there.
She slowly relaxed, her shoulders slumping, even if the emotion coursing through her couldn’t quite be described as relief. Instead, her wariness was back, tugging insistently deep within her.
She stared at the truck’s faint outline, almost tempted to go out there and confront him. Embarrassment held her in place. She’d already made a fool of herself once tonight by asking a question he’d had a reasonable enough answer for. She didn’t really feel like risking having the same thing happen again.
Whatever the answer was, it could wait until morning. She could find out then.
And she would, she thought resolutely, turning away from the window to scan the darkness of the house. She’d dealt with enough nonsense when it came to this house.
Whether it came from the man outside or any number of vandals, she wasn’t going to put up with any more.
SAM watched the woman make her way back to the house. Every few steps she’d stop and he sensed her glancing back at him, but he couldn’t see her face any more than he suspected she could see his. A minute later, she finally reached the house and slipped inside.
For what seemed like the first time since she’d come tearing out of the building, yelling and brandishing a bat, he took a breath.
It hadn’t exactly been how he’d wanted his first meeting with his intended boss to go. He’d have to work hard to make a better impression in the morning. He needed this job. It was too perfect for his purposes. In a town this small, there was little reason for a stranger to show up for no reason and stick around.
And he wasn’t going anywhere.
Pulling open the door of the truck, he climbed back into the driver’s seat. He probably should have stayed there in the first place rather than getting out and standing in the open. No wonder he’d caught her attention. Naturally, she’d be suspicious of a stranger standing in the dark in the middle of the night staring at her house.
But after the long drive, he’d needed to stretch his legs. Not to mention, he’d wanted to try to get a better look at the house. It was so dark he hadn’t been able to see much from the truck. He’d thought he might have a better chance of seeing the house from outside.
To see if it matched what he saw in his nightmares.
Even as he thought it, the image rose in his mind, not the building shadowed in darkness, but the one he remembered. A shudder rolled through him, causing his limbs to jerk, the motion completely involuntary.
A ragged breath worked its way from his lungs. He’d never thought he’d be here again, never wanted to return to this town, let alone this house. But here he was.
And this was only the beginning.
Tomorrow he’d have to gain the woman’s trust, get her to hire him. Then he’d have to walk into that house.
The thought of it damn near sent another jolt through him. He somehow managed to keep his reaction in check.
In the next few days he was going to have to do more than walk into that house. He was going to have to face every aspect of the past head-on. No matter how much the idea terrified him. No matter how much pain it threatened to cause. No matter how many people in this little town wanted to forget the past, just as much as he did.
Until he finally had the truth.
No matter what it cost him.
Chapter Two
After a nearly sleepless night spent waiting for trouble that never arrived, Maggie really would have liked to see a friendly face first thing in the morning.
The man climbing out of the car he’d parked behind her truck most certainly did not qualify.
Gritting her teeth, Maggie fought the urge to turn around, walk back up the steps she’d just come down and go back inside. She knew better than to think Dalton Sterling would be so easily put off. In his early seventies, the builder had the demeanor of someone who’d spent his life getting his own way, and he’d been a pain from virtually the first moment she arrived in town. Even if she were the kind of woman to run and hide, she figured he’d just follow. He wasn’t going to give up until he got what he wanted.
Too bad there wasn’t a chance in hell she was going to give it to him.
Spotting her, he raised a hand, a phony smile stretching across his face. “Morning, Maggie. I was surprised to hear you’d checked out of the motel.”
Folding her arms over her chest, she raised a brow. “Checking up on me, Dalton?”
He walked up to her. “It’s a small town. People look out for each other around here.”
“Are you really looking out for me, or for your own interests?”
“As far as I’m concerned, they’re one and the same,” he said smoothly. “I was hoping you’d given some thought to my offer.”
“And I was hoping you’d taken me at my word when I told you I’m not selling and never will. It looks like we both have reason to be disappointed.”
“The way I figure it, eventually you’re going to realize you’re wasting your time. No matter how many coats of paint you slap on the place, nobody’s going to want to live here.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I plan to do a lot more than paint the place.”
“All by yourself? It’s an awful big job for one woman. I hear you’ve had some trouble finding anyone to help you work on the place.”
Maggie pinned him with a glare. “Did you hear about my trouble, or did you cause it?”
He made a baleful face. “Now that’s not a very nice thing to say.”
“And keeping people from working for me isn’t a very nice thing to do.”
Dalton held up his hands in a helpless gesture. “You can’t lay that at my door, Maggie. The house did that all by itself.”
She barked out a laugh. “I know this town has a weird thing about this house, but it’s not a living thing.”
“It doesn’t need to be. You might have spent summers here with your grandparents, but everyone else lived here, and they all know about this house. Nobody wants anything to do with it. It would be best for everybody if you figured that out now.”
“My grandfather didn’t keep the house all these years just to have it torn down as soon as he was gone. He believed it was worth saving and someday people would live here again.”
“You’ll have to excuse me for saying so, but your granddad was a fool.”
“Now why would I excuse you for saying that?”
His smile couldn’t have been more patronizing. “It would be the neighborly thing to do.”
“I’m not sure that matters, considering you’re not interested in being my neighbor.”
“Now,
