Her Hometown Redemption

by Rachel Brimble

  Tanya hesitated before slumping her shoulders. She smiled. “A Diet Coke would be great.”

  Lucy nodded. “And a muffin. You cannot come into Marian’s and not have one of her cakes. It’s against the law.”

  “Fine.” Tanya laughed, her eyes soft as she stared at Lucy. “A muffin it is.”

  Marian cleared her throat. “Why don’t you and Liam grab that booth over there and Lucy will bring your order right over once I’ve fixed it.”

  For the love of God. Liam turned and glared at Marian. “I wasn’t planning on staying.”

  She smiled sweetly. “’Course you were. Now go and sit down, the pair of you.”

  Marian held his gaze before abruptly turning and busying herself with the coffee machine. Taking a deep breath, Liam faced Tanya. She steadfastly met his gaze, her eyes blazing with determination. “I’m game if you are.”

  He lifted his shoulders, unease prickling the hairs at his nape. She didn’t look happy.

  Liam glanced toward the door, his shoulders tense. “I would, but I’m leaving to meet someone.”

  “I was kind of hoping we could talk the next time I saw you.”

  He turned. The hope in her eyes prodded at his heart like a red-hot poker. When she was like this...vulnerable, open, silently surrendering to the fact she needed other people, the attraction he battled so hard only grew. Dropping his shoulders, he touched his hand to her elbow, steering her a little distance from the counter. “There’s something you should know.”

  She frowned. “What?”

  “I’m meeting Jay Garrett for lunch.”

  “Why?”

  He held her gaze. “You know why.”

  Annoyance flickered in her dark eyes. “I thought we agreed—”

  “Jay’s a good man. He might tell me a little about Davidson with no need to go through the red tape we would speaking to the police.”

  She studied him for a moment, before exhaling a shaky breath. “I’ve spoken to Sasha.”

  Relief swept through him. “And?”

  She glanced toward Marian and back again. “Let’s take a seat.”

  He smiled softly in an effort to allay some of the nervousness in her eyes. “Hey, I’m glad you’ve spoken to her. If we go to see Jay—”

  “We?” A little of the anxiety left her gaze. “I can come with you?”

  His defenses toward her weakened further. “Yes.”

  She slid her gaze over his face, her eyes soft with gratitude. “After what I told you over the phone, I didn’t think you’d want to help me anymore. Thank you.”

  Their eyes locked and Liam’s desire for her grew. His study dropped to her mouth and the need to taste her again swirled through his gut, amazed that he wanted her with the exact same heat he did eight years ago before he knew nothing of love or broken hearts.

  He glanced briefly toward the counter. “Stay here a second.” He approached the counter. “Marian? Can you make that three muffins to go?”

  Marian shot a glance toward Tanya and a smile lit her face. “Absolutely.”

  Before he could respond to the implication in her tone, Tanya joined him at the counter and gently touched Lucy’s arm. “Could we put a hold on my Coke? I need... There’s somewhere I have to go with Liam. I’m sorry to leave you in the lurch. Here.” She dropped a key in Lucy’s hand. “You go back to the office after lunch and carry on with the window. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “There’s no need for you to apologize. You’re the boss.” Lucy slipped the key into her pocket. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Three honeycomb muffins to go.”

  Liam turned and dropped some coins into Marian’s open palm before taking the paper bag, pointedly ignoring her lewd wink. “Thanks.”

  Turning his back to her, he gestured for Tanya to lead the way.

  She walked ahead of him, and he took the moment to admire her fabulous figure shown off by the long, flowing skirt and tight tank top she wore. Sexy. Her clothes were so far from her past uniform of stern, stark business suits and plain white blouses, he didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or sink to his knees and unbutton her skirt with his teeth.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  TANYA STARED THROUGH the window at the passing bed-and-breakfasts, town houses and boutique shops as they sped through town in Liam’s car. Familiar places and sights touched and tugged at her, reminding her of the good times she’d spent in Templeton as well as the bad. This time around she would see Templeton as she should’ve seen it all along...through Sasha’s eyes. Her sister was good and right, happy and in love, despite everything she’d suffered. Sasha was still the best person anyone could be—and once Matt Davidson was imprisoned, both Tanya and her sister would be free to start over.

