Page 5 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
“Deputy,” she said in an emotionless voice.
It stopped him cold. She’d never been unemotional before. The fire and wildness in her had been what drew him in all those years ago.
Now she seemed different. No makeup. Simple clothes—cutoffs that showed off her endless legs and a worn T-shirt instead of the fitted, flirty outfits that used to tie his self-control in knots. Seven years apart had honed her beauty, but where there had always been a smile, there was coolness now. The girl he’d known was gone. In her place stood a woman who carried herself with a stillness that was somehow more dangerous than all that wild energy had ever been.
His gaze tracked the familiar things. The thick caramel curls she’d hated because she couldn’t tame them, the deep green eyes set in her heart-shaped face. Those eyes that had once shown her every thought were now guarded.
The sight of her hit Dan like a punch to his gut.
“Well?” she said, hands on her hips. “Why are you here on private property, Deputy? What do you want?”
“We had a report someone was seen outside your house. Since no one’s lived here for years, I was checking. Did you get back today?”
He spoke like the last seven years hadn’t happened, like there wasn’t a gulf of pain and history between them.
“Not sure what business that is of yours, but as I own the place and have every right to be here, you can leave now,” she said in that same flat tone.
“Did you come back because of the letter, Leah?”
“It’s none of your business why I came back, Deputy Duke. So get off my property.”
His eyes held hers for long seconds. “You keep up that attitude, and you’re going to settle right back in.”
She shifted her weight onto one leg and folded her arms in the general pose of pissed-off-ness, a word his niece used often. He expected her to yell, hurl an insult. Instead, she just said, “Goodbye, Deputy.”
“You turned on your utilities?” he asked. “Need me to do it?”
“I can look after myself.”
“I know you can. I was just asking,” he gritted out. She could always get a rise out of him. That hadn’t changed.
“Go away, Deputy. We need nothing from you.”
“We?” he asked, but she only pressed her lips together. Footsteps sounded inside the house. “Who’s in there?” The question slipped out before he could stop it.
“That would be none of your damned business,” Leah snapped.
She was right, it wasn’t, but he still wanted to know. Instead, he nodded and turned back to his truck. Before climbing in, he gave her one last look. “Welcome home, Leah.”
She didn’t answer, and he hadn’t expected her to.
As he drove back down the driveway, he checked the mirror. She’d moved to stand in the center of it, watching him leave.
Life, Dan thought, was about to get a whole lot more complicated.
Chapter 3
Dan walked down the main street of his hometown hours later. Darkness had settled in, and he needed to pick up what his mom had asked for and head home. The day had been busy, and he was grateful for that. He hadn’t heard the name Leah Reynolds once, which told him no one knew she was back in town. Dan wouldn’t be telling anyone but family yet.
Tomorrow morning, he was attending a course on de-escalation and conflict resolution that his uncle, who was the sheriff in Lyntacky, couldn’t be bothered attending himself. Apparently, he knew everything, and his nephew didn’t.
Dan was looking forward to a few days away, especially now that Leah was back. Seeing her had rocked him.
“Deputy Dan.”
“Hey, Nancy, what’s up?” he said to the owner of the waffle place.
“Someone broke into the storeroom out back and stole food,” she said. “Now, if folks are hungry, I have no problem giving them some, but I don’t like people thieving.”
