We'll Never Tell (Secrets of Ravenswood) (3 page)

When he didn’t answer
right away, she dared a quick glance in his direction. A grin stretched across
his face. She drew in a breath.

“Several have tried. All
failed.”

“Sounds like a
challenge.”

“Naw, I’m a hopeless
case. I do buy new clothes now and then, but my old ones are more comfortable.
Do you know how many years it takes to break in a pair of jeans?”

“Hmm?” She shook her
head, but the image of soft, faded denim cupping hard thighs and…
Don’t go
there, Sam.

She focused on her
surroundings—and drew in a breath. It didn’t matter that she’d been past this
spot dozens of times over the years; seeing the clearing always sent a shiver
through her. W
hat ifs
nagged at odd moments. What if she, Juliette, and
Darby had marched out of hiding before he pushed the woman? What if they had
told someone afterward? They’d been little girls, scared out of their minds.

We weren’t to blame.

“Isn’t this where Max
knocked you on your butt when he was still a puppy?”

She tamped down the
memories and glanced over at Ethan. His lips tilted upward, and a sparkle lit
his eyes.

“You looked so
indignant, and you didn’t hesitate to put me in my place. It made me notice you
as someone other than Wyatt Beaumont’s little sister.”

“I was twelve and
flat-chested. I doubt you gave me a second thought.”

He laughed, and she
smiled in response.

“Maybe not immediately…”
He broke off and frowned. “What’s wrong, Sadie?”

The dog had stopped
fifty yards ahead and stared down into a shallow ravine.

“Do you suppose she’s
found our hiker?”

“They would have located
him last night if he was this close.” Ethan ran up the hill and paused beside
the dog. “Barry Rutledge, are you down there?” he shouted.

The descent wasn’t
steep, but the hillside was thick with white fir and ponderosa pine trees.
Water flowed across the trail and trickled down the embankment to a stream
below. Nothing stirred but a hint of breeze through the trees. Overhead, a
raven circled and cawed.

Sam crossed her arms
over her chest and shivered though it wasn’t really cold. “He could have fallen
and knocked himself out.”

“We’ll check to make
sure. Sadie doesn’t go on alert over a squirrel.”

Following Ethan, Sam carefully
picked her way down the hill. Boulders and uprooted saplings littered the
stream bed as they neared the bottom.

“Looks like a flash
flood came through here recently,” she said.

He glanced back at her.
“We had thunderstorms a couple nights ago.” Turning, he cupped his hands around
his mouth. “Barry Rutledge,” he shouted. The words faded into the trees.

“If he’s down here, he
must be unconscious.” She didn’t want to consider the alternative.

“Sadie’s found
something.” Ethan maneuvered upstream, avoiding the worst of the debris. The
dog stood still, ears perked, body quivering. He stopped. “Jesus.”

“Oh, no.” Sam hurried to
reach him. “Is it the hiker?”

“Not the one we’re
looking for.”

She stood beside him,
and the breath squeezed out of her lungs. The rounded top of a skull was
visible in the rubble below. Rib bones protruded from the earth. Spots danced
in front of her eyes, and she forced herself to breathe before she spoke. “Not
Barry Rutledge, but the remains look human.”

“Back, Sadie,” Ethan
said, and the dog obediently retreated a few paces. He lowered himself the last
few yards into the narrow crevice between the rocks, staying clear of the
remains. “The flash flood must have uncovered her.”

Sam’s feet slipped in
the loose soil, and she landed on her knees. “A woman?” Her gaze flew to the
exposed bones. “What makes you say that?”

He squatted beside her
and pointed. “See the bit of material showing through the loose rock. Looks
like some kind of synthetic fabric, maybe from a jacket.”

Sam stared at the dirty
piece of material. A hint of color was visible under the grime. “Pink,” she
whispered.

“Most men don’t wear
pink jackets.”

