She tipped her head to one side and studied him. “Interesting question.”
He knew
damn well she thought he’d been avoiding her. And, honestly, he wasn’t so sure she was wrong. But the point was that she should be on the defensive here, Cam reminded himself. Yet somehow, she’d turned things around until he felt as if he should be explaining himself to her. Well, the hell with that.
“Yeah, I don’t hide. Never did. I don’t care what other people have to say,” he pointed out. “Unlike some.”
Anger zipped across her eyes, and he silently congratulated himself on scoring a point. Weirdly, he realized that not only had his attraction to her remained sure and strong, but a streak of bitterness filled him, as well. Fifteen years hadn’t been enough to take the sting out of her betrayal.
“That was a long time ago,” she said quietly, obviously aware of their rapt audience.
“Doesn’t feel so long.” Hell, she still wore the same scent. Flowers and mist and the scent of a rain-drenched day that reached out to grab him by the throat and hold on. He really hated that.
Her gaze narrowed. “It does to me.”
For a heartbeat or two, their gazes locked and the tension arcing between them was almost a living thing. Cam felt it. He knew she did, too, though she’d never admit it. Memories rushed into his mind. Nights wrapped together in the back of his truck. Plans for a future that would never happen. And, finally, the last conversation they’d had all those years ago.
That memory dropped ice chips into his heart that were almost enough to quench the blistering heat he felt at simply being near her.
Beth broke first. She tore her gaze from his, glanced at a slim gold watch on her left wrist, and then looked at him again. This time her green eyes were blank, reflecting nothing of what she was feeling. Cam wondered idly when she’d learned to do that.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I have an appointment. But of course, welcome home, Cam.”
Her welcome was as cool as her tone. He turned to watch her go, his gaze dropping to the curve of her butt and the nearly hypnotic way it swayed with every step. His body stirred, and silently Cam cursed the fact that Beth Wingate could still turn him into a drooling fool.
But he was older now. Wiser, too, by a long shot. There was no way in hell he would allow Beth to tear his future apart as she had his past.
* * *
Beth couldn’t stop shaking.
For the last week, since she’d heard he was back in Royal, she’d been preparing herself to see Cam Guthrie again. And all of that preparation had gone right out the window the minute his eyes had met hers. Sitting there at the bank president’s desk, she would have sworn she’d felt the temperature in the room rise a few degrees, just from Cam’s presence. She’d felt his gaze on her as strongly as she would have a touch, and the instant she’d seen him her heartbeat had jumped into a wild gallop.
His dark brown eyes were filled with shadows. His black hair was cut shorter than she remembered, and he wore a well-tailored suit as easily as he had worn jeans and scuffed boots back when he was the center of her world.
Beth took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. It should have been easy. More than a decade since she’d laid eyes on Cam should have meant that seeing him would be like running into an old friend.
But she’d been fooling herself. Cam hadn’t been her friend. He’d been everything. Until that last night. When she’d discovered that what a man said and what he did were sometimes two different things.
Now he was home and she’d be dealing with him all the time. How was this fair? Why hadn’t he stayed in California? Then she thought that maybe his wife’s death had been enough to drive him from the state that was no doubt filled with memories of the two of them together. Had he missed Julie so much? Had he loved her more than he’d ever loved Beth? Because he’d come back to Texas, where he had to face her every day and that apparently didn’t bother him.
God, she had a headache. Rubbing at the spot between her eyes, Beth reminded herself that nothing had to change because he was here in Royal. There was nothing between them but for the bittersweet memories they shared of being too young and reckless to realize that love wasn’t always enough.
“Fifteen years, Beth. Neither of you are the same people you used to be.” Wise words. Now all she had to do was listen to her own good advice.
The early summer sun blasted down on her until she felt as though she was about to combust. Internally, fires were burning while, externally, the Texas heat was only making things worse. She stopped under a bright blue-and-green awning stretched over the florist shop window and hoped the shade would help lower her body temperature.
“It would take more than that,” she muttered, and shot a quick glance around to make sure no one had overheard her.
On the busy Main Street, she was alone and she wondered how everyone in town could be going on about their business as if the world hadn’t just shifted. Cam was back. He was gorgeous. And treacherous. Sexy. And faithless.
Looking into his eyes had cost her every ounce of self-control she’d worked so hard to develop.
“Hi, Beth!”
She jolted, looked up and nodded at Vonnie Taylor as she pushed her twins past in a double stroller. Beth ignored a twinge of envy as she watched the woman hurry down the sidewalk and reminded herself that she had a rich, full life and she didn’t need a man or children to fulfill her. It was true of course, but a part of her still yearned.
Not for Cam, though. That was over and done a long time ago. A few stray thermonuclear hormone reactions notwithstanding, she was fine on her own. Hadn’t she just a month ago told Justin McCoy that she wasn’t interested in a relationship? Not that the man listened at all. They’d been dating for months and Justin was pushing for more of a commitment. Which was exactly why she’d told him they should take a break from each other.