“Mom, this is lovely,” I murmured with a dreamy smile as I turned to look at myself in the full-length mirror. 

She came up behind me, only a couple of inches taller even with the heels she was wearing with her deep burgundy evening dress. She put her hands on my shoulders, a pleased and proud smile on her lips as she inspected the dress she had made for me.

“It’s exactly how I pictured it on you,” she said. “You look like a fairy ballerina. All you need are dainty wings.”

I laughed and shook my head. “I think I’m good wingless. Thanks, Mom. I really love it.”

She kissed me on the forehead and left me to finish getting ready for the children’s charity gala that the Ruddards were hosting that night at their magnificent lakeside mansion.

The Ruddards were fabulously wealthy, even outside of our little town, and they were known to throw extravagant fundraising parties and charity events.

The admittance was exorbitantly high and although it was all going to charity, not everyone in Willow could afford it. I was one of the few lucky ones who could, along with my parents and twin brother Jesse. In fact, according to our father who not only worked for Albert Ruddard but was also good friends with him, most of the guests will be benefactors and business associates the Ruddards knew from out of town.

It was going to be one swanky event and our mother had put Jesse in the best suit she could get tailored for him and had him tame back his wild mop of wavy, honey-brown hair. For me, she’d designed a dress of a gorgeous pale gold silk with a delicate tulle skirt. The shoulders were bare and I had brushed my hair up into a loose bun, held together by a pearl-encrusted gold clasp my mother gave me. I paired the dress with pale rose-colored leather pumps and a matching clutch.

Jesse knocked on my door before yelling that it was time to go.

Our parents were already off to the party and Jesse was driving us there.

He nodded approvingly at my outfit and draped my white silk shawl over my shoulders.

An hour later, the party was in full swing and the mansion was full of elegantly dressed guests. Jesse and I barely knew any of them but we smiled and made polite small talk whenever we were introduced. The food was amazing, the music was great and lively and even though we were in an almost all-adult company, I was happy with every opportunity I got to explore the mansion.

It was one of my favorite places in the world because of its majestic beauty and its secrets like the basement my father had designed for Albert. He’d shown it to me a few years ago after getting me to swear secrecy.

Jesse found me in the crowd again and pulled me to a private corner.

“Hey, Olls. I’m feeling a little stuffy here,” he said, pulling at his necktie. “I think I’m going to get some air.”

“Want to go for a walk?” I asked. “We could go to the flower garden!”

He gave me a crooked, sheepish smile, blushing a little as he scratched his head. “Um, actually, Sabrina said she’s home alone tonight. Her folks are here at the party so I was hoping I’d drive up to see her really quickly and make it back before Mom and Dad notice I’m gone.”

My eyes widened as I stared at him in disbelief. “Sabrina? Weren’t you just out on a date with Tracy this weekend? Like yesterday afternoon?”

He rolled his eyes although his blush was deepening. My twin and I were close and his playboy ways were no big secret but he never enjoyed talking to me about them.

“Yeah, so? We went out on a couple of dates. What’s the big deal. We can see other people if we want to, can’t we?”

“You’re one piece of work, brother,” I muttered, crossing my arms in annoyance. “I can’t believe you’re running out of this party to play hooky with a girl who’s not your girlfriend.”

“Hey, I don’t have any girlfriend. I’m going out on dates, not dating. There’s a big difference,” he argued passionately, as if his conviction could conjure up mine. “I’m not like you, already dreaming up names for your babies with Scott.”

My cheeks flushed. “I don’t do that. And you of all people know how I’ve been feeling lately. It’s harder and harder to see us end up together each day. All he’s interested in right now is basketball and his college scholarship.”

Jesse’s expression softened as he cupped my elbow and squeezed gently. “I’m sorry, Olls. I didn’t mean that. I know you two haven’t been seeing eye to eye lately. Have you talked to him about it?”

I plastered a smile on my face and held my head high. “Sort of. We’re working on it. Don’t worry. Now, go, before I change my mind about letting you off so easily.”

He grinned and kissed me on the cheek. “You’re the best sister ever. I’ll be back in an hour or so to pick you up. The party should be wrapping up by that time. You’ll be okay, right?”

