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when she went to put flowers on his mother’s resting place. Striding over, he moved them to his sister’s instead.
    â€œGabe?”
    â€œAre you done?”
    â€œYes.” She rose from her crouch, eyes on the harsh lines of a face she found impossible to read. “But…”
    â€œBut what, Jess? They’re dead and have been for twenty-five years.” He glanced at his watch. “I have to check some fencing. We’d better head back.”
    She grabbed his hand to stop him when he would have turned away, acting more out of instinct than logic. His eyes slammed into hers, but she found the courage to stand her ground. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize how much this would hurt you.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “I’m fine. You’re the one who wanted to come out here.”
    â€œGabe,” she began, convinced she’d glimpsed a deep vulnerability behind his uncaring mask. Hope fountained in her blood. Perhaps her marriage wouldn’t be a soulless one after all. If Gabe could feel so intensely, then maybe what had gone on between them last night hadn’t been based on lust alone.
    â€œJess, you know me. I’m not some wounded hero you have to save. I was ten years old when they died. I barely remember them.” Turning, he shrugged off her hand and strode to the car.
    Jess wanted to believe he was lying but the look on his face as he’d spoken had been nothing but calm, nothing but completely in control. Hope crumbled. No wonder Gabe never visited his parents’ and siblings’ graves—the man didn’t even have the heart to love their memory.
    * * *
    An entire day and a surprisingly undisturbed night of sleep later, Jess was sketching on the verandah when a battered old pickup roared down the drive. She waited for whoever it was to park and walk over, but the driver raced all the way to the edge of the verandah before braking to a sudden halt on the grass.
    Frowning at the theatrics, she put down the sketch pad. Who in the—? The vehicle’s door swung open and out jumped the last person she’d expected to see.
    â€œJessie girl!” Running up the steps, Damon wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet.
    It was impossible not to be happy to see him, not when she’d missed him so very much. Blue-eyed with jet black hair, Damon had the looks of a movie star or a playboy. But it was his smile she’d fallen for, a bright slash that constantly proclaimed his amusement at the whole world.
    She laughed for the first time since arriving back in the country. “Let me down, you idiot.”
    That familiar smile faded. “I don’t ever want to let you go.” But he lowered her until her feet touched the floorboards. “Couldn’t you have waited till I got back?” It was a pained accusation. “You didn’t even give me a chance.”
    Butterflies in her stomach. The bad kind. “What?”
    â€œI heard you got hitched while I was out of town.”
    â€œYou heard right.” Said in a quiet but lethal voice, the statement came from the other side of the verandah. “So I suggest you get your hands off her.”
    Aware how it must look, Jess moved out of Damon’s arms, face flushing alternately hot and cold. “Damon came to say hello.”
    Gabe walked over to put his own arm around her waist. Rebelling against the display of ownership, she tried to pull away but unlike Damon, Gabe wasn’t willing to budge. “Did he?”
    Jess was surprised to see Damon’s eyes narrow. “Did you even tell Jess I wanted to speak to her when she got back?” His chin jutted out.
    â€œFunny,” Gabe said, his tone completely reasonable and indefinably dangerous at the same time, “I thought they had phones all over the country.”
    Jess was starting to be scared for Damon. He was strong but no match for Gabe. She pleaded silently with him