and I don’t need to rely on anyone’s charity.”
“Sure. Gotcha.” Of course there was more to the story—that fact was staring him in the face in foot-high neon—but getting it out would mean focusing on Hannah when he kept remembering he shouldn’t. Think about yourself, Hart. Poor Tanner. Poor Tanner. Poor Tanner.
It was once more time to run. He turned the key and the car purred to life.
Hannah started at the sudden sound. She shot him a swift glance. “There was an accident.”
Without thinking, he switched the engine off. Nothing would compete now with the sound of their voices and the muffled drum of the rain. “Car accident?” Damn his curiosity.
Another nod. “It was a day like this.”
Ah. He glanced away from her face to take in the dark clouds and the heavy rain. “Were you hurt?”
“No, no. It was my sister. My sister died.”
“What?” His belly cramped, twisting and squeezing into a knot. “What did you say?”
“She was sixteen. The oldest of us kids. She’d had her license about a week and I had dance class that afternoon. I was six and wanted my big sister to collect me. She wanted to drive whenever she could. My mom was up to her eyebrows in my brothers’ science projects and they lobbied for her to stay home with them and continue helping. In the end, when my sister didn’t make it to the dance studio, there was plenty of guilt to go around the Davis family. I’m pretty sure my dad figures he should have been able to stop the rain.” She laughed a little at that.
The sad sound tightened the half-hitch in his abdomen. “Jeez,” he whispered. “Jeez, Hannah.” He’d seen death and he had his own guilt, but if he could, he’d take over the memories and the regrets he could read in the deep brown depths of her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks. I don’t usually tell people about it.” A frown drew her eyebrows together. “I don’t usually have to…it’s a small town and word gets around.”
He could understand. For all its Southern California trappings, Coronado was a small town too. And hell, no one knew better than he how TV, tabloids,not to mention the gossip websites and the scandal blogs, could make the least scrap of news go global by sundown.
Her uncle’s admonition to him now made perfect sense. He’d warned that Hannah had been going through some rough times, and Tanner could see what those were and why the other man was so protective of her. Except…
Except Geoff Brooks had said she’d been going through some rough times recently. That car accident had to be more than twenty years ago.
In his former job he’d been trained to listen to his instincts and he’d been schooled in always assuming the worst. Now the hairs on the back of his neck were rising as he shifted in his seat to more fully look at her face. “Do you have any other secrets I should know about?”
Her eyes cut to his, then jumped away. He saw her palm press against the pocket that held her new ID and he could practically read the indecision in her mind.
A blush of color rose along her neck. “A clarification, more like. It’s not that I’ve been ‘dateless’ for the last four years. Not exactly.”
“How not exactly?”
She was silent, her front teeth pressing deep into the pillow of her bottom lip.
Poor Tanner, he thought again. Poor Tanner who can’t look away from her mouth. Poor Tanner, who can’t turn away from knowing more about this woman who was shredding his good intentions with her pretty face and her pregnant pauses.
“I was engaged to be married for three of them. My fiancé, Duncan, was either across the country in military training or across the ocean fighting for all that time. Then a few months back, I…I was dumped.” She made a face. “Not dumped—that was really what made things worse. He didn’t actually ever even break our engagement. I was still wearing his ring when I found out he’d married someone else.”
“Fuck.”
She sent
“Sure. Gotcha.” Of course there was more to the story—that fact was staring him in the face in foot-high neon—but getting it out would mean focusing on Hannah when he kept remembering he shouldn’t. Think about yourself, Hart. Poor Tanner. Poor Tanner. Poor Tanner.
It was once more time to run. He turned the key and the car purred to life.
Hannah started at the sudden sound. She shot him a swift glance. “There was an accident.”
Without thinking, he switched the engine off. Nothing would compete now with the sound of their voices and the muffled drum of the rain. “Car accident?” Damn his curiosity.
Another nod. “It was a day like this.”
Ah. He glanced away from her face to take in the dark clouds and the heavy rain. “Were you hurt?”
“No, no. It was my sister. My sister died.”
“What?” His belly cramped, twisting and squeezing into a knot. “What did you say?”
“She was sixteen. The oldest of us kids. She’d had her license about a week and I had dance class that afternoon. I was six and wanted my big sister to collect me. She wanted to drive whenever she could. My mom was up to her eyebrows in my brothers’ science projects and they lobbied for her to stay home with them and continue helping. In the end, when my sister didn’t make it to the dance studio, there was plenty of guilt to go around the Davis family. I’m pretty sure my dad figures he should have been able to stop the rain.” She laughed a little at that.
The sad sound tightened the half-hitch in his abdomen. “Jeez,” he whispered. “Jeez, Hannah.” He’d seen death and he had his own guilt, but if he could, he’d take over the memories and the regrets he could read in the deep brown depths of her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks. I don’t usually tell people about it.” A frown drew her eyebrows together. “I don’t usually have to…it’s a small town and word gets around.”
He could understand. For all its Southern California trappings, Coronado was a small town too. And hell, no one knew better than he how TV, tabloids,not to mention the gossip websites and the scandal blogs, could make the least scrap of news go global by sundown.
Her uncle’s admonition to him now made perfect sense. He’d warned that Hannah had been going through some rough times, and Tanner could see what those were and why the other man was so protective of her. Except…
Except Geoff Brooks had said she’d been going through some rough times recently. That car accident had to be more than twenty years ago.
In his former job he’d been trained to listen to his instincts and he’d been schooled in always assuming the worst. Now the hairs on the back of his neck were rising as he shifted in his seat to more fully look at her face. “Do you have any other secrets I should know about?”
Her eyes cut to his, then jumped away. He saw her palm press against the pocket that held her new ID and he could practically read the indecision in her mind.
A blush of color rose along her neck. “A clarification, more like. It’s not that I’ve been ‘dateless’ for the last four years. Not exactly.”
“How not exactly?”
She was silent, her front teeth pressing deep into the pillow of her bottom lip.
Poor Tanner, he thought again. Poor Tanner who can’t look away from her mouth. Poor Tanner, who can’t turn away from knowing more about this woman who was shredding his good intentions with her pretty face and her pregnant pauses.
“I was engaged to be married for three of them. My fiancé, Duncan, was either across the country in military training or across the ocean fighting for all that time. Then a few months back, I…I was dumped.” She made a face. “Not dumped—that was really what made things worse. He didn’t actually ever even break our engagement. I was still wearing his ring when I found out he’d married someone else.”
“Fuck.”
She sent
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