Her Hometown Redemption

by Rachel Brimble

  A whimper escaped her lips, and he slowly opened his eyes.

  What the hell am I doing?

  He abruptly released her and stepped back. Their harried breaths joined before Liam whirled away and pushed his hands into his hair. “I can’t do this.”

  “Liam...”

  He raised his hand, his back still turned to her. “No, Tanya. I can’t. It’s bad enough you’re here, but starting something with you would be too hard.”

  The silence stretched before she released a shaky breath. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to kiss me.”

  She’d gotten off the cabinet and stood before him, wringing her hands and darting her gaze from his to around the room. Her uncertainty wrenched at him and his need to distance himself from her suddenly vanished as though she’d reached in and yanked it straight out.

  He fisted his hands on his hips and exhaled. “What did Marian say to you?”

  “Well, she called me a pussycat, for a start.” She huffed out a laugh and wiped her fingers under her eyes. “That was a first from anyone.”

  He couldn’t meet her smile. He wanted answers. “I saw her come in here this afternoon. You looked scared just now. Something I never thought I’d see. What did she say to you?”

  Her gaze lingered a moment at his lips before she abruptly turned and walked to her desk. “That I need to show the people my ugly before I can expect to move forward.”

  “She’s right.”

  “I know.” Standing behind her desk, she crossed her arms in a feeble act of defiance, considering the panic so clearly etched in her gaze. “I shouldn’t have left as I did, but I was scared.”

  He frowned. “Scared?”

  “Of you.”

  Liam dropped his arms and stepped closer. “Me?”

  “Yes. Of what we had. Of what I felt for you. You were becoming more important to me than anything, and Mum had drummed into Sasha and me that love doesn’t last, money does. I was scared of losing everything I’d worked so hard for. Now I know just how stupid I was because ultimately, I lost you and everything else.”

  Liam tried to fight the urge to walk out. How could he when there was so much unfinished business between them? Hating his need to have everything tied up in nice little boxes, Liam shook his head. “Okay, let’s get out of here.” He moved across the room and plucked her purse from an old-fashioned coat stand by the door. “We’re going back to my place. I’m going to cook you dinner and we’re going to talk. Properly.”

  “What else is there to say? I’ve said I’m sorry.”

  He spun around and glared, his anger and frustration returning. Her cheeks blazed red and panic shone in her gaze, but there was no way she wouldn’t be telling him more. Tonight.

  “No more lying to me, Tanya. Something’s wrong. I’m not questioning if this is where you need to be. I’m questioning why you look so damn sad and nervous. Since when have you been afraid of anything or anyone? You’re in trouble. This isn’t all about you and me and what we had before. If you want my friendship back, you’ll level with me. If you can’t do that, I walk out the door and you don’t speak, look at or touch me again. Now, what’s it to be?”

  Her study ran over his face, lower to his chest before she met his gaze. Liam clenched his jaw and pretended not to notice the way her eyes had darkened with unmistakable hunger.

  “Fine.” She snatched a bunch of keys from her desk. “Your place it is.” She shot him a loaded stare before coming around the desk and brushing past him through the door.

  She stood on the sidewalk, her brown eyes glinting with determination. She looked phenomenal. So like the woman he remembered and loved. Ignoring the hum of angry arousal simmering in his gut, Liam picked up his briefcase and joined her on the sidewalk.

  She locked the door and faced him. “So, where are you living now?”

  He glanced at her breasts. If only he didn’t know how she was in bed...if only he didn’t know her, period. He snapped his gaze to hers. “I’ve got one of the cottages over on Melonworth Drive. Come on. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can feed you.”

  She gave a curt nod and stepped ahead of him across the street. Liam watched her go before sending up a silent prayer for the strength to get through the next couple of hours and whatever it was Tanya would soon tell him.

