Fatal Memories by Tanya Stowe

Author:Tanya Stowe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-05-31T13:30:11+00:00

* * *

They worked side by side. Dylan hummed, trying to distract himself from Joss’s closeness, but it didn’t work. He was acutely aware of her every movement. The light summery scent of cucumbers. How she touched the horse, with her graceful fingers stroking it as she might a cherished treasure. Long white fingers, softly rounded nails—they looked as if they should be stroking piano keys, not the shiny gold coat of a horse.

Yet another discordant image. Joss was one giant puzzle. Mixed images. Lost memories. Brave but terrified. Strong but helpless. She was different from his “hotshot,” the woman he’d met weeks ago, but the same in many ways...the ones that counted. He knew she was hiding something...still, she had innocent ways.

But there was nothing innocent about the things she brought to life inside him. She made him yearn for things he couldn’t have, had turned his back on years ago. Those thoughts were pointless and painful, and they needed to stop. Right now. He needed to get on track, but he couldn’t take his gaze off the sight of her slender, graceful hands as they smoothed over Goldie’s flank.

His jaw clenched and he brushed a little too vigorously. Patches neighed softly and shifted. Gritting his teeth, he patted the animal’s side. “Sorry, fella.”

He needed a distraction.

“His name is Patches. And this one—” he pointed to Joss’s horse “—is Goldie.”

“Patches to match the gray spots.”

“Yep. Not very original, but my sister was only eight when she named them and they were ponies.”

“They were her horses? Both of them?”

A tactical error. The tenderness in her voice brought back all the feelings he was trying hard to put away. Her knowing tone brought an edge to his voice. “Yes. She raised them from colts. She was good. Could have been a horse trainer if drugs hadn’t killed her.” He intended his tone to be harsh...like the truth.

“I see why you couldn’t get rid of them.”

Did she see...really see? Did she know what it was like to get a phone call in the middle of the night? To hear your mother sobbing in the background. Your father’s broken voice calling you home. Did she know what it was like to look down on the battered, pale, dead body of a little sister he could still see climbing onto the fence so she could reach Patches?

Joss watched him with eyes like the cloudy gray sky outside. The gaze was open but troubled. The empathy in those beautiful eyes told him yes, she did understand that kind of pain. That’s why she didn’t want to remember.

He didn’t want to remember either. After tossing the brush to the bench, he wiped his hands down his pant legs. “Let’s go for a ride.”

Her pink lips parted. “I don’t think I know how.”

“I’ll teach you. Besides, these guys are getting older. They’re over fifteen now, so not quite as rambunctious as they used to be. Let’s get out of here.”

His tone brooked no argument. Beth’s saddles rested on the stands in the same spot where their father had placed them years ago.

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