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He was alone.
He sat and peered around the room, his breath quietening as he listened for any sound outside his bedroom. “Harper?”
Nothing.
But he’d known that even before he’d called out her name. Her clothes that she’d left scattered across the floor entangled with his were gone.
He reached for his cell, his heart thumping in his chest.
“Hello,” a voice rasped that was rusty with sleep.
“Justin,” he greeted. He didn’t bother with pleasantries or an apology for the earliness of his call. He paid Justin well for his PI skills. “How did you go with the information I requested?”
“About the girl, Harper Franks?”
“Who else?” Liam growled.
Justin chuckled, seemingly wide awake now. “I’ll have all the information you need emailed to you within five minutes. Will that be all for now?”
Liam squeezed his cell, then said, “Thank you. That’s all.”
Their call disconnected and Liam pushed to his feet and headed toward the bathroom. He’d have a shower and clear his head, then he’d get dressed and pack a suitcase, ready to leave the moment he uncovered her address and everything else he needed to know about Harper Franks.
Fifteen minutes later, he was on the road driving west of Sydney, the buildings, houses and shops soon giving way to trees and farmland. Cows and horses grazed the land, eucalyptus a pungent and heavy scent in the air.
His thoughts weren’t so much on the scenery though as they were on the woman who’d distracted him beyond measure. He was becoming damn-well obsessed with her!
One night hadn’t eased his need for her, it had increased it. The fact she’d left without saying goodbye had cut deeper than he wanted to admit. They were good together—why couldn’t she see that?
Either way, he wasn’t giving up without a fight. He’d do everything in his power to convince her to take a chance on them.
He flicked his indicator on and turned right into a thinner strip of sealed road, a caravan and shed set deep into the trees on the corner block. A handful of fluffy white clouds scudded across the sky overhead, a flock of rainbow lorikeets a blur of color as they flew across the road just ahead and settled into a huge flowering gum tree.
His thoughts drifted again. His private investigator had sent him some interesting and in-depth information. Though he’d known Harper’s father had died around eighteen months ago, Liam hadn’t known her dad had also left her in a whole lot of debt thanks to a crippling mortgage on a property that she paid minimum repayments on.
He hadn’t needed to be a genius to realize he’d been right all along. She’d banked on the sheikh winning the bid and ultimately giving her a wad of money as a bonus just for being with him. That she’d not even hinted for money from Liam dented his ego. Had she been too proud to tell him the truth? Or had she presumed he’d spent all his fortune already on his bid for her?
Hadn’t he proven his worth?
He glanced at his GPS and flicked on his indicator again to turn left, leaving the sealed road to travel along a dusty track that was more suited to tractors than cars. A kangaroo bounded across the road in front of him and he swore as he slammed on his brakes. He should have taken his Range Rover but he’d had no idea Harper lived in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.
He glanced at his clock. She was actually a little under an hour away from where he lived, and yet it seemed as though the city was a million miles away.
A rickety barbed wire fence appeared ahead either side of a cattle grid. He went over it, his whole car vibrating. He was on her property now, he was certain of it.
He slowed the car as potholes appeared on the road, the trees either side thick and tall, their canopy shading much of the road. Then the trees as quickly gave way to a clearing.
To the left, rotting cattle yards and a weed-infested paddock looked even worse with new railed paddocks to the right showcasing lush green grass. Two chestnut horses and a gray happily grazed next to a lake that glinted under the sun, the vines of a weeping willow touching its water.
Heading over a rise, the two-storied, sprawling white-fading-to-gray house that had probably been a mansion in its prime was now nothing short of a crumbling disaster. He frowned. If that really was her home, it was clear now why she’d needed financial help.
Then he spotted her white SUV and his frown turned into a relieved smile. He’d found her.
