Free A Question of Honor by Mary Anne Wilson Page A

cop. He went closer, and he caught a hint of her delicate perfume.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.
    “I didn’t expect anyone to be back here.”
    He took a step toward her. “I didn’t expect you to still be in Wolf Lake, much less at this party. I thought you were long gone.”
    “I was supposed to be,” she said a bit breathlessly. Her drink sat on the top of the wooden stall. “Things changed, but I’ll be leaving soon.”
    Before he could respond, the sliding door was pulled aside and Adam twisted around to see a security guard poking his head into the barn. “Oh,” he said, his eyes flicking over the two of them. “So sorry. Just worried kids might have been in here getting up to no good.”
    “It’s fine,” Adam told him.
    “Yes, sir,” the man said and he quietly closed the door.
    Adam turned to Faith and saw the worry on her face. The guard scared her? No, just took her by surprise the way he had earlier. “So you’re extending your vacation in Wolf Lake?” Adam cringed at his inane question.
    She nibbled on her lip. “Yes, I guess so,” she said and darted a furtive look at the doors. “But I’m leaving tomorrow, probably.”
    She was edgy for sure. He dealt with the darker side of humanity on a day-to-day basis and knew how little goodness there could be sometimes. Maybe she was running away from someone or worried about someone finding her. Or maybe she just didn’t like him. That almost made him laugh. That would be a real shame, since he was finding himself attracted to her more and more.
    “So do you need that tour guide if you’re hanging around for a bit?”
    She shrugged. “No, thanks. I’m fine. As I said, I’m leaving tomorrow.”
    “I meant what I said to you the last time we spoke.”
    Her eyes widened slightly. “I told you, I don’t need a guide.”
    “No, not that. I mean, if you need someone to talk to, I’ll listen.”
    That made her narrow her eyes and squeeze her hands together. “Oh.”
    He wished that she would trust him. And tell him what was going on, and if he could help, he would. If he couldn’t, that would be that. But he knew that wish wasn’t going to come true. Not when she kept taking quick looks at the exit doors as if measuring how long it would take her to run to them and away from him.
    He drew her attention by saying, “Okay, I’ll let that go. But this is a party. A party meant for fun, especially since it’s almost Christmas. So why don’t we have fun?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Do you know how to dance?” he asked, holding her gaze.
    “Well, sure, some,” she stammered.
    Adam hoped that his fantasy of dancing with a beautiful woman tonight might just turn into reality if he played this right. He held out a hand to her. “Dance?” he asked, giving her his best smile. He couldn’t breathe for waiting for her answer.
    * * *
    F AITH STARED AT A DAM , angry that for one second that the thought of dancing with him could be incredibly appealing. Then she came to her senses. She should be walking away, not becoming closer. She’d gone into the stalls to be alone, to stop a wave of self-pity that had come when she’d looked at the happiness around her.
    She should just get out of the vicinity of this man. But his dark gaze held hers, and her thought process was jumbled. His eyes showed true kindness, and he was so handsome. She was trying to figure out what to do next. How she could get out of there without him following her. How she could get to Mallory’s truck to sit and wait for her friend so they could go back to the inn.
    But her thoughts were confused, except for one clear fact. With his black hair combed straight back from his angular face and those midnight-dark eyes meeting hers, this man was dangerous to her. She realized he’d said something else, and she didn’t have a clue what it had been. “Excuse me?”
    He narrowed his eyes on her. “I didn’t ask you to jump off a bridge, just to dance