Not.
The officer had noticed their exchange and was now match-making. Was she like this with all the victims?
“Sure.” Anything to be gone from here as soon as humanly possible. She looked at Wes. “I can drive you back to Honey Creek.”
He dipped his head. “I’d appreciate that.”
After the tow truck had left with Wes’s SUV and the prison worker had gone back into the building, Wes got into Lily’s pickup. As she started the engine, he covertly looked at her. She had thick, long black hair and a pair of amazing blue eyes. Her breasts were just the right size and shape in the short-sleeved collared cotton shirt she wore, and she looked nice in the knee-length jean skirt.
She started driving. He hadn’t argued over who should drive. He thought he should, but he also had the impression she needed the control…or the sense of it. He faced forward. The truck was quiet and she stayed focused on the road.
It was strange thinking of her as the wild and uninhibited woman she’d been before she left town. She seemed like such a lady now. Professional. Friendly, if a little nervous. He wasn’t sure if it was the accident or the real reason she’d come to the prison. He knew she hadn’t been telling him the truth when she said she’d come to see someone. She got a scared look when she’d told him. And the way she’d said just a friend signaled a lie. Just a friend, yeah, right. Whoever she’d come to see, he wasn’t her friend. Besides, that whole exchange with the prison officer had been weird.
He’d gotten good at recognizing when someone wasn’t on the up-and-up. Too many times he’d trusted his first impressions only to learn it was all a facade, especially with women.
Now he was more than a little curious about what had brought Lily to the prison. He’d make a call in the morning. He knew people at the prison.
“Have you always lived in Honey Creek?” Lily asked.
Good. She felt like talking. “No, I moved away after high school and joined the navy.” He didn’t want to get into his SEAL training. It had been a youthful impulse, but as soon as he’d grown up enough he’d realized the daredevil employment wasn’t really all that impressive. It didn’t pay well, either. Neither did being a sheriff in a little town like Honey Creek, but he liked the sense of community and being close to his family—however dramatic they could be at times.
“How did you go from the service to law enforcement?” she asked.
“After I was with the navy, I went through training and worked as a peace officer for a while. Worked my way up the ranks and then ran for sheriff here.”
“You’ve been back some time then?”
“A few years.”
She nodded conversationally.
He was glad she didn’t ask more about his background with the navy. “You have a daughter, don’t you?” he asked just in case, redirecting the topic.
The smile that formed on her profile was warm and lovely. The sight revved his interest. When he’d first seen her get out of her truck, he’d almost forgotten all about the wreck. She was tall, which he liked since he was six-two, and slender and she had smooth skin.
“Yes,” she answered. “May. She’s fourteen going on thirty. Or so she thinks.”
Wes smiled in return. “Sounds normal. I put my parents through hell at that age, too.”
“She’s adorable until she opens her mouth. And boys don’t have those hormones affecting their emotions.”
He chuckled. “It’s different, but I think the torment is the same.”
Now she chuckled. He liked the sound. It was soft and genuine.
“How long has it been since you left Honey Creek?” he asked.
“Fifteen years.”
That sparked his interest. “You were around when Mark Walsh was supposedly murdered.”
“Yes. I remember that.”
Some of the gossips said she’d slept with him, too. He saw her lips tighten and she adjusted her grip on the steering wheel, almost as if she were preparing herself for questions; or maybe she wondered if he thought what most others thought and didn’t like it.
“When was the last time you saw him?” he asked, watching her.
She gave him a warning glance. “Are you wondering if I knew where he went instead of dying like everybody thought?”
“I’ll try anything if I think it might help me find his killer.”
“The last time I saw him was at the post office with his wife, about a month before he died…or everyone thought he did.”
“He never contacted you after that?”
“No.” Her voice sounded sharper. She knew why he’d asked that question. The rumors. Could she blame him? He had no way of knowing unless he asked.
Before he could explain that, she added in the same sharp tone, “And just for the record, I didn’t sleep with him.”
He almost smiled at her defensiveness. He’d bet his badge that she was telling the truth. When some people lied, their defensiveness gave them away. But Lily’s was driven more by vulnerability. He wondered if she knew that about herself…that she protected her vulnerability with defensiveness.
The way his interest kept intensifying the longer he spent with her made him check himself. He believed her about Walsh, but how much of the other rumors were true? There were a lot. He didn’t want to involve himself with a Jezebel. But if the talk was exaggerated…
“Is it true you danced naked in front of the market on your twenty-fifth birthday?” he asked, making sure he sounded teasing.
She gave him two quick looks as she drove, without smiling. “Trying to find out if all the gossip is true?”
“What if I was?” He was serious now, because he really wanted her to tell him.
“I’d want to know why.”
“I think you know the answer to that.” He looked at her suggestively. He wasn’t asking in the capacity of sheriff.
She concentrated on driving. He waited for her to reply, but she didn’t. Maybe she didn’t like it that he’d asked. Maybe she wondered if he was like many others in Honey Creek, buying all the talk. He never took rumors to heart, but right now he wanted the truth.
