Where the Heart May Lead: A Clean Romance (Harlequin LP Heartwarming)

by Elizabeth Mowers

  “I know, I know. I’m sorry. It’s just...stress.” She snuck a quick glance at Lucy and then turned for the kitchen. “Can I get anyone anything? Drinks?”

  Paige shook her head. “Can I help do something, Mara?”

  “No. I need a minute. Excuse me.”

  Charlie winked at Paige and followed Mara into the kitchen as Lucy tagged behind him. Paige swirled the ice in her glass and mused how concerned Charlie was about his little sister. She wished she had had someone like that in her life when she was growing up. But just as quickly as she had begun to feel blue, she reminded herself that she’d found Aunt Joan and Uncle Craig and been quite happy for the last ten years.

  “He’s a good guy,” Tully said as if reading her mind. She nodded.

  “It sounds like he has some things to figure out with his plane.”

  “Ah, he’s only been back a short time, and the weather is beautiful. What’s the rush?”

  “I like your attitude, Tully. What do you do when you’re not hanging out with Charlie?”

  “Did he tell you we hang out a lot?”

  “I guessed.”

  “I’m happy to have him back.” Tully lounged on his chair and smiled at her for several moments. “I’m a detective.”

  Paige’s lips thinned. “As in the police?”

  Tully chuckled. “You didn’t expect that, did you?”

  She forced a laugh as the hair began to stand on the back of her neck. “No. I can’t say I did, Tully.”

  “Most people don’t. I’ve been told it’s my demeanor. I’ve been called a teddy bear more times in my life than I can count, but I guess that’s why I’m so effective.”

  Paige’s throat clenched as if merely speaking more words would draw his attention to what she had done in her past. Nothing could be worse than talking to a cop.

  “Huh...good...good for you. What sort of cases do you cover?”

  “Whatever crops up.”

  “Do you get much crime in Roseley?”

  “We have a low crime rate, certainly, but a high-profile case pops up now and again. People are people, no matter where they live. Theft...vandalism...assault...missing persons...”

  “Missing persons?”

  “Had a case just last year. It turned out well, thank goodness.”

  “Good,” Paige croaked, realizing she had a death grip on her tea glass. “And you enjoy it?”

  “I was made for it. See... I like sizing folks up without them knowing I’m doing it. Interesting creatures...people. When it comes to crime, sometimes the culprit is the last person you’d ever suspect.” He stood and turned the shish kebabs on the grill, a brief distraction as Paige scrambled for what to do next. “These shouldn’t take too long, Paige. I hope you’re hungry.”

  “I... I’m actually not feeling all that well.”

  Tully’s face scrunched in concern. “I hope it wasn’t something I said.”

  Paige forced another laugh, but her voice sounded foreign, grating against her nerves. Her head was speeding a thousand miles a minute. It was time to go. Now.

  “It could be the heat, Tully. That happens to me from time to time. I get too much sun and don’t balance my electrolytes and my stomach lets me know it. I thought the iced tea would help, but I think I should get going—”

  “Paige!” Lucy called desperately from inside the house. “Paige, come quick!” Paige sprang to her feet and made her way into the house as Tully followed. She and Tully made it to the living room just as Charlie and Mara emerged from the kitchen. Mara sniffled and smeared tears from under her eyes, but her body stiffened when she spotted the others.

  “Paige, I don’t get it,” Lucy said, holding up a small card. The contents of Paige’s purse lay scattered at her feet. “What does this mean?”

  “Lucy,” Mara said. “Did you go through Paige’s handbag?”

  “I didn’t! Leapsters knocked it off the couch and her wallet fell out. I was just putting it back when it flipped open by itself and—”

  “By itself?” Mara said as Charlie took the card from Lucy. Paige broke out in a cold sweat as she instantly recognized it as her old driver’s license. He studied it for a moment before handing it to Paige. She slid it quickly into her back shorts pocket and hurried to grab her purse.

