Harlequin Superromance November 2013 - Bundle 1 of 2

by Mary Brady

  “There’s always tomorrow night,” he whispered, and she smiled.

  He was right. For a little bit longer, they still had tomorrow.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  J.T. WOKE TO DARKNESS and a rumbling in his stomach. Oh, yeah. They’d forgotten dinner.

  Again.

  He grinned as he eased himself from the bed. No point in waking Lyddie if he didn’t—

  “Hey, sleepyhead.”

  Her voice surrounded him but he didn’t see her.

  “Lyd?”

  “I’m outside,” she called. He pulled on sleep pants and followed the sound of her voice out to the porch where she sat on the glider, wrapped in a fleece throw. She made room for him, snuggling against his side when he sat. He pulled her close and breathed her in for a long moment.

  “Been awake long?”

  One shoulder bumped against his ribs as she shrugged. “Maybe fifteen minutes.”

  “Thinking about Sara?”

  “Actually, no. I was thinking about you.”

  “Good stuff, I hope.”

  “Mmm, very good.” Her hand crept along his chest. “You’re half-naked. Are you cold?”

  “If I am, can I share your blanket?”

  “Nope. I’m a selfish wench. Besides, I’m all naked, and if you get under here I’ll get distracted. And I really should take a break and get something to eat.”

  “Excellent idea.” But of course, neither of them moved.

  “J.T.?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you expect anything like this?”

  Hope flared within him. Could she be realizing there was more than just awesome sex building between them?

  “No. If someone had told me that I would end up having the time of my life during a summer I was sure would kill me...huh. I would have laughed in their face.”

  “Me, too.”

  He didn’t dare intrude on her thoughts, not when they seemed to be heading in his direction. He was content to hold her and hope she could figure out that some people went their whole lives without feeling what they shared.

  Most of all, he hoped she figured it out soon.

  “J.T.?”

  “Mmm?”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Anything, babe.”

  She took a breath and pulled the blanket closer around her. “What happened that night? I mean... You don’t have to tell me, but...” She gave her head a little shake, a barely perceptible movement in the darkness. “The fire. Glenn never talked about it.”

  No surprise there.

  His first instinct, just as it had been all those years ago, was flight. But this time was different. This time he had Lyddie to hold.

  “Okay. First thing you have to know is, probably everything you’ve heard about me back then is true. I stole. I lied. I wasn’t a bully, I never set out to hurt anyone, but most other stuff was fair game.”

  “No virgin sacrifices?”

  He nuzzled her hair. “Only my own, babe. Anyway, there was this tradition that after graduation, the kids would do something wild. Kind of a senior prank. One year they TP’d the school. Another time they stole all the forks from the cafeteria and used them to spell out Comeback Cove on the school lawn. That kind of thing.”

  She made a little sound of encouragement. He tucked her tighter against him and stole a corner of the blanket.

  “When it was our year, everyone expected me to come up with the plan. I decided we would have a sleepover in the Old Village. I knew a way to sneak in from when I worked there the summer before. So once they cut the cake and finished the speeches, a bunch of us grabbed our sleeping bags and got ourselves inside.”

  “It was all authentic buildings, right?”

  “Yep. All houses and stores from a couple of hundred years ago, moved here from miles around.” And God, that still hurt, thinking of what he had helped destroy. “When I screw up, I don’t hold back.”

  Her hand was warm where it cupped his cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah. Me, too.” He turned her hand, kissed the palm. “Anyway, we were all there having a good time. A couple of the guys had brothers old enough to buy us a few bottles, and we sure as hell took advantage of them that night.” That, at least, was a good part of the memory. Just him and the guys, hanging together, getting totally wasted in a way that was totally irresponsible, but made for some damned good times.

  “That was about it. A bunch of guys, drinking, smoking, shooting the—the breeze. Then I left them for a while.”

  “Out for a breath of fresh air?”

  He hesitated, not certain how much further to go. There was only one person in the world who knew the rest of that story, and she sure as hell wouldn’t want this part known.

  But this was Lyddie. Lyddie, who he wanted for the rest of his life. If ever there were a person he could tell, it would be her.

  He was omitting Glenn’s name. He could leave this one out, too. Lyddie would never know.

  “No fresh air,” he said at last. “I was meeting someone. We’d set it up earlier that night.”

  Her voice was warm and indulgent. “Let me guess. A girl.”

  “Right in one.”

  “No surprise there. So some lucky gal decided to have her own forbidden celebration, huh?”

  Actually, the girl in question had been acting more out of spite, spurred by a fight with her jealous boyfriend. He’d known it even then. But a kid at his sexual peak wasn’t up to thinking too clearly when offered the chance of a lifetime.

  “She met me in the building next to where my buddies were. She brought wine. Not that I needed it by that point, but I think she thought that was what you were supposed to do. So, we had a glass. Real fast. And then we got down to business, so to speak.”

  For the second time that night, she smacked his arm.

  “You know, if you hit me again it’s gonna leave a bruise.”

  “Then I’ll kiss it and make it better. So what happened then? That wasn’t your first time, was it?”

