The woman reporter called inside her van before hurriedly following the dark-haired guy. Two others joined them with cameras.
“Ms. Wade?” the first man said hopefully.
Marley took a calming breath. “I want to make a statement.”
****
Justin watched Jordan weave toward the men’s room and wondered for the tenth time what the hell he was doing here. He looked at the half-empty pitcher of beer, then his full glass, and Jordan’s empty one.
It was the third night this week he’d let Jordan talk him into coming out with him. The third night he’d watched his brother drink himself into oblivion. The second night he would drag Jordan’s ass home. The first night, Colton had had the thankless job of dragging both their sorry asses home.
He’d have to remember to thank his friend. It wasn’t a fun job, and he didn’t want to do it on a regular basis, either. Yet he worried about Jordan and the habit he seemed to have formed rather quickly. It was the only reason he didn’t just leave.
A valid reason that also answered his earlier question. He was here because he couldn’t let his brother sit here and drink alone like some miserable, pathetic, drunken idiot. That, and, sitting at home left him way too much time to think about Marley.
Only the people around the bar didn’t look at them like pathetic idiots. Each night, when they realized who’d come through the door, there was a moment of dimmed conversation. Then the whispers started, quick glances snuck over shoulders, outright stares. The immediate mood near him and Jordan became accusatory.
And because he and Jordan were carbon copies of each other, except in their style of dress and a slight difference in haircuts, no one really knew which of the two had been arrested that night. They only knew one of them had been. So they stared at the both of them like they were evil reincarnated.
Justin didn’t give a shit, except for the fact that he saw it bothered the hell out of Jordan. It made Justin want to stand up and yell, “It was me. Leave him alone!”
But that would only draw more attention, so he remained silent and soberly endured their stares as Jordan drank. He’d tried to talk Jordan out of coming tonight, but his brother had insisted only people who had a problem drank at home alone. Justin didn’t believe that, but the look on Jordan’s face kept the truth unvoiced.
Jordan had enough to deal with right now without his brother accusing him of being a drunk, no matter where he drank.
Justin glanced toward the bathroom again, wiping his thumb through the condensation along the side of his glass. His gaze skimmed the room and then caught on the television screen above the bar. Thinking he must be imagining things, he blinked and refocused through the dim light. Nope, he wasn’t imagining a damn thing.
Marley’s beautiful face filled the screen.
He rose from the booth and made his way closer to the bar without taking his eyes off the TV. A spot cleared at the bar as he approached, but he ignored that, motioning for the bartender to turn up the volume. After a moment, and a dark scowl from Justin, the guy complied.
“…earlier today,” the news anchor said.
The screen cut to Marley standing on her front porch, speaking directly to the camera.
“After watching the news for the first time today since Dale and Diana Blake were arrested, I’m appalled by the citizens of Boulder and their actions. I grew up here and I love this city, and I never would’ve expected to see Justin and Jordan Blake treated the way I saw today. They’re being blamed for something their parents did, something they had no knowledge of. I only met them a few weeks ago, but in that time, I became friends with Justin Blake. He is a good, honorable man who did nothing wrong.”
Friends. Such an inadequate word for what she meant to him. She paused, and the camera zoomed in closer. He leaned forward, waiting for her next words with breathless anticipation.
“I know beyond a doubt that he and his brother are as much victims in this as my mother and the man that was killed. We all want justice, but the sins of their parents should not be laid on the shoulders of these men. It’s not right.”
Moisture seemed to brighten her eyes. Amazed she didn’t blame him, touched by her sincere defense, Justin felt tears prick his own eyelids. Self-consciously, he blinked them away.
“Marley, have you talked to Justin Blake since he was arrested?” a voice asked off camera.
Anger flashed in her eyes. “Why do you say it that way?” she demanded. “All charges against him were dropped. No, actually, none were even filed. Why is it you don’t say that over and over again in your news reports?”
“So you have spoken to him?”
Marley paused, then tilted her head slightly. A sad smile appeared briefly. “No, I haven’t spoken to him.” After a visible swallow, she softly said, “And that makes this even worse…because I miss my friend.”
Abruptly, she turned and went back into the house. The feed cut back to the reporter behind the news desk, who moved on to another story.
Stunned, Justin sank onto the nearest barstool. What he’d just witnessed was not the face of a woman who hated him for what his parents had done. Her expression today was the identical twin to what he’d seen that night at the job site. Before she went in. An emotion that he didn’t dare define but made his hope soar all the same.
He’d wanted to talk to her a million times this past week, had even driven past her house once or twice. Or five. But the news vans reminded him he had no right to disrupt her life just so he could feel better about what had happened, so he’d kept driving.