He hesitated, his handsome face etching slightly with concern. If it really came down to it, Jesse wouldn’t leave for anything if he thought I’d be miserable despite his self-gratifying ways. We bantered all the time but we were fiercely loyal and protective of each other.

“Of course, I’ll be fine,” I assured him, motioning to the door. “Go. Just don’t be late coming back. I don’t want to have to tell Mom and Dad why I need to hitch a ride back with them after the party.”

After Jesse left, I wandered back into the crowd and found my mother talking happily with one of the Ruddards’ out-of-town guests—a tall, elegant woman in her mid-forties who was married to a Wall Street legend and had published a slew of cookbooks under her name.

I was smiling and listening aptly to my mother and the woman when something caught my eye. 

I glanced up and found a tall man in a sharp and sophisticated black suit leaning against the carved wooden banister of the mansion’s mezzanine, looking down on the crowd below with a languid interest, his body relaxed and patient.

As if he sensed my gaze, he flicked his face towards mine and I swallowed hard against the sudden tightening at my chest and throat. He had the face of a beautiful, golden god—slicked back hair that glinted burnished gold against the chandelier lights, a strong, sculpted face, piercing blue eyes as hot as blue flames and a mouth that seemed half-turned in permanent dry amusement.

If I thought he seemed relaxed earlier, I thought wrong. Despite the lazy pose, his tall and broad physique emanated nothing but dangerous and devastating power—the kind that leaps at one without warning. With his breathtaking face and feline confidence, he was smug, sensual and tempting as sin.

Beads of perspiration broke out above my brows, my tongue swiping at my suddenly dry bottom lip, as we continued to stare at each other for what now seemed like an eternity and only the sound of the woman’s stacked bangles jostling brought me back to reality.

I murmured some distracted response to what appeared to be a joke between the two women and when I looked back up to him again, he was gone as if he was never there.

I’ve been introduced to many of the guests tonight but I have never seen or talked that man before. And if I listened to the smart side of me, I’d know that it was for my own good that I didn’t because a sixteen-year-old girl thinking about how sinfully tempting a stranger seemed was probably not a good idea.

Needing some air, I slipped away from the crowd and was walking down the hall that led to the mansion’s back door when a hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me into a small alcove.

“Dad!” I gasped in relief and disappointed, convinced for a second that the stranger who still filled my thoughts had somehow accosted me in the hallway.

My father was tall and handsome, always smartly dressed and smiling. Everyone liked Michael Vance. Everyone liked me because I was his daughter and I was very proud of it.

He smiled at me, although I thought his eyes looked tired.

“You do look lovely in that dress, honey,” he said with an approving nod. “Your mother described it to me but I couldn’t appreciate it until I saw you wear it tonight.”

I beamed. “Thanks, Dad.”

He sighed and sat down on one of the two armchairs that overlooked a large bay window in that nook. “You really are growing up fast, Olivia, aren’t you?”

Only in serious conversations did my father ever call me Olivia, so I sat down on the other armchair, my hands folded together, waiting anxiously for the ax to fall.

He must have noticed my face because he smiled again and reached out to pat my hand reassuringly. “I don’t always tell you but you and Jesse are the pinnacle of my life. I’m very proud of both of you and I would give my life for the two of you.”

My eyes watered slightly and I smiled back at him. “Oh, Dad. You don’t really have to say anything. It always shows in how you take care of us—of our family.”

He gazed out of the window and into the distant night, his shoulders dropping slightly. “I sometimes ask myself if what I do is enough. One never knows until one fails.”

I didn’t know what to say to that so I kept quiet and wondered if he would speak more about it. There was something gnawing at my father and having known him all my life as the man who was always unperturbed at the face of every dilemma, it bothered me a lot.

He recovered quickly though, cheering up again and shaking his head as if to lose his brooding thoughts.

“I want to give you something,” he said, reaching into his pocket and drawing out a small, silver jeweler’s box. He handed it to me and just as I was about to lift the lid open, he caught my hand.

“It’s best that you don’t know what it is inside because the questions don’t require answers until destiny reveals itself,” he said cryptically. 

