by Lisa Childs
The Jeep tossed up a shower of stones as she ground it to a stop. The last thing she needed was another ticket. Her insurance premiums were putting the agent’s kid through an Ivy League college as it was.
Then again, if it was young Deputy Jones, she would demonstrate to him how ill advised it was to lie to Lindsey Warner. Lindsey couldn’t stand being lied to. Too many people already had.
But the long, muscular body that unwound from the police car was too honed to be the rookie’s. Ten years had brought Dylan Matthews to his full, masculine potential. Despite how mad she was, Lindsey had to appreciate his long legs, lean hips and wide chest. His tan uniform displayed his impressive physique to perfection.
The brisk morning breeze tousled his golden blond hair. The sun glinted off the dark glasses he wore. She wanted them off. She wanted to see if his eyes were as deep a blue as she’d remembered in some stray dreams.
While she drooled over him, lost in la-la land, he tapped on the window. Startled, she quickly rolled it down.
“License and registration, ma’am.” Deputy Dylan Matthews used the same deep, impersonal tone he’d always used when citing her for a traffic violation.
But then he’d used her name, at least. Was it possible he didn’t recognize her? Was her father lying when he swore she had never changed a bit?
“How fast was I going, Officer?” she queried politely as she reached into her leather bag. Her fingers touched on her can of pepper spray, but she passed over it for her wallet.
“Fifteen over the posted speed limit” was his clipped reply. With a leather-gloved hand he accepted the license she’d pulled from its plastic sheath.
Because of the concealing dark glasses, she couldn’t discern if he recognized the name. “Out-of-state license and plates,” he observed. “I need to see your registration, too, please.”
“What? You think I stole this car? This old thing? This is the same Jeep I drove when you pulled me over when I was a kid, Dylan Matthews!” She threw open the door and flew out of the vehicle.
He stepped back, but she was in his face with one stride. She reached for his dark glasses, but before she could whip them off, her wrist was caught tight in his leather-gloved hand.
“Ma’am, are you assaulting an officer?” he queried, his tone too nonchalant.
“Not yet.”
“Are you going to invite me to frisk you like old times, Lindsey?” A grin teased one corner of his hard mouth.
She tried to pull her wrist free, but his grip was too tight. “Very funny, Dylan. You knew me the whole time!” She lifted her other hand to pry his fingers loose. He caught that one in the glove still holding her license. The hard plastic bit into her wrist. And he pulled her closer.
“Ooh.” She feigned a sigh. “Getting physical with me, Deputy?”
“Isn’t that what you were always tempting me to do ten years ago, Lindsey?” His voice had dropped to a low rumble in his chest, which vibrated against hers.
She took a quick breath. “Were you ever tempted, Dylan?” She hated the vulnerability that had slipped into her equally low voice. But he had been the first to break her foolish heart.
After a moment he offered, “You were just a kid then.”
“That doesn’t answer my question. Were you ever tempted to catch me any of those hundred times I threw myself at you?” Her heart ached with the old pain of every one of his rejections.
He chuckled. “Another woman would either deny throwing herself at a man, or, at the very least, never bring it up. There’s no humility in you.” He chuckled again and eased his grip on her wrists.
Despite her anger at him, for which he’d pay later, Lindsey was tempted to give in to desire. She leaned into his hard chest, his badge biting through her fleece sweatshirt.
“Lindsey.” Her name was a sexy rumble in his chest. Perhaps he’d meant it as a threat. “Dylan.”
“Haven’t learned to slow down yet?” He clicked his tongue. “How many times have I warned you about going too fast?”
“I like fast.”
His chuckle ended in a strained cough.
“You’re not trying to bribe your way out of this ticket?” He cleared his throat. “You know it’s a crime to bribe an officer.”
“What do you think I’m offering?” Lindsey asked with a coy flutter of her lashes.
Dylan shook his head. “I don’t know. That’s what scares me.”
Lindsey batted her lashes again. “Aw, Deputy, it won’t be anything you don’t deserve.” She flashed a bright smile.