She barely heard his
words through the roaring in her ears.
The woman stood in front of a
crackling fire, the light giving her hair a rosy glow, arms crossed over her
bright pink jacket…
Time and the elements had faded the cheerful color.
Not
the same jacket. It can’t be the same one.

She moaned, a tiny
whimper of sound.

“Sam, are you okay?”
Ethan put an arm around her waist. “You aren’t going to pass out on me, are
you?”

She leaned against him.
Closing her eyes tight, she forced the image away. “I’m fine.”

He didn’t release her.
“You look pale. I would have thought you’d seen a lot worse than this in your
line of work. Whoever the person was, she died some time ago. I’m sure the
coroner will be able to narrow it down.”

Sam took a breath and
stood. “I wasn’t expecting to find a body, just a hiker with a broken leg or
some other repairable problem.”

“I know what you mean.
Seeing those bones threw me, too. We’d better call it in.”

We can’t tell.
She clamped her teeth
together so hard her jaw ached. Of course they had to report the body. They
didn’t have a choice. Nodding, she turned and climbed up the hillside. She
couldn’t look any longer at that bit of pink fabric, at the bones, exposed and
vulnerable.

Ethan followed with
Sadie at his heels, not saying anything until they reached the top. He pointed
to a fallen tree in a patch of sunlight. “Why don’t you have a seat while I
make the call? It may take a while.”

She didn’t argue.
Sitting on the half rotted log, Sam turned her face up, soaking in the sun’s
warmth. Coldness settled around her heart.
Maybe it isn’t the woman we saw
so long ago. Maybe it’s some other missing hiker…
A shudder wracked her
body. She had to pull herself together. Ethan was already wondering what was
wrong with her. People who spent their time as relief workers at disaster sites
didn’t get squeamish over a few bones.

Sadie settled beside her
and rested her head on Sam’s knee. She stroked the dog’s silky ears, willing
her hands to stop shaking. By the time Ethan finished his conversation and
pocketed the phone, her heart had stopped pounding.

“They’re sending people
up. They want us to wait here until they arrive.” He dropped onto the log next
to her. “Good news. Frank and Gene found the missing hiker. Sprained ankle and
a few cuts and bruises sustained in a fall. He was lucky.”

His thigh pressed
against hers, warming her. She swallowed. “That’s a relief.”

He leaned back on his
hands. “Yep, one dead body is more than enough.”

Sam didn’t want to talk
about the dead woman—if it was a woman—until she had a chance to speak to
Juliette. They’d have to call Darby and tell her…

“Sam.”

She jerked around.
“Sorry, I was thinking about something.”

Sharp blue eyes closely
surveyed her. “I asked if you want to talk about the night we spent together or
keep pretending it didn’t happen. You’ve done an impressive job of avoiding me
for what, five years now?”

Her cheeks heated.
“Something like that,” she mumbled.

Some of the coolness
disappeared from his eyes, and amusement took its place. “Was I that bad in
bed?”

She gasped. “No! It
wasn’t the sex. Well, it was, but…” She stuttered to a stop. “I think I’ll shut
up now.”

“Should I be flattered
that I’ve reduced you to speechlessness?”

His teasing eased some
of the tightness from her chest. She breathed deeply. The fecund odor of the
rotting log made her nose twitch. Behind them, a squirrel chattered high in a
tree.

“I don’t do one night
stands. When I woke up the morning after and found you still asleep…” She
shrugged. “It seemed easier to leave than make awkward conversation. I was
headed to Africa that night, so there didn’t seem to be much point in sticking
around.”

“Why did it have to be
awkward?”

She opened her mouth,
but words failed her. After a moment, she tried again. “We didn’t really know
each other—still don’t.”

His hands clenched, and
he jammed them in his pockets. “Did it ever occur to you that I was looking
forward to getting to know you better?”

She turned to study his
profile, the straight nose and hard angle of his jaw. “Were you
angry
I
left? I thought you’d be relieved.”

“You thought wrong. I
don’t make a habit of one night stands, either. I wouldn’t have slept with you
if I hadn’t thought we had a connection.” His voice deepened. “My mistake.”

