The Librarian’s Secret Scandal

by Jennifer Morey

  But Wes’s call to the new agent had produced nothing new on the money-laundering operation. He was tired of all the dead ends he’d encountered since finding out Mark Walsh had been murdered—for real this time.

  His cell phone rang.

  He put the BlackBerry to his ear. “Wes.”

  “Sheriff,” one of his deputies said. “We got a call from Jolene Walsh this morning. She wants to meet you.”

  “Did she say why?”

  “No. She insists on meeting with you personally. Only you.”

  Jolene had been among those he’d considered potential suspects, but there was nothing concrete to connect her to Mark’s murder. She’d been married to Walsh before he’d vanished fifteen years ago, and he hadn’t been a model husband.

  “Tell her to meet me at the office in two hours.”

  “She asked me to tell you to come to her house as soon as possible. Like now.”

  “She just wants me to drop everything and come to talk to her? Did she say why?”

  “Only that it had something to do with Mark Walsh, and she’s afraid to come to you because she doesn’t want Mark’s killer to get suspicious of her.”

  That made him take his foot off the gas pedal. “Did she say anything else?”

  “No.”

  “All right. I’m on my way.”

  He turned onto a side street off Main and turned around. As he came to the stop sign at Main, he saw Lily enter the Honey-B Café. He checked the clock on his stereo. A little past noon. Impulse took over. It had been days since he’d seen her.

  What harm would it be to make Jolene wait about an hour?

  He parked on the street and walked toward the café.

  Opening the restaurant’s door, Wes searched inside for Lily. She was at the checkout counter and the cashier was handing her some change.

  “It’ll be just a few minutes,” the cashier said.

  “Why don’t you make that two?” Wes asked, stopping the cashier midturn.

  “Afternoon, Sheriff. What kind of dressing would you like with your salmon salad?”

  Anything other than a salad would have worked. He looked at Lily, whose blue eyes blinked up at him. He turned back to the cashier. “Make that a Philly with cheese.”

  The cashier grinned. “You want that to go, too?”

  He looked back at Lily, who still seemed surprised to see him…or was she happy to see him and trying to cover it up?

  “Why don’t you stay and join me?” he asked.

  Her eyebrows lifted. “Uh…I—I was going to take it back to the library.”

  “I’m sure the library will be fine without you for an hour. Come on. There’s a table over by the window.”

  She looked there.

  He turned to the cashier. “Will you have our lunch brought to us over there?”

  The cashier sent Lily a disapproving glance before turning back to Wes with a stiff smile. “Of course.” No doubt she was miffed that the sheriff of Honey Creek County was cavorting with the likes of Lily Masterson.

  Wes wondered if his lunch with Lily would make it around to the quilting group. He stepped aside and held his arm out, indicating her to precede him, hoping she would. She hesitated, but—much to his satisfaction—walked toward the table.

  Sitting across from her, he watched how she quietly analyzed him.

  “You don’t give up easily, do you?” she asked.

  “Not when it matters.”

  That won him a soft smile. “Don’t you have work to do?”

  “Yeah, but it’s lunchtime. A sheriff’s got to eat just like everybody else.”

  “So you just happened to decide to come here for lunch?”

  He liked the flirty light in her eyes. “Are you wondering if I followed you?”

  She fiddled with the cardboard menu display in the middle of the table. “Did you?”

  He chuckled. “No. I was driving out of town after a call from my deputy, and I turned around to head the other way when I saw you.”

  Setting aside the cardboard display, she said, “So you did have work to do.”

  “It can wait.”

  A waitress came with glasses of water, eyeing the two of them.

  “Where were you going?” Lily asked him after she left.

  “Just following up on a possible lead.”

  “About Mark Walsh?”

  He never discussed his investigations with anyone not directly involved. While he didn’t want to make her wary by being too secretive, Lily didn’t need to know any details.

  “Possibly,” he said.

  “Can’t talk about it, huh?”

  “Not yet.”

  She sat back and observed him, no longer fiddling. He didn’t try to hide the smoldering effect the sweetness of her attention had on him, especially when she relaxed like she did now. He sat back like her and treated her to the same appreciation.

  “You’re beautiful like that, you know.” He couldn’t help telling her.

  She smiled. “Like what?”

  “When you let your guard down.”

  “My guard is down?”

  “You know it is.”

  Her eyes lowered, a hint of coyness, and then lifted to meet his again. “I think it’s sweet that you came in here in the middle of a busy workday.”

  “And yet, you won’t go out with me.”

  A breath of a laugh escaped her, soft and brief. “If you keep this up, you just might get your way.”

  That appealed to him immensely. He wanted to ask her if she liked being chased, but thought better of it. No, she would not like being chased. That wasn’t what this was all about. She needed time. And she needed him to take things slow.

  “Thanks for letting me know,” he said.

