A Valentine Wish (Gates-Cameron 1)

Vandover frowned. “Not as far as I know. I never really gave it a thought. Why? You think you might come upon it when you dig up the rose garden?”

Dean forced a smile. “One never knows.”

The mayor shook his head. “I’d forget about it, if I were you. Best for you to rename the place and start afresh. Forget you ever heard about the Cameron . twins.”

That, of course, was a lot easier said than done, Dean reflected as he led the mayor back inside the inn. He didn’t think anyone who’d encountered the enchanting Mary Anna Cameron could ever forget her.

SOMETIME IN THE MIDDLE of that long, restless night, he half convinced him

self he’d dreamed her all along. If she really had existed, why hadn’t he seen her again? If she’d learned to contact him at will, why hadn’t she checked back with him to inquire about his progress in the investigation of her death?

Or was she still hanging about, watching him in silence, staying out of his view for reasons of her own?

It was enough to make a man question his sanity.

Whether he’d dreamed her before or not, she seemed destined to invade his dreams now. Several times he woke again in a light sweat, his pulse racing, his mind filled with erotic images of himself and a woman with cool skin and dark eyes. A woman he found himself wanting with an intensity he’d never known.

The one woman he shouldn’t want.

Where was she?

SHARYN BURTON popped in the next afternoon, this time bearing a loaf of fresh-baked banana nut bread. It was obvious that she had already heard about the new housekeeper.

“So,” she asked Dean a bit too casually over coffee in the sitting room, “is she someone you’ve known a while?”

Impatient to get back to the work he’d been doing outside, Dean shook his head. “No,” he said without elaborating.

His aunt had been with them until a few moments before, when she’d been called to the telephone. Dean was acutely aware of being alone with Sharyn; mostly because she seemed so very much aware of it. Dean wondered how soon he could politely get away.

“Dean,” Sharyn said after taking a deep breath, “I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me one night this week.”

He swallowed. He certainly wasn’t surprised by the move; he’d just hoped he would be able to avoid it.

“Er, thanks, Sharyn, but I’m afraid I can’t right now. It isn’t a good time for me.”

She made no effort to hide her disappointment. “I hope I haven’t embarrassed you.”

“Not at all,” he assured her. “It’s just—”

“Still stinging from the divorce?” she suggested.

He decided to give her that. “Yeah, that’s it,” he said too eagerly. “It hasn’t been very long.”

She sighed. “I felt the same way after my marriage ended. They say the best thing to do is get right into the dating scene, but some people seem to need more time to heal.”

“Yeah. I’m still ... healing.”

He felt like a jerk for lying to her, but he simply couldn’t think of another way to let her know that he wasn’t interested.

Sharyn smiled graciously. “If you change your mind...”

He nodded. “Thanks.”

She didn’t stay long after that.

Dean gave a sigh of relief. Truth was, he didn’t want to be with any woman right now. But even as that thought crossed his mind, he knew he was lying to himself. The real problem was, the only woman he could want was the one woman he would never—could never—have.

Dean wasn’t in any hurry to turn in that evening. He wasn’t ready to face another night of lying awake, waiting for a visit that didn’t come.