he still hated it here. Did that include her?
An ache developed in the vicinity of her heart and she absently rubbed at the pain. What was wrong with her? Why was she doing this to herself?
She’d always believed they were meant to be together. But that was ridiculous. Just because he’d been her first love did not mean he was somehow destined to be the only love of her life.
She was only twenty-eight. There would be other men.
But as she thought that, her stomach clenched. No other man could ever take his place in her life. That was as sure as tomorrow’s rising sun.
Still, she shouldn’t be sticking her chin out like this, just begging him to knock her down and leave her flat when he left town. Helping him, being with him, meant her job was probably on the line—and she liked this job. A lot. But if her stepfather ever decided she should leave town, she would have to go. No question, if Sheriff McCord wanted someone gone, they would be gone before the next daybreak.
Well, tomorrow she would give Colt her thoughts on who he should seek out to question, and then she would just become too busy to go along. After a few days of not seeing him again, and not assisting his investigation, he would forget about her. And she would forget how badly she’d wanted him.
Oh, God. The mere thought of that hurt a lot worse than she’d expected.
“Hey,” Colt said as he interrupted her thoughts. “Something’s not right.”
“What?” She looked around and discovered they were almost to the turnoff for the Bar-C. Everything around them seemed as dark and quiet as usual on the open range.
“Take a look out the back window and see if you think we’re being followed.” He picked up his speed. “Whoever it is has their headlights turned off. But I keep getting flashes of metal in the moonlight.”
She swiveled to check and stared out at the lonely highway behind them. The sliver of moon hung precariously in the night sky above them like a big question mark. But it sent just enough light to make out a shape in the road.
“Yes, I think I see someone. What do you think they’re doing on the highway without lights?”
“Following us?” His voice was dark and rough. “This isn’t good. If we make it to my place, I don’t think it’d be smart for you to travel back to town by yourself. You’ll have to stay over.”
“I have a weapon in my car, Colt. I can take care of myself.”
“Still,” he argued. “We need to find out what’s going on before I’ll feel safe. Stay.” The tone of his voice got to her.
At that moment she knew things had gone too far. She couldn’t stop helping him. Or doing anything else he asked.
No matter what it cost her in the end.
Chapter 5
By the time they reached his mobile home, Colt was reasonably sure they hadn’t been followed across Bar-C land. But he still wanted Lacie to stay over. He would gladly take any extra hours with her that he could get.
“It’s late,” he began as they climbed out of the truck. “Will you stay?”
She turned to him, and he would swear the answer he wanted to hear was in her eyes. “There’s no danger,” she said instead. “And it’s not really that late. I don’t think it’s such a good idea for me to stay.”
“Stay anyway.”
She took him by the hand and the electrical impulses between them ran up his arm. “Please, Colt. We hardly know each other anymore. And I’m pretty sure you are not the same young man who danced with me under the moonlight when we were kids.”
He’d forgotten. And at one time, he couldn’t imagine ever forgetting that crazy night and their dance. No music. No dance floor. Just him humming some Western song, slow and easy, and holding on to her under the stars like she might disappear if he let go.
But that was just the thing. He’d had to let her go.
Pulling her close now, he murmured into her hair. “We haven’t changed so much. I still remember. Dance with me again, Lace.”
Actually, he couldn’t remember which song he’d been humming back then. He thought of the slow one they’d just heard on the radio and began singing it under his breath. She slumped against him, and he wasn’t sure what that meant. But when he slipped his arm around her waist, she let him narrow the distance between them to less than a whisper of air.
Laying her head against his shoulder when he began to sway, she followed right along as he took the first step. She smelled so good he forgot all about his game leg. He hadn’t thought of gardenias once in the whole time they’d been apart. Now that scent surrounded him and took him back.
Back to their youth and the promise of a forever love. She’d been his best friend since the day his mother died. The one person he could confide in and count on. By the time they’d had their dance a few years later, he was sure the two of them would be together for the rest of their lives. He’d confessed as much to her that very night.
How young he was then. How terribly young and stupid. He should’ve known better. People didn’t stay together forever. Something always happened to come between them.
His eyes clouded over and he felt a drop of regret as it dripped down his cheek. Holding her again this way, kissing her again, might be too hard. He wasn’t sure he was up to it.
Rearing back, he glanced down at her beautiful face in the moonlight but refused to let her go. She opened her eyes and looked up at him and he found himself gazing in amazement at tearstained cheeks. She was crying? Over a memory? Or over him?
“Lacie...” He was too choked up to say another word.
Instead he lowered his mouth and placed a gentle kiss against the satin of her lips. Salty kisses. Another memory to add to the rest. Whether he had the nerve or not for anything more, kissing her now was an imperative.
But a moment later, he got lost in the feelings and deepened the kiss. When he nudged her lips open with his tongue, she seemed eager to go along. Heat began rocketing between them, a drop of sweat appeared at his temple and his skin hummed with the blood bubbling in his veins.
When he slid his mouth along the edge of her jaw and headed for the sweet spot on her neck, she moaned and trembled in his arms. He struggled not to rush ahead, fought with the sudden and overpowering erotic urges. She’d said it was too soon.
Too soon. Too soon?
Dragging himself into the present and concentrating hard on the woman in his arms, he leaned back again and studied her face.
This time when she opened her eyes, she had a glazed, unfocused expression. But her eyes cleared and the swirling questions he saw in them pushed aside the desperate hunger that had been there only moments before.
“Um...” She cleared her throat. “Yeah, that makes it definite. I have to go home.”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t feel the same thing I
