A combination of turning my entire bedroom upside down and the nasty phone call a few hours earlier left me drained. And worse—our efforts were in vain. I groaned as I surveyed the mess. It looked as if a poltergeist had thrown a tantrum in there.

"How about we sleep on the couch tonight?" Nye suggested.

"I can't." Damn my OCD. "I'm so sorry, but I just can't leave it like that."

Nye rubbed a hand over his eyes. "It's okay, Liv. We'll put it back."

It was nearly two in the morning by the time we got some semblance of order, and the moment we could see the bed again, we both collapsed into it.

"I never thought I'd say I was too tired, babe, but I'm too..."

I didn't hear the last bit, because I fell asleep.

Beeping from outside woke me the next morning, and I rolled out of bed to see a truck trundling down the driveway. A second one soon followed, along with half a dozen cars.

There were definite advantages to sleeping fully clothed. My feet stayed warm, Spike didn't see me naked, and it saved ten minutes in the morning. My mother was probably having afterlife palpitations, but I took a deep breath and blocked her out. Nye went to open the front door while I brushed my teeth, and by the time I got downstairs, he was holding a briefing in the kitchen.

"Every box, bag, and basket gets examined. We're looking for something small, possibly documents, and they might be in an old padded envelope. Anything you're not sure of, call me, and if I'm busy, put it aside for checking later. Any questions?"

"What do we do with things once they've been checked?" a blond-haired boy asked.

"Items Olivia isn't using for day-to-day living get stacked out in the trucks until this is over. Anything else?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Great. Let's get started with the dining room."

Except we didn't make it out of the door before a man with his black hair plaited into intricate cornrows sidled up to speak to Nye.

"Got a minute?"

"Tell me it's not that woman with the lost King Charles spaniel again? I've already told her we're not consulting a psychic."

"It's about the surveillance detail."

"Which one?"

There was more than one? I knew about Larry, but what hadn't Nye told me?

"The first one. He's taken off for a dirty weekend in France with Pneumatic Barbie, so we've handed over to a team from the Paris office to keep an eye. Don't suppose we'll see much of him—they've ordered the 'pleasure pack' and a magnum of champagne."

"Too much detail," Nye snapped.

His colleague backed off, hands up. "Sorry, boss."

"What's he talking about?" I asked.

"Sorry you had to hear that, babe."

"Why? Who is it?"

Nye sighed. "Your ex. I didn't trust him, so I had him followed, but he hasn't been near here."

That bastard! The only time Edward took me to Paris was on a business trip, and he left me on my own for most of it. I'd spent more time with the housekeeping staff than I did with my boyfriend.

Anger welled up inside me, but I forced it down. You know what? It didn't matter. My heart beat for Nye now. He was twice the man Edward would ever be, even if Edward got assistance from a cosmetic surgeon and packets of Viagra.

I stood on tiptoe to kiss Nye on the cheek. "I don't care about him anymore."

He pulled me tight against him, and I felt every inch of what Edward had been missing.

"Good. Because I'm planning to make you forget he ever existed."

Dammit, why did he have to say that when we had a house full of people? We had no choice but to assist as Aunt Ellie's cottage was systematically dismantled and the contents stowed in the trucks. Even once they were half-full, we'd barely made a dent in downstairs.

I tugged at a piece of tinsel, which unravelled to reveal a huge bag of Christmas decorations, and... What was that?

"Woohoo! I found a dining table."

A nice one too, with expanding leaves to seat six. I could hold a dinner party if the house was ever tidy enough for me to invite guests over. Were there any chairs hidden away? I kept my fingers crossed as I carried out yet another box.

By late morning, the mood was still positive even though we'd found nothing, and I took a break to make lunch.

"Don't worry," Janelle said. She'd been roped into helping as well. "If there's anything here, we'll find it."

"I hope so. Even with Nye staying, there's not much more I can take."

"These cases have a habit of breaking suddenly. I've seen it loads of times. Last year, there was this..." She trailed off and looked up at Nye, who'd walked in looking grim. "Did something happen?"

