Page 33 of Night of Mercy

“Tell me about the letters, Bliss.”

The unexpected question jolted her from her thoughts. She considered playing dumb, but what was the fun in that? She was thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to further baffle the man. She’d been doing so most of her life. Why stop now?

She fired off a question of her own. “Who told you about the letters?”

“One of my deputies.”

Which one?She scraped through her memories and settled on the one where Primrose Midraven had walked her way duringthe funeral reception, bent over to fiddle with her shoe, then walked back to the side of Deputy Shep Whitaker.

She lifted her chin. “Shep is an incredible police officer. Which begs the question why you’ve never promoted him.”

Anger flared in his gaze, making her fear she’d overstepped her place. Then his forehead smoothed. “You haven’t changed much.” Amusement infused his voice again. “Still roasting my tail feathers like you did when you were a teenager.”

She blinked in indignation. “You’re right. I haven’t changed at all.” She waved a hand airily. “Not unless you count three master’s degrees, two PhDs, and more than a dozen successful digs on six continents.” She pretended to tick them off on her fingers. “Unless you count our current little graveyard adventure, which would mean I’ve dug on all seven continents.”

He narrowed his gaze at her. “Any particular reason you spend so much time out of the country?”

Wow! She should’ve known he, of all people, would pounce on that detail.

“Yes.” It was an easy question, one she’d waited years for the satisfaction of answering. She turned her back on him and shuffled papers blindly on her work table. “It wasn’t here.” He could read whatever he wanted into that.

Though he didn’t make much noise, she felt his presence as he moved closer to her. “You still haven’t told me about the letters, Bliss.”

His breath stirred one of the flyaway curls resting against her ear. She caught her lower lip between her teeth. He was standing close to her. So close.

“Is crowding my personal space one of your interrogation techniques, sheriff?”

“Yes.” He moved to stand beside her.

The fact that he hadn’t dodged the question made her lips twitch. “You could try asking nicely, Gil.”

She thought she heard him mutterminxunder his breath, but it might’ve only been wishful thinking on her part.

He spun around and hiked a hip on her work table, crossing his arms across his broad chest. “Would youpleasetell me what you found in the letters, Bliss?”

It was impossible to tell if he was being sincere or sarcastic.

He sighed at her glower. “Come on, Bliss. I have an entire town depending on me to protect them, and I’m not exactly in the best head space right now.” His voice hitched at the confession. There was no faking that kind of emotion. He’d loved his wife. He truly had.

It was the only thing keeping Bliss sane right now. Just hearing the pain in his voice made it feel like all the blood in her body was rushing to her heart. It was time to tell the truth. She had no idea the fallout her words would stir in his precious little town, but that wasn’t her problem. She would be long gone by then.

“We were never enemies, Gil.”

He scowled at her. “I never said we were. On the contrary, you and I?—”

“I wasn’t talking about our kiss.” She cut him off with an impatient wave. She had no interest in rehashing the event that had driven her from her hometown all those years ago. “I was referring to the century-old feud between our families.”

There’d been a mile-sized chasm between the Remingtons and the Hawlings that had tainted every part of her existence from the moment she’d been born. He was from the north part of town. She was from the south. He was wealthy. She was poor. And when she’d been foolish enough to fall in love with him, she’d been quickly slapped back into her place by a group of snobby Remingtons. His late wife had led the pack in reducing Bliss to complete and utter humiliation.

Gil spread his hands impatiently. “Okay. What about it?”

She held his gaze. “The feud wasn’t real. It was…” she shook her head, searching for the right word, “complete fiction. Both of the founding families were in on it.”

“Why on earth would they do something like that?” He didn’t look convinced, and she didn’t blame him. Both of them had been raised to believe their families had been at odds since the inception of Heart Lake.

“According to the letters the mayor found, it was to protect these two.” She waved at the coffins on the other side of the plastic curtain.

His frown deepened. “From what?”

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