He looked into my eyes almost beseechingly. “Trust me on this, Olivia. The time will come when you’ll need answers and you’ll think of this. Keep it. Hide it in the safest place you know. Somewhere close to your heart where your secrets are kept.”

I opened my mouth to say something, struggled, and then finally gripped his hand. “Dad, I don’t understand.”

He smiled. “Right now, you don’t need to understand. You simply need to trust, my dear daughter. I wouldn’t leave this with you if life were to go on as it always has but I’m afraid that destiny is here and it wants to be known. I only hope you will be strong enough when the time comes.”

He’d stood up already and with his hands on my shoulders, he bent over and pressed a kiss on the top of my head before walking away, leaving me completely stunned and confused.

My father and I were very close. I was his princess. We always understood each other. 

For the first time in my life, I felt out of depth about what my father asked of me.

He was dead serious about everything he just told me and the secret he entrusted me with. I just didn’t understand what it was all about.

I glanced down at the silver box I was clutching in my hands, my fingertips absently tracing the sleek edges.

He wanted me to keep it in the safest place I know—somewhere close to my heart where my secrets are kept.

I slipped it inside my clutch and took a deep breath, deciding a breath of fresh air was what I needed to be figure out my father’s riddle. 

I headed out to the sprawling back porch which was significantly empty except for a pair or two who have found private nooks and crannies to romance in the growing shadows of dusk. 

It was midsummer and the sun was usually still up past nine in the evening. The golden glow diffused the air with an almost magical, luminous splendor, heralding the sun’s slow descent.

I quietly walked to the what seemed like the edge of the mansion’s backyard before the thick woods that filled the rest of the family’s lands started. 

The garden was walled off by tall and immaculately trimmed hedges, a narrow wrought-iron gate with an arched top the only passage into the floral sanctuary.

I slipped inside and walked to the center of the garden where a small angel fountain stood and gurgled, the soft glow of the fading sunlight hitting angles on the angel’s face that lent it an almost eerie realism. I sat down on the bench across it, glancing around the lush, well-manicured bushes and flower beds that specked the dim and shadowed garden with pops of vibrant color.

I took out the jeweler’s box and stared at it again.

Lately, the one place closest to my heart was this garden where I felt safe and cocooned from the world and reality. Here, on my own, I could just be myself.

An idea struck and before I could second-guess it, I was crouching down at the foot of the fountain where the circular marble base was set in place by stone bricks that made a small pad to stand on and connect to the path that led to the gate.

A small basket of tools were left beside a nearby bed of peonies and I found a small hand shovel.

I loosened one brick close to the base of the fountain and started digging the dirt out. I made a hole about half a foot deep and I lodged the jeweler’s box in it before scooping the dirt back on top of it. Years of gardening made me quick and tidy and in a few minutes, I was able to stamp the brick back into place, sweep off the loosened dirt that lay around it, put away the shovel and wipe my hands clean with my linen handkerchief.

I sat down on the bench and was just closing my eyes and taking a minute to relax when I heard a smirk behind me.

“You look like you belong here,” a male voice said, sounding amused.

I whipped around and the saw the very same tall man I saw up in the mezzanine earlier, leaning against a trellis, his arms casually crossed over his chest.

He seemed much taller and bigger up close but despite his intimidating height and powerful physique, I looked up and felt my chest constrict with the same hot, restless reaction I had earlier when I first laid eyes on him. His deep, electric blue eyes were intelligent and watchful and his mouth was tilted up on one corner with a mischievous smile.

I was in love with Scott for as long as I could remember but I never felt attraction hit me like this as if it were a sledgehammer. 

“Olivia Vance—is that right?” he asked with a raised brow in question. “Michael Vance’s daughter?”

“Yes,” I answered stiffly. “I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

I scanned the area with my eyes to see if anyone was coming into the garden that may be close enough to help in case this guy turned out to be a psycho but because of its distance from the mansion, not very many guests strayed this way. Damn.

“No, we haven’t been introduced but it didn’t seem like we needed it the way we were staring at each other earlier,” he replied, his smile deepening when I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment. 

