Page 99 of If I Didn’t Have You

In a matter of minutes, I was sitting in front of him as we slowly made our way through the ranch. He couldn’t stop touching me, and every time his hand slid around my waist or brushed down my arms, chills skated over me, reminding me what it was like to be young and in love.

“Do you remember sneaking out with me before our engagement?” His voice rumbled against my ears, sending chills skating down my spine.

It was hard to concentrate on anything when his thumb leisurely brushed against my bicep.

“I remember.”

“The party was about to start, and neither of us wanted to be there.”

I smiled at the memory, how he climbed a tree up to the bedroom window where I was getting ready. “And you convinced me to climb out onto the tree. As I recall, my dress got torn.”

“It looked better hanging off you than fully covering you.”

“Your mother was so mad,” I laughed, remembering the look on her face when we walked back through the door later that evening. “My hair…God, it was curling all funny from drying in the breeze, and my makeup was smeared all over my face!”

“You never looked sexier to me.” His lips brushed against my neck as he tugged me closer.

“I didn’t exactly win brownie points with anyone in your family that night.”

“They knew it was because of me.”

“Oh, please. You were their little angel who could do no wrong.”

His laughter vibrated through me, doing nothing to ease the ache that was quickly growing in my core.

“I never was an angel, and they knew it. They just didn’t like to think that I could fall so hard for someone like you.”

“A spoiled brat?” I asked, remembering just how pampered I had been when I first met the love of my life.

“Someone who would stand up to her family for the man she loved. Someone who walked away from everything to be with me,” he answered earnestly. “I think it scared them a little.”

“Well, your mother never said anything to me. I think, if anything, she was harder on me.”

He grunted in reply as we approached the falls. If I looked to my left, I could see Liam’s house with his lights on, and to the right, across the river, was Lily’s house.

“You never told me about the woman who moved in here.”

“Because it wasn’t my story to tell.”

Shifting in the saddle, I craned my neck to see him. “But how did you know her?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t. An old friend contacted me, asked me if I could give her a place to stay.”

That was news to me. “And who is this old friend?”

Sighing, he pulled me tighter. God, this must be really bad.

“His name is Michael Gage. I doubt you remember him. The man only stopped by the property a handful of times. He always dropped in unannounced and left just as quickly. The first time I met him was…about twenty years ago. He needed a place to lay low for a few days.”

“Lay low?”

I could feel him tense at my question. “He was injured on the job, and needed a place to hide out. So, I put him up in one of the empty bunk houses.”

Something sparked in my memory, but I hardly recalled every detail; it was so long ago.

“Anyway, he stayed for a few days, and then he was gone.”

“Wait, you said injured on the job. What does that mean?”