Page 2 of Silverstorm

It’d been eight long years since she’d last seen him, but now she was glad that one thing in this town hadn’t changed. Those hazel eyes and full lips were just as delicious as they’d always been. Just as magnetic. But, oh my, he’d grown nicely from the gangly youth she’d once known. Now his shoulders were so broad, he filled out that brown uniform in all the right places. And biceps. Holy cow, did he have killer biceps beneath the fabric of his shirt. She shut her mouth with a click, hoping he hadn’t noticed her staring. And drooling, just a little. He’d been gorgeous back then. But now he’d grown up to become devastating.

Jude didn’t seem to have noticed her reaction, or even recognized her, thank God. “Can I see your driver’s license please, ma’am,” he asked, removing his hat and placing it on the roof of her car. His brown hair was curly and luxurious, cut short on the sides, but left a little longer on top.

She fumbled in her purse, trying to rid herself of the image of running her fingers through that hair. Handing it over, she discerned the exact moment he saw her name on the license, because he looked up to meet a gaze.

“Aria Cusack? Is that you? I remember you from school. You’re Iliana’s sister.” So he had known she’d existed. Her heart beat a little faster with the knowledge.

“Ah… Yeah, that’s me,” she replied softly, not quite meeting his eyes. Her elation died a quick death, however, because she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing he remembered her. She was skating on thin ice when it came to the law. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself.

“You back in town, then?” He handed her driver’s license back and leaned in a little farther, a wide smile creasing his face. His eyes met hers, and she watched as they widened, his gaze sweeping over her body and face. What did he see? Was he cataloguing her changes, too? Longer hair, maybe a few extra pounds. But it was on the inside where most of the changes had taken place, where he would never see them.

“Yeah, for a little while,” she hedged, not returning his smile. Which was harder than she thought, because, goddamnit, Jude Wilder was smiling at her. It seemed as if he expected more details, but she didn’t know what to tell him, so she blurted, “I’ve come back to spend some time with Iliana. And maybe catch up with my dad.” Lies and half-truths, all of them, but he wouldn’t know that.

“Okay.” He considered her for a second. “She married Craig Doncaster. He took over the old Skyridge Ranch. Nice guy. I was at their wedding a couple of years ago. I don’t remember seeing you there.” He tilted his head to the side, a bit like a curious puppy, the motion so endearing, she wanted to capture his face in a photo just so she could look at it later on.

“Ah… No, you’re right. I couldn’t make it to the wedding. I had a…a really important exam, and they wouldn’t let me re-sit it later,” she finished lamely. “That’s why I’m back to visit her now.”

“Hmm.” He didn’t sound like he believed her. “Are you staying with your sister, then?” he asked. But Aria didn’t miss the deputy’s astute glance at the piles of stuff crammed in the back of her car. Her two bags stuffed full of clothes, shoes thrown haphazardly on the floor, a picnic basket and some pots and pans she’d stolen from Beau’s place before she left, and a pillow and a comforter. All the things she needed to start a new life, but with nowhere to stay, she had nowhere to store all her belongings.

She could see the cogs in his head turning. If she was staying with her sister, why was all this stuff still jammed in her car? She saw the exact second when he worked it out, in the hard line of his mouth as his eyes came back to hers. He knew she was sleeping in her car.

It shouldn’t be surprising to her how close to landing back in the shit she was. She’d been balancing on a knife-edge for the past few years, just making ends meet, juggling a low-paying job and a university degree, living with her boyfriend in a run-down place where the rent was low, but still took most of her money. All it’d taken was one little wrong step, one little problem to bring her house of cards crashing down around her. And now she was forced to sleep in her car and steal candy bars to survive.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I’m on my way to an interview, and I don’t want to be late.”

“What? Oh, sorry. Right.” Jude seemed to recover his professional veneer. “Well, I won’t issue you with a fine this time. But you need to get those tires replaced and that taillight mended as soon as you get back to town. Okay?”

“Yes. Yes, of course I will,” she promised. More lies. She couldn’t even afford to put a roof over her head, let alone buy new tires. At least he’d saved her from having to pay the fine, but now she was going to have to be extra careful and try to avoid him at all costs, so he didn’t find out the depth of her deceit.

“Where’s your interview?” he asked, retrieving his hat from the roof of the car.

“At Stargazer Ranch,” she replied, hoping he would just get in his car and drive away.

But he didn’t. Instead, he pursed his lips. “That’s a great place to work. Nice people. I’m actually heading up there myself to see the owner, Dean.”

Aria’s heart sank. Crap.

