Tantalizing Maria (The Temptation Saga 7)

So he was back to this again. “I’m sorry. I felt I had no choice at the time.” What more could she say? She’d said it all time and again.

“If you had believed in me…”

Anger rose within her. Maria tried to tamp it down, but the words came out anyway. “Oh, stop it. You know I had no choice. I thought you were going to prison, and it turns out I was right.” When he opened his mouth to speak, she held up a hand to quiet him. “No, I didn’t think you were a killer, Jeff. I never thought that. But the evidence was there, and the cops needed a scapegoat.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Jeff sighed. “I just can’t, Mia, and that’s that.”

She sniffed, her eyes watering. “You’re never going to forgive me, are you?”

Jeff shook his head. “It’s not as simple as you might think.”

She opened her heart and reached for him. “Jeff, my love, I know you’ve been through hell. I can’t even begin to imagine all you’ve experienced while I’ve been here on the ranch with your daughter and her siblings. I’ve had a wonderful life, even without being in love, and you’ve suffered. I wish I could change it. I truly do. I’d give up everything if I could give you your life back. I would.”

His dark eyes misted. He looked away. “I know you would, Mia.”

She widened her eyes, shocked. “You know? You believe me?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Oh, Jeff.” She fell against his hard chest. “Thank you for that. Thank you.”

His arms went around her, tightened, and for a moment, as she was cocooned in his embrace, everything was right. Until he pulled away.

“It doesn’t change anything, Mia.”

She looked up into his handsome face tight with tension. His beautiful eyes were sunken and sad.

“What can I do, Jeff? What can I do to change things between us? We both deserve happiness after all we’ve been through, you most of all. I want to make you happy. That’s what I want most in the world.”

“I know, Mia. I know.”

“Why won’t you let me?”

He sucked in a long breath and let it out slowly. He backed away. “I just can’t.”

* * *

Thirty-Three Years Earlier

“Shh,” Maria said to Jeff. “Don’t say a word.”

Jeff nodded.

Maria walked to the door, her heart skittering. “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” her sister, Meghan, said. “Who else would it be?”

Maria gathered her courage. “What do you want? Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I heard noises. Can I sleep with you?”

Maria drew in a deep breath. Meghan was only eleven and prone to nightmares since their father had died a year ago. Often she crawled in bed with Maria when she couldn’t sleep. Clearly that couldn’t happen tonight.

What was she going to do?

“Just a minute, Meghan.” Quickly she pulled on her T-shirt and undies and wrapped a robe around her shoulders.

“Stay here,” she mouthed to Jeff.