hair. She couldn’t believe he was really there. He wasn’t dressed like a gardener. He was in dress pants and a white shirt with a tie that had been loosened and sleeves rolled up, yet his hands were covered in dirt from whatever tending he’d been doing.

Putting on makeup or fixing her hair hadn’t seemed important after the nightmare, but now she wished she’d taken the time.

He saw her looking at his hands and gave a sheepish shrug. “Sorry, I was here for a type of interview with Leo. When I saw this tree, I couldn’t help but get in here and make things a little more perfect.”

This was exactly how she remembered him, always handling plants, reverent for the nature around him. But he definitely wasn’t that nine-year-old boy anymore. The Weston in front of her was a man, strikingly handsome, with intense brown eyes.

“I’m tempted to do the same every time I walk by this tree,” she said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it. Dad keeps this place landscaped to within an inch of its life. But sometimes I just like to get my hands dirty.”

He brushed the soil from his hands off to his side. “I understand you’re a nature photographer, so I guess you get your hands dirty regularly.”

“Yeah, I love it.” Had he kept up with her over the years? The thought gave her a weird thrill in her chest.

“Then it sounds like a wonderful profession.”

“Are you going to be doing some work for Dad?” Weston was obviously still in the landscaping business.

“Yes, actually,” he said. “I—”

“Excuse me. Mr. Delacruz wants to talk to you now, Patterson.” Jasper walked up and interrupted them. “You shouldn’t be out here talking to Ms. Delacruz anyway. That’s not your place.”

She shook her head. “Calm down, Jasper. Weston and I know each other from when we were younger.” Although his name hadn’t been Patterson then.

Jasper crossed his arms over his chest. “It doesn’t matter. He shouldn’t be talking to you.”

She turned back to Weston. “Don’t listen to him. It’s fine.”

Weston shook the rest of the dirt off his hands. “No, Jasper’s right. I should get back to Leo if he’s waiting for me. But it was good to see you.”

“Yeah, it was good to see you.” They gave each other small waves, Jasper making it all awkward, and Weston left.

Kayleigh turned back to look at the jacaranda and the work Weston had been doing underneath it. He definitely wasn’t the silent little boy she’d followed around that summer after her mom died.

Maybe staying here at Dad’s house wouldn’t be so bad if it meant she could run into Weston each day while he did gardening work.

But no, she couldn’t. She’d fought too long and hard for her independence. Staying here would be a step backward. She wouldn’t do that.

Not even for the brown eyes that had enthralled her just as much today as they had back when she was a kid.