Free Hard Rain by Darlene Scalera

self-righteously a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. He caught himself and continued scowling. However, she’d glimpsed the good-natured man beneath the frown. She suspected the sheriff was deliberately putting on an alternative face for her. She intended to find out the reason.
    “Why the twenty questions?”
    She ignored his question to ask one of her own. “So you found the right girl?”
    He kept his attention on the highway, ignoring her.
    “You did find the right girl but you didn’t realize it at the time?”
    He gave a long sigh. She had decided he wasn’t going to answer, when he stared out into the fierce storm and said, “I realized it.”
    His features seemed to give way and his strong face, handsome even in its scowling mask, filled with pain. As quick as it came, it was gone.
    “What happened?” she said in almost a whisper.
    “She was married,” he said without looking at her.
    “And…” Amy hesitated. He glanced at her as if waiting. “There’s never been anyone else?”
    “No,” he stated.
    “You will never marry?”
    Pain flickered across his features again. “It would be cruel to marry one woman when I loved another.”
    “Did she love you?”
    His voice softened. “She did.”
    “Did she know you loved her?”
    The smallest smile curved his mouth. “She did.”
    “But she married someone else?”
    The smile faded. “It wasn’t her fault.”
    “Do you ever see her?”
    He turned and looked at her. “Yes.”
    “Is she happy?”
    Their eyes met. “Yes,” he said. “She is.” He smiled as if the woman’s happiness was his.
    Amy studied the man beside her. Several seconds of silence passed. “I’m sorry,” she told him.
    He looked at her again, smiled softly. “It wasn’t your fault.”
    They drove in silence. They were almost to their destination when Amy said, “I was married once, but it didn’t work out.”
    “Jesus.” For the first time, the wind won. The Bronco swerved toward the road’s shoulder. Jesse’s arm shot out protectively across Amy. His other hand regained control of the vehicle and eased it back onto the highway.
    Her simple statement had hit him like a shot to thechest. His heart hammered against his ribs. The storm surged around them. The winds shrieked. The sky darkened in warning. Don’t hope, Jesse.
    He waited until he was certain his voice wouldn’t reveal him. “We must almost be at Padre Point.”
    She smiled. “I’m not worried, Sheriff.”
    He waited another minute before he could ask, “So, you’re divorced?”
    “About four years now.”
    His heart turned over. Four years. He kept his tone mildly interested. “What happened?”
    She glanced at him as if surprised by his interest.
    “Malcolm was a good man. Older than me, but then again, I’ve always been mature for my age.”
    She threw in a wry smile that Jesse could not return. Four years, he thought.
    “He was a professor.”
    Jesse raised a brow.
    She mocked his expression. “Don’t be shocked, Sheriff. He was only thirty-eight when we met.”
    “How old were you?”
    “Twenty-four.”
    Jesse raised his other brow, causing her smile to widen.
    “It wasn’t easy from the first. My friends found him dry and boring. I thought his friends pompous. But Malcolm represented everything I one day hoped to be—settled, established and successful in his career. And wise. Bottom-line, he was stable. And stable was everything I desired.”
    Why? Jesse asked silently. Because it was safer thanhaving your heart shattered by an insensitive teenager who had promised you the world and then disappeared. His own heart, which he had kept under lock and key for so long, contracted, confirming what he had feared when he’d stepped into the firehouse and set eyes on Amy. The heart he’d held still for so long had begun to beat again.
    “Malcolm had lost his wife several years earlier to pancreatic cancer. He was kind and tragic. I was a struggling student, very serious. I was