“There’s nothing to understand.” She hesitated, shrugging. “You’re making assumptions. That’s the problem.”
Assumptions?
He supposed he was. Hell. Wasn’t this whole trip down to the Village to see her all about one giant assumption?
And yet…
She was into him, too. He knew it. He could feel it.
Straining his brain, he tried to think of the letter—the exact paragraph, sentence and words—where she’d admitted she had feelings for him. She had said it, hadn’t she? Why couldn’t he remember? Why had he taken her precious letters with him that last day, tucked inside his vest pocket for luck? Luck. Yeah. Funny. Luck hadn’t saved him from being captured, and it hadn’t saved his letters, which had probably been kindling for some insurgent’s fire.
Now he couldn’t reread them and find the proof he needed.
Oh, but it got worse.
In this cold light of a May day, months later, he had to admit that it was possible he’d imagined something between the lines of her letters—something that had never been there.
Had he imagined her tenderness?
Was he that deluded, on top of the PTSD?
No, something shouted inside him.
Where did the absolute certainty come from? Maybe it was that crawling gut instinct that had repeatedly kept him alive during the war, or maybe he was just insane, pure and simple.
“Talia.” He chose his words carefully, afraid of getting everything wrong and driving her away by sounding like an arrogant jackass. “I thought we were developing something.”
She nodded, her gaze now fixed on some immovable point to the right of his eyes.
“We were. Friendship. That’s all. I don’t have romantic feelings for you.”
Bullshit, screamed his gut instinct.
Inside him, the frustration rose.
“That’s all?”
“Yes.”
“If it’s that cut-and-dried, why aren’t you looking at me?”
That got her. Her gaze flickered to her fingers, which were twined and buried in her lap, then to his collar. She opened and closed her mouth. Opened it again. Finally looked into his eyes.
The utter darkness he saw there made him flinch. It was like staring into one of her black hole paintings. It leached the soul out of his body and left nothing but emptiness.
“I don’t want a relationship right now, Tony. I’m not sure I’ll ever want one. I don’t have room in my life—”
“Why not?”
Her mouth worked and worked, but no words came out.
“Why not?”
“I’m taking time off from work. I want to travel. I’ve hardly been anywhere in my life—”
“Travel, then. I’d never try to stop you from doing what you want to do, Talia—”
“—and I just… I can’t handle any complications right now.”
“Wow. That’s pretty much everything and the kitchen sink. Anything else?”
Her brows contracted into an indignant line.
“Is this a cross-examination? Am I on trial? Is that what’s going on?”
“You’re not on trial. But I don’t believe anything you just said. Especially the part about not having feelings for me.”
She nailed him with a glare that nearly made his face bleed.
“Nice. Arrogant, much?”
Brilliant, Davies.
He ran a hand over his nape, trying hard to arrange his features into an expression that felt less intense.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that…” He fumbled, struggling for words that kept skittering just out of reach. If he’d cut out his tongue with his boot knife, the conversation still would have been easier than this. “I can’t stop thinking about you. Your letters meant so much to me. And then when you refused the last one—”
“I didn’t think it was fair for me to give you mixed messages. That’s why I sent it back. You were reading too much into it.”
Funny she should mention mixed messages.
He stared into her face, seeing her turbulence, and he felt the ghostly imprint of her body fitted perfectly against his. He heard the echoes of her joyful cry when she had first seen him just now, and of her needy sigh when he’d almost kissed her.
Most of all, he remembered the unspoken subtext of longing in her letters.
Weighing all of that against her unimpressive denials, he decided that, while he might well be crazy, it was more likely that she was a liar.
Since he couldn’t figure out why she would lie if she wasn’t involved with someone else, he felt the first twinges of anger.
“You’re pretty good at giving mixed messages, Talia.”
Something flashed in her eyes, and he couldn’t tell if it was anger, fear or garden variety turmoil. He was still struggling to make sense of this giant and incomprehensible puzzle when she speared him right through the heart with the worst possible weapon against him.
“They were only letters, Tony,” she said coolly. “I’d have done the same for any soldier.”
If you enjoyed this excerpt, grab
SINFUL TEMPTATION
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Also by Ann Christopher
JOURNEY’S END Small-Town Contemporary Romance Series
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Book 2: LET’S DO IT
Book 3: ON FIRE
“Book” 4: LET’S STAY TOGETHER Novella
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Book 3: DEADLY SECRETS
IT’S COMPLICATED Contemporary Romance Series
TROUBLE
RISK
JUST ABOUT SEX
SWEETER THAN REVENGE
The Davies Family Contemporary Romance Series
Book 1: SINFUL SEDUCTION
Book 2: SINFUL TEMPTATION
Book 3: SINFUL ATTRACTION
Book 4: SINFUL PARADISE
The Warner Family Contemporary Romance Series
Book 1: TENDER SECRETS
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To Richard
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to:
Earthly Charms, for the lovely cover; and
VCM, for the sharp-eyed edit.
© Copyright 2012 by Sally Young Moore
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This is a work of fiction. All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone, living or dead, bearing the same name or names. All incidents are pure invention from the author’s imagination. All names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information or retrieval system, is forbidden without the prior written permission of both publisher and Author copyright owner of this book.
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Second Edition:
Print ISBN: 978-1-948176-10-1
eBook ISBN: 978-1-948176-09-5
Excerpt from Sinful Temptation © 2012 by Sally Young Moore
About the Author
A recovering lawyer, Ann Christopher has been published since 2006 and writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense.
When she’s not writing, Ann likes to do the following, in no particular order: read; cook; eat; hang out at Target looking for new stuff she doesn’t need; play with her 2 rescue dogs and 2 rescue cats; and travel the world with her family. She lives in Ohio with her family.
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