Nothing could stop him from seeing her now, and it had nothing to do with easing his guilt. He wanted a definition of the emotion in her eyes. He needed her definition.
Halfway to the door he remembered he had to get Jordan’s ass home. A feat, he soon discovered, more easily accomplished when Jordan was completely drunk instead of just past buzzed.
The hour hand had crept toward nine by the time he arrived at Marley’s house. Dusk settled in as the sun dipped behind the mountains to the west. Noting the news vans still parked in front of her place, he halted down the block. He didn’t relish the possibility of them plastering his visit all over the ten o’clock news.
It only took a moment for Justin to decide to sneak through a neighbor’s yard and go around to the back of the house instead of announcing his visit to all of Boulder. Then he felt like an idiot, sneaking through the trees in the lengthening shadows. He prayed no one saw him and called the cops.
Marley sat in a chair on the patio, mug in hand. The sliding doors appeared closed, drapes drawn. Seeing her made everything else in his life fade into the background. She was his sole focus.
A branch snapped loud under his foot. He jumped, swearing under his breath.
****
Marley heard the noise and couldn’t control a reflexive jerk of her hand. Hot tea sloshed over the rim of her mug to soak the front of her robe. After a muttered curse, she called out a warning to who she guessed was an overzealous reporter.
“You’re trespassing and I have a gun.”
A familiar chuckle reached her ears. “How could I have forgotten that?”
Marley froze. “Justin?”
“Hi.” He stepped through the bushes and hovered on the edge of the patio, as if hesitant about coming too close. Muted sound from Nate’s action movie filtered through the closed patio doors to her left.
“Did you put that thing away already?”
“I was bluffing. I thought you were a reporter.” She wiped at the tea spill, her pulse tripping so fast, she felt light-headed. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw you on TV.”
Her hand stilled. Their gazes locked and she lost the ability to breathe. He took a step closer.
“God, I’ve been dying to see you again, Marley.”
She frowned. “But, I thought…you said…”
“What?”
“You didn’t want to see me. What happened was my fault.”<
br />
“I never said that. Where’d you get an idea like that?”
Her gaze faltered.
“Who told you I didn’t want to see you?” he insisted.
“Jordan did. He said—”
A growl of annoyance rumbled from his throat. “Forget what my idiot brother said,” Justin ordered. “I’m here now.”
Yes, he was, but did she dare hope? She smiled hesitantly.
His gaze dropped to the front of her robe. “Did I do that? Sorry.”
She took a deep breath and said point blank, “It’s not your fault, Justin.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you. I should’ve knocked at the—”
She shook her head. “What they did—Dale and Diana—I don’t blame you at all.”
He swallowed hard and dropped his gaze. But not before she saw the guilt in his eyes. “I still feel responsible.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s what makes you you.”
On impulse, she closed the distance between them and pulled him tight to her. Arms around his neck, she buried her face against his warm skin. After a brief hesitation, he closed his arms around her, tightening them just short of crushing her ribs. This was where she wanted to spend the rest of her life, but when it came down to it…would he be able to stay?
“Besides what Jordan said, I didn’t come see you because I don’t want you to feel guilty about what they’ve done,” she whispered. “You take on too much, and if seeing me keeps it fresh…”
“I feel it whether I see you or not, but not seeing you is a hundred times worse,” he admitted, his breath stirring her hair. “I’m sorry about everything. I was so damn scared I wouldn’t be able to get them to leave. That I wouldn’t be able to protect you.”
He had been protecting her. Her heart swelled and she hugged him tighter. After a moment, she said, “You have to let it go, Justin.”
His chest expanded against hers. “I will. In time.”
“I’ve got lots of time.”
His hands rubbed up and down the length of her back. “God, I’ve missed you.”
Before she could agree, he dipped his head, searching for her mouth with his. Warmth radiated throughout her body, followed by a delicious tingle. Denied the chance to speak, she deepened the kiss, wanting him to know she craved the passion they’d shared a week ago. Justin’s fingers caressed her face before he drew back from the kiss and rested his hands on her shoulders.
“Marley.”
She caught her breath, only to lose it again when his serious expression gave her a nasty jolt of nervousness. Something was wrong.
“Somewhere in the craziness of all this, I fell in love with you.”
Her pulse went haywire. Of all the things he could’ve said, she hadn’t expected that.
“I know it’s only been a few weeks, and I don’t want to freak you out, but I—”
“Justin—”
“I had to let you know,” he insisted. “We can take it slow. Whatever you want. Well, assuming you want—”
“I love you, too.”
He looked surprised. “You do?”
“It shocked me, too,” she admitted with a grin. “That day I quit, I saw you in the office…I felt like I’d been hit by lightning.”
One corner of his mouth tugged up, quickly followed by the other.
