“Oh, it’s charming,” she said breathlessly. “And the flower beds! I’ll bet they’re glorious in the spring!”

“They are Beryl’s contribution to beautifying the landscape. There are magnolia trees and azaleas and camellias, all sorts of blooming things. She can tell you, if you’re interested.”

“I love to garden,” she confessed. “I’ve never had anyplace to do it, except in my apartment window, but I used to do all the yard work at my grandmother’s house.”

He pulled up at the steps and turned off the engine, staring at her quietly. “I don’t know you,” he said, his voice soft and deep. “I don’t know a damned thing about you, Tess.”

“Why would you want to?” she asked evasively. “Look, is that Beryl?” A short, white-haired woman had come onto the porch.

“That’s Beryl.”

“It’s about time you got here!” the woman muttered. “Late, as usual. Is this her?” She stopped in front of Tess and looked her over. “Thin and sickly, she is. I’ll take care of that with some good home cooking. How’s that arm, lovey?” she asked gently. “Still hurt?”

Tess smiled, at home already. “It’s much better.”

“If you’re through running your mouth, I’d like to get the walking wounded into the house,” Dane drawled. “She isn’t going to get better standing out here in the cold.”

“It’s not that cold at all,” Beryl scoffed. “Why, in little more than a month there’ll be flowers everywhere!”

Tess could picture that, but she wouldn’t be around to see it, she thought wistfully. She let Dane help her inside, unable to stop herself from stiffening at the feel of his lean arm around her.

“Don’t panic,” he said curtly as Beryl went ahead to lead the way to the guest room. “I won’t hurt you.”

She colored involuntarily. “Dane…”

Her reticence made him irritable. “Relax, can’t you? You’re among friends.”

“You were never that,” she said stiffly.

“I’m thirty-four years old,” he said as they moved down the long hall. “Maybe I’m tired of being alone. You said once that neither of us has anybody else.”

“And you said once that you didn’t need anyone.”

He shrugged. “I’ve spent fourteen years being a cop. It isn’t easy to change perspective.”

The mention of his profession made her uneasy. She didn’t like thinking about the drug dealers she’d seen or what Dane had said about her being the only witness.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I was thinking about the night I got shot,” she confessed. “About those men…”

“You’re safe here,” he said. “Nobody is going to hurt you.”

“Of course not,” she agreed, and forced a smile.

Beryl settled her in while Dane went out to check on some new cattle that arrived shortly after they did. It was several hours before he reappeared, after Beryl and Tess had gotten acquainted. But the man who walked into the bedroom wasn’t the man she thought she knew.

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