An Officer and a Millionaire / Mr Strictly Business: An Officer and a Millionaire / Mr Strictly Business. Maureen Child

a car accident when she was three. She’d give anything to have the few short years of memories of being loved that Hunter no doubt had.

      “Yeah, they did.” He tipped his head back to glance at the clouds scuttling across the sky before continuing on through the garden. “And I came here to live, and it was a good place to grow up,” he admitted, now idly dragging the palm of his hand across a cluster of early larkspur. A few of the delicate, pastel blossoms dropped to the ground as they walked on. “The place is huge, so there was plenty of room for a kid to run and play.”

      “I can imagine.” Though she really couldn’t. Growing up in a series of foster homes, Margie had never even dreamed of a place like this. She wouldn’t have known how.

      As if he’d guessed where her thoughts had gone, he stopped, looked over his shoulder and asked, “Where are you from?”

      “Los Angeles,” she answered and hoped he’d leave it at that. Thankfully, he did.

      Nodding, he said, “Coming from a city that size, you can understand how small Springville started to look to me.”

      “That’s exactly what drew me in when I first moved here. When I answered the ad to become Simon’s assistant, I took one look at Springville and fell in love.” It was the kind of small town that lonely people always dreamed of. A place where people looked out for each other. A place where one person could make a difference. Be counted. But she didn’t tell him all of that.

      “I like that it’s small. Big cities are anonymous.”

      “That’s one of the best parts,” Hunter said and gave her a quick, brief smile that never touched his eyes. “There’s a sense of freedom in anonymity. Nobody gives a damn what you do or who your family is.”

      “Nobody gives a damn, period,” she said quietly.

      “Makes life simple,” he agreed.

      “Running off to join the SEALs wasn’t exactly an attempt at simple and uncomplicated.”

      He laughed shortly. “No, I guess it wasn’t.”

      “So, what were you looking for?”

      “Why do you care?” He stopped, turned to look down at her and in his eyes there were so many shifting emotions that Margie couldn’t tell one from the next. Then he spoke again, and she was too angry to worry about what he was feeling.