  He watched her study him and felt her curiosity build, as if his patient pursuit of her was beginning to open a closed door. He liked that. He liked that a lot. Once she opened herself to him completely, he’d be one happy man. Winning her trust would be one of the most gratifying things he’d ever achieved. Only with Lily, he couldn’t really call it an achievement. Gift was a better word. Her gift to him. He wanted that so much, for her to want to give him that.

  “Have you ever been married?” she finally asked.

  And the question jarred him. He hadn’t expected her to ask him that yet. Was she ready for this? The dating questions.

  He was making progress. “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I haven’t found the right woman yet.” Maybe he was picky. Maybe he just worked too much. But one thing was for sure. He wanted to get it right the first time.

  “How many relationships have you been in?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t?”

  He hadn’t thought about it. “What do you mean ‘relationships?’” He could understand her need to interview him, and he wanted to do well.

  “Anything that went beyond a few dates.”

  “I’ve had a lot of those. Most lasted three months.”

  “You’ve never had a longer relationship?”

  “Yes, I have. I was with a woman for four years in my early twenties, and then I was with another woman for two years. That ended a little over a year ago.”

  Leaning forward again, she fiddled with the salt and pepper containers, uncomfortable again. He didn’t like that.

  “Are you afraid of commitment?” she asked.

  “Only when I think I’m in danger of committing to the wrong woman.”

  “And who would that be?”

  Was she worried he might consider her one of the wrong ones? If not now, then down the road? No one knew for sure what would happen as a relationship grew. “I think you know when you know.”

  “But what are you looking for? What was it about those other women that didn’t work for you?”

  “My first relationship ended because we were just too young to know what we wanted. The other…” He wished he hadn’t brought this one up. It wasn’t
something she wanted to hear, he was sure.

  “What?”

  “It just didn’t work out.”

  “Why not?” She smiled as his hesitation went on for too long. “Were you too different?”

  “No. We got along. At first anyway.”

  “Then what was it?”

  He picked up his water and sipped, taking in her playful expression.

  “Sex?” she asked.

  Now he wanted to squirm in his seat. When was the last time a woman made him feel like that? When was the last time anyone had made him feel like this? Cornered. Uncomfortable. Second-guessing himself. Maybe it was her history. He didn’t want to offend her.

  “It must have been sex.”

  He put his water down. “Do we have to talk about this?”

  She laughed and he imagined part of the old Lily was resurfacing. That was encouraging. He didn’t want her to be uneasy with sex because of her experience, so the fact that she could talk this way was a positive sign. But he wanted to be careful.

  “It must have been good because you stayed for two years.”

  “It was good until it stopped,” he confessed.

  “Stopped, as in…you went days without it? Weeks?”

  “Days I could handle. It was months.”

  “That is a long time. But you stayed.”

  “For a while.”

  She contemplated him as if she were studying a diagram in a page from a textbook. “How important is sex to you?”

  The waitress appeared next to their table again, her eyes shifting back and forth between them again. She put their food down. “Can I get you two anything else?”

  “No thanks,” Lily said.

  Wes shook his head.

  When the waitress left, Lily looked expectantly at him.

  So, he wasn’t going to get out of answering her question. He kept his voice down. “As important as it is to anyone. She lost interest and I wasn’t connecting with her anymore. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. She just didn’t have the courage to be the one to do something about it.”

  Lily nodded her understanding. “Sex is overrated.”

  Fighting the instinct to talk about her past, he chose his words carefully. “Not if you’re with the right person.”

  Her gaze met his and darted somewhere across the café.

  “I take it you haven’t found that yet,” he said. He didn’t think he was pushing boundaries since she’d been the one to broach this personal, intimate topic. Besides, a little pushing just might be what she needed.

  “I’ve never been married if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Afraid of commitment?” He softened that with a grin. Let her know he was teasing.

  She smiled back. “No.”

  “How many relationships have you had since you left Honey Creek?”

  “Not very many. Three short-term ones and a few dates. I have May…”

  He knew better than to press her about never being married by forty. He already knew why anyway. “Why didn’t they work out?”

  “The guys ended up leaving.”

  Because of sex? She’d already hinted she hadn’t had great sex. Anybody who said things like “sex is overrated” couldn’t have experienced it the way they should.

  She began to seem uncomfortable so he didn’t say anything about that. He was curious about one thing, though.

  “What about before you left Honey Creek?”

  “What about it?”

  There was that sassy defense mechanism that always surfaced when she faced down her past and all the rumors.

  “I don’t mean to pry—” even though she had with him “—but you seem so different now. I can’t help wondering…” He let the rest hang. She knew darn well what he was asking.

  “What?” she challenged him. “You want to know if I had good sex? Well, all right. I’ll tell you. Yes, I had fantastic sex. I loved it back then. Couldn’t get enough of it. Satisfied?”

  Was she telling the truth? “I’m sorry.” And he was. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “You didn’t.” Her tone dripped with derision.

