Night Heat (Forged of Steele 2)

Deciding not to prolong things, he forced her name from his lips. “Leah?”

Leah’s body went stiff, and she hoped more than anything she had imagined the sound of the deep masculine voice. The last thing she needed at that particular moment was to come face to face with the one man who still had a clamp on her heart. The one man she had never stopped loving. The one man she had hurt deeply. And the one man she would never deserve to have again.

“Leah?”

When he said her name a second time, she knew fate was being more than cruel to her today. It was being outright merciless. Pulling in a deep breath, as deep as she could inhale, taking one final swipe at her tears and bracing herself, she slowly turned around while asking God to give her the strength to endure what she knew was going to be one of the hardest moments of her life.

Chapter 8

Nothing could have prepared Reese for the impact of looking into the face of the woman who had shattered his heart into a thousand tiny pieces. Bitterness, anger, hurt and the pain he hadn’t been able to let go of suddenly hit him full force, and he almost crushed the hot cup of coffee he held in his hand.

All he could think was that standing before him was the woman who’d once told him she loved him. The woman he had thought he would forever share his life with. The woman destined to be the mother of his children, and the one woman who even now had the love he hadn’t been able to share with any other.

The thought that he still loved her, hadn’t gotten over her, although he had tried, left a bitter taste in his mouth, left his joints achy with humiliation and made everything within him want to strike out and hurt her as much as she had hurt him. But something was keeping him from doing that. He frowned, seeing the wetness of her eyes and the single tear she’d tried to quickly swipe away. Leah was crying. Why? And why was he even giving a damn?

Then he remembered. She was standing in front of the display window at a baby store. Something about babies had her upset. He quickly jumped back to his earlier suspicion. Was Leah pregnant, and was that the reason she was hanging around?

“Reese, it’s good seeing you.”

Her words cut into him. The sound of her voice used to send excitement buzzing through every cell in his body. Now it hit a brick wall of resentment. How could she fix her mouth to say it was good seeing him when this was the first time they had come face to face in five years?

He sighed deeply. “I wish I could say the same thing, Leah,” he said, his voice low while he fought to keep it steady. “But at the moment, it’s not good seeing you again.”

Although his words hurt, Leah knew they were what she deserved, and she stood still, feeling the intense anger radiating from him. Jocelyn had warned her, but nothing could have prepared her for this degree of anger. Not from the man who had taught her how to love. The man who had shown her it wasn’t always about her but the people she cared about and who cared for her. She’d never got a chance to let him know she’d learned the lessons he had so lovingly taught. The night she was going to commit her heart and soul to him was the same night Neil had assaulted her.

She felt a tear she couldn’t fight back slide down her cheek as she met his hostile gaze and said, “I’m sorry you feel that way, Reese.”

She watched the frown that formed between his thick eyebrows and saw the narrowing of his eyes. “Why haven’t you left yet? There’s nothing here for you anymore. You made that decision five years ago, didn’t you? That none of us were worthy of your time, consideration…and love.”

Her heart clutched as a sharp pain ripped through it. He would think that, wouldn’t he? And since he would continue to think that, there was nothing she could say or do to ease the pain or soothe his anger. The best thing to do was to leave.

“I think I’d better go now,” she said, not wanting to argue with him. Besides, seeing the fury in his eyes was too much. Reese had always been one of the most easy-going, gentle and loving people she knew. To know he had become a ball of anger because of her was more than she could handle.

“Yeah, go, Leah. Walk away. Leave and don’t look back. You’re good at that, aren’t you?”