  “You okay?”

  Tanya blinked and turned. Concern filled Liam’s gaze as he glanced at her before he faced the road once more. “You zoned out on me.”

  She swallowed. “I was thinking about Sasha.”

  “Oh?”

  “It was Sasha who caught me when I hadn’t been able to keep up my professional and personal facade any longer.” She took a strengthening breath and slowly exhaled. “After endless phone calls and concern from her, she eventually visited me, determined to see me face-to-face.” She gave a wry smile. “Little did she know, the first time she saw me, I’d be lying in a hospital bed.”

  He glanced at her. “You could’ve called me, you know. Anytime.”

  She huffed out a laugh, shame pinching hot at her cheeks. “Do you really think I wanted you to see how I’d failed? That leaving Templeton...leaving you...had brought me none of the success I’d assumed, only collapse? I loved you, Liam. You were the last person I wanted to see me that way.”

  His jaw clenched and unclenched as he stared ahead. “Right.”

  Her heart kicked painfully at the connotation of that single word. He didn’t believe she loved him...cared for him. Tears threatened and she snapped her gaze to the side window. “After coming to visit me for days, Sasha took my hand in hers and shared openly every moment of her childhood terrors in an effort to get me to understand what the human psyche was capable of overcoming.” She turned, stared at his handsome profile. “More important, how capable the human heart was of forgiveness and love, if someone really wants to change or make a difference.”

  He turned.

  She smiled softly. “I’m grateful you’re here and still willing to help me.”

  His gaze dropped to her mouth before he faced front once more. He cleared his throat. “When you told me about the breakdown, I didn’t know what to say.” He lifted his hand from the steering wheel and gripped her hand. “But from now on, everything’s going to be all right.”

  She squeezed his fingers, her heart filling with a joy she hadn’t known for so long. “I hope so.”

  He exhaled. “Did you really love me, Tanya?”

  She stiffened. “What?”

  “It’s a simple question.”

  Simple? There was nothing simple about that question. Her heart ached. “Yes. Very much.”

  He turned and locked his gaze on hers. His eyes shone with hurt behind his glasses before he looked to the road. “I loved you more than anything.”

  She closed her eyes. His voice was full of accusation. She’d made some gargantuan mistakes, but allowing him to blame her solely for how they separated had to stop. “You can’t keep going over the way I walked away.” She opened her eyes, and forced what she wanted to say out of her mouth. “I’m tired of beating myself up about what I can’t change. You can’t keep tossing the entirety of blame at my feet for everything that went wrong between us. Yes, I left, but would have I done that if things had been really solid between us? My ambition and need to prove myself might have hurt you, but my decision to l
eave wasn’t just about you. I had to find out who I was away from the Cove.”

  “Fine, but why just walk away? That’s what I don’t understand and, goddamn it, Tanya, I deserved more than that from you. We had so many talks about the future. Were you acting through all that?”

  Tears burned. “Of course not. I thought being with you and staying at the Cove was what I wanted. But my mother said things that made me realize I wanted more. You’re right. You did deserve for me to come and talk to you, but once I decided to leave I was afraid you’d change my mind...afraid I’d look into your eyes and stay. I’d started to believe if I stayed in Templeton, my life would become the same lonely, bitter mess as my mother’s. I wanted more, and to me, back then, more meant getting out of the Cove. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

  Seconds passed.

  Finally, he nodded. “Okay.”

  Tanya slipped her hand from his and slumped into her seat with no idea what his “okay” meant. Did he understand? Forgive her?

