Legends and Lies (6 page)

ANNIE TRIED TO STOP staring at the bracelet, but since Jared was out of the room she felt like it was okay. She touched the small charm that dangled from the half-inch-thick platinum band. It was a small palm tree with a diamond nestled in the middle of the tree.

Don’t read too much in to the gift, she warned herself.

The door opened and she dropped her arm, putting her hands behind her back. But Jared wasn’t really paying attention to her hands.

A frown firmly in place on his face, he walked into the room. His shoulders were tense and he wouldn’t meet her gaze when she looked at him.

“Is something wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Come and sit down, Annie. I have something I need to ask you.”

She crossed the room and sat on the couch next to him.

“Okay, ask me.”

He leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his knees. “What were you doing in Tucker’s garage bay earlier?”

She frowned. This wasn’t what she’d been expecting. “Looking for you.”

“How did you know I’d be there?” he asked, his expression carefully neutral and his tone very calm.

He sounded almost too calm and emotionless. Not at all like he had just a few minutes earlier.

“I saw you while I was sitting in Dave’s garage bay talking to Vinnie.”

“Vinnie, Dave’s crew chief?” Jared asked.

“Yes.”

“Did he suggest you come down to find me?”

“What exactly are you getting at here?” she countered, feeling as if she were a suspect in a police interrogation room.

“Someone tampered with Tucker’s car.”

“What? Is he okay? I didn’t see a crash, so it couldn’t have been too serious.” And the cars were inspected before they went out on the track and when they came off. Tampering wasn’t something that was easy to do. She tried to think of things she knew drivers and their teams had tried over the years, but nothing came to mind. She drew a complete blank.

“The tampering would only have slowed him down, not hurt him.”

Silence bloomed between them and for the first time it wasn’t comfortable. She felt all that he wasn’t saying, the accusation that he was trying to tiptoe around.

“Do you think I did something to Tucker’s car?” she asked at last.

He shrugged those big shoulders of his and then leaned back on the couch as if the conversation wasn’t that important. But it was to her. She had foolishly thought she was building something with Jared.

“Not really. But I want to hear you say that you didn’t,” he said.

She pushed to her feet, standing over him. She put her hands on her hips and felt the bracelet move over her skin. Was this the price of his gift? This demand that she prove that she didn’t sabotage another driver’s car?

Carefully she removed the bracelet and held it out to him. He refused to take it from her. She pivoted on her heel and went back to the table where she’d left the box. She put the bracelet in the box and then looked back at him.

He hadn’t moved from the couch and she had the feeling he’d let her walk out the door. Annie couldn’t stop herself from walking away. She knew another type of person would have stayed there and forced him to see that she couldn’t possibly have done anything to Tucker’s car. But she wasn’t like that. She didn’t like conflict and never had.

Besides, Jared wasn’t anything other than a man she knew. They’d only had one date and it was better that she get to know the man he was now. But she still felt as if she’d been betrayed. Damn. He’d seemed so different.

“I didn’t tamper with Tucker’s car. That’s not my style.”

She crossed the suite and opened the door, looking back at him and taking a deep breath. “I don’t appreciate having to prove myself to you. Tucker, I can understand because he’s a hothead. But I thought…I thought you were different, Jared.”

She stepped out of the suite and forced herself to walk calmly down the hallway to the elevator that led to the ground floor. A part of her—the romantic part— kept listening for the door to that suite to open. Kept waiting for him to suddenly come after her.

But he didn’t.

And that seemed to be the true mark of the man he was. This wasn’t a relationship worth having or worth pursuing. She felt sad deep inside, where she’d promised herself she wouldn’t let any man hurt her again. She hated that weakness in herself.

AS SOON AS THE DOOR closed Jared got up and walked to the window overlooking the track. He couldn’t believe that he’d let her walk away, but there had been little left to salvage. She’d been ticked off, and instead of fighting or yelling she’d completely shut down.

And could he blame her? What kind of man accused a woman he wanted a relationship with of tampering with a car?

An idiot, he thought. He pocketed the bracelet and left the suite, hoping he would find her before she was back in the infield.

She was waiting at the elevator. Her fingers were caressing her right wrist, where his bracelet had been a few short minutes ago.

“Annie…” But he didn’t know what to say.

“What?” she asked belligerently.

He felt a pang in his chest that he may have really hurt her with his question.

She didn’t glance up or turn toward him. And he realized he didn’t want to have things end between them right now. And certainly not like this.

“I’m sorry. You’re right…I should have asked you differently. Just flat out.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I don’t know. I’m not used to…”

“The truth?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s really sad.”

He didn’t have a response to that. It wasn’t that he thought most people lied, but Tucker had raised a few doubts in his mind about Annie. And he knew that he could never compete for her loyalty. He knew that she was a Jenner first.

“Listen, I’ll be honest with you. I don’t really care if Dave or Tucker wins. I mean, other than the fact that Dave’s my brother and I love him. But I figured the best driver at the end of each race will cross the finish line first.”

“I—”

She shook her head. “Let me finish.”

He nodded.

“My father said that cheating to win isn’t winning. My dad is one smart guy and I’ve always believed what he said. I’ve never cheated for myself and I won’t for my brother.

“I can’t be with a man who doesn’t trust me. I’m not sure that I trust any man, but being accused…it doesn’t work for me. I lived through that with my ex-husband and I can’t do it again.”

He took a deep shuddering breath, realizing this one moment had stripped them both bare and now she was waiting to see if he was man enough for her. And Jared felt the way he always did when he had to be measured by his own worth. Not his money or business acumen, but his worth as a human.

“What did your ex lie to you about?” he asked.