He extended a hand. “I’m Tristan Black. I’m a friend of Albert Ruddard and I just met your father earlier. He and Albert seem like very good friends.”

I tipped him a small, polite smile and managed a quick handshake, trying to ignore the slight tingle that rode up my arm the moment our hands touched. “They are. I’m glad you could come and join all of us tonight.It’s for a good cause, as I’m sure you already know.”

“It is,” he mumbled, and looking up at him through y lashes, I could see his thoughtful expression just as he asked,” Are you nervous?”

My cheeks colored again. “No. Why should I be nervous? Did you follow me here?”

“I merely wanted to get some fresh air and I saw this in the distance,” he answered simply. “I didn’t realize I would run into you here.”

I instantly remembered the jeweler’s box I had buried and eyes him warily. “How long have you been standing there before you spoke up?”

He shrugged. “Not very long. I walked in on you wiping your hands and I’d say you’ve been playing with the flowers.”

I silenced the panic inside me and just clasped my hands together as casually as I could manage. “This is Carol Ruddard’s private garden and she takes great pride in showing it off to anyone interested. She worked hard on it. I helped her plant some of these and I was making some slight adjustment that I couldn’t turn my back on.”

I bit my tongue before I started babbling on more and giving more away than I intended.

“Well, you did an excellent job. The garden is almost as beautiful as you are although I don’t think it will ever equal or surpass you.”

I knew the man was smooth with the ladies—you can just tell by the almost palpable sense of confidence he emitted without effort—and that I was smarter than that, but I couldn’t fight another blush.

“Excuse me but I have to go,” I said as I slowly rose.

He straightened and positioned himself casually in my way. “I’ve offended you by what’s supposed to be a compliment. My apologies.”

I took a deep breath and leveled him the steadiest gaze I could manage. “Mr. Black, I don’t mean to be rude but I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to be having a conversation here, alone in a secluded area. I’m only sixteen. I don’t want trouble for either of us.”

His eyes lit up with what I suspected was laughter but he kept his smile conservative. “Well, then, in that case, I’ll just have to wait a few years. I hope you wouldn’t have forgotten me by then.”

There was so much promise and provocation in that last statement I couldn’t help but stop on my first step and look up at him with incredulity.

The man was an unrepentant flirt apparently and didn’t seem the least perturbed by my not-so-subtle warning.

I lost my train of thought the moment his gaze dropped to my mouth and almost automatically, mine lowered to gaze at his own smiling mouth as well.

I swallowed hard, barely able to hear or notice anything else as the sound of my own heartbeat filled my ears.

I knew this was trouble and I wasn’t walking away fast enough from it.

I wasn’t even walking away at all!

In a quiet yet swift movement, his body was pressed slightly against mine, his warmth and male, musky scent filling my senses as his one hand lifted my chin gently.

“You’re so wonderfully beautiful,” he murmured before his lips touched mine, fleetingly at first. I gasped at the ripple of excitement that shot through me and he took that opportunity to anchor his mouth more securely around mine, his tongue slipping in to coax mine to play.

I wasn’t entirely sure how long the kiss lasted because I was certain time stood still but when we pulled away, he was running his thumb gently along my bottom lip and my hands clutched the sleeves of his suit tightly in conflict of whether to drag him closer to me or push him away.

A ghost of smile played on his mouth but after a minute stretched, a brief flash of dismay crossed his face and he stepped back from me. Since I was still frozen in place, his sleeves slipped past my fingers until we were no longer touching.

Wait for me, sweetheart, a voice in my head suddenly said, sounding exactly like Tristan although I saw no movement with his mouth except a pained smile. 

Forget me for now until I see you in a few years.

I blinked and spun around so fast, I nearly tripped on my feet.

For a second, my mind clouded and I found myself walking back towards the mansion.
I stopped and looked over my shoulder and saw the private garden I knew by instinct was going to be there.

I must have gone for a walk there.

I glanced down at my hands which shook slightly and noticed some dirt under the nails.

I frowned, remembering how meticulously I showered and cleaned up before attending the party. I couldn’t remember getting my hands dirty or walking towards the private garden .

I don’t remember tasting it but I must have picked up a glass of wine instead of the sparklers they served the underaged. 