  She turned to the side window and sent up a silent prayer that her explanation might have moved them at least a little closer to the friendship she hoped for. “Sasha has given me her permission to find Davidson.” She faced him. “If we do, she’ll stand up in court and tell the world what happened to her. If she’s brave enough to do that, I’m brave enough to do whatever it takes to find him.”

  He glanced at her, his gaze boring into hers. “So am I.”

  He winked and Tanya’s heart turned over as she smiled.

  They drove awhile longer until Clover Point came into view.

  Tanya frowned as Liam pressed on the gas, driving the car up the ever-increasing incline toward the apex of the Point. “Is this where Jay lives now?”

  “He owns the cabin at the very top.”

  “Wow. That place is beautiful.”

  He turned, and the smallest of smiles lifted the corners of his mouth for the first time since they’d left the bakery. His gaze roamed intently over her face. “It certainly is.”

  Heat pinched her cheeks and Tanya looked down at her hands. The tone of his voice implied her beauty as much as Jay Garrett’s home. She quashed the flicker of hope that dared to ignite inside her. Liam had told her he’d loved her and she’d admitted his love wasn’t enough to make her stay. She didn’t deserve anything romantic from him. Yet when he kissed her...

  Liam’s powerful car climbed the highest hill surrounding the Cove. Jay was Templeton’s wealthiest man, so it should’ve come as no surprise that he owned the town’s most luxurious cabin. Liam pulled to a stop in front of it. The house looked every penny of its—at last count—estimated worth of one point five million pounds.

  Liam extracted the keys from the ignition and yanked on his door handle.

  Tanya gripped his arm, halting him. “Wait. I want to show you the photo Scott gave me before we go inside.” She reached inside her bag and pulled out the picture of what she hoped was Matt Davidson and Sasha. “You went to the fair in the old days as much as Scott and everyone else did. You might recognize him.”

  He pulled the door closed.

  She handed him the photo. “Here.”

  Liam took the picture and Tanya’s heart pounded with misplaced hope that the man in the photograph wasn’t Davidson at all, and instead someone Sasha and everyone at Funland had known. She wanted the happy, smiling, possessive expression of the man with his hand on her sister’s shoulder to be a man who cared, whom everyone trusted. Instead of the man who was the enemy, who’d had the intention to hurt Sasha, and whose actions sent her life in a direction she’d now accepted but none of the people who loved her could have predicted or prevented.

  Liam shook his head. “I’ve never seen this guy in my life.” He met her eyes. “This could be Davidson.”

  Tanya nodded and took the picture, purposely refusing to look at it as she slid it back into her bag. “Do we show his picture to Jay?”

  “Let’s see what he can tell us first.”

  She took a fortifying breath. “Okay, then let’s go.”

  They got out of the car and Tanya followed Liam toward the Garretts’ front door.

  He knocked and turned to face her. “He’s expecting me to be alone, but I got you, okay?”

  Tanya smiled. “I know you do.”

  The door opened behind him and Liam turned. Tanya pulled back her shoulders and waited as Liam held out his hand. “Jay, good to see you.”

  “You, too.” Jay shook Liam’s outstretched hand before turning to Tanya, his gaze cool but his mouth curved into a smile. “Tanya, good to see you again.” He tilted his head toward the house. “Come on in. I’ve thrown some sandwiches together because it’s too damn hot for anything else. No problem making up another plate.”

  Tanya glanced at Liam and he winked. She released her held breath as they followed Jay into the house.

  Jay spoke over his shoulder as they walked through a huge open-plan living room toward the kitchen. “We’ll eat outside in the garden. Hopefully we’ll catch some fresh air.”

  Tanya stared. The house was as beautiful inside as it was outside. Wooden beams crisscrossed the ceiling, and the soft burnished browns and reds of the furniture and cushions all kept within the alpine theme of the cabin. Candles, shelves crammed with books and dishes holding an array of potpourri or ornamental crystals added the right touch of femininity and comfort.

  Liam laughed. “This heat getting to you, by any chance?”

