Page 88 of Unforgiven

A line formed between his brows. “Why?” His voice lowered. “Tab, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. It’s just that I’m sure you have other things you’d rather be doing.”

“Being here beside you is the only place I want to be.”

His words were captivating. His voice was so sincere. But she wasn’t sure about his reasons. “Why?”

He looked nonplussed. “Why?”

“Yes.” She was embarrassed, but she needed to know the truth. “Are you here out of pity?”

“Pity? Ah, no.” Seth shifted, edging closer. “Tabitha, maybe we should talk about a couple of things when you get out.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I want to make some changes. As long as you’re good with them.”

“Changes?”

“I’ll be clear, then. First off, I’m going to be coming over to your place a lot.”

“There’s no need for you to do that. I’ll be fine. I mean, the sheriff promised me that Leon won’t be getting out anytime soon.”

His expression warmed. “I won’t be visiting for your safety, honey.”

There was that word again! Her skin tingled. Afraid to misread what he was saying, she blurted the first thing that came to her lips. “I have a lot of firewood.”

A smile touched the corners of his mouth. “Sorry, but I’ll not be coming over to chop wood.” He paused. “Or to shovel your driveway or gather eggs or clean your house.”

“R-Roy said he would come over more often. Actually, they all will. Mary told me that all of them want to spend more time with me.” When Seth didn’t look like that made a lick of difference to him, she added in a whisper, “I won’t be so lonely.”

“You’re right. You won’t.”

“Seth?”

He chuckled. “I guess you’re going to make me say it, huh?” Reaching out, he wrapped his fingers around the top bar of her bed’s side railing. “Tabitha, I’m going to be coming over and spending time with you because I’ve fallen in love with you.”

She could practically feel the blood rushing out of her head. Her vision swam a little like she might faint.

“You look pale as a ghost!” Seth pushed the button on her bed so she was sitting up more and handed her a plastic water bottle. “Sip.”

She swallowed some of the icy water. It did help, but she still felt discombobulated.

“Tab, what’s wrong?” Looking crushed, he said, “Do you not feel the same way?”

“Of course I do. It’s just . . . I guess I’m still afraid to trust.”

“There’s no reason to be afraid. We’ve got time. We’ve got all the time in the world. We’ll take things as slow as you want. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m damaged, you know.”

“You’ll heal.”

“I mean my heart is damaged.”

“I was talking about your heart. It’s going to heal, Tab. Before you know it, your heart is going to heal and you’re going to trust falling in love again.” He lowered his voice. “If you want to know the truth, I think there’s a very real possibility that you love me too. But you’re just scared.”

Maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t. “There’s nothing wrong with being scared.”

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