entirely based on trying to protect her daughters after finding out, years later, what had happened to Sasha.
Turning from the bright lights, Tanya sank into one of the two chairs around a small bistro table. She shut her eyes and Liam’s face appeared. What would he say to her when they next met?
People changed. She’d changed.
She’d be arrogant to think the same wouldn’t be true for Liam. Sasha described him as a tough lawyer with a soft center. A man the whole town held in high esteem. Yet Jay had said Liam was still single and living alone. Throughout the time she and Liam had been together, his adolescent anger toward his father had mellowed. Instead, it became his motivation to succeed and do good in this too-often-bad world. He was strong and powerful in court, and some of his cases had made the news all over the UK. He was a force to be reckoned with, but also a man of gentle and caring honor.
The combination was lethal. In and out of court.
The shrill and alien ring of the apartment buzzer shot Tanya’s heart into her throat. She stood and stared through the patio doors into the apartment. Only one person knew where she was staying. Drawing in a breath, she put her Diet Coke on the table and walked inside. She approached the front door and looked through the peephole. Liam stared along the corridor and Tanya roamed her gaze over his profile and upper body, before pulling abruptly back.
There was no mistaking his mood. His set face, hardened jaw and tense arm muscles straining against the confines of his dress shirt screamed of impatience. The tie he’d been wearing at the restaurant had been discarded, leaving the open V of the shirt showing a sexy smattering of dark hair. Dark hair she remembered running her hands over more times than strictly necessary...
Tanya silently counted to five. He’d loved her once and even though he never would again, he would surely hear her out, wouldn’t he? If she explained she left as abruptly as she did because she felt suffocated by Templeton, didn’t want to become reliant on him? Most of all, would he accept people made mistakes?
Taking a deep breath, she threw back the lock and opened the door, plastering on a smile. “Hi. This is a surprise.”
His gaze wandered over her face, his expression unreadable. “Can I come in?”
“Sure.” She stood back and he brushed past her into the apartment.
Tanya slowly shut the door, taking a moment with her back turned to gather her senses and obliterate his scent from her nostrils. He smelled exactly the same. It was as though she’d never been away. But she had. She’d been away for a very long time...
She turned.
He stood across the room, in the center of Sasha’s living space, his broad chest rising and falling. Tanya swallowed against the dryness in her throat and forced her feet forward. “Do you want to sit down?”
“No.”
“Liam, I—”
“What happened to bring you back?”
She flinched. “What?”
“I said, what happened to bring you back?”
“I...” Words danced and bit at her tongue. “It was time.”
His eyes widened. “Time? You could have knocked me over when you walked into the Seascape earlier. It’s been years, and with Sasha leaving...” He shook his head. “I didn’t think you would ever come back to Templeton. Not ever. You hated it here. What was it you said to me? ‘Oh, sorry, Liam, I don’t belong here, Sasha does. I want more than a fairground as a legacy, let Sasha have it. Let her wallow in our sad Romany roots.’”
Her heart beat like a freight train. “Those were my mother’s words, not mine. She frightened me, brainwashed me into believing Templeton, you, Funland, everything would cause me nothing but pain if I didn’t get away from here.”
“And you couldn’t have told me that? We couldn’t have discussed it?”
She didn’t want to lie, but she couldn’t possibly tell him the whole truth. Telling him why she hadn’t come back before now would be too much, too soon.
Fisting her hands on her hips, Tanya lifted her chin. “I was younger then. So were you. What did either of us know about the real world?”
Their gazes locked and Tanya fought the tears burning her eyes. Despite her insistence she could do what had to be done alone as far as Davidson was concerned, she couldn’t deny the hope that, one day, she’d have Liam to rely on. She took her hands from her hips and raised them. “Look, I’m back.” Her lips trembled with the effort it took to smile. “And this time, I’m happy to be here.” His gaze hardened and Tanya fought the need to step back. “What?”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not.”
He huffed out a laugh. “You never could quite manage to lie to me, which is probably half the reason you pushed a note under my door eight years ago, wishing me well with my life before you disappeared with no forwarding address, phone number or email.”
Resentment dripped from his words and Tanya’s hackles rose. “How can you still be so angry?” She stared at him. “After all this time?”
His cheeks darkened and he closed his eyes, tipping his face toward the ceiling. “Unbelievable.”
Tanya stared at his neck, relishing the way his Adam’s apple moved in such an entirely masculine way beneath his skin. He was built strong, intelligent and caring. All virtues that had scared her young self into running far away from him. “Please try to understand, Liam. I was starting to need you far too much, so I threw myself into my career. As my ambition grew, so did the barrier around my heart. I had to leave or risk hurting you more deeply than me leaving ever could.”
“You should’ve talked to me.”
It had been so very long since she noticed a man, she’d begun to think that part of her had been flushed down the toilet along with everything else in her life. Now, looking at Liam, it seemed her libido was still alive and well.
She cleared her throat. “A lot has happened for me in these past eight years. I assumed things had for you, too.”
“They have. I’m a lawyer now. I’m successful, well-known and respected. People don’t just barge into my life expecting me to drop everything, because everyone knows how damn busy I am.”
Tanya frowned. “I’m not expecting you to drop everything.”
“Yes, you are. Just as you always did.”
She trembled as anxiety over his coldness swept through her. “I’m not that person anymore.”
“No?” His gaze burned with resentment. “We’ll have to see about that.”
“Eight years is a long time. You don’t know me now any more than I know you.”
“I know you’re back for something. Something important.”
She forced her shoulders back, faced his accusations. “Fine. I want to start over.”
“Start over? With what? With the people you ignored or wouldn’t help? With me? With yourself?” He glared. “You might look different, but your eyes haven’t changed. Something’s eating you from the inside out, and if the only way for you to deal with it was to come back to the Cove, that something must be here. Am I right?”
Tanya’s heart beat fast. He always could read her like a damn book. “Maybe, but I’m not talking about that now. I didn’t come back expecting...” She shook her head and clasped her hands together to halt their trembling. “I just need a chance to start over. That’s all I’m asking for.”
A muscle flexed and relaxed in his jaw. “Fine. You don’t need me to help you start over. You can do that all by yourself.”
A pain jolted her heart, but Tanya