  “The heat is getting to the whole town.” Jay grimaced. “Which means Cat is up to her eyeballs in teenagers letting off steam and I’m up to my eyeballs in tourists. It should be beneficial financially, but having Cat come home with violence in her eyes is enough to make a man wish for year-round winter.”

  Tanya smiled as they followed Jay outside. It would be interesting to meet his wife when the time came.

  As much as she’d tried not to gawp when Jay led them through an enormous gleaming kitchen she suspected Liam would happily have died in, nothing could have prepared her for the view of Templeton from the back of the house. She stared at the colorful vista as something eerie shivered up her spine. The Cove looked almost too perfect.

  Nothing was perfect. Including Templeton.

  Jay cleared his throat behind her and Tanya turned. He gestured toward a patio set consisting of a circular hardwood table, oversize umbrella and chairs. “Grab a seat while I rustle up another sandwich and get another glass. Help yourselves to water. I won’t be long.”

  He disappeared into the house and Tanya looked at Liam. He came closer and stood beside her at the railing. “How do you want to do this?”

  She curled her fingers around the wood. “I think it would be best if you tell him the situation. Jay knows and trusts you...whereas the opposite is true of me. Regardless of him knowing me years ago, I’ll be a stranger in this town for a few months yet.”

  “Hey.”

  She frowned. “What?”

  His gaze lingered at her lips before meeting her eyes. “Whatever happened in the past, I’m going to help you find Davidson, okay? After that...” He drew in a long breath, his gaze languidly running over her face once more. “We’ll figure out everything else.”

  He walked away and Tanya’s mind raced, her heart pounding. Liam’s eyes had looked straight through her to her very core. Once again, she’d wanted him to kiss her, to lean in and touch him as though he was still hers to touch. She briefly closed her eyes before joining him at the table.

  Jay emerged from inside the house. “Here you go. Sandwiches as promised.”

  He lowered onto one of the vacant seats and poured himself a glass of ice water before nodding toward the jug and glasses laid out on a tray. “Help yourselves.” He drank. “All joking aside, my businesses are doing well, thanks to this amazing summer we’re having, and Ca
t’s keeping a handle on any problems that arise of the criminal kind. Not that there has been anything serious happening for a while.” He raised his eyebrow, looking first at Tanya and then Liam. “Unless the reason you’re here changes that, of course.”

  Liam briefly glanced at her, his eyes full of confident determination, before facing Jay. “If I say the name Kyle Jordon, will you throw me off this deck?”

  * * *

  LIAM KEPT HIS gaze locked with Jay’s even as his friend’s smile vanished.

  Jay frowned. “What do you want with Kyle Jordon?”

  “It’s not Kyle I’m interested in but one of his past employees at Funland.”

  “His employees?” Jay’s frown deepened. “Why would I know anything about them? The fair has nothing to do with me. Never has.”

  “No, but...” Liam hesitated, debating how much he could reveal in front of Tanya without breaking client confidentiality.

  He’d helped Kyle’s son, John, now Sasha’s fiancé, turn over pretty much the entirety of Kyle’s earnings to the Garretts in the hope Jay would do some good with all the evil Kyle had caused. Now Liam relied on that help, provoking a favor from Jay. He hoped he delivered. “Did Cat share any Funland employee files with you at some point?”

  “Employee files?”

  Liam poured a glass of water as he gathered the right words. “Or mention a Matt Davidson to you?”

  Jay leaned forward, his eyes dark with suspicion. “What’s this about, Liam?”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but Tanya got there first. She cleared her throat, revealing her tension. “Matt Davidson worked at the fair during the summer, sixteen years ago.”

  Jay shook his head. “I still don’t understand what that has to do with me. I can’t share any police information with you.” He blew out a breath. “Even if I wanted to, Cat would slice my balls off if I said a word without her say-so.”

  Tanya moved as if to touch Jay’s arm where it lay on the table and then abruptly drew back, gripping her hands in her lap. “He molested Sasha, Jay. He molested her and he’s still out there.”