Lover's Lane by Jill Marie Landis Read Free Book Online Page A

ended up shattering homeowners’ nerves with false alarms. The kind that never stopped hardened criminals.
    “Would you have dinner with me Saturday night?”
    The light in her marvelous, soft green eyes instantly flared and for a second he thought she was going to accept.
    “I’m sorry. I can’t.” Her response was a swift, no-nonsense refusal, as if she’d repeated it a thousand times.
    “Okay. I get the picture.” He turned around again, stopped when he heard her say, “I . . . I work Saturday nights. When I’m home, I like to spend my time with my son.”
    Jake walked back to the counter. “I didn’t realize you had a family.”
    “I don’t . . . I mean, I’m not married. I just have my boy. Are you married?”
    “What?” He wondered if he really looked like that much of a slimeball to her.
    “Lots of men come through town and ask me out. If I did date, it wouldn’t be a married man.”
    “I’m divorced.” The minute he’d said the word the light in her eyes shifted. She actually looked sorry for him. He didn’t need or want her pity. “What about you?”
    “I . . . my son’s father died.”
    “I’m sorry.” God forgive him, but in that instant, he found himself wondering what might have happened if Rick had lived and realized he would have met and gotten to know this woman in an entirely different way.
    A heavy silence had taken root and was growing. She was watching him with a touch of wariness again.
    “How old is your son?”
    “He’ll be in first grade next year.”
    Had she smoothly avoided mentioning the boy’s exact age on purpose?
    “Must be tough raising him alone.”
    “I’m not the only single mom in the world. We manage.” She shrugged, but her eyes continued to search his.
    “My sister has three kids,” he volunteered, hoping somehow she would see them as kindred spirits. As if mentioning Julie’s kids might prove that he was one of the good guys. Someone’s uncle. A brother.
    “Is she single?”
    He hit another pothole. “No, actually, she’s happily married.”
    Carly looked thoughtful. “That’s nice to hear for a change.”
    He warned himself not to push. He needed to shut up and leave.
    “Well, I guess I ought to be heading to the B and B. Good-bye, Carly. It was nice meeting you.”
    She hesitated before offering her hand, reaching out slowly, as if physical contact was difficult for her.
    It was hard for him to imagine that she hadn’t accepted an invitation to date someone in the last five years. She was too lovely to be ignored by the men in this or any other town for very long. Surely she’d had a relationship since Rick.
    Then again, he hadn’t exactly been burning up the sheets since his divorce either. He hadn’t been that anxious to jump back into the dating pool after his illusions had been shattered. Finally finding Carly, or rather, Caroline, might have revived emotions that had been in a semi-coma for years, but he wasn’t about to go there, even though he knew he’d be thinking of her long after he turned out the lights tonight.
    Jake took her hand, pressed it with a slight shake. “I’m glad to have met you, Carly,” he said carefully.
    “Have a nice stay.”
    He thought of his room in the B and B with its over-abundance of roses and nearly groaned.
    “Thanks. I’ll try.”
    Warring emotions tugged Jake in every direction as he left the gallery. All he had to do was pick up the phone. One call. One phone call, and his life could change overnight. Kat had been right. This was the stuff of People magazine articles. This might even be L.A. Times front-page news. He’d done what one of the most prestigious private investigative firms in L.A. had failed to do. He had followed a hunch, played a long shot and found Caroline Graham. He was 99.9 percent sure of it.
    Now, having met Caroline Graham, a.k.a. Carly Nolan, face to face, he had more questions than answers. For years he had wanted not only to track her down, but to find out why