Page 172 of Sins of the Heart
Her heart jerked to a stop, then slammed into
redline, beating so hard she swore she could feel it
hammering against her ribs.
“I came here—” He broke off and looked away, his
jaw tight. She waited, her breath coming too fast,
suffused by a strange anxiety as she waited for what he
might say next. Finally, he returned his gaze to her face.
“I came because I needed to know the pendant wasn’t
yours.”
Not hers. Her mother’s.
176
SINS OF THE HEART
His words, his tone, reached inside her and twisted
her like a screw. Because the way he said it told her in
no uncertain terms that the owner of that necklacewas
dead. No maybes about it.
Which meant her mother was dead.
The pain was sharp as the scab ripped off the old
wound.
Then his choice of wording seeped through her grief.
I came because I needed to know the pendant wasn’t
yours.
Slowly, she shook her head from side to side. “It’s
not mine.”
She wet her lips and locked the door on her grief.
She’d take it out later. Right now, she couldn’t think about
it.
His exhalation was long and slow. Measured. Like
he was forcing himself to be calm when he wasn’t.
“Why did you need to know that it wasn’t mine?”
