Free One True Love by Barbara Freethy

done.”
    “You’ve never given our past a second thought, have you? Not since the day you left.” Nick pulled her hand into the light of the porch. Her engagement ring sparkled between them like a traitor caught in a spotlight. “My God! Are you married?”
    “No. No. I’m just engaged.” She didn’t know why she rushed to explain that she was only engaged. After all, she would be married soon.
    Nick shook his head in confusion. “I can’t believe Maggie never said anything. You’re getting married.”
    “It’s been a long time, Nick. It’s not like I rushed out and grabbed the next guy who came along.”
    He looked at her with more pain than anger, and she felt her insides melt. “Do you remember the robins, Lisa? We sat on the porch and watched them that first spring. The male called to the female with his song and she came. They built a nest together and had baby robins.”
    Yes, she remembered the robins. She remembered Nick sitting on the porch, playing his guitar as the male robin sang his song, and just like the female robin, she had been drawn to the music, to the male—to Nick.
    “So who is this guy you’re marrying?” Nick asked more harshly than he should have for a man who hadn’t seen her in a very long time.
    She shrugged. “Does it matter?”
    Nick didn’t answer. Finally, she moved toward the edge of the porch.
    “I’m going to get my bag. I’ll only be here tilSunday, Nick. Do you think we can just pretend to get along for two more days? I don’t want the kids to feel uncomfortable.”
    “Sure, why not? We’ll call a truce.” He walked over to her and stuck out his hand. “Shake?”
    She knew it was a mistake the second she slid her hand into his. His palm was warm, his fingers strong and tender as they curled around hers. It wasn’t a handshake. It was a meeting of two electrical wires that together created a dangerous spark.
    “That was cheating,” she whispered, meeting the smile in Nick’s eyes.
    “It’s still there. I knew it was still there. And so did you.”
    She pulled her hand away from his and practically ran down the walkway to her car, eager to get some distance between them.
    “That’s why you never came back, isn’t it?” Nick’s voice carried across the lawn. “You were afraid of me.”
    Lisa shook her head, but couldn’t chance the words. She wasn’t afraid of him. She was afraid of herself.
    There was no reason to be afraid, Maggie told herself late Saturday morning as she stood outside the entrance to Serena Hollingsworth’s town house in Beverly Hills. Just because she’d never met the woman and had no business showing up at her door unannounced, there was no reason to be nervous. The woman had written to Keith. If she’d wanted to remain anonymous, she wouldn’t have sent a letter to his home.
    Unless Serena didn’t know Keith was married. After all, she didn’t know he was dead. Maybe she also didn’t know he was married with children, three beautiful children. Maggie took a deep breath as she looked around.
    The town house sat on the edge of a luxurious condominium complex. It had taken Maggie fifteen minutes just to locate number 1207 in building number three. She had had to walk down several lush, green pathways to find Serena’s town house, which was tucked away in a bower of bushes and flowers. The entrance was private. It was the perfect spot for two people to meet, two people who didn’t want anyone else to see them.
    A perfect spot to have an affair—except for the fact that it was two hours from San Diego. If Keith had wanted to have an affair, why hadn’t he had one closer to home?
    The whole thing was ridiculous. Keith could not have had a woman on the side. Maggie would have known. She would have noticed something—lipstick, a strange receipt for flowers, something. Surely, he wouldn’t have been able to act perfectly natural? Wouldn’t the guilt have driven him crazy? Not that Keith was a particularly guilty sort of