LITMIR.BIZ

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Never before, however, had he returned with the weight on his conscience that he had now, and there was no denying his reluctance.

      It was the same reluctance that had dogged him when it came to returning to Weaver at all.

      “Soon,” he said. “I still have things to take care of in town.”

      “There’s a Valentine’s dance at the high school tonight. Your father and I will be there.”

      “I stopped at the gym already. Looked in.”

      “Did you see Courtney, then? She’s doing the kissing booth this year, if you can believe it.”

      The last time he’d seen his cousin Courtney, she’d been inconsolable at the memorial service that her parents, Rebecca and Sawyer, had finally held for their missing son, Ryan.

      “She had a line stretching around the gym,” Axel said. “I didn’t want to get in the way of the moneymaking.”

      “It’s just good to see her having some fun again. Since Ryan’s service last year, she’s had a tough time.”

      There was nothing Axel could say to that. Not now. He couldn’t exactly tell his mother the real reason he’d avoided Ryan’s little sister, now could he?

      Ryan had made him promise.

      “Did you run into Hope or Tristan?” his mother continued.

      “Not at the festival.” At least that was the truth. He’d met with Tristan at his office over at Cee Vid.

      “Then if you’re still in town, come by the dance.”

      If he believed that Tara had any intention of going to the dance, he’d be there all right. As it was, from here on out, he was going to be where Tara was. “We’ll see.”

      His mother just “hmmed” again as if reading his mind. She’d always known when he was up to something.

      “You do realize that tomorrow is Sunday, right?” Emily said after a moment. “If I don’t see you tonight, I’m certainly going to expect to see you tomorrow.”

      Axel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Who’s got Sunday dinner this week?” His mom and his aunts all rotated the duty. Sometimes it was just a handful of family members who were there. Sometimes it was the entire freaking family.

      All two hundred of them.

      It was an exaggeration, but sometimes it felt as if it were only a slight one.

      “Jaimie’s cooking,” his mother answered. “We’ll be at the big house.”

      At the Double-C Ranch then, where his father and uncles had been raised and where his grandfather, Squire, and his wife Gloria, still lived with Axel’s aunt and uncle—Matthew and Jaimie. Going there felt no less of a betrayal, though, than it did going to his own home. “Is everyone going to be there?”

      “It’s been over a year since you’ve been home, honey. What do you think?”

      Way too many family members is what he thought. “If you don’t see me until tomorrow afternoon, don’t worry.”

      “I always worry about you. It’s what mothers do.”

      He caught a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror after they hung up, and he looked away. He didn’t want to think about mothers and sons just now.

      Which spoke directly to the reason why he’d been reluctant to come back to Weaver at all. He had a good family. To the last one, they were all good.

      None of them deserved the secret he was keeping from them about Ryan.

      But if he didn’t keep Ryan’s secret, Axel was more afraid that his cousin would go even deeper underground and it had taken Axel too long to find him in the first place.

      Maybe he couldn’t do anything about his own family. But he could definitely do something about McCray’s family.

      He pulled away from the curb and headed back toward Main Street where Classic Charms was located. He trolled past, drumming his thumb on the steering wheel as he studied the light he could see burning inside her eclectic little shop.

      He could either sit in the warmth of his truck and watch the shop, or he could brave the frost—both from the weather and from her—and go talk with her.

      Make her understand the gravity of the situation.

      It would have been a helluva lot easier to do that if he hadn’t already done the unforgivable by getting involved with her that weekend in Braden.

      He’d been ordered to that bar by Tristan for a quick “meet” with McCray. The last person Axel had expected to see there was the man’s sister.

      But there she’d been.

      From his corner in the bar, he’d watched her sit by herself for more than an hour. Watched the way her gleaming, dark hair would slip from behind her ear where she kept tucking it. Watched her debate with herself each time the cocktail waitress came by to replenish her drink. Watched the way half the men in the place watched her, and the way she’d seemed oblivious to them all.

      Most particularly, he’d watched the fading of animation from her lovely face the longer she sat there alone, leaving her enormous brown eyes looking darker and more haunting than ever.

      He shouldn’t have stepped in her way when she was leaving. But he had.

      And damned if he could make himself regret it even if Tristan could now yank him from his assignment to protect her if he found out about that night.

      She was a petite package of feminine curves who didn’t even reach his shoulder. He’d been halfway beyond crazy over her from the first time he’d seen her when she’d moved to Weaver, five years earlier.

      The fact that she’d been placed there for her own safety by none other than his uncle Tristan had kept Axel from acting on his feelings.

      That night in Braden, though, his attraction had been more alive than ever. And he’d been on the verge of giving Tristan his resignation.

      He blew out a rough breath along with the justifications that amounted to zero. He shouldn’t have touched her and he knew it. No matter how unforgettable their time had been.

      He pulled a U-turn and parked in front of her shop. Her front door was a fanciful thing of stained glass. It was locked, of course. He knocked purposefully as he looked through the glass window beside the door.

      He couldn’t see her moving around inside, but that wasn’t surprising. The place was artfully packed with furniture, clothing and a host of other doodads.

      He knocked again, as hard as he dared against a deep red triangle of glass.

      Finally, she appeared.

      The sleeves of her thigh-length pink sweater were pushed up above her elbows. She’d twisted her hair up into some kind of knot that wasn’t particularly effective, judging by the strands of hair that had slipped free to graze her elfin chin.

      She made a face when she reached the door and tapped the sign that she’d posted in the lower corner of the window.

      Closed.

      “I’m not going away, Tara.” He knew she could hear him through the glass.

      “Leave me alone. Or do I have to call the sheriff?”

      “Call him,” he said easily. “I haven’t seen Max in a year. Good chance to catch up.”

      “Must be nice to count half the people in town as a relation.”

      Sometimes it was as much a curse as a blessing. “Open up.”

      Her bow-shaped lips tightened and she made no move to unlock the door. “Can’t you take no for an answer?”

      “No.” A gust of wind blew down

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