  Mara stood next to Lucy like a hen rearing to peck. “You shouldn’t have looked in her wallet, Lucy. You know better than that.”

  “But why does it have a different name with Paige’s picture?”

  “Say you’re sorry to Paige,” Mara said.

  “But, Mom—”

  “I mean it.”

  “But—”

  Mara insisted. “Lucy.”

  Paige wanted to assure Lucy it was okay and that she wasn’t angry and that she was a good little girl. She wanted to tell her the entire truth, but in that moment, from the shock, all she could do was stand frozen as her old driver’s license burned a hole in her back pocket.

  “I’m sorry, Paige,” Lucy said through a quivering lip. “It was mostly Leapsters’s fault. I want to go to my room now.” She sprinted to her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

  “I’m sorry,” Mara said. “I think she’s been picking up on my stress. I can’t imagine what made her rifle through your purse like that. It’s not like her at all.”

  “Ah, she had a momentary lapse in judgment,” Charlie said. “She’s a good kid.”

  Paige slung her purse over her shoulder, eyeing the three of them.

  “It’s fine,” she said. “It didn’t bother me at all. Please tell her I’m not upset and I...” But before the words were fully out of her mouth, she caught Tully’s stare. His jolly demeanor had changed. For the first time since she’d met him, she felt as if he was now sizing her up.

  “Let’s get dinner started,” Mara said. “We’ll let Lucy cool off for a few minutes, and then I’ll go talk to her.”

  “I’m not feeling well,” Paige said. She glanced between Charlie and Tully. “I’m so sorry to leave before dinner, Mara. It smells delicious.”

  Mara studied her. “Let Charlie drive you.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll ride my bike.”

  “Don’t be silly, honey. If you don’t feel well—”

  “Thanks, Mara, but I’ll see myself out.” Paige waved sharply and beelined for the door, uncertain if she would ever return. If Tully suspected anything fishy about her now, he was a person with the means to dig deeper and discover what she’d done. He’d ask Charlie about the name on her driver’s license as soon as she had pedaled down the driveway. If she was smart, heading back to Ohio within the hour was exactly what she should do.

  But leaving Lucy on such a sour note made her wince. She didn’t want to end it like that when she didn’t know what the future held for either of them.

  She could sense Charlie following her down the front walk and to the back of his pickup truck where her bike was stored. When she turned to face him, she spotted Tully watching from the doorway.

  “I’ll get it,” Charlie said. His tone was serious, a quick departure from the Charlie she’d been getting to know, and it filled her with deep regret. Why on earth did she still have that old license in her wallet? It had been hidden in the secret sleeve behind her other cards, but apparently was still easy enough for a child to find.

  She shifted her weight as he pulled her bike from the bed of his truck.

  “Thanks, Charlie.” He nodded and slammed the tailgate. “I’m sorry I can’t stay for dinner but I—”

  “It’s fine.”

  Though the evening sun was still shining brightly, and a warm breeze teased her senses, Charlie’s cold shoulder gave her a sudden chill.

  “Charlie, thanks for inviting me to Mara’s—”

  “I hope you feel better,” he said dryly as she hesitated with her ha
nds at the handlebars.

  She gazed up at him, finding his eyes wanting. She knew she didn’t owe him an explanation about the driver’s license, but his crestfallen expression made a place deep in her soul ache. As much as she wanted to come clean and tell him every little detail of who she was and who she had been in the past, she’d been conditioned the last ten years to do the opposite. Her safety and Lucy’s safety had depended on her complete diligence to the idea that she should reveal nothing—to anyone—ever.

  Words would fail her now, as much as she wanted to say something to get the old Charlie back. Desperate for anything to bridge the divide rapidly expanding between them, she patted her bicycle.

  “You know, I really shouldn’t ride home without my helmet, Charlie. A deal is a deal.”

  He stopped short. “Don’t tell me you’re going to wear it now.”

  “If I had it with me, I would.”

  He snorted to imply he didn’t believe her. “Don’t take your safety seriously just because I want you to.”

