Read Online After Dark by Beverly Barton - Free Book Online

and easier to blame him for her unhappiness.
    But now, suddenly, after fifteen years, he was back—big as life and twice as deadly. What once would have been a dream come true was now a nightmare realized. The devil incarnate stood in front of her. Temptation personified. Every woman’s fantasy. And every woman’s downfall.
    Why now, dear God? Why now?
    â€œIt’s been a long time,” Johnny Mack said in that deep, sexy Southern drawl, as he removed his Stetson and held it in his hand. “You’re even prettier than I remember.”
    Heat rose inside Lane, warming her as it flushed her skin. A compliment from Johnny Mack had always set off a flood of butterflies in her stomach. If all else about their relationship had changed, that one aspect hadn’t. Don’t believe a word he says, an inner voice cautioned. He’s a charmer. A seducer. A heartbreaker.
    â€œI don’t mean to be rude,” Lane said, ever the polite, mannerly Southern belle her mother had raised her to be. “But why are you here? What are you doing in Noble’s Crossing?”
    You swore you’d never come back—that hell would freeze over first. What changed your mind?
    She tried not to stare at him, not to take inventory of his physical assets. But with a man as devastatingly male as Johnny Mack Cahill, she found it impossible not to visually appreciate his long, lean body and his ruggedly handsome face. Dressed casually in jeans and a dark cotton shirt, he looked like a working man all cleaned up for a night on the town.
    Just where had he been all these years and what had he been doing? And why, after fifteen years, had he shown up on her doorstep tonight?
    â€œAren’t you even going to ask me to sit down?” He eyed the living room from his position in the foyer.
    â€œIs this a social call?” she asked, her stomach churning, her nerves rioting.
    â€œI’m not sure what kind of visit this is,” he admitted. “A search for the truth, maybe.”
    Lane willed herself not to gasp aloud. Did he know? Had he somehow found out about Will? But how, after all these years? Was it possible that the story of Kent’s murder had reached him wherever he lived now? Maybe he wasn’t here because of Will. Maybe he didn’t know he had a son. Perhaps he had come back to Noble’s Crossing to help her. If that were true, then he was, as the old adage said, a day late and a dollar short. If she had ever meant anything to him, he would have come back for her long before now.
    â€œAnd just what truth are you seeking?” She stuck out her chin defiantly, as if daring him to mention Will. At the thought of her son, she glanced toward the closed kitchen door and prayed that Lillie Mae could keep Will occupied until she could get rid of her uninvited company.
    â€œWorried about the boy overhearing our conversation?”
    Johnny Mack’s lips curved into the turn-a-woman’s-knees-to-jello smile that Lane remembered only too well. So, he knew she had a child, but just how much did he really know about Will?
    â€œYes,” she admitted. “Until I know why you’re back in town, after an absence of fifteen years, I’d prefer my son not meet you.”
    â€œFair enough.” Without another word, Johnny Mack reached inside his back pocket and pulled his wallet from his jeans. After retrieving a folded piece of paper, he spread it apart to reveal a newspaper clipping and a small photograph. He held the items out to Lane. Their gazes met and locked. A hard knot of apprehension formed in the pit of her stomach. With trembling fingers, she reached out and accepted his offering.
    The photograph was of Will. Last year’s school picture. The knot in her stomach tightened. He looked just like Johnny Mack, feature for feature, right down to the devastating smile. How could Johnny Mack have seen this picture and not realized that the boy was his?
    Hurriedly Lane