He perched on the edge of the table. "Spike had a poke around Larry's room this morning."

"And?"

Nye's face darkened even more. "Larry had photos of Olivia and three other women in his nightstand."

A tremor ran through me, and Nye squeezed my hand.

"A lot of photos?"

"Enough. The ones Betty mentioned of you on your bike and more of you walking down the high street..."

"What else? Tell me."

"There were some of you sitting on the floor in the living room, packing up parcels."

So Larry had been at the cottage. I felt sick. "How could I have missed him?"

"It was evening when he took the pictures. It's hard to see out into the dark when you're in a lit room."

"I should have drawn the curtains."

"You weren't to know."

"Well, I won't be making that mistake again."

"I know, and I'm beyond furious that you've had to learn this way. We'll keep watching Larry, and if he comes near you again, we'll have more evidence against him."

"But the photos..."

"We can't admit we've seen those, not to the police." He pressed a soft yet heated kiss to the corner of my mouth, full of promise. "I'll stay with you the whole time, Liv. But in the meantime, we need to find whatever's hidden in this house."

By the end of the day, the optimistic mood had diminished somewhat, and I'd heard murmured suggestions of tearing down walls. I sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"We've still got most of upstairs left to do," Nye said once everyone else had left for the night. "Maybe our missing piece is up there?"

"It just feels hopeless."

He gave my shoulders a squeeze. "At least we'll know, one way or the other."

"But if we don't find anything, how will the man after me know that? What if he keeps coming?"

"Maybe we could take out an advert in the local newspaper." Nye was only half joking.

"Or hire one of those planes to fly a banner?"

"How about a leaflet drop? Or one of those town crier dudes with the bell?"

I couldn't help smiling at the thought of that.

Better to laugh than cry, right?

Nye traced my dimples. "That's better. If we don't find anything, I'll tell Carol. Job done. Shall I order a pizza?"

The last thing I felt like doing that evening was cooking. "Please."

"You want everything on it?"

"Except anchovies."

"Got it."

Our food arrived forty minutes later from the Italian place in Middleton Foxford, evoking memories of my trip there with Tate. He hadn't contacted me since that last phone call, and the relief I felt told me I'd made the right decision by not pursuing things further.

"Heaven on a plate," Nye said, flipping the lid open.

"Well, a cardboard box."

He shrugged. "Saves washing up."

Edward would have had a fit if I'd suggested eating without cutlery, but snuggling up on the sofa with Nye while he wrapped one arm around my shoulders and held a slice of pizza in the other hand felt like the most natural thing in the world. Every so often, his fingers strayed downwards, and soon there was a very different kind of hunger coursing through me.

"I should clear up," I mumbled when he finished the last slice.

"Leave it."

"But—"

His kiss caught me by surprise, and I ran the back of my hand down his cheek, feeling the bite of his stubble against my skin as his embrace tightened. His lips might have been soft, but other parts of him hardened rapidly as he pulled me into his lap.

"You want to head upstairs?" he asked.

I locked my gaze on his, and no other answer was necessary.

A shriek escaped my throat as he lifted me, one arm around my back and the other under my knees as if I weighed nothing. Effortless. Although he did trip over a stray footstool on the way to the stairs, mainly because I blocked his vision by kissing him again.

In the bedroom, he paused only to rip off his jumper before following me onto the bed, and I got my first look at him shirtless.

What had I done to deserve this man? I traced his abs with a finger in the dim glow from the bedside lamp, then moved my attention downwards. Flipping heck. It promised to be a tight fit—I could see that much.

But before I could explore further, he pinned my arms above my head with one hand while he used the other to undo the buttons on my blouse.

"Not so fast, Livvie. I want to have fun too."

That seemed fair. Frustrating, but fair.

He raked his gaze down my chest before he dipped his head and trailed his tongue along the same route. When he blew across the cool trail it left behind, I broke out in goosebumps.

"Are you sure about this?" Nye whispered.

"I've never been so sure about anything in my life."

I wanted to tear my own trousers off as he reached for my zipper. For goodness' sake, hurry up!