  “It’s kind of you to care so much. I haven’t had many people in my life who really care like you. If you drive me back to my motel, I’ll be sure to wear it from now on.”

  He drew a contemplative breath and nodded. Something in his demeanor softened slightly and Paige could catch a spark of the Charlie she had come to adore over the last couple of days. Without speaking a word, he hoisted her bike back into the truck bed. Paige slipped into the front seat and gave the most innocent, friendly wave she could to Tully, now stationed at the window. He lifted his hand as Charlie backed the truck down the driveway, but he didn’t retreat into the house for as long as she could see him.

  * * *

  CHARLIE GRIPPED THE top of the steering wheel and tried to concentrate on anything rather than Paige. He was having more trouble reading her from one moment to the next. First, she seemed happy to come for dinner, then she wanted to bolt from the house, and now she was cozying up to him—well, verbally anyway. Whatever was going on with her had to stop. He couldn’t afford to get hurt again.

  Then there was the driver’s license. It was long expired. The name was different. He hated to ask and seal his participation in some sort of charade with her he couldn’t understand, but as he caught her glancing over at him, he knew he was already in too deep.

  “Are you some sort of secret agent or something?” he said. It was meant as a joke, a way to break the ice and find out what the heck was going on, but she laughed a little too hard. It made him cringe.

  “Is that what you think?”

  “No.”

  She looked out her window for a few moments before whispering. “Maybe I am a spy.”

  He pulled off the main drag and cut toward the sports shop. It was in the opposite direction from her motel and when he did it, he noticed her tense.

  “Nah. You’re too kind to be a spy.”

  “What do you think then? I can tell you’re curious.”

  Charlie drove for a while in silence, considering what it was he did assume about her alternate name. After a minute he pulled the truck around behind the shop close to the beach and cut the engine. He eased back in his seat and noticed her fingers flex on the tops of her thighs as well as how she had sucked in a breath. He didn’t want to let her off the hook. He wasn’t the serious type, but he wanted someone to think twice before lying to him. He had to guard himself a little more intensely so he wouldn’t fall into a similar situation like he had been in with Crystal. Perhaps Paige wasn’t the one, like he had thought, and fate had sent her to remind him of that hard-learned lesson.

  “I’m going to ask you this one time, and I want you to be honest with me. If you can’t be honest, then we’ll end this right here and now. You can go about your life, and I can go about mine. We’ll part as friends.”

  She nodded. “Fair enough. But first, can I ask why you brought me here?”

  He looked out over the horizon as the sun inched closer to the water. Maybe he was a hopeless romantic at heart and was betting that she was the kind of woman who you could depend on. And if she wasn’t, this place would soften the blow.

  “I have my reasons.”

  She stared at her hands for a moment before looking back up into his eyes. “Okay, Charlie.”

  “Is Willow Beckett your real name?”

  Paige cringed at his question, or was it at the sound of the name? He couldn’t be sure, but he could tell he was verbally ripping off an emotional Band-Aid.

  “Yes,” she said in a barely audible whisper.

  He frowned and readjusted in his seat. “I don’t understand. Is Paige Cartman a pseudonym? A pen name of some sort?”

  “Paige Cartman is my legal name now. I changed it a long time ago.”

  “You didn’t like Willow?”

  “I still have a lot of baggage from my mother raising me, but changing my name was at least one thing I could control when I became an adult. I wouldn’t have to deal with her or that name anymore.”

  He searched for deceit in her voice, any inkling that it wasn’t the truth. He mentally kicked himself for dredging up her past. After what happened with Crystal, he didn’t want to be paranoid, but he knew he couldn’t trust himself the way he once had. He needed to know the truth.

  “Listen, Charlie, I want to be honest with you, but with every question you ask it makes me want to bolt out of this truck and hitchhike back to my motel. The driver’s license Lucy found is almost a decade old. I don’t know why I still carry it with me. Even though I hated that name and wanted to be rid of it and my old life as soon as possible, I couldn’t...”