She drew in a breath and
touched his arm. The muscle tightened beneath his sleeve. “You weren’t wrong. I
felt it, too. But building a relationship has its own demands, and I was
pouring all my time and energy into
RAW
.”

His eyes narrowed as he
squinted into the sun. “Seems like you still do that. How long were you gone
this last time, three or four months?”

“Five.” Her shoulders
slumped. “I’ve been pushing myself too hard, I admit. I need to take a break.”
She picked at a spot of sap on the knee of her jeans. “Maybe it’s time to
re-evaluate my priorities.”

“It’s not like you can’t
afford a vacation.”

“Nope, though my trust
fund isn’t as fat as it used to be. I dumped millions into
RAW
.”

He turned sideways to
study her, his eyes warm. “I like that about you, Sam. You don’t pretend like
your family isn’t stinking rich.”

She laughed. “There
wouldn’t be much point. Everyone in Ravenswood knows everybody else’s business.
My parents never made their jet setting lifestyle a secret, even though my
grandpa was the one who made all the money.”

He hummed a few bars
from Beaumont Brewery’s latest TV commercial and shook his head. “How you and
Wyatt turned out so normal will always remain a mystery.”

“He’s a Wall Street
guru, and I spend my days sifting through earthquake rubble. Normal might be a
stretch.”

His grin made her
stomach jump.

“You could be right.” He
stood when Sadie barked once. “I think the recovery team’s here.”

Sam strained her ears.
The faint sound of voices filtered through the trees. Slowly she rose to her
feet. “Let’s get this over with. I’ve got some old business to attend to.”

Sam hadn’t changed.
Stubborn. Defensive.
Vulnerable
. Ethan shoved his hands in his pockets
as they headed back toward town, neither saying much of anything. Short blonde
hair cupped her chin, and long bangs swept across her cheekbones, framing green
eyes that reflected a wealth of experience. She wasn’t as drop dead gorgeous as
her friend, Juliette, but you’d never notice. Not with the way she walked, full
of confidence and energy, those long, long legs… He tugged at his jeans to ease
the sudden tightness.

The woman was an enigma,
spending her days searching for disaster survivors when she could have been
lounging on a tropical beach with nothing more to worry about than a chipped
fingernail. When it came to time and money, Sam was a giver. But she guarded
her emotions closer than Sadie watched her food bowl at dinner time. Five years
ago she’s run away from the possibility of a relationship. He had no reason to
think she’d changed.

Which
sucked    because his attraction to her certainly hadn’t faded.

The woman he couldn’t stop
thinking about paused in front of the firehouse and turned to face him, her
eyes clouded. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “I won’t say it’s
been a pleasure, considering the circumstances, but it was good to see you
again, Ethan.”

“Sure about that? You
don’t look too happy at the moment.”

A hint of a smile curved
her lips. “Positive. I imagine we’ll bump into each other again, since I’ll be
in town for a while this time.”

“Maybe we should make
actual plans instead of leaving it up to chance. Have dinner with me tomorrow
night.”

Way to put her on the
spot, moron. She’ll probably tell you to drop dead.
He held his breath—and
nearly passed out before she answered.

“I have some things to
take care of, but I think I can manage dinner.” Her smile didn’t quite make it
to her eyes. “Thanks for asking.”

With an effort, he
controlled an idiot grin. “Great. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

She nodded, reached down
to scratch Sadie’s ears, and then jogged away. After a moment, Ethan headed to
his battered pickup, dropped his pack into the bed of the truck, and opened the
door. Sadie jumped in the cab and faced forward, tongue lolling.

“I have a feeling I
won’t get that kind of enthusiasm from Sam tomorrow night,” he muttered. At
least she hadn’t turned him down, though it might have been better if she had.
Sam wasn’t the sticking around type, and another quick romp between the sheets
wasn’t his intent. For reasons best left unexamined, he wanted to get to know
Samantha Beaumont a whole lot better.