And then his bloody phone rang.

Not with its usual ringtone, either, and he snatched it up.

"Nye."

A pause.

"Okay, understood."

He was already off the bed as he stuffed the phone into his trouser pocket.

"Get dressed, Liv. The team just spotted somebody out there."

As we got downstairs, my newly installed security lights blazed on, and dark shadows dashed across the front garden. I tried to look out the window, but Nye pulled me away, into the gloom at the back of the room.

"Stay back, babe. Don't make yourself into a target."

I cowered in his arms as shouts came from outside, praying nobody would get hurt. Well, apart from my stalker, obviously. If he fell and broke his neck, it could only be a good thing.

It seemed like forever before Nye's phone rang again, and when he listened to whatever the person on the other end had to say, his mouth hardened into a thin line.

"Search him, cuff him, and bring him inside."

They'd got him?

"Who is it?" I asked the instant Nye hung up. "Who did they catch?"

"Your friend Warren."

Warren? No. He'd always been so nice to me. Even when Nye found out about those awful accusations against him, I'd taken his side. But why on earth was he skulking around my home in the dark?

The front door slammed. Looked as if I'd soon find out.

"It's better if you wait in here, babe."

"Are you kidding? I want to be there when you question him." I could already hear cross words coming from the hallway.

Nye pushed a few stray hairs out of my eyes. "It might not be pretty. I'm so fucking angry right now."

I uncurled his fist and squeezed his hand. "I know. But please don't hurt him. I don't want you to get in trouble."

He laughed. "I won't. Don't worry about that."

Warren narrowed his eyes as Nye walked into the hallway, but when he realised I was there too, his expression softened.

"Olivia, I was trying to help. Honestly, I was only trying to help."

Nye shielded me with his body as he faced up to Warren.

"Go on—I'm dying to hear it. Why were you outside at eleven in the evening?"

"I heard someone had been bothering Olivia, and I wanted to check everything was okay."

"You didn't think a phone call would suffice?"

"I figured if I came in person, I might catch whoever it was in the act."

"And let me guess, that's why you parked your car up on the main road and came in on foot."

"Kind of. I also didn't want to wake Olivia if she was asleep."

"We found a Swiss army knife in his pocket," one of the Blackwood men said.

"That means nothing," Warren protested. "I carry it because it's got tweezers and a toothpick."

Even I did an eye-roll at that one.

"And I suppose you're also fond of the nail file and the compass?"

"I use them sometimes."

"Bullshit."

Warren gave a sullen shrug, difficult with his hands cuffed behind him. "I'm telling the truth."

"Like you told the truth about Claire Downing two years ago?"

Warren lost a little more of his colour. "That was all lies. Nothing happened like she said it did."

"You didn't sleep with her?"

"I did, but I sure as hell didn't rape her. She was fine when she left my place."

"Really? Because if a woman leaves your bed and even contemplates reporting an assault, I'd suggest she was anything but fine."

"I swear, that's what happened. I painted her portrait, we had a couple of drinks, and things just happened. Next thing I knew, Graham hauled me in for questioning."

Nye shook his head, his expression one of disbelief. "So, is this the first night you've decided to pay Olivia a visit?"

"I came once last week after I'd finished my shift, but all the windows were dark, so I had a quick check around then left."

"And you didn't see anyone else?"

"I'd have told the police if I did."

"Why Olivia? I take it you don't offer your amateur surveillance services to every girl in the village."

Warren looked down at his feet. "Because I like her, okay?" His gaze landed on my hand, firmly clasped in Nye's. "I can see you understand that feeling."

"Yeah, I do. And you'd better back the fuck off."

"Okay, okay. I get the message. Now, will you uncuff me? You're not allowed to keep me here like this."

"You'd rather spend the night in the police station?"

"No."

Nye let go of me and stepped right up to Warren, never breaking eye contact with him.

"I'll uncuff you, but I'll be watching. And if I see you anywhere near this place again, I'll make your life hell. Got it?"

Warren nodded, although he looked furious about the situation. "Got it."