help you make a decision. We have everything in a storage room out in the barn.”
“Sure,” he said. “I can drop by sometime.”
Sometime. When exactly was sometime?
Shannon couldn’t bring herself to pin him down any more than that. If she did, it looked a little too much like she was continuing to date him in order to get the sponsorship. Not a good thing.
Russell gave her a quick good night kiss, then leaned in again for a more substantial one. He was a decent kisser. Actually, better than decent. So why was she having such a hard time warming up to him?
He pulled away, giving her a congenial smile. “Good night, Shannon.”
As she went inside her apartment, she felt a little guilty. If she were to make a list of pros and cons, Russell’s pros would clearly win. Maybe she instinctively shied away from him because her mother thought he was so wonderful. Should she really hold that against him?
Then she thought about how her mother felt about Luke.
Her entire life, Shannon had walked the straight and narrow. Eve may have colored outside the lines every chance she got, but Shannon? Never.
Until Luke.
For the first time in her life, she’d directly defied her mother. Stay away from that Dawson boy, her mother had told her repeatedly when she was a teenager. But the more her mother told her to steer clear, the more she was drawn to him.
For a long time, Shannon’s interaction with Luke had been filled with nothing but sarcasm-laced animosity. His bad attitude colored every word he spoke, and her comebacks had been equally caustic.
Then things started to change.
They occasionally joined forces. Helped each other with tasks. Soon they’d left the sharp words behind, finding a new understanding Shannon had never anticipated. Before she knew it, Luke had found his way into every waking thought she had and edged his way into her dreams. The long hours they spent together only intensified her feelings for him, and soon she was sharing things with him she never would have told anyone else. And when he kissed her for the first time, something she thought would stay in her dreams forever finally became reality.
Then came the evening that changed everything.
Shannon sat down on her sofa, her mind tumbling backward through time. It had been a hot August day, just like this one. She’d finished up with the horses and was getting ready to leave the barn, when she realized she wasn’t wearing the diamond necklace her parents had given her. Even though she always tucked it beneath her shirt when she worked, somehow it had come loose, and she panicked. If her mother ever found out she’d worn the necklace to the shelter, much less lost it, she’d be furious.
Shannon retraced her steps. Searched everywhere she could think of. Finally the only place she hadn’t looked was the hayloft. She climbed the ladder, then stepped off it and dropped to her hands and knees. She shoved stalks of hay aside, desperate to see the glint of diamonds in the dim light. She’d just about given up when she heard a noise behind her. Spinning around, she saw Luke at the top of the ladder.
“Looking for this?”
When he held up her necklace, relief flooded through her. “Oh, thank God! You found it!”
He climbed off the ladder onto the floor of the loft. She turned around and leaned against a hay bale, and he sat down next to her.
“I found it next to the stock tank,” he said, holding it up. “It’s pretty. Where did you get it?”
“My parents. They gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday.”
“Pretty good haul for one birthday. Diamonds and all. What do you suppose it’s worth?”
Shannon shrugged. “I don’t know. A lot, knowing my mother.”
“Hmm. Finders keepers,” he said, swinging it gently back and forth, the gems sparkling in the dim light of the hayloft. “I could pawn it for a bundle.”
“No way. If I come home without that necklace, I’m in big trouble with my mother.”
She held out her hand, and he let the necklace puddle into it.
“She’d be that pissed?” Luke asked. “Even if it was just an accident that you lost it?”
“Oh, yeah. With my mother, there’s no such thing as an accident. It means I wasn’t careful. Or I didn’t plan ahead. Or I’m not responsible.”
Luke made a scoffing noise. “Nobody’s more responsible than you are. Tell your mother to fuck off.”