Heartbreak, Tennessee (17 page)

Except for Mac. It had
not been a girl who had loved him under the summer stars, who had promised to
share his love for eternity. At eighteen she had felt a woman’s passion, and it
had never been extinguished, only buried.

Now it struggled to
voice its claim.

She had allowed
herself to wonder if there could be something permanent for them. Dared to
imagine promises in the night they shared, dared to wonder what it would be
like to wake by his side every morning.

And yet she had not
even been strong enough to stay for a single dawn.

Because deep down she
knew that she could no more come back to Heartbreak than Mac could pack up his
life and move it to the city. He was a part of Heartbreak, and it a part of
him, in a way that Amber recognized would never allow him to leave. His love of
the clear still lakes and the Appalachian mountains in the distance, the moon
hanging heavy in a sky lit by a brilliant sprinkling of stars - these were
things he could never forsake for any other place.

And Amber, though at
times it seemed as though Heartbreak thrummed with a gentle song of welcome for
her, could not bear to return to a place that had wounded her so. It had taken
her mother and her one love, leaving her with nothing.

And yet, as Sheryn
said, true love alone could make the most barren place bloom with life. Maybe
this could once again be her home.

Amber realized she was
clutching the slim circle of gold she wore beneath her shirt. She took a deep
breath and slowly relaxed her grip. She could turn, get back into the car, go
back to the hotel. A few more days, and Gray should have the answers they
needed, and everyone could get back to Nashville.

But...a few yards away
was Mac. Amber had not spent years regretting and a single night burning down
their shared history only to leave now. Loving him once had not quenched the
fire that raged in her.

At least she would
carry out the task she’d promised Gray she’d do. Delivering the papers in the
morning would be no easier for her than doing it tonight—especially if
the dawn found that yellow pickup still parked in front of his house.

Amber took a deep
breath and strode purposefully past the battered yellow pickup, climbed the
porch stairs and pausing with her hand poised to rap on the frame of the screen
door.

Inside she could hear
Mac’s voice, low and smooth, and then answering laughter.

Female
laughter.

Amber hesitated for a
moment. Again, the jealousy. Mac had said there wasn’t anyone in his life. But
maybe he simply meant nobody special. Maybe there was someone who shared his
company, his free time...his bed.

Still, how could he
have spent the night with her, loved her the way he did, if he was even
casually seeing someone else?

As she stood
deliberating, Amber heard chairs being pushed back on the oak floors and
another exchange of words, then footsteps crossing the floor. She knocked then,
not wanting to be caught listening at the door. Holding her breath, she stepped
back as the door was opened, Mac’s face when he spotted her revealing a second
of anxiety before he rearranged his features into an impenetrable mask.

Then
she
stepped into view. His companion,
smiling broadly, was not anything Amber was prepared for. Petite, with pale
straight blonde hair falling to her waist, she wore a simple embroidered tank
top and cutoff jeans, leaving long, slender arms and tanned legs exposed. Blue
eyes rimmed in kohl danced in the soft lamplights as she stepped forward to
extend a hand to Amber, who took it automatically.

“You must be Amber,”
she said, pressing Amber’s hand with strong callused fingers. “Getting details
from Mac’s like pulling teeth, but he sure does have it bad for you.”

“
Charlene
—” Mac cut in sharply.

“Aw, hush,” the woman
said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. “You never have had a clue what’s
good for you. If it hadn’t been for me and Ed taking care of you all these
years, I just don’t know what you would have done. Charlene Brady,” she added,
giving Amber a final squeeze before releasing her hand.

“Charlene’s my office
manager,” Mac muttered. “Other than not knowing when to keep her mouth shut,
she’s a good friend of mine. She was nice enough to come out and keep me
company for dinner.

“My husband Ed had to
work late, and the kids are at my Mom’s, and this boy finally learned to cook,”
Charlene added.

“Oh,” Amber said. Charlene
had a husband. Kids. She liked the sound of that. “I mean, it’s a pleasure to
meet you. Mac, I just brought by some documents that Gray wanted you to have an
opportunity to look over before tomorrow’s meeting.”

Charlene raised an
eyebrow and looked hard at Amber, then at Mac.

“Business stuff? You
drove all the way over here to do business?” Then a light dawned in her eyes
and she gave Amber a broad wink. “Or y’all just making excuses ‘cause I’m here?
Honest, there’s no need for that. I mean, I’m sorry to be a third wheel and
all, but Ed’ll be along soon enough to fix that damn clunker out there and we’ll
be on our way. And that pretty moon looks like it’ll last all night long.”

Another wink.

Amber flushed deeply
and held up the stack of papers to show Mac. He stared at them as though they
were about to go up in flames, not reaching for them. “Thanks,” he mumbled. “I’ll
read them over before we convene.”

What had she expected?
That when she and Mac saw each other again, he’d flash her an easy grin and
invite her to move in?

Well, yes. As she’d
struggled to stir up the courage to commit herself to trying to build something
with Mac, she’d made one assumption.

One dangerous
presumption.

That he’d want her to.
That he’d welcome her into his home, his life, his town. That a life with her
was at the top of his wish list.

But the man in front
of her, shifting from one foot to another and searching the room for somewhere
to fix his gaze, did not look as though he wanted to share the next ten
minutes, much less eternity.

Amber had used just
about every ounce of guts she possessed to make it this far. But there was
nothing left to take her any further.

“Is there something
wrong with your truck?” Amber inquired. “I’ll be heading back in a moment and I’d
be glad to give you a lift.”