  “No. It would have been, but we didn’t get that far. Came damned close, though.”

  “If she changed her mind, she was a fool.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “Thank you. No, she probably would have followed through, but we were interrupted.”

  “The buddies came looking for you?”

  “Nope. The buddies ran screaming out of the building next door, two steps ahead of the fire.”

  “Wait a minute.” She pulled away from him, astonishment clear even in the dim light. “How did the fire start?”

  “Matches, a few joints, an old building and a bunch of kids too plastered to stay safe.”

  “No, I mean—you weren’t even in the building when it started?”

  “Nope.”

  “So you had nothing to do with it?”

  “I had the idea to go there. I got everyone inside. I knew what they were doing. I’m not innocent, Lyddie.”

  “Okay, no, but you weren’t— How did you end up taking the blame?”

  “I stayed back a minute. Made sure all my buddies were out. And I had to wait for my, uh, companion to get her clothes on.”

  “You were that close?”

  He pulled her warmth back against him. “Close enough that for years, I had to check for smoke before I could put on a condom.”

  She snickered. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh.”

  “S’okay. I hate to think what it did to her.”

  “You never saw her again?”

  “No,” he lied. Telling that particular truth wouldn’t benefit anyone. “Anyway, we got out and were almost off the grounds when she remembered her ID bracelet. She’d left it in our building.” />
  “Don’t tell me you did the hero thing and went back for it.”

  “I had to. The fire was spreading, but in the other direction. I wasn’t in any danger. But when I got back to the spot in the fence, all the others were gone already. Running home as fast as their drunken legs would take them. The only person I saw was Harley Prestwick, running toward the flames.”

  “Oh, my God. So you were the only one they could pin at the scene.”

  At least he hadn’t had to spell that part out for her. “I knew I was dead meat. I was the one with the reputation. The other guys might have tried to protect me but they couldn’t deny I’d been there. They had no idea what I was doing when I wasn’t with them.”

  “And the girl?”

  He snorted. “They could have put her on the rack and she would never have admitted to being there with me.”

  “So you ran. And no one ever stood up for you? None of them stepped forward?”

  “People do stupid things when they’re afraid.”

  “But—”

  “Lyddie, we were seventeen, eighteen years old and dumber than dirt, but we knew when to keep our mouths shut. Some of them had to stick around for grade thirteen. The others were getting ready to leave for college.” Like her future husband. “I was gone before morning. There wasn’t enough evidence to press charges. From their point of view, letting me take the heat was the best course possible. I would have done the same thing.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. I might not know all the details of your life, but I know that you’re decent and brave and far too honest to ever do that to someone else.”

  Was that what she saw when she looked at him? If so, then it had been worth the risk of telling her.

  “Thanks,” he said softly. “But I wasn’t always such a paragon.”

  “Bull. Those traits don’t come from nowhere, J.T. They were in here all along.” And she rested her hand over his rapidly beating heart.

  He kissed the top of her head, filling himself with her. Then he tipped his face to the stars and sent the most heartfelt wish of his life to each and every one of them.

  * * *

  LYDDIE SPENT MONDAY eyeing every local man who seemed to be about the right age, trying to decide who else might have been at the fire. If any of J.T.’s so-called friends were still in town, she wanted to know who they were. Not that she planned to do anything with the information. J.T. was right: the past was the past, and she could certainly understand why a scared adolescent would keep quiet. Still, she wasn’t sure if she could find any sympathy for a grown man who continued to let someone else take the heat.

  It wasn’t until closing time that she realized she didn’t need to keep giving all the men the once-over. She had Nadine. Nadine, who had worked in the school cafeteria all those years and lived here her whole life. If anyone could guide Lyddie in the right direction, it would be her. But no sooner had she locked up than Nadine was in her face.

  “Lydia Brewster, what the hell is going on around here?”

  Okay. So Lyddie wasn’t the only one who’d been waiting for a moment alone together.

  “What is this, Nadine, Jeopardy!? Because if so, the answer is, ‘What is the problem?’”

  “Here’s the problem. Something’s going on in this town and I don’t know what’s behind it. And that bugs the hell out of me.”

  Lyddie grabbed a half-empty coffeepot from the counter and shouldered her way through the swinging door to the kitchen. “Geez, Nadine. You have control issues, you know that?”

  “This isn’t about me.” Nadine was right behind her with a tray of mugs. “But something isn’t sitting right. Have you noticed that Jillian hasn’t been in lately?”

  Huh. Come to think of it, it had been a few days since either of the Royal Couple had made an appearance in the shop. “It’s summer. They might be on vacation.” But even as she said it, anxiety curled in her stomach.

  “They’re not. They’re just avoiding this place. Avoiding me, too, when I pass them on the street.”

  “And you’re complaining?” Maybe if she made a joke about it, she could convince herself that there was nothing to worry about.

  “Hell, no. That part I can live with. But here’s the thing, Lyddie. A whole lot of other people have been making a point of talking to me. Seems they all want me to know that J.T. has supposedly been spotted paying close attention to a string of tourists, if you know what I mean.”

