Dani Sinclair - Best-Kept Secrets

“That isn’t necessary. They’ll wash.”

“Glad to hear it. It would be a shame to ruin them.”

Answering heat swept through her at his penetrating look, but she knew she couldn’t respond to the sensual pull he still exerted.

“Whenever you’re ready to leave, let me know and I’ll drive you home.”

“We can walk,” she stated firmly.

His eyes chastised her. He glanced at her mother. Amy knew she was blushing again but she couldn’t stop. Her mother’s gaze flicked from one to the other of them as if she were watching a tennis match. Even Kelsey looked interested.

“I said I’ll drive you,” he said softly.

“That would be lovely, dear,” Susan said decisively. “So nice of you to offer. I feel so full I’m actually ready for a nap.”

Jake turned the full force of his smile on her mother. “Then I’ve done my job.”

“Quite well, I’d say. Ignore my daughter. She’s being temperamental today for some reason.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” he lied smoothly.

Susan laughed as if delighted. “Are you ready, Amy?”

“The police—”

“Have assured me that they are finished questioning you for now,” Jake said smoothly. “Shall we go?”

“I knew I should have brought my car,” Amy muttered beneath her breath.

“I’m sure Mr. Collins is a capable driver. Aren’t you, dear?”

“So I’ve been told.” He stared into Amy’s eyes as if demanding that she remember.

“WHY DON’T YOU let me drive this time?” she purred, running her fingers across his lightly furred chest.

“Are you suggesting I didn’t get you where you wanted to go?” he teased as he toyed with her breast.

“Oh, you’re a capable driver, but now I want to show you what I can do.”

AMY COULD FEEL searing heat ignite her face as the memory of their erotic lovemaking that day filled her head. She refused to look at him again.

Her parents’ home was only down the street, yet it seemed to take forever to drive the short distance. She knew darn well her mother had conspired to put her in the passenger seat up front where she could all but feel Jake’s nearness.

Her mother was matchmaking! That was all she needed. Her mother wouldn’t be so quick off the mark if she knew who Jake really was. While Amy had never told her parents the identity of Kelsey’s father, could her mother have guessed?

It would be surprising, actually, if her eagle-eyed mother didn’t pick up on the likeness between Kelsey and Jake. Kelsey’s coloring, her dark eyes and square little jaw—fortunately softened in her little-girl features—were so much like her father’s that Amy had been certain Susan would see the obvious right away.

Or was Amy reading too much into things because she knew.

“’Bye, Mr. Collins. Thanks for lunch,” Kelsey called, jumping from the car. “I’m going to call Sarah and tell her about the bodies!”

The resiliency of youth. Amy stepped from the car to help her mother, but the older woman was already out and moving spryly after her granddaughter.

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Collins. It was a most interesting afternoon,” Susan agreed. “Are you coming, dear?”

“In a moment, Mom. You and Kelsey go ahead.” Amy wasn’t anxious to face the third degree she knew was coming as soon as she stepped inside the familiar house. She turned to Jake as soon as her mother and daughter were out of earshot.

“What are you doing here, Jake?”

“Running a restaurant,” he offered mildly.

“That isn’t what I mean and you know it.”

His gaze darkened, running over her with sensual knowledge of exactly what was beneath her clothing. “You haven’t changed, Amy.”

“Oh, yes. Yes, I have. That look, those old lines, they won’t work on me anymore, Jake.”

“Too bad. I remember some very good lines that led to some wonderful times together.”

That hurt. “Funny. All I remember is the way it ended. Stay away from me, Jake. I mean it.”

He regarded her for a moment, then nodded. “Don’t worry, I don’t poach on other men’s territory.” His glance dropped to her hand where it was fisted on the roof of the car. “But then, I wouldn’t be poaching, would I? You aren’t wearing a ring.”

For a minute Amy saw red. How dare he?

“Goodbye, Jake.”

“Amy?” he called after her.

She told herself not to listen, but she stopped walking and barely refrained from turning back to him.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about the way things ended.”

His voice was low, personal, intimate. Her stomach clenched right along with her fists.

“I’ve waited nine years to tell you that.”

Amy didn’t turn around. “You should have saved your breath.” And she forced herself not to run as she strode away from Jake Collins and her past.

JAKE CLIMBED painfully back into the car and started the engine. He watched her daughter come running back outside, chattering away. Amy listened and nodded, putting a hand on the little girl’s head. The two of them walked up the steps and onto the porch together.

A pain that had nothing to do with physical hurts lanced him more deeply than a cut. If he hadn’t been so stupid, so egotistically certain he knew the right thing to do, that could have been their daughter. Kelsey had his coloring, he thought humorlessly. He wondered what her father looked like. She was a beautiful child, just as her mother was beautiful. He’d been the world’s biggest fool nine years ago.

It wasn’t until he walked inside the Perrywrinkle, lost in recriminations of the past, that it hit him. How old was the child? Seven? Eight?

Was it possible?

He calculated quickly.

More than possible.

Jake thought of what he knew about Amy. She’d been a virgin at twenty-two—and she’d loved him. Maybe it was ego talking, but he couldn’t believe she would have gone from him to another man so quickly.

He’d always listened to his instincts and they were shouting now, loud and clear. If he wanted to see Kelsey’s father all he needed was a mirror.

Why hadn’t Amy told him? How dare she not have told him! Didn’t she think he had the right to know? This was his child. His only child! She had no right to keep that a secret.

“Boss,” Ben Dwyer said, walking up to him, “we’ve got a small problem. There are reporters in the bar to see you and Matt’s looking for you. He says there’s an old lady out by the construction site acting all weird and spacey—his words. He thinks she’s the mayor’s aunt.”

Jake cursed under his breath. He wanted to turn around, go back to Amy and demand answers. But first he’d have to deal with this situation.

“Where’s Matt now?”

“I don’t know. He went back outside when I told him you weren’t here. Is it true what they’re saying?”

Jake waited.

Ben didn’t flinch at his expression. Instead he went on calmly. “Some of the customers heard the cops talking. They said that someone deliberately released the brake and put that truck in reverse.”

Jake stared at his bartender while the hairs on the back of his neck lifted. “I hadn’t heard that,” he said softly.

Jake went back outside, his mind churning. That explained the questions Hepplewhite’s people were asking. He’d wondered why the police wanted to know if he’d seen anyone in or around the truck before it began to roll. He’d supposed it was an accident. If Ben was right, they were looking at an entirely different scenario.

Had someone deliberately tried to dump that load of gravel into the pit to cover the scene of a murder? Why bother? The bones had already been discovered. On the other hand, the gravel would compromise the crime scene, making it much harder for the forensic team to do its job.