Page 35 of The Matchmaker's Cottage

“The hows aren’t important.” Her words came out slow and sultry. He knew she was going for a purr, but it was too manufactured to be as sensuous as her goal. “I miss you. I want to see you.”

“Emily,” he said again, this time as a groan bordering on frustration. “We’ve been through this. There is nothing between us. Whatever you think happened—”

“I’m not an idiot, Ethan!” she snapped, and he clicked his mouth shut in the face of her ire, his professionalism too imbued in him to provoke her further. “I know what we had!”

He felt his heart rate elevate again, this time with an urgency to get her off the phone before someone came to find him out here or Katy and Noah’s car appeared on the gravel drive. Allowing his professional side to take over, he shifted from antagonistic to soothing.

“I think what we really need is some time to talk things through. Maybe over a coffee? I’m away on some business at the moment, but let’s reconnect when I get back. How does that sound?”

There was a prolonged silence, and he sent up a quick prayer that his misleading promise would end things here and now.

“Fine,” she said finally, sounding only slightly assuaged. “Didn’t realize you still had any business to attend to”—he pinched his nose and ignored the dig—“but call me when you’reavailable.” The last word held a hint of sarcasm, which he also chose to ignore in his desperation to hang up.

“Sounds great,” he replied, hoping his tone didn’t sound as fake to her as it felt to his own ears. “Talk soon, Emily. Bye-bye.”

He hung up before she could even respond, and no sooner had he pressed End than he heard the sound of a car turning up the gravel drive from the main road. He forgot about the call almost instantly, his focus shifting into business mode.

This is it. This was the start of the mission that would make or break him.

Briskly clearing the dock and making his way up the rocky hill toward the driveway that wound around the front entrance, he watched as the hired car pulled up in front of the house and came to a squeaking halt. Both back doors opened simultaneously.

Showtime.

Affecting his friendliest expression, he held his arms out as Katy Nils and Noah Booker stepped out of either door.

“Welcome!” he said, hoping he sounded enthusiastic without coming across too manic. “How was your flight?”

The driver had come around at this point and was opening the trunk, helping the two remove their suitcases. Noah took his own as well as Katy’s, who shot him a genuine and grateful smile before turning to Ethan.

She was slender and tall—much taller than Julia, though the second Ethan even thought about making the comparison, he had to question why Julia was the litmus test for all other women he met—with deeply tanned skin and golden-blonde hair that fell down her back in gentle, salon-curated waves. Her dark brown doe eyes crinkled at the corners with her smile, and she simply shrugged in answer to his question.

“That bad?” Ethan replied sympathetically, returning her infectious smile with a genuine one of his own.

Whatever he was expecting from this girl, she didn’t quite fit the bill. There was something fawn-like about her: loose limbs she seemed yet to grow into, a ready grin, and no air of celebrity expectation or privilege about her. He knew she had come from a working-class immigrant family—her mother was from El Salvador, and her father was Norwegian—and they had been close-knit, all things considered. It was only when her fame had exploded and the money situation had begun to get out of hand that things took a turn for the worse. Her father bore the brunt of the blame, but her mother was complicit, and Ethan could see the shadows in Katy’s eyes if he truly looked closely. It must have taken more of a toll on her than anyone realized.

Before he could get too lost in his assessment, however, Noah approached him as well, hand outstretched.

“I’m less of a complainer than this one,” he said, shaking Ethan’s own proffered hand firmly, recognizable traces of West London in his voice, familiar to anyone who had followed his career. “It’s nice to meet you officially.”

The young man before him was more recognizable than Katy, not because of any personal relationship Ethan had with him but because he simply had the more famous face. Anyone who had been anywhere in the last decade knew Noah Booker, otherwise known as Augustus Tooley, the boy who could bring books to life.

TheSpellboundseries had rocketed him to superstardom as a child and preteen, making him a household name all over the world, but particularly in the UK and North America. Once the series wrapped up for good, he had purposely stepped away from the limelight, attempting to focus on his education and a chance at a normal life.

For almost a decade, he’d succeeded. He’d finished high school and attended Oxford University before stepping back into the spotlight with a few choice roles, including the superhero movie he had done with Katy, who had been a relative newcomer untilDouble Blindhad put her face on the map.

The hiatus had probably done him good, as it allowed people to forget, for a bit, about Augustus Tooley and had allowed Noah to reenter the glare of publicity with an older face and in a different genre of work.

They were both young, successful, and highly sought after. Ethan knew how lucky he was to have them in his corner—especially now, after all that had come to pass.

It hit him in a wave of relief and gratitude just how pleased he was to actually have them here, considering how, truly, they didn’t even really know him.

A team of managers had handled both Katy and Noah at Fordham PR, with Ethan, as accounts director, overseeing it all, though never directly dealing with either of them. He had, of course, known about their individual situations and had even spoken to them both on the phone prior to their joint arrival at Donwell Cottage, but they hadn’t all met face-to-face until this moment.

Now, with all that he had prepared for coming to fruition, he only had one pervasive thought: He really,reallyhoped his plan was going to work.

“Hello!”

At the greeting coming from behind him, both Katy and Noah glanced over his shoulder, and Ethan turned a moment later, his pulse inadvertently quickening as he recognized Julia’s voice.