“But that was the morning after Nate told me about your grandfather,” she explained. “I thought I could pretend I didn’t know anything, but it felt like a lie. I was afraid you’d want Nate prosecuted, so I said the first thing that came to mind.”
“‘I quit.’”
“I’d intended to say good morning.”
“I would’ve preferred good morning.”
She gave a half-laugh. “I thought if I didn’t see you every day the feelings would go away.”
“I’m glad they didn’t.” He captured her lips with his again. She pulled back this time and glanced toward the house.
“About Nate—no, let me finish. I know you have to do what you feel is right.”
He shook his head. “Something Dad said that night got me thinking.”
Marley frowned. “I don’t remember him saying anything about Karl.”
“I’ve listened to the tape a few times. There’s this part, where he mentions Granddad’s name. He started to say something like ‘it should’ve ended when I’, caught himself, and changed his words.”
“You don’t think…?”
Justin shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t want to know, really. Let’s just say I believe Nate’s telling the truth about Granddad being alive when he left. I don’t see how an investigation will make any difference. We’ve all been through enough, and it’s not over yet.”
Marley held her relief at bay and asked, “You’re sure?”
He nodded and pulled her close.
“What about Jordan?”
“You mean the interfering dumbass?”
She raised her brows. “I’m serious. Have you talked to him about it?”
“He’s heard the tape. He’s not ready to welcome Nate with open arms, but he doesn’t want more scandal, either.”
“How’s he doing?” she asked with concern.
“It’s hard for him, but I hope it’ll get better after the trial.”
Justin tightened his hold, and she leaned her cheek on his shoulder. She gave in to the temptation to press a kiss against his warm neck. When his hand rose to tilt her chin to his lips, it didn’t take long before their enthusiam threatened to flare out of control.
Reluctantly, she whispered, “Nate’s inside on the couch.”
“Hmm, okay.” He removed his hands from inside her robe and placed them on her shoulders. “So…if we can’t have any fun, there are other things we should talk about.”
“Yeah?”
“Well, you know I had a job before all this,” he began.
“Had?”
“Have,” he clarified with a smile. “In Toronto.”
“Toronto, Canada.”
“You know any other?”
She laughed, but quickly sobered when she realized he lived his real life in an entirely different country.
“I took a leave of absence, but it’s up in a few days. I’m sure I could ask for more time…”
When he didn’t continue, her chest tightened and her stomach turned. His expression had become so serious. She lifted her chin. “Are you waiting for me to tell you to stay?”
Justin smiled. “You could do that, however, I think I have a better idea.”
“Which is?”
He cleared his throat. “I’d been saving to start my own construction company, but now I’m hoping you’ll consider a partnership. I’m thinking we’d call it Blake Construction.”
Marley frowned. “You’re asking me to be your business partner and you want to name the company Blake Construction? How do you figure?”
“Think about it.”
She pushed against his chest and stepped back. “I don’t have to think about it, but no way we’d only use your name. It’d have to be Blake and Wade, or Wade and Blake. Considering you’ll have to cover the bulk of the initial investment, I guess Blake and Wade would be fair.”
Justin shook his head and moved forward to cup her face in his hands. “Marley, I love you. I want an equal partnership with you, and I’d prefer to use only one name. Think about it.”
The light bulb flared bright and a lump formed in her throat. Moisture burned her eyes. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
“What else would I be doing?”
She sniffed back the tears and smacked his shoulder. “Then just ask me! You know by now that I don’t go for all that read-between-the-lines-game-playing crap. If you want to—”
Another kiss shut her up for a long, delicious minute. Then his gaze captured hers with an intensity she felt deep in her soul.
“Marley Wade, will you marry me?”
She made him wait for a few seconds, until he shifted sligh
tly and revealed he wasn’t one hundred percent sure of her answer. Then she smiled.
“Blake Construction sounds perfect.”
A word about the author...
Wisconsin native Stacey Joy Netzel fell in love with books at a young age, so for her the graduation to writing them was natural. A member of Romance Writers of America and Wisconsin Romance Writers (WisRWA), she credits her parents for encouraging her dreams of becoming a published author, as well as the very talented friends she’s made in WisRWA since joining in 2004. Her books have received numerous five-star reviews from reviewers and readers alike, and her Christmas anthology, MISTLETOE RULES, took First Place in WisRWA's 2010 Write Touch Readers' Award.
An avid reader and big fan of movies with happy endings, Stacey lives in Wisconsin with her husband and three children, a couple of horses and some barn cats. She works part-time as a travel agent, and in her limited free time she enjoys gardening, canning, and visiting her parents in Northeastern Wisconsin (Up North) at their cabin on the lake.
For more information, go to
www.staceyjoynetzel.com
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