Page 78 of Eclipse Bay

His incipient depression vanished in the heat of a sudden, fierce anger. He sat forward quickly, flattening his palms on the table. “My reputation in this town was always a hell of a lot more exciting than the reality.”

She blinked. “Now, Rafe—”

“Trust me on this. I was there.”

She cleared her throat. “Well, yes, of course you were, but everyone knows about your reputation in those days.”

“This may come as a stunning surprise to you, but contrary to popular opinion, I don’t have a legion of old flames hiding in the bushes here in Eclipse Bay.”

“I don’t believe I used the word ‘legion.’”

“Close enough. For the record, virtually all of my dates—and there were not as many of them as everyone seems to think—were weekend or summer visitors who came here for the beach, the boardwalk, and a good time. They knew what they were doing and so did I. There was nothing serious with any of them, and I’ve never seen any of them again.”

Her jaw clenched visibly. “There was Kaitlin Sadler.”

“Yes. There was Kaitlin Sadler. She was a year older than me, experienced, and she could take care of herself.”

“I never implied that you took advantage of her. No one ever said that.”

“I didn’t have a lot of rules for myself in those days, but I had a few and I stuck to them. I never got involved with anyone who was married or too young or too naïve to know the score. Hell, you ought to know that better than anyone else.”

“Me?” She gripped the edge of the table. “Why should I know anything about the history of your love life?”

“Because I never laid a hand on you eight years ago, that’s why.”

For the space of two or three heartbeats she simply stared at him in utter astonishment. Then she pulled herself together with an obvious effort. “Of course you never touched me. I wasn’t your type. You wouldn’t have looked twice at me if we hadn’t been stuck out there at the Arch together that night.”

A cold, mirthless amusement shafted through him. “You weren’t my type, and you were squarely in the ‘don’t touch’ category as far as I was concerned, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t look twice.”

Her eyes widened. “Because I was a Harte? Was I some sort of challenge?”

“The fact that you were a Harte had nothing to do with it.”

“Then why did you look twice?”

“Damned if I know. Pure masochism, probably, because I sure as hell knew that you’d never look twice at me.”

“That’s not true.” She shot to her feet. “I had a crush on you. Every girl in Eclipse Bay did.”

“That’s supposed to thrill me?” He was suddenly on his feet, too, although he had no recollection of getting out of his chair. “To know that for you I was just the interesting bad boy with the bike and the leather jacket and the dangerous rep? The kind of guy your parents always warned you about? The kind of guy it might be amusing to fool around with but definitely not the kind you would ever marry?”

A fresh tide of hot color rose in her face. He could have sworn he had embarrassed her. Good. Served her right. But her gaze did not slide away from his.

“How did you know what kind of man I’d marry?” she asked evenly.

“You told me that night, remember? You were only nineteen and you already had your damned list of requirements for a husband made out.”

“I was twenty, not nineteen, and I swear, if you mention that list one more time—”

He reached for her. He closed his hands around her shoulders and hauled her up against his chest. “As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care if I never hear about that damned list of yours again for as long as I live. Furthermore, I’m not real keen on hearing about your new, updated version of it, either.”

“Uh, Rafe, you’re acting a little weird here. Maybe the stress—?”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

He covered her mouth with his own, letting the fierce tension that was eating him up inside pour into her. She made a soft, muffled sound, and then her arms closed tightly around him and she was kissing him back with all the passion that had infused her anger a few seconds earlier.

“My God,” he muttered against her throat. “Do you have any idea of the scare you gave me tonight?”

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