“I doubt we’ll ever get to know each other well at all. You’re only visiting here.”
True, his home on the Amesport Peninsula wasn’t his primary residence. But really, he didn’t actually have a home. He had houses all over the world, some he spent more time in than others, but they were just real estate. He’d initially come here to see his injured brother, Dante, but he’d lingered long after his police detective brother had recovered from his gunshot wounds. Dante was getting married to a local physician and taking a position with the police department here. “I’ll be here. I’m staying until after Dante’s wedding.”
“Just a few more weeks,” she reminded him, her brows narrowing in concentration, as though she was trying to figure out his motives.
She might as well give up trying to figure me out. I can’t even reason out my own idiotic behavior right now.
“I’ll be here,” he repeated ominously.
Mara blinked rapidly, her eyes growing moist. “I appreciate the offer, Mr. Sinclair, but my problems are my own to solve.”
Jared nearly growled when he saw the stubborn tilt of her chin and thought about her taking on the dismal situation all by herself. “Jared.”
She nodded. “Jared. Thank you for the offer, but this is something I have to deal with on my own. My entire life is going to have to change, and so am I.” She turned around without another word and sprinted across the street. Scurrying up the few steps to her door, she pushed against the wood and disappeared inside the house, never looking back.
I don’t want her to change. She’s perfect just the way she is now.
The sound of his name in her husky come-do-me voice had nearly tipped Jared over the edge, and he had to force himself not to follow her, grasping the wooden post that was supporting the overhang of Shamrock’s to make his feet stay planted.
Christ. I am becoming a damn stalker.
Shaking his head in irritation as he stared at her door long after she had disappeared, he slowly made his way to his black Mercedes SUV, a vehicle that usually just sat in the garage of his Amesport home, his gut still gnawing at him to go after her.
Patience. I have to have some patience with her. I need my damn control back.
Restraint was something he had very little of at the moment, and his time to help Mara Ross was limited. Eventually she’d hate him. It was inevitable.
As Jared seated himself in his vehicle, he gripped the steering wheel hard and closed his eyes with a tortured groan, the thrum of the rain beating against his windshield almost sounding like a ticking clock.
How long will it take before she finds out the truth?
Jared opened his eyes and started the engine, realizing that he didn’t have the fucking time to sit around moping. It wouldn’t be long before Mara found out that he was the buyer of her beloved home and shop, the bastard ultimately responsible for her losing everything she cared about.
He hadn’t planned on her finding out quite this quickly. Obviously, the damn irresponsible owner had jumped the gun.
As he did a quick U-turn from the curb he was parked on, heading back to his home on the Peninsula, he remembered his thoughts about just destroying whoever was causing her problems. Ironically, if he was going to deal with the situation that way, he’d have no one to kill . . . except himself.
CHAPTER 2
“I’m so sorry, Sarah. I can’t walk down the aisle for your wedding on crutches,” Kristin Moore moaned woefully to the other four women in her living room.
Mara frowned at the cast on her best friend’s leg, the result of a bicycle accident during the rain. She and Kristin, Dr. Sarah Baxter’s office manager, had been best friends since grade school, and her heart ached for the vivacious redhead. Mara knew how much Kristin had been looking forward to being a bridesmaid in Sarah’s wedding. She also knew how restless her friend could be. Keeping Kristin down for even a short time was going to be hell. “I’m sure Sarah understands,” she told Kristin adamantly, shooting a look at Dr. Sarah Baxter from across the room and seeing the pretty blonde nod emphatically.
“Of course I do. It’s not your fault, Kristin. It will be fine. You just need to worry about your injury and healing,” Sarah replied soothingly from her seat on the couch beside her best friend, Emily, Grady Sinclair’s wife. Emily was Sarah’s maid of honor. Randi Tyler, the pretty, dark-haired teacher seated on the floor, was one of the two bridesmaids for Sarah’s wedding.