“I’ll follow you, if you like. Make sure you get there in one piece. Do you know the way?”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she argued. “I’ll be fine. And yes, I know the way.” How could she convince him to just go about his business and leave her alone? But one look at the determined furrow between his brows and she knew he wasn’t taking no for an answer. And she shouldn’t be arguing with a deputy anyway. She should just keep her mouth shut. Fine, she’d let him follow her up there, even though she’d be sweating bullets all the way, wondering if he was going to find something else wrong with her car, or decide to confront her on her lies about her living arrangements. “Whatever. No problems,” she conceded with barely concealed frustration.

“You get going. I won’t be far behind you,” he said pleasantly enough and turned to walk back to his car. Even though she was cross with him and at herself for landing in this situation, she couldn’t help but watch his nicely toned butt and long legs striding away from her in the side mirror. Was he sporting a slight limp? She watched him walk, and there was definitely a hitch in his stride. But it only made him more appealing; the fact he wasn’t one hundred percent perfect. Why did the man have to be so good-looking and so annoying all at the same time? And why had the only man from this two-bit town to have left an indelible imprint on her soul, shown up in her life the minute she returned?

CHAPTER TWO

JUDE FOLLOWED THE gray Subaru at a safe distance. But his mind was only half on the road as he turned over his short conversation with the woman in the car in front.

Aria Cusack. That name was a blast from the past. He hadn’t recognized her at first, even though the familiar shape of her face and the long, dark hair had tickled something at the back of his memory. It wasn’t until he’d read the name on the driver’s license he’d connected the dots.

Aria had left town the day she’d turned eighteen, and he didn’t really blame her. Her father was an overbearing prick who’d kept her and her sister isolated from the rest of the community. And then there was the thing that’d happened with their mother. Now the father lived practically as a hermit, with only his conspiracy theories and rantings about some sort of secret cult to keep him company. Jude remembered Aria as a quiet, shy girl, and when she’d left, no one really noticed she was gone, apart from perhaps her sister. But he also remembered that slightly ethereal quality Aria had about her. A willowy, fragile beauty that he’d noticed from afar. But she’d been two years younger than him, and outside the scope of his group of friends. He’d had his soccer mates, and his rowdy clique of sporty friends, followed around by the pretty girls always trying to get a date. The popular group, if you liked, although he hated the connotations of that word.

Aria still had that ethereal beauty. Long, dark hair that fell around her shoulders, and dark-brown eyes—so dark they were almost black—fringed with the longest lashes he’d ever seen that’d studied him warily. And that quick smile she’d flashed, wide mouth and full lips showing off a row of perfectly white teeth, had him catching his breath. But it wasn’t the fine beauty of her face that he remembered now, but the cute way she wrinkled up her nose when she smiled. It made her both endearing and irresistible.

Her car had been crammed full of belongings, easy to assume that perhaps she hadn’t unpacked when she’d got to her sisters. But he’d seen it before and he knew it for what it was. Aria was sleeping in her car. For whatever reason, she’d lied to him about staying with Iliana. Jude considered paying a visit out to the Doncaster Ranch. He and Craig had become acquaintances over the past few years after Craig moved to town and bought up the run-down ranch a few miles out past Stargazer. Craig had joined the same karate dojo as Jude, and they’d struck up a friendship of sorts. Plus, Jude had been in the same year as Iliana at high school, which was perhaps why he’d been invited to the wedding. But then, he decided it was probably none of his business. Not yet, at least. It wasn’t against the law to sleep in your car. But he wondered at her circumstances to be reduced to sleeping rough.

The Subaru slowed in front as they crested a hill and the large stone wall marking the entrance to Stargazer Ranch appeared over the rise. Following her car onto the gravel road, Jude opened his window and drew in a deep breath of clean mountain air. He loved this place, and could see why resort customers came back year after year. Individual log cabins slipped past on either side of the road as they wound their way into the foothills. Dean had built twenty luxury cabins on the property, all completely secluded by the tall pine trees, just the way the guests liked it, and had recently added three more cabins for the staff. People came all year round to partake in the many activities the resort offered, like horseback riding or hiking in the summer, or skiing and dogsledding in the winter.

He drove his cruiser through a tunnel of overhanging branches and emerged into a huge, open area of rolling hills and fields. And there, nestled into a shallow valley, sat the main lodge. When Dean and Naomi had bought it seventeen years before, it had good bones, with soaring ceilings and lots of large windows to take in the views; it just needed some remodeling, and a whole lot of TLC. Now, it could almost be called a log mansion as it rambled across the hillside over three levels. There was a communal area, a huge, five-star restaurant and a vaulted foyer ceiling that opened up to large windows at the top to show off the big, never-ending sky, and ten luxury rooms for people who wanted the lodge experience but didn’t need a whole cabin to themselves. The big kitchen out back was where the gourmet meals were created and was also where the staff often came together for communal meals. Jude joined them on the odd occasion when he wasn’t working in a professional capacity. Dean and Naomi had private quarters nestled on the top level of the building.

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