It was the only way I could explain the sense of displacement that was gnawing at my gut as if something very important had just happened and I completely missed it.

***

I blinked and found myself staring at Tristan’s face, the seriousness of his expression registering slowly.

“What the hell just happened?” I asked carefully, shaking my head as if it would help clear the sudden fogginess in my head. 

We were still in bed and the room looked exactly like it should be.

“Did I fall asleep and have a dream?” I asked again when Tristan didn’t answer.

He reached for my hand and squeezed it before lifting it to his lips for a light kiss.

“Don’t hate me,” he said.

My eyes narrowed. “What? Why would I hate you?”

“Because I made you forget,” he answered. “Because we met eleven years ago and I wanted you then but I walked away.”

The impact of what he said and what I just relived hit me hard and fast.

I leapt off the bed. “Oh, God! That dream I just had. That really happened, didn’t it? You met me at the Ruddards’ charity gala. You kissed me!”

“You kissed me right back,” he said with a quick, devilish grin. 

Then he sobered up again and stood. “You’ve had me under your spell since that night, Ollie. But I couldn’t have you then. You were too young and you were too innocent about everything. It wasn’t the right time but I couldn’t leave you with questions so I went into your mind and blocked the memory since we first saw each other at the party until we parted in the garden. I promised myself that I would release the memory when we met again.”

“You took eleven years to come back?” I demanded angrily. “Were you even going to fulfill that promise you made to a sixteen-year-old girl?”

A pained smile curved on his mouth. “I’ve thought about you for years but with everything that went on, there never seemed to be a right time for me to just escape a little bit and come find you. I wasn’t sure how to introduce you to my world without scaring you away. I kept putting it off and I guess for a man of my years, a little over a decade passes without much notice.”

I mulled over that for a few minutes in silence before releasing a deep, weary breath. “Did you come back to Willow for me then? You’re here because of me?”

His gaze was penetrating when he answered, “Yes, I came to Willow for you because of a number of reasons, all of which shall be revealed to you in due time.”

“What else haven’t you told me, Tristan?” I asked warily. 

His smile turned impish. “That the first time I saw you again that day you showed up at basement, everything I felt for you that night at the garden came flooding back and I wanted to yank you into my arms and kiss you silly. I was tempted to release the memory then and there but you caught me unprepared. I didn’t know yet how to proceed so I tried to block that new memory again and send you home until I could come up with a strategy but I’ve lost that ability with you. Arabella tried with her spells and it wouldn’t work either. I think after you turned eighteen, some of the Phoenix’s natural defenses strengthened even though your powers weren’t awakened. Most otherwordlies have the ability to fight off and or administer compulsion.”

“When were you going to get around to finally releasing the memory back to me?”

He shrugged. “To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t even sure anymore if I was going to do it. It didn’t matter. I loved you in the past, I loved you still in the present.”

I studied Tristan and the play of emotions on his usually unreadable face.

He seemed relieved, anxious and hopeful at the same time.

I softened. 

I didn’t like anyone manipulating my freedom to decide for myself but Tristan was a complicated man and the fact that wanted me all over again after eleven years wasn’t something I could really be angry about with him.

“I’m sorry for taking that memory away,” he said quietly, meeting my eyes with his own remorseful ones. “And for making you wait unconsciously for a long time. When you and I made love the first time and I realized you’d been a virgin all this time, I felt a pang of guilt wondering if somehow I’d compelled you to wait for me. I won’t have it any other way but I am sorry for leaving you with no say at all and taking away what’s yours.”

I smiled and sat down on the bed. He followed and sat beside me.

“Thank you for giving it back to me,” I said gently as I reached for his hand and held it. “Because you didn’t just give me the memory of our first meeting and first kiss back. You also gave me back a memory of my father that night and something important that he’d entrusted me with.”

Tristan raised a brow. “And what’s that?”

I stood up and pulled him up to his feet. “We’ll find out once we unearth it. It’s buried in the base of the angel fountain in the flower garden. If I recall my father’s words accurately, he said there will come a time when I’ll need answers and I’ll think of it. I think that time has finally come.”