What If We Fall in Love?

“They must like you.”

“Of course they do. I plied them with red vines, red hots and red punch. What’s not to like? Besides, all that red dye works better than truth serum.”

He shook his head. “I still say they must like you. I can’t get them to cooperate after that much junk. Mostly they’re devils disguised as angels.”

“Those girls are beautiful little cherubs.” She grinned, showing straight, even teeth and a beautiful smile that made her green eyes sparkle like precious gems.

“Okay. Eighty percent of the time they’re as good as gold. But they have their dark side.”

“No,” she said, exaggerating the word.

“Everyone does, Jen.”

He wasn’t thinking of the twins now, but her husband. He wasn’t the man she’d thought. But there was no reason to speak ill of the dead, and worse, destroy her illusions. And she did have them, or she wouldn’t have stayed single all this time mourning the creep.

“I know that, Grady. I’m not naive,” she scoffed. “In my line of work, I see the best and worst.”

“I suppose that’s true. So do I.”

“Tell me again why you haven’t remarried?”

“You’re like a dog with a favorite bone on that subject.”

Her eyes widened. “Geez, I’m sorry. I guess questions are what I do. But I don’t usually badger my friends. Really I don’t. Maybe I’m a little tense. Because of the next couple of events. Maybe I should go…”

He put his hand on her arm. “No. I don’t mind distracting you. I guess I haven’t remarried because I can’t find someone I like.”

“We’ve already established that hordes of women are on your trail. Aren’t you just a tad picky?”

“We haven’t established anything. And if the counselor would let me finish my thought…”

“By all means,” she said, with an expansive hand gesture that told him he had the floor.

“If I was looking, it would be for a woman I was attracted to who would also be a good mother to the girls.”

She tapped her lip with her index finger. “If? You’re not looking?”

“That would be a waste of time and energy.”

“Why?”

“Because it doesn’t exist.”

“It? You mean love? Relationships?”

“Either or both—yes.”

“Hmm.”

He looked at her. “What does that mean?”

“Just that you’re very cynical. I’ve heard that men who love once are likely to find it again. So why would you think it doesn’t exist? You loved Lacey.”

And there was another secret he would keep. “Has anyone ever mentioned that you ask a lot of questions?”

“Yes.”

“I guess that goes with the territory. Being a lawyer and all.”

“I guess.”

“So what’s your story? Why isn’t a pretty lady like you married by now with a couple of kids?”

When her sunny expression faded, Grady could have kicked himself from here to kingdom come. He’d only wanted to sidestep her questions, not take the smile from her face.

“I already had my chance at love.”

“So women get just one chance? It’s only men who are likely to find it again?”

She shrugged. “I had one perfect year with the love of my life. I won’t ever find that again and, like you just said, looking is a waste of time and energy that could be put to better use.”

Grady wished he could tell her the truth, because the man she’d loved hadn’t been worth the time and energy she’d wasted on him. Along with Mitch, Dev Hart and Jack Riley, he’d spent a lot of years keeping the hurtful information from her. If she learned the facts, what would be the point? It wasn’t only Zach’s memory that was keeping her single. Jensen had been busy with college, law school and pursuing her career. She was made for love, and when the time was right it would find her—whether or not she knew the ugly truth about the jerk she’d married.

Right now Grady had better things to do. Like putting the stars back in her eyes. “Okay. So let me see if I’ve got this straight. You’re a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do kind of gal?”

“Of course not.” Her gaze narrowed on him.

No stars yet, Grady noted, but the shadows were gone. “But you think I should marry again, and it’s not in the cards for you?”

“You have two girls who need a mother. I just have me,” she pointed out.

“All the more reason you should be a touch more open-minded about finding someone. I’m not alone.”

She lifted her chin slightly. “Being alone is nothing to be ashamed of. I happen to like my own companionship. The company is always agreeable—quite witty and stimulating, in fact,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

Almost there, he noted. But he wouldn’t let up until he coaxed a smile from her. “I’d like to try that sometime.”

“Being alone?” she asked.

“Considering Kasey and Stacey are nine and talk like a couple of magpies, being alone sounds like a small slice of heaven. But that’s not what I meant.”

It looked as if she was struggling to hold back a laugh as she caught the corner of her lip between her teeth. “Then what did you mean?”

“You said you like being alone. I’d like to be alone with you, too.”

Eyes wide, she stared at him for several moments. Son of a gun, he’d rendered the legal eagle speechless. Not a bad night’s work. On top of that, he’d made her smile, or would have if she’d just let go. And the stars were definitely back in her eyes, along with a blush on her cheeks.

Before he could figure out what to say next, a busty, dark-haired, approximately thirty-year-old woman stopped on the bleacher stair beside him. “Sheriff O’Connor?” she asked.