And she was. He could hear it in her voice, in the low, husky tone of regret, and the echo of sadness.
“Sorry’s not going to replace my fence.” He shrugged as though he really didn’t care about the fucking fence, and he didn’t, it was the intent behind it that pissed him off. “Why don’t you just get on out there and let her uncle and boyfriend know you’re safe so that crew can get the hell off my land before they finish destroying it?”
“My boyfriend?” Outrage filled her voice. “Just to start with, Rafer Callahan, I do not do boys. And second of which, there’s no one here that I’m seeing.”
“And you haven’t been going out with Archer?” He finally threw the accusation at her, amazed he had held it in this long.
Her eyes narrowed back at him, the soft gray of her eyes beginning to flicker in anger.
“Archer and I are friends, Rafe—”
“So were Jaymi and I,” he reminded her harshly. “Or did you forget that?”
“Oh, trust me, I’m reminded of it often.” The bitterness that flashed in her eyes surprised him.
“What do you mean by that?” he growled, careful to keep his tone of voice low, his demeanor controlled.
“Exactly what I said.” She wasn’t nearly as careful about her demeanor. She was all but straight up in his face. The only thing that kept her from going nose to nose with him was the fact that she was half-pint-sized and not nearly tall enough. “Every time I turn around, every time I hear your name, I’m reminded in detail exactly how close you were.”
It wasn’t anger glittering in her gaze, it was pain. A sense of loss, and if he wasn’t mistaken, guilt.
“Why would it matter, Cami?” he questioned her roughly. “You knew Jaymi and I were sleeping together at the time. I never lied to you.”
She wanted to turn away from him, she wanted to rage at him, but she was far too aware of the fact that her uncle, Archer Tobias, and his deputy were still working their way to the driveway.
“At least Jaymi was honest enough to have her relationship in public,” he continued as she glared up at him, her fists clenching at her sides.
“What the hell are you talking about? Are you trying to accuse me of something, Rafer?” she questioned through gritted teeth.
“Why, yes, kitten, I guess that’s exactly what I’m doing,” he informed her bitterly. “At least Jaymi wasn’t ashamed of me. And she sure as hell wasn’t ashamed of being my lover.”
“You think I’m ashamed of you?” He could see the anger now, it was glittering in her eyes, flushing her cheeks. “You think I’m not agreeing to your demands because of shame?”
“What other reason could you have?” he demanded. “Come on, Cami, you acted as though we barely knew each other at Clyde’s funeral and you cut me off three years ago. What else could it have been if not shame?”
“Oh, I don’t know, perhaps it could have been the fact that there are other things I’m not willing to deal with besides whether or not anyone knows what the hell I’m doing?”
“Oh, yeah. What?” he snarled, feeling the anger and the lust suddenly rising, pounding through his veins, engorging his dick and burning through his veins.
She was almost shaking now. “Fuck you, Rafer!”
His lips twisted with mocking anger. “Go home, Cami. I have better things to do than deal with your shame or your fear.”
“My anger or fear.” She stepped closer. “Just let me show you my shame and fear.”
Rafe didn’t think he had ever been as surprised by a woman as he was by Cami in that moment. She was against him in a second, on her tiptoes, the fingers of one hand fisted in his hair as she pulled his head down, bringing his lips to hers.
In that second, he lost the anger, the accusations, and his common sense.
Rafe jerked her against him, his lips slanting over hers as he pulled her against him and poured every ounce of the hunger and need burning inside him, into her impulsive kiss. He took control of it. He stole it, and fought to bind whatever part of her that he could to him, whether it be shame, lust, or fear.
His tongue stroked against her lips, pushed forward and caressed her tongue, fought with it, and drew the hunger from whatever depths she pushed it to whenever she needed to hide it.
No, this wasn’t shame, but he was damned if he knew what it was, or what she was trying to prove. He knew something raged inside her, something dark and angry that the pleasure he gave her seemed to tempt, even as pleasure seemed to burn through those emotions.
When he pulled back, releasing her slowly, he watched as her eyes fluttered open, and her gaze seemed rife with regret and a pain that went so deep he froze in shock.
“Cami-girl?” he whispered. Sweet Lord, who put that agony inside her?
“It’s not shame, Rafer.” She stepped away slowly. “But that doesn’t mean it’s anyone else’s business either.”
Turning, she moved quickly away from him and all but ran to where Archer’s black, official SUV finally pulled into the small parking area close to the snowmobiles Logan and Crowe had driven earlier.
She jumped into the vehicle, slammed the door, then turned her head, obviously avoiding looking at him now. As though she had pulled a cloak of ice around her emotions, one that went clear to the core, Cami simply stared straight ahead as Archer Tobias drove her out of his life.
Cami was leaving again.
CHAPTER 9
Cami’s chest was tight, her throat felt raw and scratchy. Her eyes ached, and it was all she could do to breathe without whimpering. The pain seemed to go all the way to the depths of her soul, and refused to return to that dark corner she had managed to push it to years ago.
What was wrong with her?
She stared straight ahead, determined to ignore Archer and the questions she could feel silently directed to her.
She hadn’t been aware anyone had paid attention to the few dates she and Archer had had, or why anyone would have cared. Especially, why had Rafer cared enough to have dug up that information?
Focusing her attention on her surroundings rather than the emotions tempting her to come closer and peer in, Cami stared at the dash and center console of the sheriff’s vehicle.
The backseat was enclosed from the front and the back cargo area with black steel bars and bullet-resistant glass — a laptop, radio, rearview and navigation screen, cell-phone holder, wireless radio, and several other electronic gadgets she wasn’t certain the purpose for. She was in the middle of electronics paradise and she really didn’t give a damn. All she wanted to do was demand he turn around and take her back to Rafe.
And that was the most foolish thing she could do. She had been there too long already and had done nothing but add another scar to her heart.
Staring through the window beside her head, she watched as they turned from Rafer’s driveway and passed her little aging sedan as it sat with its front tires buried in the snow that filled the ditch.
She couldn’t believe she had actually found the strength to walk away from Rafer, because everything inside her had been demanding she stay. Just as she couldn’t believe she had actually managed to walk past her uncle without throwing herself in his arms and sobbing as she had done as a child.
He had been defending her all her life, she thought, and she wondered if sometimes he didn’t grow tired of the constant battles he and her father had gotten into since she was a child.
She didn’t want him to have to defend her against her father’s friends as well, such as Archer had been forced to do here.
She couldn’t believe what she had heard from him. She had always thought he was so soft-spoken and kind. To learn he wasn’t affected her far more deeply than she liked.
This was the same uncle who had defended her when her father wished she were dead rather than Jaymi, at
