Confessions. Cynthia Eden

      “I never even saw him get angry. Not until that last night.” When she’d told him that she couldn’t marry him. All this time...you’ve made me wait. You kept me dangling on a damn string—and you think I’m just going to let you go now?

      She hated those memories. The last time she’d seen Eric...it had been so rough for them both. “I hurt him,” she whispered.

      Grant’s eyes narrowed.

      “He only wanted to love me, to make me happy.” She pushed back her hair. “I moved back to Austin when he got his job transfer, and he thought we were going to get married. Going to...have kids.”

      Grant’s eyes were tight slits.

      “He waited for me. Kept letting me push back the wedding date. He was a good man,” she said again. “And he didn’t deserve what happened to him. He didn’t deserve anything that happened.”

      She didn’t just want to prove her own innocence. “I want to find the man who did this to him. I want to give Eric justice.” It was the only thing she could give him. “The same way you’re hunting for your parents’ killer. I want justice, too.”

      He gave her a smile. Cold, slightly cruel. I don’t know him any longer. Because that was a stranger staring back at her. “Who says I want justice? I’m looking for vengeance, and one day, I’ll have it.”

      Goose bumps rose on her arms and she trembled.

      Grant glanced away from her. His eyes slid toward the darkened hallway. “You’re exhausted. Take the first room on the right. We can talk in the morning.”

      She wanted to run to that room and escape. She hadn’t been able to sleep at all in her cell. Every sound had terrified her.

      He was between her and the hallway. Scarlett squared her shoulders and headed toward him.

      He didn’t back away as she approached. Tension made her steps hurried.

      “Even good men can carry dark secrets.”

      His words had her stumbling.

      “It’s not just your life I have to rip apart. It’s his, too. I hope you’re prepared for what I might find.”

      “I’m not prepared for any of this.” She gave Grant a brittle smile. “But that doesn’t matter, does it?” She was trapped in this hell, and she had to survive. One way or another.

      She put one foot in front of the other and reached the hallway. Her fingers rose and pressed against the wall. “I never imagined it would be this way.” She spoke without looking back at him. “When I thought about...us... Seeing you again... I never thought I’d be so desperate.”

      There was silence, then he asked, “What did you think it would be like?”

      For an instant, she almost smiled. A real smile. “You were supposed to have put on about two hundred pounds. You were supposed to be bald and you were supposed to desperately yearn for me. You were supposed to wish that you’d never left me behind.” Now she did look back at him.

      His expression was inscrutable.

      “You weren’t supposed to be my only hope. You weren’t supposed to be the man I had to beg.”

      He gave a hard shake of his head. “You never have to beg me for anything.”

      She did. For her survival, and it made her feel ashamed. Weak.

      “Good night, Grant.” She stepped into the hallway.

      “This isn’t the way I thought it would be, either.”

      She wouldn’t let his words stop her.

      “You weren’t supposed to be even more beautiful. You weren’t supposed to still make me ache...and you weren’t supposed to be with another man.”

      She wasn’t with anyone else. Not any longer.

      “You were supposed to be with me.”

      His words made her stumble again. She rushed into the room on the right. Shut the door.

      Sagged against the wood.

      You were supposed to be with me. Those words had pierced straight to her heart. The heart he’d claimed, long ago.

      The heart he’d tossed away.

      I will be stronger this time. I won’t make the same mistakes.

      She glanced around the room. Realized she was in his bedroom. Scarlett started to walk right back out of that room, but...

      But the bed looked too inviting.

      And I’m finally safe.

      Because if there was one thing she could count on, it was that Grant would protect her. She never doubted her ex-ranger on that score.

      But who will protect me from him?

      Her fingers slid over the lock on the door. She turned it and the distinctive click filled the air.

      I’ll protect myself.

      Because she knew that she couldn’t survive another Grant McGuire heartbreak. And she wouldn’t give him the chance to hurt her again.

      * * *

      JUSTIN TURNER STARED at the dark house. The lights had been on moments before, but then the place had plunged into darkness.

      Scarlett was in that house. With Grant McGuire.

      He knew all about McGuire. Most of Austin had heard of the man. Dangerous, determined...Grant McGuire’s reputation preceded him.

      The guy had opened his PI business a few years back. And he’d been working to help victims since then.

      Scarlett isn’t a victim. She was a killer. Grant should see her for exactly what she was.

      But Justin hadn’t been able to see the truth, either. Not at first. Like his brother, he’d been blinded by her beauty. By her dark eyes and her high-voltage smile. He’d been blind, and now Eric was dead.

      Scarlett wasn’t going to get away with murder. Justin would make absolutely sure of it.

      I can’t wait for you to meet Scarlett... His brother’s voice, jovial and light, ran back through his mind. I know you’ll love her just as much as I do.

      No, he didn’t.

      His eyes stayed on that darkened house.