  CHAPTER SIX

  TANYA’S NECK AND shoulders ached with tension as Liam pulled his car to a stop outside one of a row of picture-perfect cottages on Melonworth Drive. A twenty-minute drive from Templeton’s town center, the pretty cul-de-sac was the epitome of Englishness. The house was beautiful, his car sleek and expensive, his suit professionally tailored. Intimidation inched into Tanya’s stomach and sat there like a lump of lead. Look at his life now and look at mine...

  He cut the engine and silence fell.

  Looking at him from the corner of her eye, Tanya waited. He stared straight ahead, his forehead creased with a frown and his jaw tight. Neither of them had mentioned their kiss since it happened, nor how they felt about it now. For her, the warm, soothing sensation of his lips still lingered on her mouth like the soft, sweet taste of cotton candy. No matter how sentimental and ridiculous the notion, she was all too aware of how much she would relive the kiss for days, maybe even weeks to come.

  It had been a moment of weakness on her part; she had no idea what it had been for him.

  She met his steady, unreadable gaze. “Changed your mind? Because if you have, I can walk back—”

  “I haven’t.”

  She swallowed, hating how her relief lightened the weight in her stomach.

  His gaze dropped to her mouth before he turned and stared through his side window at the cottage. “It feels surreal you are about to enter a house that once upon a time I thought would be ours rather than just mine.” He faced her. “You do know by inviting you into my home, I’m opening more than one door, right?”

  Unease rippled through her. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, despite how I might have acted since you’ve been back, I still care about you. I want to help with whatever it is going on with you, if I can.”

  She smiled, tentative joy speeding her heartbeat. “Thank you.”

  He nodded. “Just don’t let me down. I need to know everything or nothing.”

  Her mouth dried. Was this some sort of ruse that she’d blindly walked into? Did he expect her to bare her entire heart and soul to him right now? She opened her mouth to respond, to tell him she needed more time, more confidence, when he yanked on his door handle. He was out of the car in a flash and Tanya snapped her mouth closed.

  What choice did she have but to go with him? Who, if not Liam, would believe her remorse for her actions both in Templeton and since? She had to do this. She had to share at least some of what had brought her to this sorry, lonely point. If she messed this up, she had no one else to lean on, and goddamn it, no matter how much she told herself she could go it alone...alone was lonely.

  Taking a deep breath, she got out of the car and walked to Liam’s garden gate. He stood at the open front door waiting for her. As she walked up the paved walkway, she cast her gaze over the neat and tidy garden, bursting with color. The cottage roof was thatch and the windows latticed. It was beautiful. So far from what she expected Liam’s home to be, yet suited to the confident, almost mysterious man Liam seemed to be today.

  Whereas chaos had once ruled supreme in Liam Browne’s life, Tanya now sensed a deep sense of organization and control. Something she’d said she needed from him eight years ago when she lived her life that way. How the tables had turned...

  When she reached him, he held her gaze. “I hope you like dogs.”

  Surprised warmth spread through her. “You have dogs?”

  He grinned, devotion clear in his eyes. “
Three.”

  “Three?” Tanya raised her eyebrows and glanced around the regimented garden. “How is that possible when you have such a perfect garden?”

  “They’re well trained in the art of doing as I say, just like my clients.” His smile faltered and his blue eyes darkened behind his glasses. “Unfortunately, other people I know take longer to fall into line.”

  The insinuation was clear and Tanya smiled. “Maybe it’s just as well I’ve come back to challenge you on this dictator thing, then.”

  His eyes flashed with amusement before he stepped over the threshold and held out his arm, gesturing her inside. Tanya entered the hallway and her breath caught. The place was stunning. Dark wood paneled the walls, and landscape prints, or maybe even original paintings, dotted the space and lined the wall leading upstairs. She glanced at the titles of the leather-bound books that filled the floor-to-ceiling bookcase beside her. A sucker for the Tudors, she smiled to see biographies of past kings and queens between volumes of law books.

  At least they could talk about the merits of Henry VIII’s reign if all else failed.

  Liam brushed past her toward a closed door at the end of the hallway. He paused with his hand on the doorknob. “You ready?”

