reach for his Stetson. Once a ranch boy, always a ranch boy, she thought.
“Ready?” he asked as he snugged the Stetson down on his thick, dark hair. “Don’t want to keep lover boy waiting.”
She growled under her breath.
“I forgot to ask you,” he said as she buttoned her coat. “Was your boss sick from the mousse, too?”
“You know, I never got a chance to ask him,” she said. “But Amanda told me he’d called in sick and he hadn’t come to work until the afternoon.”
“Sounds like with the day you had there was no chance to ask him,” Shep said sarcastically.
She shot him a look. “It didn’t come up at the bar, okay?” His tone made it clear he was still upset with her. He couldn’t possibly think that she was interested in Greg.
But unless she’d lost her sixth sense, it appeared that Shep was jealous not just of Daniel—but Greg.
* * *
CHARLIE ARRIVED AT Daniel’s house with the food. She’d walked the four blocks through the falling snow. She knew Shep was somewhere behind her but she didn’t turn around to look. If he wanted to get cold and wet, far be it from her to stop him.
She’d made a decision. After a very long day, she was ready to tell Daniel the truth. About Lindy. About Shep. She couldn’t keep this from him any longer.
Common sense told her to wait until she wasn’t so emotional, so exhausted, so over everything. But in her weakened state, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop herself.
“Here, let me help you,” Daniel said as she stepped through the front door of his apartment. He took the food into the small kitchen while she shrugged out of her coat and boots. She’d noticed that his roommate Jason’s car was gone, which meant she and Daniel would be alone.
“Baby,” he said, stepping to her and kissing her. “You’re nose is as cold as a snowman’s. I should have gone for the food,” he said as he planted kisses down the slope of her throat to her collarbone. “You’re too good to me. How can I make it up to you?” He drew back to meet her gaze. “I’m not all that hungry yet. I was thinking—”
She knew exactly what he was thinking. “There’s something I need to tell you first.”
He froze. “You’re not...”
“Pregnant?” She shook her head. “Could we just sit down?”
With a big sigh, he led the way into the living room and dropped into one of the recliners angled at the huge television taking up one wall. There was some kind of game on.
“Sit with me,” she said, taking a spot on the couch. “Could you turn off the TV?”
He shoved himself up, found the remote and muted the television before coming over to the couch. She tried not to let his moaning and groaning irritate her. “I’ve never told you about my past.”
“If this is about some other boyfriend, can’t it wait? The food is getting cold.”
Now he was worried about the food getting cold? “I had a stepsister named Lindy. She was murdered.”
His eyes widened. At least now she had his attention.
“I’ve always blamed myself. She and I were fighting that night and I locked her out of the house. I’m not sure exactly what happened, just that she was screaming to be let back in and then she wasn’t. I opened the door. She wasn’t there. I left the door unlocked and went back upstairs. I heard someone come in. I just assumed it was her... Now I realize that it could have been the killer. That he’d come into the house for me—after he’d killed her.”
“Whoa. That’s horrible.”
She nodded. “The only thing that saved me is that a policeman stopped by. There’d been an accident. My father and stepmother had gone off the road on their way back from a party. I don’t know if they got a desperate call from Lindy when she came back into the house or if they were just headed home on their own. They’d been drinking and my father was probably driving too fast.
“Anyway, my father was killed. My stepmother was hospitalized after she was found unconscious downstream later. I was fourteen and taken by social services to be put into a foster home. I think they assumed my stepmother would take me after that. She never did.”
Daniel sat back shaking his head. “Wow, Charlie, I’m so sorry. That’s terrible. Thanks for sharing that. I know it must have been tough.”
She