Hush

by Nancy Bush

  Genevieve looked like she was going to deny it. She started to change the subject, then said suddenly, “I didn’t kill her, but I was there. We got in a fight. She’d gotten so mean about Lucas, calling him names after she learned he wasn’t faithful. I pushed her and yelled at her, and she pushed me back. We were standing there, furious with each other, probably a lot like Lucas at Bancroft Bluff.” Her voice caught. “And then she fell, and I started to fall, but I caught a limb and hung on. I didn’t kill her. I didn’t.”

  “Does Jarrod know?” Coby asked.

  “Nobody does. Except you.”

  “And me,” Danner said quietly.

  Gen looked from Coby to Danner and back again, correctly assuming they were going to expect her to tell her husband. “It’s just not fair!” she cried. “I could’ve died, too!”

  “But you didn’t . . . and if you want to make a life for yourself . . .” Coby inclined her head in Jarrod’s direction. Jarrod, who was seated on the couch with Kirk, running over some imaginary guitar chords with him, looked up at that moment.

  Genevieve closed her eyes, then opened them, then walked over to her husband and asked Kirk if she could talk to Jarrod alone.

  Danner slid an arm around Coby, and they both turned to watch them.

  “It’s hell being the ‘It’ couple,” he observed.

  Kirk joined them, turning back to see what they were looking at, then shrugging it off. “It won’t last,” he predicted.

  Danner drawled, “I wouldn’t be so sure. Sometimes it just takes a while to get right.”

  “That’s romantic crap,” Kirk said.

  Danner and Coby looked at each other, then broke into laughter. Danner pushed her hair back and pressed a kiss on her forehead and Coby closed her eyes, still smiling.

  “It’s all good,” he said.

  “Yep. It’s all good,” she agreed.

  ZEBRA BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2011 by Nancy Bush

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  Zebra and the Z logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  ISBN: 978-1-4201-2435-4