Presumed Guilty

wife? Evelyn owns half—”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Rose Hill came through my mother’s family. An inheritance that went directly to Richard, so Evelyn had no claim on it. It was Richard’s to pass on any way he chose. And he chose to give it to you.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know why.”

“That cottage was the one place on this island he really cared about. The one place we both cared about.”

“All right, then!” she cried. “You take it! It’s yours. I’ll sign a statement today, handing it over. I don’t want it. All I want is to be left alone.” She stared straight up at his coldly immobile face. “And to never, ever see another Tremain for as long as I live.”

She broke away and ran up the back porch steps, into the house. The screen door slammed shut behind her. She headed straight into the kitchen, where she suddenly halted. There was nowhere else to run. In agitation she went to the sink and turned on the faucet. There, surrounded by her beloved ferns, she scrubbed furiously at the dirt caked on her hands.

She was still scrubbing when the screen door opened, then softly swung shut again. For a long time he didn’t say a word. She knew he was standing behind her, watching her.

“Miranda,” he said.

Angrily she turned off the faucet. “Go away.”

“I want to hear your side of it.”

“Why? You wouldn’t believe me. You don’t want to believe me. But you know what? I don’t care anymore.” She grabbed a dish towel and blotted her hands. “I’ll go to the lawyer’s this afternoon. Sign a statement of refusal, or whatever it’s called. I would never accept it. Anything I received from him would be tainted. Just like I’m tainted.”

“You’re wrong, Miranda. I do want to believe you.”

She stood very still, afraid to turn, to look at him. She sensed his approach as he moved toward her across the kitchen. And still she couldn’t turn, couldn’t face him. She could only stare down at the clumps of wet garden dirt in the sink.

“But you can’t, can you?” she said.

“The facts argue against it.”

“And if I tell you the facts are misleading?” Slowly she turned and found he was right there, so close she could reach up and touch his face. “What then?”

“Then I’d be forced to trust my instincts. But in this particular case, my instincts are shot all to hell.”

She stared at him, suddenly confused by the signals he was sending. By the signals her body was sending. He had her closed off from all retreat, her back pinned against the kitchen sink. She had to tilt her head up just to meet his gaze, and the view she had of him, towering above her, was more than a little frightening. Yet it wasn’t fear that seemed to be pumping through her veins. It was the warm and unexpected pulse of desire.

She slid away and paced across the kitchen, as far as she could get from him and still be in the same room. “I meant what I said. About refusing all rights to Rose Hill Cottage. In fact, I think we should do it right now. Go to the lawyer.”

“Is that really what you want?”

“I know I don’t want anything of his. Anything to remind me of him.”

“You’d give up the cottage, just like that?”

“It doesn’t mean a thing to me. I’ve never even seen the place.”

Chase looked surprised. “He never took you to Rose Hill?”

“No. Oh, he told me about it. But it was his own private retreat. Not the sort of place he’d share with me.”

“You could be handing back a fortune in real estate, sight unseen.”

“It’s not my fortune. It never was.”

He regarded her with narrowed eyes. “I can’t figure you out. Every time I think I have, you throw me a curve ball.”

“I’m not all that complicated.”

“You managed to intrigue Richard.”

“I was hardly the first woman to do that.”

“But you’re the first one who ever left him.”

“And look where it got me.” She gave a bitter laugh.

“You may not believe this, but I used to think of myself as a person with high morals. I paid my taxes. Stopped at every red light. Followed all the rules.” She turned and stared out the window. Softly she said, “Then I fell for your brother. Suddenly I didn’t know what the rules were anymore. I was slipping around in strange territory. God, it scared me. At the same time I felt…exhilarated. And that scared me even more.” She turned to him. “I’d give anything to turn back the clock. To feel…innocent again.”

Slowly he came toward her. “Some things we can’t recapture, Miranda.”

“No.” She stared down, her cheeks flushed with guilt. “Some things we lose forever.”

His touch, so unexpected, made her flinch. It was the gentlest of strokes, just his hand tracing the curve of her cheek. Startled, she looked up to find a gaze so searching it left her nowhere to hide. She hated feeling so nakedly exposed but she found she could not break away. The hand cupping her face was warm and so very compelling.

Here I am, falling into the same old trap, she thought. With Richard I lost my innocence. What will I lose to this man? My soul?

She said, “I learned my lesson from your brother, Chase. I’m no longer fair game.” She turned and walked away, into the living room.

“I’m not Richard.”

She looked back. “It doesn’t matter who you are. What matters is that I’m not the same dumb, trusting soul I used to be.”

“He really hurt you, didn’t he?” He was watching her from the kitchen threshold. His shoulders seemed to fill the doorway.

She didn’t answer. She sank into an armchair and stared at her dirt-stained knees.

Chase studied her from across the room. All his anger toward her, which had built up since that morning in Les Hardee’s office, suddenly evaporated. In its place was a fury toward Richard. Golden boy Richard, who had always gotten what he wanted. Richard the firstborn, the one with the classic Tremain fair hair and blue eyes, had bought everything he ever coveted with the coin of wit and charm. But once he’d attained his goal, he’d lose interest.

That was his pattern with women. Once, Richard had wanted Evelyn DeBolt, and he’d won her. He’d had to marry her, of course. You didn’t play games with the only child of Noah DeBolt. But after the prize was his he’d grown bored with his wife. That was Richard, always coveting, never satisfied.

And here was the one woman, the one prize, he hadn’t been able to keep. Such an unassuming female, thought Chase, feeling a strange ache in his throat. Was it pity or sympathy? He couldn’t tell the difference.

He sat in the chair across from her. “You…seem to have recovered from last night.”

“Just some sore muscles. That’s all.” She shrugged, as though she knew he couldn’t possibly be interested. Whatever turmoil was swirling in her head, she kept it carefully concealed. “I sent Annie home this morning. I couldn’t see the point of her staying.”

“Safety’s sake?”

“Safety from what?”

“What if it wasn’t an accident?”

She looked up. “At the moment I’m not terrifically popular in this town. But I can’t see one of our upstanding citizens turning hit-and-run driver.”

“Still, one of our upstanding citizens did steal Mr. Lanzo’s car.”

“Poor Eddie.” She shook her head. “It’ll just reinforce his paranoia. Now he’ll add car thieves to that list of crazies he imagines cruising the street.”