Montana Homecoming by Jillian Hart

Author:Jillian Hart
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2012-06-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“A relationship gone terribly wrong. That will make you want to leave town.” He took a sip of coffee, his pace leisurely beside her, taking his time as the wind ruffled his hair. “Is that what happened to you?”

Relief left her hands too shaky to lift her cup. Maybe she should just tell him the truth, confess where she’d spent most of her twenties. But did the words come? No, they stuck in her throat, refusing to budge. “Yes, I did have a relationship go bad. I was living near Miles City at the time.”

“He broke your heart?” Understanding radiated from him.

This man was dangerous. He could disarm her defenses with one caring look. Why couldn’t she stop it? She took a tentative sip of the steaming hot drink. Chocolatey coffee sluiced across her tongue. “We met in our senior year of high school. Darren was the new kid in town. Charming, funny, he just grabbed everyone’s attention. Even mine.”

“He was your first love.” Understanding layered his voice, as if he knew that particular malady.

“I fell so hard I didn’t hold back a single piece of my heart. I didn’t know any better.” So easy to remember that wintry day when Darren Adams had driven her home after volleyball practice. “I thought he was wonderful, that he could do no wrong. Love makes you blind.”

“It certainly can. Been there myself.” He raised his cup in a salute. “How did he break your heart? Lie to you? Cheat on you? Marry someone else?”

“He hurt me. I had just turned twenty when the blinders came off with such force I haven’t had a relationship since.” She stepped off the curb and followed the sidewalk across the street.

“He really hurt you.” She had to be a few years older than Colbie, so that put her in her late twenties. That was a long time for a woman to go without dating. Domestic violence, he figured. That had to be what happened, why sadness dimmed the brightness of her violet eyes. She brushed it off, shrugged her shoulders, making like it was no big deal.

But he knew. Whatever this force that connected them deepened, a tie between her spirit and his. She couldn’t hide her disillusionment. So that was why she’d kept her distance and stayed closed off. She’d been really hurt. As much as he hated that, at least he understood. Tension eased behind his ribs, tension he hadn’t even known was there.

“He deceived me.” Pain strained her voice, although she fought to hide it. “He betrayed me. I’m not sure I ever got over it.”

“I know the feeling. Sidney pretended to be an honest and trustworthy Christian, someone she wasn’t.”

“What happened?” She watched him with compassion so sincere he couldn’t stop from opening up.

“I fell in love with her. Mostly through texts and phone calls because we were always on the move with our jobs, but we got together when we could. I think that’s why I couldn’t see what she was.

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