Just Cause by Susan Page Davis Read Free Book Online Page A

head soberly. “When you know the truth you won’t want anything more to do with me.”
    “Why don’t you let me decide?” He squeezed her hand. “We’re not going anywhere until I know what’s hurt you so badly.”
    Her brown eyes wavered, as if she were summoning her courage. “I’ve felt so guilty since the first night I met you. You see, I haven’t exactly been up front with you. My last name isn’t Wilson.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “It’s my maiden name. I was married.”
    He tried to breathe evenly without showing his shock. “Okay. Want to tell me about it?”
    She bit her lip.
    “Divorce?” he probed gently.
    She shook her head. “No. He’s…he’s dead.”
    “I’m sorry.” It was a huge relief to him, but he realized it was probably anything but a relief to Laurel. He could deal with her being a widow. In time she would get past her grief, along with the guilt and anger that survivors sometimes felt. “How long ago?”
    She swiped at a tear with the back of her hand. “Almost two years. I’m sorry, Dan, I should have told you, but this isn’t something you tell someone the first time you meet.”
    “Of course not.” He moved closer to her and slid his arm around her shoulders, driven by an overpowering desire to comfort her. “I’d like to help you any way I can. But if you need some time to…deal with things, that’s okay. I won’t push you into anything you’re not ready for.”
    Her eyes widened in near panic, and her lower lip trembled. He wished he hadn’t brought up the subject. What had happened to his resolve to exercise caution? Way too soon, Ryan. Watch yourself.
    “Dan,” she whispered, “it’s a whole lot more than that. You really don’t want to get involved with me.”
    Dan was skeptical. Being with her made him feel happier than he had felt in ages. Surely they could work through whatever problems she was fighting. He could be patient.
    “Laurel, you don’t know what I’m looking for in a woman.”
    “Fair enough. But I know what you’re not looking for.” Before he could protest, she moved away from him and sat with her back to the armrest. “You said I wasn’t in your crime database, and that surprised me. I guess they need to update it. But you should call the Ohio State Police in Columbus.”
    He sat very still. Crime database…she had a police record. Was that what she was telling him? It didn’t shock him, after the clues she had dropped, but the sick feeling he’d had three years ago was back. He’d found a woman who had seemed perfect, and he’d soon regretfully learned otherwise. Ashleigh had almost cost him his badge and his reputation. When he’d realized she’d crossed the line into drugs, he’d tried to help her, but she wouldn’t be helped. He ended it, but just in time. She was arrested a month later for trafficking in cocaine. Dan had avoided dating ever since. The pain wasn’t worth it.
    But Laurel wasn’t like that. She couldn’t be.
    Something had happened back in Maine, and she had run away from it. Maybe the husband had done something and she had been implicated. Was she a fugitive? He looked at her closely. No, he couldn’t believe that. Whatever she had done, she would face up to it.
    “You…have a record.” He didn’t want to make assumptions until she told him more.
    “Yes. A whopping big record. When I learned you were a policeman, I was afraid you’d find out what happened in Maine, and I didn’t want that. But I also knew I couldn’t be your friend without you knowing. And if it’s too much for you, well, I’d be disappointed, but I really don’t expect much right now.”
    “Whoa, Laurel, slow down.”
    She wouldn’t look at him then, but sat shaking with her hands clenched tightly in her lap.
    “What happened?”
    Tears clung to her lashes as she raised them and looked into his eyes again. He hadn’t noticed before that her nose was not quite straight. He fought back the impulse to slide