  Thank God for the steam rising from the coffee Lyddie was dumping into the sink. Not only did it hide her face, but it also gave her an excuse for the coughing fit that struck from nowhere.

  J.T. and tourists? Oh, hell. She didn’t believe it. Not for a second. Not only had he spent all his recent nights with her, but she was pretty sure there was no way he would have the energy to leave her as limp as he did while doing someone else in the daytime.

  But if people were telling Nadine about these supposed dalliances...

  “At first I thought folks were just sharing the usual gossip and slander, but then I thought, y’know, I don’t usually hear the same story from so many folks so close together. So I said to myself, ‘self, people are telling me this for a reason.’ And there was only one thing that came to my mind.” Her hand settled on Lyddie’s shoulder. “Honey. You and J.T.? Really?”

  Lyddie froze.

  “Ah, hell.” Nadine took the pot from Lyddie’s fingers, clunked it on the counter and reached to turn the water off. “How did I miss this? I must be getting old. Maybe I should retire. Can you get someone to take my shift tomorrow?”

  “For heaven’s sake, Nadine, get a grip. You’re going to outlive all of us.”

  “I don’t know. I’m losing my touch.”

  “What if you’re not losing anything? What if you’re just plain wrong?”

  “Wrong?” Nadine snorted and leaned against the butcher-block island. “Okay, Lyddie. Look me in the eye and tell me you aren’t rolling in the hay with J.T.”

  Lyddie tried. She stared at Nadine and tried to stay sober, tried to think of boring things like shopping and washing dishes and interminable sermons. But shopping made her remember J.T. buying the test. And dishes made her remember the way he’d dabbed soap suds on her neck the other night, then slowly toweled them off. And sermons made her remember exactly what she’d been doing last Sunday when she would normally have been in church. And before she knew it, Nadine was sitting back with an annoyingly satisfied smirk on her face.

  “Sit down and tell me everything.”

  “There’s nothing to tell.” Lyddie sat anyway, if only because her feet hurt. “But I have some questions of my own.”

  “Uh-uh. Not until you give up some answers.”

  “Nadine—”

  “Nope. It’s tit for tat, or nothing at all.”

  “I should dock your pay for this.”

  “Go ahead. You know I’m independently wealthy and only do this to keep me entertained.”

  Lyddie sighed and sank down in the chair, pulling her left foot up to rest on her right knee. “Fine. Two questions. That’s it.”

  “Two questions, huh? Fair enough. Is he as good as he looks?”

  “Nadine!”

  “Okay, okay. None of my business. How about this one—what the hell are you thinking, getting involved with a man who’s gonna break your heart?”

  “Why does everyone in this town act like he’s the devil incarnate?”

  “Did I say anything about that?”

  No, come to think of it. Nadine hadn’t said anything against J.T. except that he was going to leave.

  “Sorry. His reputation is kind of a sore subject for me these days.”

  Nadine gave a shrewd look. “I just bet it is. So tell me. What possessed you to fall in with someone who’s going to pack up and l
eave in less than—”

  “I know exactly how long it will be until he leaves. And believe it or not, that was one of the chief attractions. We’ll have a little fun while it’s convenient, and then he’ll go. No messy complications, no worries about whether the kids like him or—or anything else. It’s perfect.”

  “That is such a load of bull. I haven’t seen you this happy in all the time I’ve known you. You really think you can just let him go? You?”

  “That’s at least your third question. Maybe fourth, if we count the totally inappropriate one. But I’ll answer it anyway, and then you’d better start talking.”

  Nadine grunted.

  “Okay, you’re right. Letting go is going to suck. He’s a great guy, no matter what everyone says, and we’ve had some very...um, very special times together. But come on. I’ve known him less than two months. It’s not like I’m in love or anything like that.”

  Nadine stared at her again, long enough to make Lyddie’s gut twist. She braced herself for another onslaught. But to her surprise, Nadine merely tipped her head and gave a little nod before saying, “So what did you want to ask me?”

  Well, that switch was fast enough to make a girl dizzy. “I want to know who used to hang out with him when he was in school. Especially near the night of graduation.” She drew a deep breath and added, “And if it’s the same people who are trying to convince you that he’s been playing doctor with the tourists.”

  Nadine’s careless slouch fled as she jerked upright. “Don’t go there, Lyddie. You don’t want to open that can of worms.”

  “There’s no worms involved. I just want some answers.”

  “No.”

  “Hello? I answered all of yours.”

  “No, you didn’t. And it doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t tell you, anyway.”

  “Why not?”

  “Lyddie...” For one of the few times ever, Lyddie saw hesitancy in Nadine’s eyes.

  “What is it?”

  “People are...anxious. Some of ’em are pissed because they want that Randy Cripps guy in here, and no, it’s not just Her Worship and company. Some are royally ticked that anyone would try to push you out. They’re talking about petitions and letters to the editor and storming the next planning board meeting. And some folks just shake their heads and say everything will be fine as soon as J.T. leaves town.”