Despite the dark lenses of his sun glasses, she read his reaction; he stiffened against her. His chiseled lips descended toward hers. In those dark lenses were twin reflections of herself, soft and feminine, yielding. Lindsey jerked back. The last thing she ever wanted to be again was yielding.
“Lindsey?” His head dipped close to hers, his lips just a breath away from hers. She could almost taste him.
“I want something, Dylan.”
A dark blond brow lifted above the rim of the sunglasses.
“I want the truth.” Although she leaned against him, she wasn’t vulnerable anymore. She’d remembered her anger. She really hated being lied to, and her battered pride stung.
“Jeez, you are determined. Yes, damn it, I was tempted ten years ago. I was tempted to do this….” He dropped her wrists to pull her fully into his arms. Then one gloved hand grasped the back of her head and pulled her mouth to his.
She dodged away, so that his lips grazed her cheek. “That’s not the truth I wanted, Dylan.” But the fast pounding of her heart told another story.
He raised his head, and she fervently wished she could see his eyes. His nostrils flared as he exhaled a deep breath. “What truth do you want, Lindsey?”
“Why are you trying to pass a murder off as a suicide?”
“What?” He dropped his arms from around her and stepped back.
She shivered from the loss of his body heat. “Why are you calling a murder a suicide?”
His response came softly but succinctly. “I didn’t call anything a suicide.”
“No, you didn’t.” She narrowed her eyes. “You sent your flunky to do your dirty work, to deal with the press.”
He had the audacity to laugh. She wanted to belt him, but she suspected he’d arrest her for assaulting an officer. With an effort she grappled for control, amazed she’d almost lost it.
“So you’re not denying it?”
“Denying what? I didn’t send my flunky to do anything. I don’t have a flunky. I told a young deputy to tell you to come by the station today, that we’d have more information then. Nothing was said about suicide. The deputy must have drawn his own conclusion. But none of that matters.”
“No.” A heavy sigh followed her agreement. “It doesn’t. A man is dead, murdered, and you lied about it.”
He chuckled again, but she shivered over the coldness in his tone. “You don’t give up, Lindsey. I didn’t lie about anything. You’re trying to twist my words. Now I have some questions.”
Imitating his gesture she raised a brow.
“I thought you just came home for a visit?” His voice dropped. “There was something about a broken heart?” He brushed the back of his knuckles over her cheek.
Heat climbed into her face, so she dipped her chin. “I guess the rumor mill is still as active as ever. I came home because I wanted to, not because I’m hiding or licking any wounds.” She lifted her chin.
“So why are you covering this story?”
She’d flown out of her father’s office the previous evening on the scent of a story. She hadn’t thought beyond it. Was there any reason for her to stay in Winter Falls? Was there any reason for her to return to Chicago?
“Because there’s a story.”
He nodded. “And your father can’t cover it on his own?”
She really needed to belt him. “No, my father isn’t used to covering murder, Deputy.”
“And you are?�
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“I assisted on the police beat in Chicago. Yeah, I’m used to it. So you’re admitting Chet Oliver was murdered?”
“No, you’re saying that, Lindsey Warner, which makes me wonder how you would come to that conclusion if Jones told you suicide. What information or evidence has led you to believe this and how did you come by this evidence? You wouldn’t have intruded on a crime scene? As a reporter who has covered a police beat, you would know better than that. You would know better than to possibly contaminate evidence.”
She glared at him.
“Yeah, I would. I would never contaminate evidence. I’ve been gone awhile, but a good reporter has sources every where.” She waited a full second while she carefully studied his handsome face. He wasn’t giving. Neither was she.
After taking a hope fully calming breath, she asked, “Are you going to give the public the truth?”
“You’re the public now, Lindsey?”
“Damn it, Dylan!”
“After I get the coroner’s report, I’ll give you more details. Anything I said before then would be merely speculation.”
She couldn’t curb her mocking smile.