“Oh, now.” The look on
Charlene’s face was that of a little girl whose ice cream cone had been
snatched away. “I won’t hear of it. That fool battery’s acting up again. Dead. Mac’s
already offered to take me home, but Ed’s getting off his shift over at the
hospital any time now and he’s going to come on over here. He’s got set of
jumper cables and he’ll have us out of here in no time.”

“I have jumper cables,”
Amber said. “If that would help.”

“Well, sure! I’d
appreciate it. Mac can’t remember who he loaned his to,” Charlene grinned,
rolling her eyes in his direction. “I swear, he’d give the shirt off his back
to anyone who asked. It’s a wonder anything’s left in this place of his.”

“Oh, lay off,” Mac
muttered. “I just keep forgetting to get them back from Pat since he totaled
that Buick.”

“Well, hey,” Charlene
said, clapping her hands together and changing the subject. “I’ll call Ed and
tell him not to bother. And I’ll fix us all one of my famous long island iced
teas. Then Amber and I can have us some girl talk while you get busy on my
truck, okay, Mac?”

“Really, I can’t,”
Amber said, as Charlene began rattling things in the kitchen. “I still have
some work to do tonight.”

Then, remembering she
was still clutching the clipped papers, she thrust them out to Mac.

And dropped them.

They both bent at once.
Two hands darted out. And collided.

Crouched down, his
face inches away from hers, Mac found himself staring into her eyes. She was
close enough that if he leaned slightly, his lips could meet hers. He ached to
taste her again, touch her delicate jaw and long sweep of lashes and the
hollow, oh, that sensitive hollow tucked beneath her ears...

“Sorry,” Amber said,
pushing the papers at him and rising.
”Here you go.” Charlene’s voice, at
his elbow. But he was just inches away from Amber, having trouble concentrating
on anything but her.

“Thank you,” Amber
said faintly, and took a glass from the tray Charlene offered. “I think I will,
after all.”

Automatically Mac’s
hand shot out for a tall glass, and he raised it to his lips and drank deeply,
vaguely thinking that he might quench the fiery urgency in his body.

“Careful, they’re...”

Too late, Mac tasted the
potent combination of high-proof ingredients. Two thirds of the liquid had
already coursed down his throat, burning a fiery tunnel through his body.

“...strong,” Charlene
finished, her voice awestruck. “I’ve never seen anyone do that to one of these,”
she added.

What the hell. Mac
stared at the remainder of the concoction, then tossed it down as well.

Amber had taken just a
few sips from her own glass, but she raised it to her lips and drank deeply.

“Oh well,” Charlene
shrugged. “Bottoms up!”

Leaving the two women
to their conversation, Mac slammed the door on the way out of the house and got
busy. The cables were in the trunk of the little Mercedes, as Amber had
promised, and Charlene had left her keys in the truck’s ignition. It didn’t
take long to get the truck in position and attach the cables. Mac moved
automatically, the task something he could do blindfolded, his mind elsewhere.

Charlene had come down
on him, hard. Maybe he’d been wrong to open up to her the way he had, but he
just couldn’t keep everything bottled up any longer.

Amber was driving him
crazy. The night they’d spent together burned in his body, his senses, while he
couldn’t keep his mind focused on anything at all. Images of her kept
intruding, memories of what they’d shared, of the way he’d lost her.

And, most aggravating
of all, unbidden thoughts of what might be. He had dared to dream a future with
her. A future that could never be, one on which he had no business gambling the
few thin remaining shreds of his life.

Besides, he reminded
himself as he pressed the pedal of the truck to the floor, causing the engine
to choke and then roar in a cloud of noxious exhaust, tomorrow would find them
sitting on opposite sides of a bargaining table, fighting over everything that
he held dear.

Stepping down from the
cab of the truck, Mac found Charlene waiting, hands on hips, glaring at him. He
shrugged past her, and gestured to the open door.

“Just let me get these
cables put away,” he said. “Then she’s all yours. You need to get that muffler
of yours looked at one of these days.”

He could feel her
watching him as he finished up. As he slammed the Mercedes’ trunk shut he
turned to her and tried to fix his features in an easy smile.

“Thanks for
everything, Charlene,” he said. “I know you have my best interests at heart. You
just don’t know the whole story.”

“Yes I do,” Charlene
replied, giving him a quick peck on the cheek and then climbing into the truck.
“I know all I need to know.”

And then she was gone,
the rattle of her engine receding into the darkness, until all that was left
was the faint buzz of the summer night.

Turning, he saw that
Amber had come out onto the porch.

“So why did you really
come here tonight?” he asked, climbing the stairs to lean against one of the
porch’s support beams, hands jammed into the pockets of his jeans.

“She’s sweet,” Amber
said softly, ignoring his question. “You’re lucky to have a friend like her.”

“Yeah. Look, Amber,
you dropped off the papers. Is there—do you have something more to say to
me?”

He watched her carefully,
trying to gauge the emotions that coursed through her liquid green eyes. Saw
her blink a few times. Saw them go a little misty.

Maybe he shouldn’t
have been so abrupt. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her further. But
God knew, if this thing between them wasn’t going anywhere, if she was going to
leave in a few days and return to her life, her lover far away in the city,
then he wanted it over
now
.

But her response was
anything but what he’d expected.

Amber bit her lip and
shook her head. “I know that this afternoon I shouldn’t have run away. Things
just got a little much for me and I had to leave. It wasn’t you, it—wasn’t
fair to you, I know, and I’m sorry. So sorry.

“And then tonight I
was talking to Sheryn, about life and history and second chances and...oh, I
guess you would have had to have been there, but I decided to come and see you,
but I wasn’t thinking about what we’d talk about, what we’d say. I just knew I
had to come here, be here with you.”

“You didn’t seem to
feel that way this afternoon, up on Bear Creek Trail,” Mac said, still wary.