  Tanya stiffened. “For what?”

  He waggled his eyebrows and she breathed in his playfulness like oxygen. Before she could match his smile, he pushed open the door and a mass of white, black and golden fur raced toward her with a barrage of scratching claws along the hardwood floor. “Oh my God.”

  The dogs—large, medium and small—crashed into her legs, sending her teetering backward from a trio of wide-open mouths and slathering tongues. Tanya gripped the edge of a radiator and held on for dear life.

  “Max, Domino, Luther, down. Now.” Liam’s voice boomed from the walls and the dogs immediately halted and fell from their hind legs to a much safer four-pawed stance.

  Laughter bubbled in Tanya’s throat. The dogs’ demonic smiles were fabulous. “They’re...they’re...”

  “Well trained.”

  She met Liam’s soft gaze and her heart flipped over. His eyes sparkled with laughter and his smile was wide. “They only bite if I tell them to.”

  “They’re beautiful.” Risking another barrage of licking, Tanya straightened and held out her hand to pet the dogs. All three of them collapsed onto their backs, their legs akimbo and their bellies exposed. She laughed and sank to her haunches. “Ah, all male. I should’ve guessed.”

  Liam’s laughter slipped over her body like a soothing balm, easing some of the tension in her neck and shoulders. She fussed with the dogs, keeping her gaze firmly averted from Liam.

  He cleared his throat. “Follow me into the kitchen, and I’ll see what I can throw together for dinner.”

  When his footsteps faded, Tanya squeezed her eyes shut, her hand still cocooned in the long golden fur of Liam’s retriever. She gathered every ounce of strength she had to get through this next hour, two hours...or however long Liam invited her to stay, or she could withstand.

  “Tanya?” Liam’s call filtered along the hallway. “You coming?”

  “Sure.” Exhaling, she pushed to her feet and the dogs scrambled up, too. “Come on then, you lot. Let’s see what Daddy has in store for us, shall we?”

  The dogs entered the kitchen ahead of her and Tanya halted at the doorway. “Wow.”

  Liam turned, pride glowing in his eyes. “You like it?”

  “I assume you can cook and it’s not all for show?” She stepped into the room and ran her hand across the granite work surfaces as she walked to the central island. She touched one of the brass saucepans suspended on a rack above her. “You actually use all this stuff?”

  He laughed. “Of course. In fact...” He came toward her and reached for a pan. “Tonight I’ll be using this...” He reached past her left ear, his gaze so succinctly on hers, her heart picked up speed. “And this.”

  He winked, and Tanya cursed the girlish loop-the-loop in her stomach. He returned to the stove, carrying the pan and colander. The musky scent of his aftershave and the bulk of his shoulders, less the suit jacket he’d discarded when she was in the hallway, messed with her senses as much as her head and heart. Did he realize what he still did to her? Feel her attraction in their kiss? God, did he know how much she wanted to avoid ever hurting him again? No matter how much she might want to get close to him.

  “So...” Liam’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Have a seat and start talking.”

  The tone of his voice was still soft and cheerful, but he hadn’t forgotten why she was there and clearly wanted to make sure she hadn’t, either.

  Inhaling, Tanya slid onto one of the three bar stools lining one side of a central island and clasped her hands tightly in her lap. “I’ve no idea where to start.”

  He moved to the refrigerator and stood in front of the open door, his back turned. His shoulders were high, and when he reached inside, Tanya relished the movement of muscles and sinew in his back. He turned, holding a pepper and onion in one hand, and sealed tubs of what looked like cooked chicken and grated cheese in the other. He elbowed the door shut. “Why don’t you start by telling me what you’re running from and we’ll take it from there?”

  * * *

  LIAM SHOVED HIS guilt into submission. He was a lawyer. Questioning people was what lawyers did. He might have been only starting to get his act together when Tanya left, but he’d kept at his studies and finished university even after she’d gone. Not just that, he’d gone on to get a place in chambers, and ended up with his own firm before the age of thirty-one. Maybe he owed her his gratitude for believing in him years before, but he had zero intention of going easy on her until she told him the truth.