“He’s your source? You’ve already got the coroner’s report or an idea of what will be on it.” He sighed.
“A reporter protects her sources.”
Behind his dark lenses, she sensed he care fully studied her. What did he speculate about her return to Winter Falls? Did he believe the rumor mill?
Before she could ask, a call sputtered from his police radio. Without a goodbye, he strode back to his cruiser.
He still had her license and wasn’t above writing her up a citation. Because she was curious about the police call, she followed him.
She recognized the code for a missing person. Then Sheriff Buck spoke clearly. Her father often laughed about the sheriff not bothering with the codes. “Mrs. Warner has run away from the sanatorium. She’s been missing since yesterday afternoon, Dylan. After searching the grounds and the surrounding area, the sanatorium finally contacted Warner, and he’s been searching all night.”
Lindsey’s heart clutched with fear. Her mother. Her poor, deranged mother had wandered off and spent the cold autumn evening outside. She sprinted toward her Jeep but didn’t manage three steps before Dylan caught her arm.
“Lindsey, you can’t drive away without your license.”
“Watch me!”
“Come on. Come with me. We’ll find her.”
She listened for the pity the town had always drowned her in. She didn’t hear it. But then Dylan’s life was more deserving of pity than hers.
He directed her to the passenger side of the police car and opened the door for her. Before she could be touched by his gesture, she realized he regularly opened doors for people in police cars. Usually the people were criminals.
When he slid behind the wheel, he turned to her. Finally he removed the dark glasses. His blue eyes were as dazzling as they’d been in her dreams. Now, instead of pity, they were filled with concern. “Where would she be, Lindsey?”
Lindsey sighed. “I haven’t seen her in nine years, Dylan.” The guilt clogged her throat. “I know that sounds awful. You probably think I’m a selfish brat. But I couldn’t…” Her heart hadn’t been able to handle any more of her mother’s rejections. Before Lindsey had left for college, Retha Warner hadn’t even recognized her only child.
He took her hand in his and gently squeezed her fingers. The last time they’d held hands had been after a murder.
“Okay.” She dragged in a jerky breath and fought the urge to put her head between her knees. Panic danced through her stomach. “Okay. She would go home. Wouldn’t she go home? God, would she remember where it is? She hasn’t been there in almost ten years.”
“I didn’t know your mother was in a sanatorium.”
“But you knew she was nuts. Every body knows she’s nuts. After she tried to kill herself, Dad had to put her in that place. She was a danger to herself. He had to.” She winced over the defensive tone. The guilt danced with the panic. “You don’t care about that.” She dragged in another breath and hoped she wouldn’t hyperventilate.
“Yes, I do, Lindsey.”
She shrugged and then shivered. “Let’s go home first. Maybe she’d get there. The last few years before I left, she didn’t know me half the time, but maybe she’d remember how to get home.”
Dylan squeezed her fingers again. “I know where your house is. And if she’s not there, we’ll keep looking. We’ll find her.”
She appreciated his calm assurance. Lindsey had never been good at serenity. While in the throes of her deep depression, her mother had always appeared too serene. She’d sit for days without moving, or even blinking, Lindsey had suspected.
“It’s not the same.” Dylan pulled into her father’s drive way and turned off the ignition of the patrol car.
Lindsey glanced at the vinyl-sided Dutch colonial. “Not since you left, no. She set it on fire. She was inside.” She hated the sting of tears behind her eyelids. That had been so long ago. She shouldn’t still be able to smell the smoke in the air. She shouldn’t remember the struggle for breath when she’d fought the heat and flames for her mother.
“I’m sorry.” Dylan trailed a finger from his free hand down her cheek.
Lindsey let out a shuddery breath. “Why? You weren’t here.”
“That’s why.”
Despite not wanting him to see the tears swimming in her eyes, she turned toward him. He was so strong, so solid. “You’re not responsible for me, Dylan. You had good reasons for leaving.”
He didn’t respond, but he didn’t release her fingers, either. He hadn’t even while he’d driven over the rutted country roads.
