of his victory, because she had a feeling her tears would only mean extra points to him.
Chapter 28
Sarah crammed the clothes she’d worn the day before into her bag and zipped it shut. Hefting it in one hand, she staggered down the loft stairs and set it on the floor by the front door. She cocked her wrist and shoved her sleeve up to check her watch, then swore softly. Her watch was gone. Had she left it on the nightstand?
She climbed the stairs and checked. Nope. Glancing around the room, she tried to think where she’d left it. Maybe it was in the bathroom downstairs. Or on the coffee table, next to the candles. Maybe she’d taken it off when she and Lane…
Don’t think about it.
Trotting back down, she grabbed her messenger bag and put it beside the overnight bag, then made a concerted search for the watch, scanning every horizontal surface. Maybe it was in the kitchen.
Wait, she hadn’t even been in the kitchen, had she? Not since she first arrived. Still, maybe she’d taken it off then. She stood in the doorway, scanning the room. No watch, but there was a note taped to the front of the coffeemaker.
She strode over and snatched it off, nearly ripping it in half when the tape didn’t give way.
Good morning, Sunshine!
The greeting was followed by a happy face, with rays coming off it to make it look like the sun. What kind of a man drew happy faces? It didn’t seem very Lane-like. If she were still playing the game, she’d hang onto the note and tease him about it. Yesterday it would have made her smile.
Have some coffee and come to Suze’s when you wake up. I’ll introduce you to some people.
He’d signed it with a flourish that was obviously the product of years of autograph signing.
So he’d actually told her to go to Suze’s—invited her right into the lion’s den. Nice. That way, when he was done trashing her, he could point her out to all his friends and watch her get the big freeze.
“Don’t do me any favors,” she muttered.
She scanned the counters, searching for the watch. She wanted to be out of the Love Nest before he came back to torture her some more. But it was her stepfather’s watch, the one thing she had from him. She’d started wearing it the day he died, and it was the one thing in the world she didn’t want to leave behind.
She crumpled the note in her hand and went back to the living room. She needed a system. She’d search each piece of furniture in turn, methodically and thoroughly, starting with the sofa. Tossing the pillows aside, she lifted the cushions to search underneath. She was down on her hands and knees peering under the sofa when the front door opened.
“Hey,” said a familiar voice.
She sat up too fast and got dizzy, but there was no mistaking the tall figure that stood on the doormat. She simply stared at him, waiting for her vision to clear. She’d been so intent on leaving that she hadn’t thought about what she’d say if Lane found her there.
So she wouldn’t say anything. She needed to find that watch, and then she’d walk away. With no job at the oil company, there was no reason to speak to Lane Carrigan ever again.
That was about the only good news she could think of.
***
Lane watched Sarah sit up. She was swaying slightly, her skin pale, her eyes unfocused. Had she come home and hit the liquor cabinet or what? As he stepped toward her, holding out a steadying hand, she got back down on her hands and knees and scuttled around the side of the sofa, peering beneath it.
“You looking for something?”
“No, I’m trying to see the world from a cockroach’s point of view.” She sat up. “Have you seen my watch?”
“Everybody’s seen your watch.” He glanced at her wrist and noticed for the first time that the clunky Timex she always wore was missing. “Why do you wear that, anyway? Did it belong to an old boyfriend or something?”
“None of your business.” She ducked her head under an end table, still searching. “I can’t leave without it.”
“So don’t leave.” He sat down on the edge of the sofa to admire the way her sweet ass stuck up in the air, but the minute she realized what he was doing, she tried to pop back up on her knees and hit her head