"I can smell him on you, you know."
Savannah glanced at Ronan as they walked towards the blackened remains of the old house. “I'm sorry. I don't mean to continuously shove it in your face."
His smile was almost a grimace. “I know. It's just a warning. I may be more sensitive to your aroma, but the others have worked with you for a while and they will catch the mingling of both your odor and his."
"They're going to know sooner or later that Cade and I were once lovers."
He nodded. “But you don't want them to know the relationship has blossomed again, do you?"
"Blossomed is definitely the wrong word,” she said dryly. As was relationship. “And no, it's not something I want the town's general population to know."
The old gate creaked as he pushed it open, and he stood aside to allow her through first. At the back of the blackened wreckage of the house were two fire engines, their red and blue lights washing the night with eerie brightness. She couldn't see Manny Johnson, the head of the local fire department, but she knew he was here somewhere. Ripple Creek didn't get many emergency calls like this, and as gruesome as it sounded, she knew Manny wouldn't have missed it.
"Can I ask why?” Ronan asked softly.
She frowned up at him. “What?"
"Why don't you want the town to know about you and Cade?"
"Because it's against the code of conduct."
"Not really. We are, but not you and Cade."
"He's here on a case. A murder case. That makes it against the rules."
Ronan's expression suggested he didn't think it was. “Are you ashamed of what you did with him?"
Startled, she glanced up at him. “Of course not."
His gray eyes were intent, yet his expression was touched by something close to sadness. That made no sense, considering what they were discussing. “So are you ashamed of what you did in Rosehall?"
"No. But, by the same token, I don't want the whole town finding out about it."
"Why not?"
"Because I am no longer that person. She died long ago."
"Did she?” he mused. “Or did circumstances and hurt merely force her to hide?"
She opened her mouth to deny his statement, but the acrid smell of smoke and death swirled around her, catching in her throat and making her cough, which was probably just as well. She couldn't deny something she knew deep down to be true, as her reaction to Cade these last few days had proven. That part of her hadn't died. It had merely waited for the right person to bring it back out.
It was such a goddamn shame that the right person just happened to be Cade again.
A big man stepped from the side of the ruined house, smiling grimly when he saw them.
"We'll finish this discussion later,” she murmured to Ronan, and held out her hand to the approaching fire chief. “How you been, Manny?"
"I've had better days,” the older man said wearily, shaking her hand then wiping a sooty forearm across his brow. “Old Lana Lee died in the fire."
Savannah swore softly. She'd known this was Lana's house, but she'd thought the widow had gone to the Bitterroot reservation to visit her daughter. She said as much to Manny.
"Yeah,” he said. “Apparently she returned yesterday."
"Damn.” She'd gotten to know the old woman over the years, simply because it was Lana who owned the flower shop below Savannah's apartment. While they'd never been more than pleasantly polite, she'd liked the older woman. Liked her style. “Has the coroner been called?"
Manny nodded. “And the state fire marshal. The body has been bagged and sent to the medical examiner for the cause of death ruling."
"Your guess?"