Free Everything but the marriage by Dallas Schulze Page A

and then shook her head. '*I don't know. I.. .wasn't thinking very clearly, Vm afraid."
    "Don't worry about it. There aren't all that many dilapidated bams around. Chances are it's the one I'm thinking of." He rose from the table and picked up both their plates. "Why don't we go take a look at your car? If I can't get it running, we'll tow it back here."
    Annalise started to protest that he'd already done more than enough for her, but she closed her mouth without speaking. Without a car, she couldn't go anywhere. No doubt, Devlin had already thought of that. He was probably anxious to get her car in running condition and get her out of his hair.
    They left the house a few minutes later. Devlin stopped on the porch, frowning down at her bare feet. "You can't keep running around without shoes. With all the construction that's been done on this place, the whole area is probably full of nails and bits of wire and God knows what else."
    Annalise curled her toes against the floorboards. "I don't have any shoes."
    "No. I suspect they were lost in the river," he said absently, still frowning at her feet. "Hang on."
    He disappeared back into the house, leaving Annalise to contemplate the embarrassment of being so completely incompetent in providing for herself that she was dependent on someone else for something as basic as shoes.

    Devlin was gone only a minute, returning with a pair of white sneakers in his hand. "Here. See if these come close to fitting/*
    Annalise took the sneakers from him and sat down on the edge of the steps. A moment later, she stood up, flexing her toes inside the slightly stiff canvas.
    "They fit."
    "Good. Kelly left them last time she was here. I should have thought of these yesterday before asking you to check the mail."
    "Kelly?" Annalise hung back when he stq)ped off the porch. "Are you sure she won't mind me borrowing her shoes?"
    "Positive." Devlin turned back, narrowing his eyes against the bright morning sun. "She'd be glad you could use them."
    "Oh." Annalise followed him to his truck, aware that the shoes didn't feel as nice as they had a moment ago. Who was Kelly? A girlfriend, no doubt. The thought caused an odd twinge of something that could have been, but wasn't, dislike.
    "She sounds nice," she said as Devlin inserted the key in the ignition.
    "Who?" He glanced at her questioningly as he started the truck.
    "Kelly. She sounds nice."
    "She is. Always has been, actually." He put the truck in gear and started down the driveway.
    "So you've known her a long time?" They were probably practically married, she thought. Maybe he was even building the house for the two of them.

    "All my life." He shot her a curious look. **She's my sister.'*
    *'Your sister?" Annalise felt her mood lighten. Not that it had anything to do with finding out that she was wearing his sister's shoes and not his lover's. "She lives near here?"
    '' In Remembrance.''
    He didn't seem interested in expanding on the bare-bones information, and Annalise didn't pursue the topic. She doubted if he'd have told her even that much if she hadn't questioned him.
    It didn't take them long to find her car, pulled crookedly off to one side of the road. Annalise felt as if she were seeing the little compact for the first time in months.
    The car had been a wedding present from Bill. His family had been wealthy, and by the time they married when she was nineteen and he was twenty-two, he'd already come into two trust funds. Buying a car for a wedding gift had been nothing out of the ordinary for the Stevens family.
    She remembered how excited she'd been, examining every inch of shiny blue paint, polishing out imaginary smudges on the bumper with the hem of her shirt. Now the paint had faded to a dirty gray shade and the bumpers were pitted with rust. The little car looked unloved and unkempt. Reflecting its owner, she thought bleakly.
    She smoothed her hand over the cheap cotton of her skirt. She hadn't taken any better care of the car this