“Aren’t you going to answer my question?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, you danced naked in front of the market?”
“And I went sailing for two weeks with a man I met in Vegas. Two of his friends went with us. I jumped from airplanes. I went on a safari in Africa and survived a hurricane in Barbados. I raced dirt bikes. I got in fights with other women. I even tried mud-wrestling.” She stopped talking and he found himself absorbing everything she said. She’d left a couple of things out. “Oh, and I drank a lot of whiskey, smoked pot and broke up a couple of marriages.”
Wes knew that one of the women whose husband she’d taken was still angry and not at all happy she was back in town. “The quilting group had a lot of fun with the sailing thing,” he said. And the rumors were X-rated.
Lily rolled her eyes. “I heard about that group.”
“Quilting’s just their excuse.”
He liked how that made her smile. But she didn’t say any more.
“Not going to comment on the sailing thing, huh?”
“What do you want me to say? It’s all true. Is that what you want to know? Is that why you’re asking me all these questions? Yes, I went sailing with three men.”
He stared at her. The rumors hadn’t been kind. She’d gone sailing with three men and had sex with all of them. More than once.
She looked over at him, her expression matter-of-fact. She wasn’t denying anything, nor did she appear ashamed. But he was pretty sure that was a cover-up. She wasn’t proud of her early adulthood.
“How did the quilting group find out about that?” he asked.
“I was friends with your sister Maisie back then.” She sent him a challenging look.
His older sister could get a little overbearing sometimes. “She does love a good tabloid tale.”
“She tried to turn me into one.”
/> “Sorry, but she didn’t have to try very hard.”
“I’ve changed since then,” she said, sobering.
“I’m starting to see that,” he said, making sure she saw he meant it.
Soft satisfaction made her eyes glow warmly and she resumed her concentration on driving.
“Why did you do it?” he asked.
“What? Behave that way?”
“Yes.” He didn’t want to hear any more about her sailing trip.
“You didn’t grow up in my household.”
Her father was a minister and her mother didn’t work. “Too strict?”
“Strict. Judgmental. Relentless. Yeah. Nothing I did was good enough. So I thought it’d be neat if I showed them what bad really was.”
He heard the regret in the form of sarcasm in her tone. “You wish you hadn’t done the things you’ve done?”
“Not everything. The safari was a great experience. So was rock-climbing and jumping from planes and even sailing, except for the company I had.”
Her hands adjusted on the wheel again, and now she seemed to be getting upset. He didn’t want to upset her, especially since he was enjoying this, and her. He didn’t question her further.
Looking ahead, he noticed they were almost at the outskirts of town.
“Will you just drop me off at the sheriff’s office? I have a Jeep I use for work there. I can drive that until I take care of my SUV.”
“Sure.” A few minutes later, she pulled to a stop in front of his small office, a redbrick building with white trim and a sign that said Honey Creek County Sheriff.
“It’ll be interesting explaining this to my deputies,” he said, more to keep her from leaving before he could ask her out on a date.
“If any rumors start that I had a tryst in Deer Lodge, I’ll know where it started.” She smiled, but he could tell she didn’t want that to happen.
“No deputy of mine would do that, and I certainly wouldn’t. I’ll just stick with the truth…I met this beautiful woman at Montana State Prison….”
She started laughing. Once again, the sound reached into him, this time strumming a stronger infatuation.
“Yeah, that would stir up a few questions.” She grew somber as she said it.
“Nobody needs to know we met there. I’ll just tell them you totaled my SUV.”
He loved the flirtatious glint in her eyes. “And you can tell them I wrecked you for any other woman.”
“You might have.”
Her eyes blinked in response, an indication of the flurry of thoughts, and, he hoped, some warming emotions his reply had set off.
“Do you have any plans Friday night?” he asked.
Her smile came and went on her face, as if the idea first tantalized her and then made her shy away. “You’re asking me out on a date?”
“Is that so hard to believe?”
“No…well, yes…I mean, you’re the sheriff.”
“Amazing, isn’t it? Me, sheriff of Honey Creek County.”
“I don’t mean that. It’s just…you’re… And I’m…”
“I’m a man and you’re a woman. Are you trying to tell me you’re…” He lifted his eyebrows and let his expression finish his meaning, even though he was teasing.
“No!”
“Then go out with me. Dinner. Friday night. I’ll pick you up or we can meet somewhere. Whatever you’re most comfortable with.”
She stared at him. And then turned and looked through the windshield.
“Come on. It’ll be fun. I can already tell,” he coaxed.
“I don’t know…”
“I promise I’ll behave.”
Finally she looked at him.
“Friday night. Seven o’clock,” he said.
Again, she seemed to waver between accepting and not. “I don’t think now is a good time. With all the talk around town…”
“All the more reason to go out with me. It’s like you said, I’m the sheriff. It’ll be good for people to see you with me.”
“Or bad for you to be seen with me,” she countered.
“I don’t care what people say. It’s the truth that matters.”
Her eyes grew soft with warming affection. Just what he wanted to see. He grinned. But she was going to turn him down. He could tell.
