She made an attempt to step past him, but he grabbed her upper arm. “Watch out, Audrey. I will take you down!”

He let go of her and hurried past her, jumping into the taxi.

“Drive!” he instructed the driver and pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

He had to put his mind to rest by clarifying one thing first before going home to stop Sabrina from packing and returning to New York. The call was connected almost immediately.

“Hey Daniel, forgot something?” Zach asked.

“Is Paul still with you?”

“No, he and Jay left a half hour ago to have lunch at Frank’s Crab Shack.”

“Thanks.” He disconnected the call without any further explanation. “Drive me to Frank’s Crab Shack, please,” he instructed the cab driver instead.

The drive from the Maidstone Country Club to the Crab Shack took only minutes, but to Daniel they felt like hours.

When the cab finally came to a stop, Daniel paid the driver and got out. He entered the restaurant, perused the people sitting at the tables inside, and walked through to the terrace that faced the beach.

He saw Paul and Jay sitting at a table at the end, plates with fresh crab legs in front of them. He approached without them noticing him, the two seemingly deep in conversation.

When Daniel reached the table, he tapped on Paul’s shoulder, making him snap his head toward him.

“Hey, Daniel! Wanna join us? There’s more than enough food!” Paul motioned to the mountain of crab in the middle of the table.

Daniel ignored the question. “Why were you and Sabrina meeting in town the other day?” His heart hammered in his chest.

Paul almost visibly choked on the crab in his mouth. He reached for his beer and took a deep gulp, all the while his eyes stared at Daniel in utter surprise.

“We ran into each other,” Paul finally answered.

“Are you saying it was a coincidence?” Daniel asked.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t it?” Paul exchanged a quick glance with Jay, who’d set down his crab leg and watched the exchange with interest, remaining silent.

“You were seen embracing her.” Daniel watched as Paul’s facial expression changed to one of defensiveness.

“Hey! Hold on here! That was entirely innocent.”

“Then why did neither of you mention it to me? Why do I have to find out from Linda Boyd?”

Paul shook his head. “That gossip mongering bitch! There was nothing to it, Daniel. I might have flirted with Sabrina in the past. Before you got engaged. But I draw the line when things get serious between a couple. It’s true, I was hugging Sabrina, but I was only comforting her.”

Daniel’s forehead furrowed. “Comforting?”

“Didn’t she tell you how people in the village were treating her? She was thrown out of Lisette’s lingerie store. The owner was downright nasty to her. Sabrina was in tears. All I did was try and get her out of there in one piece. And of course Linda misconstrues it to mean something else. You should know that she only spews venom!”

Daniel raked a hand through his hair, relieved on one hand, concerned on the other. He should have anticipated that people in the village wouldn’t be kind after they’d read the article. But that somebody had actually thrown Sabrina out of a store, seemed to go too far. “Why didn’t Sabrina tell me?”

“She probably didn’t want you to go down there and make a fuss.”

Paul was right. Daniel would have gone to the shop and given the owner a piece of his mind. “Sorry, man.”

“No harm done. Now that everything’s fine again, wanna join us for a beer and some crab legs?”

Daniel shook his head. “Nothing is fine.”

Both his friends stared at him expectantly.

“Sabrina left me. She called off the wedding.” Daniel dropped onto the bench next to Paul and put his head in his hands.

“Why?” Jay asked.

“She doesn’t want to ruin my life, and as long as the article is out there and hasn’t been retracted and exposed as a lie, she thinks she’s destroying my life and my business.”

“How so?” Paul wanted to know.

“Brian Caldwell came to see me to let me know that he and his father are pulling out of the deal because of the scandal. They don’t want to be associated with me anymore.”

“And Sabrina knows about it?” Jay asked.

“She was there when it happened.” Daniel rested his chin on his hand. How could he ever live without Sabrina? She was his life, his everything.