Long, Tall Texans_ Boone (Long, Tall Texans #35) - Diana Palmer Page 0,33

“Worse than you’ve told anyone. Except maybe Sheriff Carson.”

His jaw firmed. “You see too much.”

“In my own way, I’ve been through the wars, too,” she replied quietly. “Scars don’t go away, even if wounds heal. And they destroy people.”

She wasn’t looking at him as she said it. Her eyes had the same expression as his did. It was a moment of shared tragedy, shared pain. He moved a step closer to her. She looked up at him expectantly. It was as if the wall between them had lowered just a little, letting in new light. But even as he started to speak, a car drove up outside.

Boone tugged Keely back into the shadows of a row of books. Outside the tinted glass windows, they saw Clark glance furtively at Boone’s big Jaguar sitting next to Nellie’s SUV. He bundled her out of his car and into the SUV and waved her out of the parking lot. He looked hunted. He stood at the front bumper of his car, looking toward the library and hesitating.

“The jig’s up,” Keely told Boone with twinkling eyes.

“No, it isn’t. Come here.” He took her hand and tugged her farther down the row of books, out of sight of the glass windows. “I hope you’re a good actress.”

“Excuse me?”

They heard the door open. Clark whispered something to the librarian. There was a returned whisper and muffled footsteps on carpet coming closer.

Boone let go of Keely’s hand. “You won’t tell me a damned thing,” he said in a low voice, but one that carried at least to the end of the aisle. “I want to know where Clark is, why he isn’t here with you.” He nodded at her meaningfully.

She caught on at once. “I told you, he just went to get gas—”

Clark turned into the aisle where they were. His look of fear eclipsed when he overheard what Keely said. He seemed to relax.

“I’m back,” he told her. “In the nick of time.” He joined them and grinned at his brother. “What are you doing here?”

“I came in to get a book and found Keely,” Boone muttered. “Why didn’t you take her with you to get gas?” he asked suspiciously.

“I told him that I wanted to check out that canine anatomy book I was telling you about,” she said to Clark.

“Oh. Right,” he agreed quickly.

Boone gave them both a glare as the light overhead went out. “Now I won’t have time to check on mine, no thanks to both of you.” He turned on his heel and stalked out, pausing only long enough to speak to the librarian.

Keely rushed back to grab her own book and take it to the desk, telling the harassed librarian that she’d be back on Monday to check it out and apologizing for keeping her late.

The librarian smiled and said it was all right, but she followed them right out the door, locking up behind her.

“That was close!” Clark exclaimed when they were in the car heading back toward Keely’s house. “How long had he been there?”

“Just a couple of minutes,” she lied. “I thought we were in big trouble!”

“We would have been if he’d seen Nellie get out of my car and into hers,” he said. “What a break that he was talking to you down an aisle instead of in front of the window!”

“Yes, wasn’t it?” she agreed.

“I’ll have to plan better next time,” he said, almost to himself.

“Did she like the necklace?”

He chuckled. “She loved it! I ordered her a Gucci suit to go with it and had it sent to her apartment,” he added. “She was very grateful.”

She could imagine the form that gratitude took, but she wasn’t saying anything. She was still wondering what Boone expected her to do now. She couldn’t bear to tell Clark she’d sold him out. Not that she had, really. Boone wasn’t stupid. Clark underestimated him, as usual. It was par for the course that Boone was always three steps ahead of everybody else.

“Nellie really is beautiful,” she commented, for something to say.

“Absolutely.” He grinned at Keely. “You didn’t have any trouble before Boone showed up?”

“None at all. I was fine.”

“I’ll have to plan better next time,” he repeated. “Boone’s smart. I have to work hard to keep him in the dark.”

“I’m sure you’ll come up with something,” she replied.

“We will,” he replied. “We’re in this together, remember.”

This was likely to end in despair for Clark, either way, and she hated having agreed to being a party to it. Especially now