Radclyffe - When Dreams Tremble

would recognize the girl who had Þ lled her heart and dreams for so long, grown

into a woman now. Had she known it was Leslie arriving in need of a ride when

she’d talked with Eileen Harris, she wouldn’t have volunteered to pick her up.

She doubted it would be a comfortable ride back for either of them.

Even though her Þ rst thought had been of Leslie when she’d received the

memo outlining the details and location of her new assignment, she hadn’t

seriously expected to run into her over the summer. The last time she’d been in

the area—on a one-night stopover six years before to wish her parents well in

their move to a retirement community in Florida—she’d made careful inquiries

about Leslie Harris with some of the locals. The story had always been the

same.

Leslie was one of the young, ambitious up-and-comers who had left the

provincial village never to return, and no one could recall seeing her in years.

Like Dev, she had moved on.

Leslie’s mother had said she was an attorney in Manhattan.

Dev remembered all the hours Leslie had spent explaining to her about

landscape architecture and how she wanted to create outdoor environments

where people could live in harmony with nature. She was going to come back to

the lake area and open a practice. Maybe work with the park services. It

sounded inspiring and meaningful, and Dev had fallen a little bit more in love with

her every time they talked

• 37 •

RADCLY fFE

about it. She had had no such grand designs for her own life, but Leslie hadn’t

seemed to think less of her for it. When Dev had mumbled that she didn’t have

any plans, Leslie had just smiled and said there was plenty of time to decide.

Leslie had apparently made different choices after she’d left Bolton Landing for

Yale. Dev doubted she would recognize the idealistic young girl now. At any

rate, she would soon know, because a series of whistle blows alerted Dev to the

train arriving. A sudden case of nerves set her stomach jittering as she watched

the passengers exit the station.

She’d been wrong about not recognizing her. Leslie had changed, just as Dev

had, but Dev knew her the instant she started down the stairs, an expensivelooking

leather briefcase swinging from a strap over one shoulder and a suitcase

in the other hand. She was far thinner than Dev ever remembered her being, her

face and body sculpted by maturity. An atmosphere of tension surrounded her.

Even at a distance her body seemed tightly coiled, wary and alert—predatory.

Up close, her blue eyes were cool and appraising. She was beautiful in a way

she hadn’t been as a teenager, the innocence having given way to razor-sharp

elegance. But for just a second Dev saw the air shimmering around her and

imagined she felt the tug of the invisible string that had once connected them.

As Dev stepped from the truck, she reminded herself that that tie had only been

in her mind and that it had been irrevocably severed long ago.

v

Leslie stopped at the curb and scanned the parking lot for her mother’s ancient

Jeep. Rensselaer was not a busy stop on the train route, and there were only a

handful of cars waiting. Her mother’s wasn’t among them.

“Damn,” she muttered, sliding her hand into her briefcase and unerringly closing

her Þ ngers around her BlackBerry. She’d just pulled up the lodge number,

since her mother didn’t have a cell phone, when someone spoke her name.

Startled, Leslie looked up into hazel eyes that she knew better than her own and

tumbled back in time Þ fteen years.

• 38 •

WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE

Leslie wasn’t all that surprised that the party was turning into a drag. Mike

was drinking too much as usual and generally being an asshole. Fortunately, he

was off playing pool and at least leaving her alone for the time being. She hated

it when he put on a big show of making out with her in public. As if she was

going to let him feel her up in front of all his buddies. Yeah right.

Restless, not knowing why, she left him to his game and drifted away from the

crowd. It was so hot and stuffy in the room and the beer was already too warm

and she knew she should be having a good time, but she wasn’t. She was sad.

She shouldn’t be sad, and that just made it worse. She’d just graduated from

high school at the top of her class and she was going to a great college.

Everything was turning out just the way she’d hoped. Well, Mike wasn’t going

to the same school.

His grades weren’t good enough. But he wouldn’t be that far away and she

didn’t really mind if she didn’t see him all that often anyhow.

Sometimes, she was glad that she’d be with new people who didn’t know her.

It felt almost as if she’d be starting her life all over again, and that part was

exciting.

So why was she so sad?

She unlatched the huge wooden-paned window, swung it out over the water,

and climbed up onto the broad sill. She leaned her head back as the breeze

washed over her and watched the moon ß it in and out between the clouds. It

was amazing how bright the night sky could be.

It wasn’t really black at all, more like a dark, dark blue. It was beautiful.

She’d miss the lake and the woods and the way the air smelled like it had never

been breathed before. And there was something more important that she would

miss. Something she knew she should understand, but she couldn’t Þ nd the

words. Every time she tried, all she felt was frustration and, oddly, fear. That

was just crazy and, besides, she could always come back, so there was no

reason to feel sad about anything.

Leslie jumped at the sudden cold on her leg and heard the voice she been

waiting for all night but hadn’t expected to hear.

“Dev! I thought you said you weren’t coming.”

Even in the moonlight, the smile in Dev’s eyes was clear. As Leslie reached for

the beer, her Þ ngers glanced over Dev’s, and although she gave it no more than

an instant’s thought, she felt her sadness wash away.

• 39 •

RADCLY fFE

Leslie Harris saw no sign of a smile in those eyes now, not that she would have

expected one. Annoyed at the uncharacteristic slip in her concentration and

where her thoughts had taken her, she kept her expression neutral as she rapidly

regrouped. The fragments of a past that felt as if it belonged to someone else

melted away like frost on a windowpane, leaving nothing behind but an

unnoticed trail of tears.

Then she was herself again, calculating and in control. “Hello, Dev.”

“Hi, Les,” Dev said.

“My guess is this isn’t a coincidence.” Leslie suspected her displeasure showed

in her voice, because Dev shrugged apologetically.

“Your mother’s Jeep is on the fritz, and since I’m staying at the lodge, I offered

to pick you up. Sorry.”

“No, I appreciate it. Thanks.” Unconsciously, Leslie studied her the way she

would a prospective witness, searching for the whole truth, the real story. It

disturbed her when she couldn’t read anything in Dev’s face. “I hope you didn’t

go out of your way.”

“No. I was in the area.” Dev lifted Leslie’s suitcase. “My truck’s over here.”

“Would you mind waiting just a minute while I get a cup of coffee in the station?

Whatever they were trying to pass off as coffee on the train was undrinkable.”

“Sure. That black Chevy is mine.”

“Can I get you anything?”