“What time did you say the ceremony was?” he asked Rita, though his gaze remained on Ava.
“Two o’clock,” Rita offered.
He nodded. “Maybe I will stop by.”
Clasping her hands together, Rita looked from one to the other. “Well, you could drop by the house and pick up an invitation if you want.”
Ava’s throat went bone dry. What was her sister playing at? Jared couldn’t come by the house. Her gaze flickered to his. “You can just send it to him, little sister. I’m sure it won’t get lost in the mail.” She took a breath and added, “If you send it out today it will get there—”
“I’ll come by and get it,” Jared stated firmly.
The clang of Mrs. Benton’s ancient cash register sounded. “Give me just one more minute, girls,” she called from the other room.
Ava didn’t have any more minutes left. “I have to go,” she said firmly. A few years ago, she would’ve just remained until the very bitter end of this torture. A few years ago she’d been an idiot. But not today. She’d been through way too much in the past four years to allow these three people to tear apart her small sense of confidence. “I’ll see you back at the house, Rita.” Without looking at Jared, she stepped down from the pedestal, grabbed her purse and headed out of the curtained room just as Mrs. Benton was heading in.
“But the dress…” Mrs. Benton called after her, but Ava didn’t listen, she needed air, she needed—
So intent was she on escape, she actually gasped when she heard the deep baritone from behind her say, “Running away again?”
Halfway to the front door, halfway to safety, she froze. That voice now filled with cold sarcasm had once told her how beautiful she was.
“You always were good at running, Ava.”
She slowly turned around and faced him. “You didn’t say one word to me in there. I didn’t think you’d care if I left—or notice for that matter.”
His eyes darkened and a muscle in his jaw twitched violently. “I noticed.”
She wasn’t exactly sure if they were talking about the dressing room or the past four years. “What can I do for you, Jared?”
“Not a damn thing.”
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Your husband here for the wedding?”
Her pulse skittered in her blood as she was reminded of the lie she’d been forced to tell before leaving Paradise. “We’re not together anymore,” she said quietly.
“You walk out on him, too?”
Ava took a deep breath. Jared had a right to be angry with her, but she wasn’t going to accept barb after barb. Living in New York, having a child and a high paying interior design job had really changed her. No longer was she a pushover to her father, to Jared—to anyone.
She took a step toward him. “I understand that you’re angry with me, but that’s no reason to be downright cruel.”
“I’m not angry at you, Ava.” His dark eyes bore into her. “You have to really care about someone to be angry with them.”
She felt her throat tighten as tears threatened. She realized with a start that she’d actually formed a fantasy over the years about seeing him again. And this was so drastically far from that fantasy it was almost comical. She and Jared would never be together again. He despised her, and she imagined that even a full explanation and an apology wouldn’t make much of a difference. The man had turned cold and hard.
But it wasn’t just her feelings, her heart anymore. She had more to protect now. She straightened her shoulders. “Look, you obviously don’t want to see me or talk to me. Let’s just pretend this never happened, pretend we never had this encounter and try to steer clear of each other. I’ll only be here a couple weeks. So that shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Are you telling me not to go to your sister’s wedding?”
She swallowed hard. “Not telling. Just asking.”
He nodded stiffly. “Then I won’t be there.”
Ava hesitated for a moment, then turned to leave. But he was right behind her, his large hand covering hers on the knob. Her breath caught at the feel of him, at his closeness. The scent of leather and heat and pure maleness emanated from him, heightening her awareness. For a moment, it was as if time had never passed. He felt familiar and wonderful, his scent intoxicating. She glanced down at his tanned fingers practically interlaced with her own.
“Ava?” he said, removing his hand from hers.
She looked up at him. “Yes?” He was so close she could feel the solid wall of his chest grazing her shoulder. She could feel his heat, his overwhelming strength. A combination that had branded her many times before.
His gaze traveled from her neck to her mouth, then up to her eyes. “Let go of the door.” He raised a brow. “This time I’m going to be the one walking out first.”
Jared drove his truck down the dirt road like a madman. Well, that’s what he was, wasn’t he? He’d just come face-to-face with the one woman he couldn’t forget—the woman who’d betrayed him.
The wild beauty, he’d called her back then. And at twenty-six, she hadn’t changed much—only filled out in all the right places. High breasts and curved hips with that slender white neck that had always driven him nuts. Those tiny freckles that were sprinkled about the bridge of her nose were still visible, but had faded somewhat. Her honey-blond hair was longer and more lustrous than he remembered, but it still held the fresh scent of daybreak.
Damned if it hadn’t taken everything in him not to run his hands through it when he’d stood beside her at the bridal shop door.
He knew that she’d be here for her sister’s wedding, but the idea of Ava Thompson returning to Paradise was just something he hadn’t wanted to think about—couldn’t ever think about—if he expected to survive his days and nights.
The first year she’d been gone had been hell, he recalled, as the dull ache in his chest turned razor-sharp like the spines of the cactus that lined the road outside the truck’s window. He could still remember that morning like it was yesterday. That morning when Ben Thompson had met him out in the south pasture and told him that he knew about Jared and Ava. Ben had told him that his daughter had left for New York to marry another man, someone her equal, and wasn’t coming back. Jared had been just twenty-four then. A poor ranch hand who was working his way up in the numbers business and wanted nothing more than Ava, a few hundred acres of his own and a future in finance. But no matter how much he’d wanted to go and find her, fight for her, he hadn’t.
She’d wanted another man.
She hadn’t wanted Jared.
And neither had her father, Jared had quickly learned. Ben had booted Jared and his grandmother off of the ranch just one week later.
On an oath, he cut his truck right and skidded into his long driveway, barely clearing the iron gates. Well, he had everything now. With the help of one incredibly loyal client who had believed in Jared’s talent, he’d become successful and highly respected in a short amount of time. The rich and famous came to him when they wanted to see and protect their financial future. Yes, he had it all.
Well, almost.
With his horrendous romantic history and intense work schedule, he didn’t get involved with many women. But the ones he did understood that a few nights of enjoying each other’s company was all he was willing to offer.
He was wealthy beyond his wildest imaginings, while Ben Thompson was now struggling to keep his ranch alive. That thought always made Jared smile.
The house that stood before