“Think about it,” he said.
She smiled a little and nodded. “I will.”
“Think hard.” He smiled.
She laughed, as soft as the look in her eyes. Damn, he liked her.
He opened the truck door and stepped out, turning to face her. “At least I know where to find you.” The library.
“Don’t you dare.” But her lovely smile proved she was kidding.
“See you soon, Lily Masterson.”
The last thing he heard before closing the door was another warm laugh. Feeling good, he headed for the office with a little extra verve in his step.
When he reached the door, he looked back. She hadn’t pulled into the street yet. She was still watching him with a soft smile. And that told him all he needed to know.
Chapter 2
“One of the boys at school asked me if I was as good as my mother.”
Damn. Would it ever stop?
Lily looked across the truck at her fourteen-year-old daughter. Her blue eyes and black hair mirrored her own. May was only five-four for now, but she’d probably grow another four inches to match her height, too.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. I walked away.”
“Good girl. What comes out of people’s mouths isn’t important unless it’s true.” Realizing that’s what Wes had told her, she shook off thoughts of him. “It’s your actions that mean more. You show them who you are. You don’t crumble.”
“You’re always saying that,” May retorted.
“Arguing and getting into fights isn’t the way to handle this.”
“But it’s true, what they’re saying about you.”
“Some of it used to be true. It isn’t anymore. They’ll see that eventually, as long as we don’t let them beat us down.”
“I don’t know why you wanted to come back to this stupid town. It sucks here.”
“Watch your mouth.”
“Everyone thinks you’re a slut.”
“Well, I’m not. And I told you to watch your mouth.”
“They call me a slut, too.”
Lily gave up. “You aren’t a slut.”
“I don’t have any friends because of you!”
That broke her heart in two. “You have Peri.” She was a cute little redhead that May said was an outcast like her.
“Peri is a dolt.”
Pulling to a stop in front of the school, Lily watched May’s face go grim with dread.
“Hold your head high and do well in your classes. You’ll meet some friends who won’t judge you the way the others do.” When May didn’t move to get out of the truck, Lily said, “Go on. You’re better than this, May.”
May turned her head and looked at her. “I don’t like it here.”
“We aren’t moving. We just got here.”
With a heavy sigh, May opened the door and hopped out.
“I love you,” Lily said.
May looked at her and didn’t say anything before slamming the truck door. Lily watched her until she disappeared inside the school building, and then drove away.
That was the hardest part about all the talk in town. She hated what it was doing to May. But they’d get through it. The talk wouldn’t go on forever.
She headed for Main Street. Bonnie Gene Kelley had called this morning and Lily had agreed to meet her. Parking, she got out and started walking down the street. Bonnie Gene had an uncanny ability to pry out whatever was bugging her. It had been a week since the hearing and still Lily was having trouble dealing with seeing Brandon in person.
Walking down Main Street, Lily was vaguely aware of people turning their heads to look at her. She passed the Corner Bar and jaywal
ked across the street toward the West Ridge Hotel. Next door was the Honey-B Café, where she’d agreed to meet Bonnie Gene. For once they weren’t meeting at Kelley’s Cookhouse, the restaurant Bonnie Gene and her husband ran.
Bonnie Gene was one of two people in town Lily trusted enough to call friends. She had stuck by her through everything over all these years, starting out as more of a mother figure, but as Lily grew older, their friendship had grown. She was the only person who knew about Brandon.
Lily wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. As soon as Bonnie Gene discovered she’d testified at Brandon’s hearing, she’d picked up on how badly it was affecting her. And Bonnie Gene didn’t take no for an answer once she made her mind up about something. So, whether Lily liked it or not, which this morning she didn’t, she had to meet her friend for breakfast before heading to the library for work.
The thought of eating breakfast soured her stomach. She’d just die if the parole board decided to release Brandon after the agony of her testimony. He hadn’t done a very convincing job pleading his case. As far as she was concerned, he’d been cold and deliberate, stating that he’d received treatment while incarcerated and he was reformed and ready for society. He’d even had a plan. Move back to his hometown in North Carolina and work for his dad’s remodeling company.
Ready for society. More like ready to hunt down more women in society. He’d just come out of a fifteen-year drought. Surely he was eager to assuage his evil cravings. She hoped the parole board hadn’t been fooled.
Pushing open the door to the café, Lily looked around for Bonnie Gene and spotted her at a table, waving a hand, her dark brown hair brushing her shoulders. For a sixty-four-year-old, she still looked good. Lily went toward her, dreading having to talk about Brandon. She sat across the table, seeing Bonnie Gene’s light brown eyes soften with sympathy. Sometimes sympathy was worse than anything else. She wished people would just treat her like a normal woman.
“I’m all right,” she almost snapped.
“Don’t get all defensive with me,” Bonnie Gene said. “I know what this is doing to you.”
Lily felt her shoulders sag and she leaned back in the chair. A waitress stopped by the table.
“Nothing for me,” Lily said.
The Librarian’s Secret Scandal Page 2
