Hope let him pull back, but refused to let him go. Her dark eyes shimmered with confusion, and her voice cracked. “You can start by telling me what the hell you were doing with Angelique. The way you acted in Boston, I half expected the two of you to kill off Charles, then run off and elope. Instead, you show up here, saying you left her behind! I want to understand, Drake, really I do. But you’re not making sense! Nothing you’ve ever done makes any sense to me.”
Drake disengaged her hands from his arms as his gaze scanned their surroundings. A scowl furrowed his golden brow as his work-roughened palm smoothed the hair from her cheek. With a ragged sigh, he entwined his fingers in hers and pulled her toward the gate. “I’ll explain—I owe you that much—but not here. I’ve never been able to talk well in cemeteries.”
“Where are we going?” Hope insisted, panting as she struggled to keep up with his long, determined strides. By the time they cleared the gate, she was out of breath. By the time they reached the bottom of the hill, her lungs felt like they were about to explode. She didn’t complain. The feel of
his strong fingers wrapped around her hand felt wonderful, more than making up for the discomfort.
Drake followed his ears. He dragged Hope through the dense covering of maple and oak, toward the sound of gurgling water. In minutes they broke through the trees and emerged in a lush clearing beside the bank of a river that, farther down, washed into the lake stretching lazily beside the house. A waterfall splashed over a jagged cliff of rocks to their right, and rays of sunlight played over the dappled surface of water that gurgled and twisted away.
How right that he would choose this particular spot, at this particular moment, Hope thought.
“I haven’t been here in years,” she sighed in wonder, as she flopped to the ground, panting to catch her breath.
He lowered himself beside her, so near their thighs were touching. The contact, Hope found, was most distracting. She shifted self-consciously, arranging the now-grass-stained skirt around her legs and ankles. When he made no response, she elaborated, “I used to come here when I was a girl. Luke didn’t know where to find me, and my parents didn’t try. It gave me time to be alone. Time to think. I always thought of it as my special place. I’m surprised you were able to find it.”
“We can go somewhere else if you’d rather,” he offered softly. The gesture was hollow. Drake was reluctant to leave a spot Hope so obviously cherished, thinking the breathtaking scenery might, in some small way, aid his cause. At this point, he’d welcome all the help he could get.
Hope shook her head, her gaze locking with his. She placed a restraining hand on his arm when he started to rise. “No, I want to stay here... with you. It feels right.” Her thoughts strayed to Angelique and her happiness faded abruptly. He’d left the witch behind, but to what purpose? So he could come here and explain why he preferred his former fiancée over herself? Why bother? Silence would serve the same purpose, and would be much less painful in the end.
Drake watched the emotions flickering openly in the velvet brown eyes. He knew what she was thinking. His heart tightened in response and his mind raced, searching for the perfect words to ease her worries. He wasn’t surprised to find there weren’t any. At least, none that came to mind.
“You said you had another job for me,” he began, resting his warm hand over her smaller, cooler one. A sly grin pulled at his lips, and at Hope’s heart. “Funny, but I came here with one to offer you. I even brought Elbert with me—to legalize it all—but I decided to leave him with your father instead. Now I’m glad I did.” His eyes sparkled as his gaze gently caressed her cheek, his palm itching to follow suit. “I like having you all to myself.”
“I don’t think I want any more of your jobs. You’re a hard boss, Drake Frazier, and you don’t pay your employees very well.” Hope tried to interject some lightness into her voice, and failed miserably.
“You left before I could pay you. That wasn’t my fault.”
“I had to leave.” She slipped her hand from his. “You saw to that.”
His eyes narrowed. “Did I? Did I really? Are you sure that’s why you left? Are you sure you weren’t running away from something else? Someone else?
Hope pushed herself to her feet and walked to the riverbank. She focused her attention on the water crashing and foaming beneath the waterfall. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You were jealous, Hope. Why can’t you just admit it?”
“I was not!” she lied. hotly “Why should I care whose skirt you chase? As far as I’m concerned, you could make a fool out of yourself over all the women in Boston if you wanted to,” she sniffed in disgust. “I really couldn’t care less.”
His powerful fingers jerked her around. She came up hard against his chest, and her breath rushed from her lungs in surprise. “Why, you little liar! You care one hell of a lot more than you’d ever admit. Don’t you, Hope? Don’t you?”
“Stop that. You’re hurting me,” she cried, trying to twist from his grasp. She should have known better.
“I’ll do a lot worse than that if you don’t start telling me the truth.”
“I am telling you the truth.” She looked up and saw his cheeks darken angrily. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?” he demanded harshly.
She wrenched away from him. Chafing her bruised flesh, she glared into his stormy gaze. “What do you want me to say? That I care? That I hurt? Of course I do, I’m not made of stone.”
“I never said you—”
“How the hell did you think I’d feel when you offered me the job of pretending to be your wife? All so that you could romance her! Did you think it wouldn’t bother me? Did you think I wouldn’t care that you preferred Angelique just because she’s perfect and I’m...” she choked on a sob, “and I’m not? No, don’t touch me!”
Hope quickly stepped away when Drake reached out for her. On shaky knees, she retreated to a spot farther down the bank, closer to the cascading waterfall. She didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. It would kill her to see the pity shimmering in his eyes.
Drake stood, a mixture of confusion and shock rushing through his blood, cementing him to the spot. Perfect? Is that what she thought? That she wasn’t as perfect as Angelique? His hands clenched and unclenched at his side as he remembered the feel of her puckered scar beneath his palm. Silently, he called himself a blind fool.
When his breathing slowly returned to normal, he approached Hope, stepping in front so he stood between her and the sparkling, clear water. Her shoulders were trembling, though she was doing a valiant job of holding back her tears. He wanted to reach out and touch her, hold her, soothe away her fears, but he didn’t know how.