Chapter 29: Chapter 29

After disconnecting from the caller on his cell phone, Ross eased down in the bathtub. The hot water felt heavenly and did wonders to ease his aching body. He needed to gather his strength for tonight, if not his resolve and his wits. His contact had been very specific about the meeting scheduled for eleven o'clock at the Château Belline. It all came down to this one transaction, all the months of researching and planning, all the time he took courting and getting to know the woman who called herself Allie—all with the hope that she would eventually trust him. Yet, in the end, she hadn't trusted him. Well, they both had played the name game, the who's who of deception; and Allie had won all those prizes, too.