years and no man had done this to her. Five minutes with Jack Riley and she was practically a puddle of goo at his feet. Still, she hung on to her composure as if it was the last handhold between her and a five-hundred-foot drop.
She folded her arms over her breasts, just in case her white T-shirt and bra didn’t hide the way her nipples stood at attention and saluted the fact that Jack Riley was back.
“So what have you been up to all these years?” she asked, putting just the right amount of chatty interest in her tone.
His face darkened, then went blank. It was as if he’d stepped beyond the light and back into the shadows. If he hadn’t just nearly cracked a smile, she probably wouldn’t have noticed the withdrawal. But he did and she had.
He looked at her card, still in his hand. “This and that,” he said.
Well, wasn’t he just a regular gusher of information, she thought. “When did you get into town?”
“Today.”
“What brought you back?”
“Personal business.”
“Oh?”
“And a news pa per story.”
She didn’t remember ever having to yank in formation from him like an impacted wisdom tooth. But then, when they’d managed to steal time together, talking hadn’t been tops on the To Do list.
The memories churned up by that thought brought heat flaring into her cheeks. Sneaking around to meet him. The feel of his strong arms tightly wrapped around her. Kissing as if she couldn’t get enough. It had been exciting, thrilling.
She lifted her chin slightly, to study him better. She hadn’t known him very well when he’d left, and she certainly didn’t know him now. If twenty questions was the way he wanted to play, she was just the gal for it. Because she had more than twenty questions she wanted to ask him.
“What story was that?” she asked.
“An article in a syndicated newspaper advertising the dates of the high school rodeo championships along with info about the new dude ranch Taylor Stevens is opening. There was a picture, too, of Mitch Rafferty and Dev Hart with Taylor.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Hmm?”
“That was a whole bunch of words strung together. Two whole sentences if I’m not mistaken. Compound sentences. Be still my heart.”
He tucked her business card into his shirt pocket. “Military training.”
“What about it?”
“Takes all the fun out of—” He stopped, his gaze dropping as if he’d revealed too much. Then all he added was, “Communication.”
“I guess I’d never make it in the military. Too communicative.”
“Magpie,” he said.
That one word wasn’t enough to tell her if he was being thoughtful, wistful or just plain sad. His expression was wiped clean of emotion. What was he thinking? Feeling? Anything? The Jack she’d known had been easy to read—once she’d gotten past his rebellious, bad-boy facade to find the gentle, caring teddy bear underneath. That guy had worn his heart on his sleeve, as much as any teenager could. She’d been able to read him easily. But they hadn’t connected until the last couple of weeks in his senior year, after he’d already signed his recruitment contract.
If he hadn’t gone into the army, what would have happened? she wondered. Would they be together now? Or would some tart have stolen his heart? Her stirring memories of his not-very-well-concealed emotions swung the flood gates of her curiosity all the way open.
“So, tell me what you’ve been up to,” she repeated casually.
“I travel a lot. I’m never in one place very long.”
“Why?”
For the second time he ignored a direct question. But this time he grinned, his first genuine no-holds-barred smile. The effect was enough to knock Maggie on her backside and she couldn’t make herself care that he hadn’t answered her. If there’d been a spot light on his mouth at that precise moment, the resulting brillisant glare off his straight, white teeth would have folks blinking their eyes and reaching for their sunglasses. God help her, she was reaching for her heart and hanging on to it with both hands.
“What?” she asked as he continued to look at her.
“Just the same straight-talking Maggie.”
Not quite the same, she thought.
“So you’re never in one place for long? The military?” she guessed, and his nod con firmed it. “Do you miss your dad?”
“Not much. Not anymore.”
His father had passed away five years ago. A heart attack. She’d heard Jack had come back to help his grand mother handle the details. But Maggie had been out of town, on vacation with her folks in Florida. She hadn’t seen him and had been relieved and sorry in equal parts. She’d chalked it up to destiny.
Suddenly a thought struck her about the “personal business” he’d returned for this time. And she realized that, for a while, a part of her had always expected him to show up. When he hadn’t, she’d let it go. Which was why seeing him tonight had come as such a shock.
“I’m sorry about your grand mother. We missed you at the funeral. More than half the town came. I’m sorry you couldn’t make it.”
Another shadow crossed his face. “Me, too.”
“Why weren’t you there?”
“I was…working.”
The slight hesitation and pain in his voice told her a lot. “Dottie said she didn’t hear from you much. That personal messages don’t get through when you’re involved in a project.”
“Yeah.”
“But she died six months ago. That’s a pretty long time. What kept you?”
He lifted one shoulder. “I missed the funeral. After that, it didn’t matter when I got back.”
“Some job. Dottie also said that it sucked you in like a black hole.”
“Gran had a way with words,” he said sadly.
“She loved you, too. And was very proud of the fact that you serve your country. I was very fond of her.”
Five years ago she’d opened her shop and moved out of her parents’ home into an apartment. Three and a half years later she’d found her very own affordable house right next door to Jack’s grandmother’s. For a year and a half Dottie Riley’s home-baked cookies, pies and zucchini bread—not to mention friend ship and wisdom—had been very precious to Maggie.
The older woman had always gone to great lengths to make sure Maggie had known that Jack wasn’t
