makeup worked on TV, but it looked all wrong to Sam.
Those months they were together a decade ago, he’d thought he knew her. But when she left, he’d questioned everything. Seeing her now only confirmed those doubts. The old Dianna would have been simply glad to be alive after the car crash. The new one was clearly concerned with looking pretty.
Moving his gaze back to her face, he could see her mind racing behind her clear, apparently calm green eyes. She was trying to figure out how best to deal with him.
Hell, he was working out the same thing.
“What are you doing here, Sam?”
He didn’t know how he’d expected her to react to his showing up unannounced, but given the sparkling jewels on her fingers and ears he’d have bet on cold and distant, that he was merely one of the many peons coming to worship at her feet.
He was surprised by the heat beneath her words, the unspoken accusation that he shouldn’t have come—and that she didn’t want him here.
Didn’t she realize he hadn’t had any other choice but to get on the next plane to Colorado? That hearing about her accident had sent him into a tailspin, into his own head-on collision with the past?
He’d never been one for telling lies. He wasn’t going to start now.
“I needed to make sure you were okay.”
He wasn’t saying anything she couldn’t have figured out for herself and he didn’t feel as if he was giving away a deep dark secret. But when her eyes suddenly softened and she unclamped her jaw, he found himself adding, “Connor told me about your accident and I was worried about you. I couldn’t sit at home without knowing how you were doing, without seeing you for myself. Considering how bad they said the crash was, you look good.”
He desperately wanted to reach out to her, to touch her skin, to see if it was still silky soft.
“You don’t just look good, Dianna. You look amazing. Simply amazing.”
Dianna was stunned not only by his presence, but by everything he was saying.
She didn’t know what to think. What to say. Where to look.
She wanted to stare at him, drink in his tanned skin, the sexy new lines on his face. She wanted to continue studying him until she figured out when and how he’d changed from the hot young firefighter she’d loved to this mature man, who looked rough and hard in all the right places and soft in none.
She forgot everything as she looked at him, her worries about April and the accident shrinking to a small glimmer in the back of her mind. All this time she’d convinced herself that she’d left her past behind her, but simply seeing Sam was pushing every last one of her painful emotions back up to the surface.
She was frightened by the attraction that still simmered between them. But most of all, she was alarmed by how much she loved seeing him, by how much it mattered to her that he came all the way to Colorado to check on her.
The last time she’d cared this much about Sam, he’d broken her heart.
Somehow, she needed to stop herself from falling all over again.
Thus far, she hadn’t managed to play it cool, which was crazy. She was a master of cool. She’d been in a hundred uncomfortable situations on her TV set. She needed to draw on those experiences and pull herself together.
So although she was dying to know every last detail about the last ten years of Sam’s life, she wouldn’t allow herself to give in to her curiosity. Instead, she’d assuage it by asking about his brother. She’d be polite. Interested, of course, because she’d always liked Connor. But she’d pull back before the conversation had any chance of going too deep.
“You mentioned Connor. How is he?”
Sam’s expression went from hot to cold so fast her head spun.
“None of us heard from you for ten years. You didn’t leave a telephone number. Or an address. You didn’t send Christmas cards to the station. You just disappeared.”
The force of his words pushed her back against the pillows. She
Those months they were together a decade ago, he’d thought he knew her. But when she left, he’d questioned everything. Seeing her now only confirmed those doubts. The old Dianna would have been simply glad to be alive after the car crash. The new one was clearly concerned with looking pretty.
Moving his gaze back to her face, he could see her mind racing behind her clear, apparently calm green eyes. She was trying to figure out how best to deal with him.
Hell, he was working out the same thing.
“What are you doing here, Sam?”
He didn’t know how he’d expected her to react to his showing up unannounced, but given the sparkling jewels on her fingers and ears he’d have bet on cold and distant, that he was merely one of the many peons coming to worship at her feet.
He was surprised by the heat beneath her words, the unspoken accusation that he shouldn’t have come—and that she didn’t want him here.
Didn’t she realize he hadn’t had any other choice but to get on the next plane to Colorado? That hearing about her accident had sent him into a tailspin, into his own head-on collision with the past?
He’d never been one for telling lies. He wasn’t going to start now.
“I needed to make sure you were okay.”
He wasn’t saying anything she couldn’t have figured out for herself and he didn’t feel as if he was giving away a deep dark secret. But when her eyes suddenly softened and she unclamped her jaw, he found himself adding, “Connor told me about your accident and I was worried about you. I couldn’t sit at home without knowing how you were doing, without seeing you for myself. Considering how bad they said the crash was, you look good.”
He desperately wanted to reach out to her, to touch her skin, to see if it was still silky soft.
“You don’t just look good, Dianna. You look amazing. Simply amazing.”
Dianna was stunned not only by his presence, but by everything he was saying.
She didn’t know what to think. What to say. Where to look.
She wanted to stare at him, drink in his tanned skin, the sexy new lines on his face. She wanted to continue studying him until she figured out when and how he’d changed from the hot young firefighter she’d loved to this mature man, who looked rough and hard in all the right places and soft in none.
She forgot everything as she looked at him, her worries about April and the accident shrinking to a small glimmer in the back of her mind. All this time she’d convinced herself that she’d left her past behind her, but simply seeing Sam was pushing every last one of her painful emotions back up to the surface.
She was frightened by the attraction that still simmered between them. But most of all, she was alarmed by how much she loved seeing him, by how much it mattered to her that he came all the way to Colorado to check on her.
The last time she’d cared this much about Sam, he’d broken her heart.
Somehow, she needed to stop herself from falling all over again.
Thus far, she hadn’t managed to play it cool, which was crazy. She was a master of cool. She’d been in a hundred uncomfortable situations on her TV set. She needed to draw on those experiences and pull herself together.
So although she was dying to know every last detail about the last ten years of Sam’s life, she wouldn’t allow herself to give in to her curiosity. Instead, she’d assuage it by asking about his brother. She’d be polite. Interested, of course, because she’d always liked Connor. But she’d pull back before the conversation had any chance of going too deep.
“You mentioned Connor. How is he?”
Sam’s expression went from hot to cold so fast her head spun.
“None of us heard from you for ten years. You didn’t leave a telephone number. Or an address. You didn’t send Christmas cards to the station. You just disappeared.”
The force of his words pushed her back against the pillows. She
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