You saved my life.”
“You’re welcome, Mrs. Lovelace. But all I did was change your tire.” Zane stepped back from the SUV and tipped his hat to the petite brunette. From the backseat the excited barks of two miniature poodles erupted.
“Oh, you saved me all right. If you hadn’t come along when you did, me and my babies wouldn’t have been able to make it to San Antonio in time for registration.”
“Drive safe. You’ve got plenty of time.” Zane waved as Mrs. Lovelace and her barking menagerie headed off in pursuit of dog-show glory. He was grinning as he got into his truck and drove back toward town. So far during his first couple of days at work, he hadn’t done much of anything. This roadside rescue was his first actual official act. Brady had assured him that the job had its days when everything happened at once. He was supposed to expect the unexpected at any given moment.
Mrs. Lovelace had been distraught when he’d found her broken down on the side of the road. With no phone service for her to call for help and absolutely no idea how to change a flat, she had been more than happy to see him drive up. Three months ago, he’d been escorting a federal criminal into court, and today he was sending poodles to dog shows.
It was a little hard to get used to, and as he drove into town, Zane wondered if he was going to be able to make this adjustment.
He was surprised but pleased to find Rose standing outside the sheriff’s office when he drove up. Just as it had the first time he’d seen her all those years ago, every protective instinct he had went into high gear when it came to this woman. The first time he’d met her she’d been a scared young woman who’d witnessed a murder. There had been no hysterics or melodrama. She’d quietly come forward and told her story, though she’d been visibly shaken. He’d greatly admired her for stepping up when it would have been easier…safer to pretend she hadn’t seen anything.
“Why are you here?” she demanded.
The anger in her voice jolted him. Even though it was well-deserved and expected. He stepped to the pavement, closing his door behind him as he grappled with the right words. She kept on talking.
“You can’t tell me that you showing up here was an accident. Mule Hollow is just too small. Too out of the way. And after all these years, why?”
There was a fierceness in her eyes that he’d not seen before. He’d known he wouldn’t be welcome. “I had to come try to make things right between us.”
She gave him a look of disgust. He’d told himself he was prepared for this reaction, but he wasn’t. Beautiful, sweet Rose looking this hostile broke his heart. How could he have expected her to understand what he’d done? Why he’d done it? He’d never given her any explanation of why he’d left. Up until this moment he hadn’t realized that deep down he’d hoped his leaving hadn’t affected her. Knowing he’d embittered her like this was hard to take.
“Make things right?” she scoffed at last. “Why now, Zane? That was the past and you of all people should know that I don’t live in the past. After all, you were the one who taught me the art of living a lie.”
“That was my job. It was to keep you safe and you know it. Taking on a new identity was the only way. You had to, or you might have been killed before you testified against that thug, Lawton.” He knew this wasn’t really what she was asking yet he needed to get his head back on straight. It was not keeping her safe that he needed forgiveness for. His oath required him to protect those under his care, but with Rose it had gone so much deeper. From day one of meeting her he’d been doomed.
When he’d been assigned to Rose’s case, it had been his job to explain her options. He’d explained that she needed to enter the program or risk being killed before she could testify. Rose had touched his heart with the way she’d handled herself. Naively, without understanding what it would cost her, she agreed to do what was needed to see justice served. She hadn’t realized her ailing grandmother would refuse to go into the program with her. It had been a devastating blow to Rose. He’d had to stand at the door and watch as her grandmother sent her away. She’d believed, and rightly so, that her illness might somehow make it easier for Rose to be tracked down. It had killed Rose to say goodbye, but it was her grandmother’s wish that Rose be safe. And against his better judgment, for the first time in his life his job became personal.
It went beyond his oath, beyond the promise to her grandmother that he would keep her safe at all cost…he’d fallen in love with Rose, with her principles, with her loyalty. And she’d almost lost her life because of it.
“I did what had to be done to keep you safe,” he said. And it was true, even down to leaving her. It was putting her at risk and not telling her goodbye that he needed to make right.
Rose stared at Zane. Hearing him say he’d done what he’d thought was best to keep her safe cut to the quick. After all these years, how could it still hurt so much?
“We need to get some things straight,” she said, hearing the bitterness in her voice. “Have you told anyone that we know each other?” If no one knew, then maybe she had a little more time to figure things out. But she had to know if he knew about Max and had come looking for him.
“No,” he said, unlocking the door. “Let’s go inside.”
Rose didn’t want to be alone in a room with him. But what she needed to say shouldn’t be discussed on the street, so she nodded.
She refused to let him see her unravel. But looking into his amber eyes so dusted with flecks of gold that they stood out in a crowd made it near impossible. She felt certain everyone in Mule Hollow was going to see that Zane Cantrell had given his son his distinctive eyes.
And if that weren’t enough, he’d passed his devastating smile to Max as well.
Rose felt sick and her legs barely held her up long enough to walk past Zane to the chair in front of his desk. “I’ve started a new life here, Zane,” she managed while she sank into the chair. “This one is real. I don’t want to be reminded of my past. Of the lies. My son doesn’t know I was once in the witness protection program and I had hoped to keep it that way. I wanted him to be…one identity. His real identity.” Only he doesn’t know his real identity.
Rose inhaled sharply. Her blood pounded in her temples. Until Zane had come into the picture she’d been able to pretend that Max didn’t need to know the truth.
Zane sat on the edge of the desk and looked down at her. Despite everything between them, her insides knotted with the pull of emotions. Oh, how she’d loved this man before he’d abandoned her.
Abruptly, he moved from the desk to the window and stood gazing out, with his back to her.
Did he know?
She wasn’t sure how well the U.S. Marshal’s office kept up with witnesses after they were deemed safe to return to the world as they’d known it. And she wasn’t certain how much information a Ranger assigned to the case would have access to. How much of her life since the last time they’d seen each other did Zane know?
His wide shoulders remained rigid as moments ticked by and he stared out the window. When he turned back to her, his expression gave nothing away. Striding past her, he took his seat behind the desk. “I’m not sure I understand why you’d keep your past hidden,” he said finally. “What you did was a brave thing. It’s something to be proud of. Since there is no threat any longer,