  Depending on what she told him, he would decide his reaction.

  Self-preservation was key. Trust was paramount. He intended to protect himself and others from Tanya’s previous agenda of obtaining her ambitious goals and cold hard cash whatever way she could...regardless of who got hurt in the process. Time and again, they had argued about her pulling away from people in the Cove, of creating distance when once upon a time there had been very little difference between her and Sasha’s personalities.

  Liam clenched his jaw. He’d always loved their similarities—still did. Tanya’s impulsiveness, her abrupt decision making were partly what had attracted him to her in the first place. She was so very different from him that the excitement of being with her was too much to resist.

  It wasn’t until that decisiveness turned ugly that the cracks had started to show in their relationship.

  He swallowed hard and concentrated on laying the food on a chopping board. The fear in her eyes had jolted him, made him feel again, but it would take a lot more to break down the defenses her previous ambition had built so high and impenetrable.

  The wall clock beat the passing seconds along with Liam’s pulse.

  The dogs circled his legs, their mouths open and damn near salivating as they tried to get a look at what he was doing on the counter. For the first time in a while, he didn’t scold them for begging. He didn’t want a single word to pass from his lips before they passed from Tanya’s.

  She looked down at the surface in front of her where she lazily drew invisible circles with her finger. “What makes you think I’m running?”

  He released his held breath. “If you’re not running, why choose Templeton? Whatever’s going on has to be bad for you to cite the Cove as somewhere to hide, considering your past derision of the place.”

  She looked up but didn’t speak, her expression unreadable.

  Annoyance prickled as Liam held her gaze. “Your mum’s gone. Sasha’s gone. You never liked the town, its people or our...quote, ‘slow, inconsequential way of life,’ unquote. I cannot think of a single reason you have for coming back here.�
� Including me.

  He nudged the dogs out of the way with his knee and moved to the stove. He took a knife from the block beside him and set to the task of chopping the pepper and onion.

  She coughed, the sound nervous. “It was part of the deal.”

  He clenched his jaw, released it. Chop, chop, chop. Money. It was always money. “What deal?”

  “Sasha sold Funland.”

  “And?”

  Her bar stool scraped across the tiles. “Is there anything for a girl to drink around here?”

  Avoidance. He stopped chopping. He turned to her stunning profile as she looked around the kitchen. Why did she give up on them? She was back in Templeton because it was her true home...where she belonged. Liam swallowed. He’d known it before and he knew it now.

  He pointed the knife at the wine rack. “Grab a bottle of red. There are glasses in the cabinet.”

  She seemed to hesitate before extracting a bottle. “Just a small one.”

  While she opened the wine, Liam cracked some eggs into a pan, let them cook awhile before he added chicken, chopped pepper, onion and grated cheese. His gaze fell on the colander and a smile tugged at his mouth. Grabbing it had been unnecessary and entirely self-serving, but he’d wanted to edge closer to her, wanted to see her reaction when very little space separated them. Wanted to gauge if she felt the same electricity that hummed through his blood whenever he was within ten feet of her.

  As stupid and dangerous a contemplation was of kissing her again, the dilation of her eyes had told him all he needed to know.

  The heat was still there for both of them.

  Impatience for further explanation from her grew as he moved the omelet around in the pan. He was just about to break and speak again, when she leaned against the counter beside him. He forced his gaze to remain on the pan.

  She pushed a filled wineglass toward him. “Sasha would only loan me the money from the sale of the fair on the condition I come back here to start again.”

  The eggs crackled and bubbled, and when he turned the omelet over, the spatula he held ever so slightly trembled. Was there ever any other motivation than money for her? He glanced at her as he slid the first omelet onto a plate. Laying the spatula on the pan, Liam picked up his wine. He took a sip, watching her over its rim. “You keep saying start again, but what happened to never wanting to see the Cove since you left?”