Free My Special Angel by Marcia Evanick

kiss on the porch again. Or maybe it has to be at the same time, or maybe it has to be on a full stomach.”
    “Or maybe it wasn’t the kiss at all,” said Nadia softly. She turned away before he could notice the tears filling up her eyes again. Coming here had been a mistake.
    Owen came up behind her and gently touched her arm. “You may be right. Maybe it wasn’t the kiss, Nadia, but there has to be a reason somewhere.” His fingers caressed the smooth skin from her wrist to her elbow. “I’m willing to help you find it.”
    “How?”
    “I don’t know how. That’s something we are going to have to work on together.” He tenderly stroked the dark circles under her eyes. “The first thing you have to do is rest more. This obviously has you very upset, and I can sympathize with you on that, but you need your sleep.”
    “I need my music more.” She didn’t need to be told she looked like hell. She had a mirror at home. She knew exactly what she looked like.
    “No, you need to relax. Maybe the music is trying to come back and you’re too wound up to notice.” His hands gently brushed her hair aside and massaged the tense muscles in her neck. “Have you ever been to Hidden Valley?”
    She tilted her head forward and sighed as Owen’s warm fingers worked their magic, easing the pressure from her neck and shoulders. “As in the salad dressing?”
    “No.” Owen chuckled. “Hidden Valley is a secluded valley about ten miles out of town. Not many people know about it, and the ones who do keep it to themselves. It’s a small piece of paradise with gurgling streams, a small waterfall, and acres of blue skies and green grass.”
    “It sounds lovely.”
    “Great.” He gave a final squeeze to her neck. “I’ll go fix a picnic basket, and we’ll be on our way.”
    “Wait a minute.” Nadia quickly turned around and frowned. “I didn’t say I was going anywhere.” She didn’t like the determined gleam in Owen’s eyes. “I have things to do back at the ranch.”
    “What do you have to do that is more important than getting back your music?”
    Nadia worried her lower lip with her teeth. “If I go with you to this Hidden Valley, who is to say the music will return?”
    “Who’s to say it won’t?”
    She was torn. Was there a possibility that the music would return if she went on a picnic with Owen to this hidden paradise? Could she afford not to go? She had vowed to put a great deal of distance between Owen and herself. He was too tempting, but now, with the disappearance of her music, could she risk not seeing him? What would happen if he was right, and the music would only return with his help? Surely she had enough control to keep her heart safe for one afternoon by keeping their relationship on some level of friendship. “If I go, it would be out of friendship, nothing more.”
    Owen nodded his head and smiled. He got the message. “I only have one question?”
    “What’s that?”
    “Do you prefer fried chicken or bologna sandwiches?”
     
    * * *
     
    Nadia glanced at the other two cars parked at the side of the road and took the quilt Owen handed her. “I thought you said only a few people knew about this place.”
    Owen picked up the heavy wicker picnic basket and shut the hood of the trunk. He glanced at the two other cars. “Don’t worry, we probably won’t even run into them. There’s more than a hundred acres of woods and meadows.”
    “I have more than that on the ranch, and every time I turn around, there’s always someone there.”
    He chuckled and led the way to a dirt path hidden between two massive pine trees. “I can imagine.”
    Nadia ducked beneath a low-hanging branch and glanced around for ‘No Trespassing’ signs. There weren’t any. “Who owns all this?”
    “We do.” He held a branch back so that she could pass.
    “We do?”
    “You’re a taxpayer, aren’t you?”
    “At times more than I care to be.” She looked around her with interest. The forest