“She’s not here, you know.” Lindsey couldn’t imagine where her mother would be. To get here from the sanatorium, she’d have had to walk miles. Did she have a jacket to keep her warm? Where had she slept? Lying in some rotted leaves in a ditch on the side of the road? Had they passed her?
Lindsey fought down the panic. “Her doctors think she might be schizophrenic, but her erratic symptoms have made her hard to diagnose. She wouldn’t have recognized the old house, let alone the rebuilt one.”
“But it’s at the same address. We should check.”
“I just left here a little while ago, on my way to see you at the police station.”
He opened his door. “You can stay here. I’ll check. Give me your keys.”
“I left them in the Jeep.”
He chuckled. “Well, I suppose it’s safe. I doubt anyone will steal it.”
She rewarded his obvious effort with a weak smile. “I’m sure Dad stashes the spare in the same place.” She hopped out and strode to the door. They’d take a quick gander inside and resume their search. Retha Warner wasn’t there. But they would find her. They had to.
Before Lindsey could reach above the door frame for the key, the kitchen door opened. A fragile-looking woman with dull black hair and glassy eyes reached for Lindsey. “Sweet heart, there you are! I couldn’t catch you when you left the house for school earlier. Are you skipping class?” The woman made a tsking noise.
As she stood stiffly in the fragile arms of her mother, Lindsey trembled, and her stomach pitched as a flurry of emotions surged through her.
Her mother. She pushed some of the scraggly hair from her mother’s scarred cheek. How did she recognize Lindsey now after all these years when she hadn’t then, when a teenage girl had so desperately needed her mother?
“Deputy Matthews,” Retha Warner said in a welcoming voice. “Thank you for bringing her home. She causing you trouble again?” She actually winked at him.
How had her mother known of Lindsey’s infatuation with the young deputy? She’d always seemed oblivious to her surroundings.
“Mom,” she finally said, struggling to clear her throat of the jerky sobs threatening as memories flooded her mind. “Mom, I’m not in school anymore. I’m almost twent
y-seven now.”
“Always trying to rush things, Lindsey,” her mother scoffed affectionately. “Come in, you two. I’ve baked cookies and started coffee.”
Dylan’s hand on her back urged Lindsey inside the warm kitchen. Cookies cooled on waxed paper on the counter, and an announcer chattered from the radio on top of the refrigerator.
“Mom, please.” She followed Retha to the counter and put a trembling hand on her shoulder. “You must know that you don’t live here anymore.”
“I know the house looks different. Remodeled, finally. I love it.” Her mother smiled as she poured them mugs of steaming coffee.
Lindsey took her mother’s hands in hers, running her fingers over the scarred flesh of the right one. She squeezed her eyes shut and struggled for a breath. Her mother hadn’t even cried over the burns. But Lindsey had.
Dylan rubbed her back. “Let me tell her, Lindsey.”
She shook her head and opened her eyes. Her mother’s once beautiful face held concern and con fusion. Lindsey dragged in a quick, choking breath. “Mom, you live in the sanatorium now.”
“What? There is no sanatorium in Winter Falls.” A frown puckered Retha’s otherwise unlined forehead. She pulled her hands from Lindsey’s.
Lindsey brushed the hair away from her mother’s face. The thin strands of black slid smoothly between Lindsey’s fingers. At least they kept her clean at the sanatorium even though they hadn’t kept her safe.
Lindsey took in another breath and caught the scent of roses. Her mother’s perfumed soap clung to her.
“Arborview, Mom.”
Her mother shuddered now. “Arborview is the home for unwed mothers, Lindsey. You shouldn’t know anything about that place.” She slid her scarred hand over Lindsey’s cheek.
“It hasn’t been that for years, Mom. You live there.” Lindsey spoke as slowly and gently as she would to a child. Because she didn’t possess any of her own, she figured she must have borrowed some of Dylan’s patience and strength. His long, lean body hovered so near, his heat warmed her.