just have to make Annie see reason. Jesse and Shea were on his side. He’d shamelessly use them to make Annie listen if he had to. Especially since there was another issue besides the time constriction. It made sense for her to go back to Dallas with him. To wait there where he could keep an eye on her while the lawyers slugged it out.
The thought of her facing this alone made him irrational, so he’d have to watch his words. That’s what happened, he supposed, when a man fell in love. Jesus. Somehow, he’d thought it would be simpler.
His laughter surprised him. None of this was funny. Especially that no matter what Annie decided, he wouldn’t be able to let her go. Not that he’d force her into doing something she didn’t want. He just knew walking away wasn’t an option.
SHEA HAD BROUGHT A ROLL of toilet paper and a glass of water to the table. It took Annie a minute to remember she hadn’t bought tissues in a while, and that made her smile, even though she was still blubbering away.
She wiped her face, though, and looked at her uncomfortable friend. “Sorry,” she said, sniffling grossly. “It’s been a tough day.”
“I can only imagine,” Shea said. “Do you need anything?”
Annie shook her head. Blew her nose. Then sniffed again. “You were right.”
“About what?”
“I’m in love with him.”
“Oh.”
“You can’t tell him,” Annie said. “I can’t let my feelings for him change anything.”
Shea blinked at her and frowned. “It’s already changed everything.”
“No. It hasn’t. He’s just being nice. Don’t you see, he’s only in this because of his brother. And his mother. I can’t make him choose me over them. That would be horrible. I’d never forgive myself.”
“Annie—”
“I’m serious, Shea.” She pulled off another bunch of paper. “It’s bad enough that I’ve disappointed my family. Hurt my friends and ruined my own reputation. You think I want to take him down with me? I should just leave. Go find somewhere else I can hole up. Only this time, I won’t make so many mistakes.”
“Like having a friend who puts your picture up on the internet?”
Annie stared. “How did you know?”
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot. He was very clever. If he’d approached us any earlier, it would have been obvious, but he waited a while. Remember?”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I know. But it’s not your fault, either.”
Annie shook her head, frustration making her clench her fists. “People keep saying that when it’s not true. I can’t sit in this cell a minute longer. Walk with me?”
“Sure.” Shea got up, headed for the door, then backtracked until she could grab the toilet paper. “I’ll bet Jesse is almost done. Do you want to avoid him?”
“No, of course not. Thank you, by the way, for keeping my secret. It must have been difficult.”
“Not so much,” Shea said, closing the door behind them. “I can’t tell him anything about my classified contract work, either. but he understands.”
“Of course he does.”
“Just like Tucker understands your situation.”
“You may be right, but that doesn’t mean I should take advantage of him.”
The walk got quiet except for the sound of their boots on gravel. the crunch sounded like home to Annie. How strange. Even when she’d worked at the stables in Central Park, there hadn’t been gravel underfoot like this. Home used to sound like the click of high heels on a sidewalk. Of taxis and diesel engines, and the buzz of Manhattan.
“For the first six months I was away, I dreamed about New York every night.”
“The city itself?”
“Mostly streets that I knew well. Restaurants. My apartment. Things happened in the dreams—mostly I was captured or chased or thrown into oncoming traffic, but the backdrop didn’t feel like part of the nightmares. I missed the rhythm of the city, as if I’d had to leave my own heartbeat behind. Now, I can’t imagine myself anywhere but here.”
“You’d do okay in Texas.”
“I’m not going to end up in Texas,” Annie said, as fast as the words would tumble out of her mouth.
Shea shrugged as they neared the barn. “How do you know that?”
“Don’t. I can’t go there. I can’t pretend that everything’s going to be all right. It’ll kill me if I do. I ran from a subpoena.”
“You were never served.”
“That’s just a technicality.”
“Yeah,” Shea agreed, “but it’s an important one. Why do you think all those process servers have to be so tricky? Ducking a subpoena is a cliché because it’s true. You weren’t served. You didn’t break the law.”
“I don’t think the district attorney’s office is going to write my disappearance off so neatly.”
“Maybe not. But I doubt you’ll be going to jail.”
“I owe restitution,” Annie said quietly. It was the one thing she tried not to think about. She’d had nothing for so long, it had been easy to ignore the pull to make things right financially. She’d certainly never raise the money by working for a nonprofit.
“That’s ridiculous.” Shea had never used that clipped tone before.
It stopped her. “Why?”
“You need to let go of your guilt, Annie. It’s going to ruin you, and you don’t deserve that.”
No response would adequately convey how wrong Shea was. So Annie didn’t try. They walked again, and she breathed in the smell of the place she’d carved for herself. She had trouble thinking of herself as anything but Annie Sheridan. Leanna Warner was somewhere else, gone. Buried in shame. Annie couldn’t help thinking it would be better for everyone if she simply rested in peace.
TUCKER SAT ACROSS from Annie, staring into her troubled gaze. Shea and Jesse had gone home. The cabin was quiet…and after the longest day Tucker could remember, all he wanted was to take Annie to bed.
“Me going to Dallas doesn’t make sense. I told you, if we don’t have more to go on, I’m calling the D.A.” She lifted her chin. The woman could be stubborn. “It’s not a debate.”
“We can work together much easier if you’re with me,” he said.
“Together? What am I supposed to add to this collective? If I had some information that would help, I’d have done something with it.