  He understood. It was the same reason he hadn’t been able to pawn Crystal’s engagement ring. He had no intention of keeping it or giving it to another woman, but parting with it was just as painful as looking at it.

  “You don’t have to explain. The past is difficult to shake off sometimes.”

  She tipped her head back and gave him a slow nod to convey he really did understand.

  “That was probably something for more of a fifth date, huh?” he said.

  “I’ve never had a fifth date before, Charlie. I’m not sure when I would reveal that to someone, but there it is.”

  “Do I know everything important that I should?” He wanted her assurance, but she shook her head.

  “No, but I have to leave it at that for tonight.”

  “Why?”

  “I guess I have my reasons.” He accepted her answer though a thousand more questions swarmed. Who was this woman who had walked into his life and flipped his world upside down in a few short days?

  “Let’s move on for now, because I don’t want to lose the light.”

  “The light?” She sat straighter and followed his line of sight to the amphibian plane at the end of the dock. “Are you kidding?”

  “Nope,” he said opening his truck door. “And don’t worry. You don’t have to wear a helmet for this.”

  * * *

  PAIGE HESITANTLY FOLLOWED Charlie to the end of the dock protruding into the lake. The small prop plane she had seen when first arriving to Roseley bobbed gently in the water.

  Charlie opened the door and offered her a hand.

  “I promise it’s not as scary as it seems. I’m an excellent pilot.”

  “I’m sure you are,” she said, glancing back at the truck. “But I prefer to keep my feet on the ground.”

  “If you like the speed of bicycling—”

  “This is not the same thing, Charlie. I’ve never flown before. And isn’t it going to get dark?”

  “We’ll only be up twenty minutes. The gas tank is almost on empty.”

  “What?”

  He held up his outstretched hands in surrender and chuckled.

  “Just joking. This is my tour plane. I’ve flown this baby a thousand times. You’ll be safe with
me, Freckles.” Paige’s breath hitched at the sincerity in his voice. Whether or not this plane was safe, he at least believed she’d be safe with him. He waved her over. “Come take a look inside, at least.”

  Paige inched closer and peered into the cockpit.

  “How many people can you fit in here?”

  “Six, including me.”

  “It must have set you back a pretty penny.”

  He agreed. “More than you know.”

  “What would happen, exactly, if I wanted to go for a ride?”

  Charlie braced his hand over the door and leaned in. She couldn’t help but delight in the way his eyes had turned youthful and spirited like a sixteen-year-old kid about to sneak his dad’s Firebird out of the garage.

  “Well,” he said, his voice a husky whisper, “you would sit in there and be the prettiest copilot I’ve ever had. I’d untether us and sit beside you. I’d do all the checks before takeoff and as soon as that boat way out there on the water clears out, we’d take off. I’d fly you all around the lake and show you a beautiful sunset before landing you right back here. Easy peasy.”

  “Don’t start with that easy peasy nonsense again. I’m scared of the landing, not the takeoff.”

  “The landing is the easiest part on an amphibian. Instead of having to land on three narrow wheels, I land on these—” He pointed to the two big floats under the plane. “You’ll be surprised how smooth it is.”

  Paige bit her lip. She was more surprised at how easy it was falling in love with Charlie Stillwater.

  “I don’t know...” she said, though she’d made up her mind the minute he’d called her Freckles again. She wanted him to sell her on the idea a little bit more. Mostly, she wanted him to keep leaning in so she could feel the warmth of his breath on her face. “I suppose I could give it a try as long as you promise to land before it gets dark.”

  She wanted him to promise, to say that bit again about how she would be safe with him, but instead, he ran his hand down the length of her arm and slipped his hand around hers. His touch sent an electric current throughout her body, shivering its way across her shoulders and down her spine. Swooning on her feet, she had to catch herself as she thought he might kiss her. Tipping his head toward the cab of the plane, he helped her climb inside and gave a quick wink that she knew she would always associate with him.