The Stranger She Married

Rachel merely sighed, and Matt caught on to her game. A sheriff’s Bronco had stealthily pulled up their driveway, sirens and lights off. As a law enforcement officer stepped on to the pavement, the party crashers tried to hide their liquor.

The towering, football-shouldered sheriff came to stand behind Junior and Sonny. His gaze took in Matt before settling on Rachel. “Evening, Rachel.”

“Hi, Sam. Back from your honeymoon, I take it?”

Sam. Sam Reno.

Matt’s anger at himself burned. Why did he know this name, this insignificant detail?

Rachel still seemed calm, but she was bunching her dress with a fist. She added, “We seem to have a problem here.”

Sam glanced at Matt again, and he could feel himself bristling. Was he—the husband—the reason for Rachel’s agitation?

“No, wrong problem,” said Rachel. “Remember Matthew?”

Matt kept his gaze on her, feeling Sam’s stare, wondering how close Rachel had gotten to this man in Matthew’s absence. Jealousy filtered through him, making him stiff with anger.

Then he locked gazes with Sam, who nodded slowly in his direction. There was a total lack of respect written on his face. In a sense, Matt couldn’t blame him. If his life turned out to be half as awful as what he suspected, Rachel had every right to hate him.

The tension abated slightly when Sam addressed Sonny, Junior and Mitzi. “I saw the car weaving down the road. You’re all stinking drunk. I can smell you from the nearest dry county.”

Mitzi grinned. “We’re welcoming home our Mattie.”

A bottle crashed to the pavement, and whiskey pooled around Junior’s feet. “Why, look at that,” he said, worming a finger under his hat to scratch his head.

Sam narrowed his eyes as Sonny slapped Junior upside the head. “Junior Crabbe, Sonny Jenks and Mitzi Antle—”

The tiny girl interrupted. “That’s Madcap Mitzi—”

Sam continued without a hitch. “Nobody’s driving that hot rod home. Let’s take a trip to the office.”

Matt could feel the weight of Rachel’s stare as Sam herded them into the Bronco. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her, couldn’t take her disappointment.

He was even disappointed in himself. God, had the old Matthew spent time with friends like this?

Sam glanced at Rachel as he prepared to reenter his vehicle. “Maybe you’d both like to come over to my place in a few days? Everyone will want to see you and Matthew, I’m sure.”

Rachel looked at Matt, silently asking if he was up to going.

He nodded, knowing that he’d have to deal with the rest of Kane’s Crossing soon anyway. There was no escaping the curiosity.

She smiled at Sam. “We’ll be there. Tell Ashlyn and Taggert hello.”

“I will. Night, Rachel.” Sam’s grin disappeared. “Matthew.”

From the way Sam looked at him, Matt knew he’d be in for a real test when he met Rachel’s friends. Hell, the whole town probably thought he’d gone off and cheated on his wife.

The picture of the blond woman with the little boy plowed into Matt’s brain again.

He only wished he could be sure that he hadn’t cheated.

As the sheriff drove away, leaving the blazing-red Camaro in their driveway, Rachel said, “Let’s go inside.”

A comment escaped his lips before he could stop it. “The sheriff was awfully interested in your comfort.”

“Jeez, Matthew.” Rachel suddenly seemed so tired, her eyes reddened as if from crying, her voice weary. “Sam’s a friend. You’d be mortified if you could see how much he loves his wife and son.”

Matt couldn’t move, didn’t want to come in the house after revealing his damned insecurity. “You go on in, Rachel, to the guests.”

She stood there for a moment more, but Matt turned away from her. He knew she wanted to talk about Sonny and his friends, but what the hell could he say? He couldn’t even apologize for this mistake.

He felt her leave, missed the jasmine in the air, missed the opportunity to say he was sorry once again.

Even if Matt Shane had come home, he was lonelier than ever.

Chapter Four

T en minutes later, their company had cleared the house. Rachel almost missed the crowd already, feeling just about naked without their sheltering small talk, the excuses to work in the kitchen or kick the party crashers’ tails back to the nearest jail cell.

She was just descending the stairs after making sure Lacey had readied Tamela for bed before leaving. Matthew sat on a couch in the family room, his head down.

Rachel walked behind him, peering over his shoulder.

He started, noticing her presence, a guilty cast to his eyes. A scrapbook lay in his palms, opened to shots of holly, Christmas ribbons and discarded gift wrap.

She knew he was sorry for what he’d said about Sam Reno. Sam was a good friend who’d just gotten married to the former Ashlyn Spencer, a woman Sam had considered to be the daughter of his worst enemy, the daughter of the man who’d been responsible for the factory death of Sam’s father.

Rachel had supported Sam while he’d come to terms with Ashlyn, while he’d fallen in love with her. In return, she and Matthew were going to need all the support they could get from friends like Sam and Ashlyn.

But for the time being, she could ignore Matthew’s discomfort and how it had made him jump to conclusions.

Rachel nodded toward the pictures. “The Christmas book. We record every Yuletide season for Tamela.”

His lips tightened, and Rachel couldn’t help noticing how lost he seemed. He flipped past another page.

“I wasn’t in too many pictures, was I?”

She didn’t want to tell him that he’d usually come home late from the office on Christmas Eve, bringing Tamela and Rachel generous presents as an apology for being tardy. He’d usually find some excuse to make himself scarce during the Christmas festivities.

Rachel wasn’t sure how much information he could handle in the space of one day.

She used her thumb to rub against her wedding ring, a silver trinket etched with roses. Simple, heart-felt. She wouldn’t have traded it for all the expensive gifts in the world. The jewelry represented a time when they’d been silly in love, just after college, during their honeymoon in Seville, Spain.

“You’re a little camera-shy,” she said, deciding to save the workaholic news for another day, a day when he’d had enough time to acclimate himself to his old life. Right now, he didn’t need to know about his corporate duties in the feed business. She only wished she could put off all the breadwinner talk forever.

Truth be told, she was enjoying his concern, his remorse for not spending every available moment with her in the past.