Chapter Two

Miles and hours away from the soccer field, Dane decided it was safe to stop for the night. He chose a hotel with a bar across the street, knowing he didn’t want to be alone.

In his past life he had been a people person. He’d had clients and meetings. There had been daily interactions with people. As a U. S. Deputy Marshal assigned to Task Force Phoenix, he sometimes went days without speaking out loud.

After seeing the happy family that should have been his, he needed to feel connected to someone. If only for a night.

The usual twinge of disappointment washed over him at the idea of sleeping with a stranger. He could forgive Caroline for getting married and moving on. She thought he was dead. But Dane didn’t have the luxury of that freedom. In his mind, he was still married. Regardless of how tense and strained that marriage had become before it ended with his fake death, he wasn’t the type of man to walk away.

Tonight, he granted himself permission from his list of reasons. Not only was he no longer legally married, but he was not the same person Caroline had married eleven years ago. He had a different identity, a different job, and lived a much different life.

No longer the young executive who was eager to please, he was now a hardened thirty-five-year-old marshal who’d been trained to kill, and had used that training six times in the last five years.

Time had moved on, and they’d both changed.

As much as it bothered him, he knew deep in his heart that if he’d stayed, they wouldn’t still be married. They’d been headed for divorce; he’d just been too stubborn to say it, and she’d refused to give up her pretense of living the perfect life. It didn’t matter that they were miserable. If they appeared happy, they were.

The walls of the bar were covered with the normal sports memorabilia. It appeared hockey was the owner’s favorite. The place was crowded, but naturally there were no lone women at the bar waiting for him to walk in. That would have been too easy.

He sat next to a group of people and nodded in greeting. A few minutes later, he had inserted himself into their conversation and was having a good time.

Feeling someone brush up against him from the other side, he turned to see a gorgeous brunette sit down.

“Was someone sitting here?” she asked when she noticed him looking at her. Dane had tossed the mustache as soon as he was out of town, but the residue from the adhesive pulled as he smiled.

“No. Help yourself.” There was only one seat available next to him, which meant she wasn’t expecting anyone to join her.

Digging through her purse, she smiled at the bartender. “Can I get a beer? The special would be great.” She pulled some money out and stacked it on the bar in front of her, the international sign she planned to stay awhile.

In a matter of minutes, they were chatting easily, and she had shared her story—divorced, not looking for anyone. Lena Scott was focusing on her career in design, and she was in town for a meeting. It had gone well, but now she was second-guessing everything because they hadn’t called her back yet. She took a sip of her beer and looked at him expectantly.

Right. She wanted him to share. Normal people expected a person to reciprocate. He swallowed down the urge to tell her the truth, and pushed the lies out of his mouth.

“I’m in sales. Just passing through.” That was the extent of his story. He kind of blanked out while studying her eyes. They were multi-colored. Gold, green, blue, and gray all mixed together in a kaleidoscope of colors.

“Are you married?” she asked.

He shook himself from the hypnotic trance so he could focus.

“No. No, I’m not,” he answered with a smile.

Things were definitely looking up.