“Being faithful.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. That was my lesson in trusting blindly.”

Jared didn’t like the way that sounded. Didn’t like the fact that she’d been hurt badly by her ex-husband.

“I never believed you had tampered with Tucker’s car, but he was insisting and I had to ask.”

She nodded. “I understand. If Dave had come to me with the same scenario I would have asked you.”

“This was a big screwup on my part. Can we start over?” he asked her.

“I may have overreacted. You pushed a button I didn’t realize was so hot for me. I thought…well, it doesn’t matter, but I thought I was over that part of my marriage.”

“I’m not leaving here until this is right between us.”

“It won’t be right unless you trust me.”

“I do,” he said, taking the bracelet out of his pocket and holding it up. “I really want you to have this. Will you take it back?”

She looked at the piece of jewelry with more longing than he’d noticed in her eyes before. “Not now. Ask me again later.”

He understood what she wasn’t saying. That she wanted to rebuild the relationship they’d started. He pocketed the bracelet and put his hand at the small of her back as the elevator opened.

“Will you have dinner with me?”

“No,” she said. “I’m having dinner with a photographer friend of mine.”

“How about later?” he asked, trying to come up with some time that would work for him. “After dinner?”

She shook her head.

“Why not?”

“Because I haven’t seen Abby in six months and she and I tend to talk all night when we get together.”

Well, then that was that. He had the feeling no matter what he suggested she was going to be busy.

“Are you going to forgive me for this?” he asked.

“I’m thinking about it.”

“Just thinking?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m not sure I want to let things move beyond this casual stage with you.”

“Why not?”

She glanced up at him, her eyes wide and intent. “I just had a glimpse of how complicated our dating is going to be.”

“Complicated isn’t a bad thing,” he said, unwilling to let her go.

“We’ll see.”

THE ROAR OF THE ENGINES and the bustle of energy in the garage area as the drivers got ready to qualify made for an electric atmosphere. Annie pushed all her thoughts about Jared out of her mind and focused instead on the one world where she was always at home. She lifted her camera to her eye and shot her brother’s car in slow motion racing around the track.

The officials had checked over Tucker’s car and allowed him to place the tape over his engine again. But he was off as he went out on the track to qualify, posting the fifteenth fastest time.

When it was Dave’s turn he blew past Tucker’s time— and everyone else who’d qualified—to take the pole.

Annie met him back in the garage with her camera still up. She was capturing life around her, yet keeping herself safely insulated from it.

Through her lens she saw something in her brother’s eyes that she’d often noticed in her father’s—especially those photos of him when he’d still been driving. It was the glimmer of a winner.

“Great run, Dave.”

“Thanks, kiddo. Where were you earlier?”

“Having lunch, why?”

“Stevie was asking about you.”

“We’re catching up for a drink later at the prerace block festival. I think he’s singing.”

“Good. You know he’s single again.”

“Please tell me you are not matchmaking.”

Dave shrugged.

“He’s not into commitment,” she said, pointing out the obvious to her brother. Stevie was on the road fifty-one weeks a year. He liked the rock ’n ’roll lifestyle of traveling and dating a different woman each week. But Stevie was a lot of fun and totally devoted to only one person in his life—his six-year-old daughter.

“You’re not looking for commitment, either, are you?” Dave asked, scrubbing his hand over his face where sweat was dripping.

“Maybe,” she said, looking for an excuse to escape the garage area and her brother.

“Then why the hell are you dating Jared?”

“Stop it, Dave. He’s a nice guy,” she said, though she wasn’t really sure that Jared was. She thought that he had the potential to be a nice guy if he’d let down his guard…something she wasn’t sure he’d ever do around her.

“Hey, cousins,” Alan Jenner said, coming up behind her. He wrapped one arm around Annie’s waist and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. He was six foot two inches tall and solid muscle. He was also the general manager for Jenner Racing.

“Nice time today, Dave,” he said.

“Thanks,” Dave answered.

“You two look pretty intense. Is everything okay with your dad?”

“Yes. Dave was just trying to set me up with a friend of his.”

“Why? I thought you’d sworn off men,” Alan said.

“I was joking when I said that.” She needed to get out of here. The last thing she needed was the two of them—

“Who’s she dating?”

“Jared MacNeil.”

Alan’s eyes narrowed. He was two years older than she and Dave and they’d practically grown up together. “We’ll see about that.”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Dave stated.

“Leave it alone, boys.”

They didn’t say anything else but changed the subject to the prerace events that were planned for later that evening. Annie walked away from them knowing that they wouldn’t change their minds because she asked them to.

And she wasn’t exactly sure where she was heading with Jared. After their lunch he might have decided that he wasn’t going to pursue her, either.

In the alleyway between the garages and the haulers she took a few candid photos of the fans. She got her focus back on the job she had to do and away from the men in her life who were trying to make her crazy. She walked out of the garage area and down pit road.

In the distance she saw Jared and Tucker talking to the folks from one of the television stations. She lifted her camera and zoomed in on Jared’s face. She saw the sun lines, evidence of the time he spent outdoors, the hard line of his jaw and the intensity in his eyes.

Jared glanced up and right at her. They were a distance from each other so if she hadn’t had the lens zoomed in his expression would have been unclear. Instead she saw the question in his eyes.

Something in his gaze made her realize he might be vulnerable, too. And that reassured her as little else could. She wanted to cut him a little slack on the mistrust thing, but deep inside she knew she wouldn’t because she refused to get her heart broken again.

Annie had the feeling that it was too late. No matter how many hoops she made him jump through or how hard she tried to protect her heart, Jared MacNeil was already finding his way into her affection.