  He just lifted his brow, the only sign he’d give that he knew she was upset.

  She turned away. “I’m not that girl anymore.”

  “I know. You’re someone much more mature and interesting.”

  When she faced him again, he saw that she’d mellowed some.

  “And I’d be lucky to be the one to make you love it again.”

  “I don’t want to love it like that again.”

  “It would have more meaning now.” Because it would just be with one man instead of several. But he knew better than to voice that fact.

  Her defensiveness slipped away with the return of her flirtation. “You seem awfully sure about that.”

  “Like I said, I’d be lucky.”

  She contemplated him, as though wondering if he’d say that if he knew what he was up against. Maybe she also wondered if it was even possible to enjoy sex again. He’d give it his best. He dreamed of the things they’d do together.

  But first things first. He hadn’t even convinced her to have dinner with him yet.

  The warm humming sensation that hadn’t abated since leaving Wes at the café energized Lily’s stride as she entered the library. She supposed that conversation was her fault since she’d been the one to bring up sex. But she’d genuinely wanted to know about him. The way a man answered questions like that said a lot about his character. Wes had passed that test…except for the part about not getting enough of it. Could she even keep up with him? His drive might be different than hers.

  Why was she thinking like this?

  She passed the checkout counter and went into her office, going to the window.

  I take it you haven’t found that yet.

  She’d known he wasn’t asking about her marital history when he’d said that. What if he was right?

  The idea of having a normal sex life scared her. But talking to Wes made her wish for it.

  “You’re settling in just fine, it would appear.”

  Lily turned and saw Mary Walsh standing there, red hair and pretty amber eyes shining.

  “The library looks great,” Mary said.

  “Everything’s running smoothly. No problems with personnel, either.”

  “Yeah. You have some good ones here.”

  Lily knew Mary hadn’t stopped by to check in on her for this reason, but she played along. “How’s Jake’s new security business going?”

  “Started out slow, but things are beginning to pick up. Damien’s release has helped.”

  Lily smiled at the sarcasm she heard in her friend’s tone. But at the same time it reminded her that Brandon was going to be released soon.

  “Maybe I should give him a call,” she said absently.

  “Are you afraid of Damien, too?”

  “No.” Too late she realized her blunder. “It’s just…with all the talk…”

  “Yeah. That’s why I wanted to stop by. You holding up all right?”

  “Yes. A little gossip never hurt anyone.” Well, not physically anyway.

  “A little gossip, huh? Is it true you’ve been seeing Wes? I never make a habit of trusting what this town goes ape over.”

  “I wouldn’t say I’m seeing him.”

  “Do you want to?”

  “I’m not sure. He’s seven years younger than me.” And she was dealing with so much right now.

  “He’s not that much younger. Jake is six years older than me.”

  Call her old-fashioned, but it was different when the man was older. “I can handle a couple of years of difference, but seven…it seems like a lot.”

  “Wes is a nice man. He isn’t after a twentysomething hottie. He and Jake got to be pretty good friends. I think you two would make a great couple.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence. You’re probably the only one in town who thinks that.” She laughed to cover the hurt th
at reality caused.

  “No, I’m not. Bonnie Gene thinks so, too.”

  “Okay, so there’s two of you.”

  Mary laughed this time. “That’ll pass. You know how this town can be.”

  Boy, did she ever.

  Emily appeared in the doorway, holding a vase of red roses. “This just came for you.”

  “Wow,” Mary cooed.

  “Delivery guy just left.” Emily smiled a huge smile.

  Lily was stunned. Had Wes done this? Already? He must have called right after he’d left the café. Unless he’d called before he’d gone into the café? That made more sense.

  “Wow is right.” She took the flowers by the vase.

  She turned and placed the vase on the desk in front of her chair and sat down. There was a card. She slipped it free of its plastic holder and opened it up.

  Roses are red and so are you.

  Lily reread the card. What did it mean? It wasn’t signed. If Wes sent these, he had a weird sense of humor.

  What if it wasn’t Wes?

  “Lily? Are you all right?”

  She looked at Mary. Who would send red roses other than Wes? Was this a practical joke? Roses cost a lot of money. Who would spend that much on a practical joke?

  Maybe it wasn’t a joke.

  A chill accompanied the realization, running down the skin on her arms and sprouting goose bumps on her thighs.

  Mary walked to the roses. “Who sent you those?” She read the card and turned to Lily.

  Lily shrugged. “Someone who doesn’t like me.”

  “You should call Wes.”

  She didn’t want to do that. “It’s probably just someone in town messing with me.” Someone who didn’t want her here? That was three-quarters of town. It would be next to impossible to figure out who sent them.

  “It’s not funny, Lily.”

  “I’m not laughing.”

  “Call Wes.”

  “I’ll think about it.” If she called him, it might give him the wrong message. She didn’t want to encourage him by leading him to think she was using the flowers to get closer to him…appeal to his protective nature.