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eyes must be as big as lunch plates. Had to be. The situation had suddenly gone from bad to worse.
    He came right up to the bars. She swallowed hard because she knew there were some mistakes in your life you could never fix, and this was one of them.
    Two years ago, right after she’d decided to walk out of her mirage of a marriage, she’d sat across from Zack Davidson and witnessed the death of their friendship, the most treasured one she’d ever had, next to her friendship with her sister, Maggie. Since that night, Alaina had seen him only once: at Maggie’s wedding to Will Stewart. Zack and Alaina had kept their distance as much as they could, polite and civil for the sake of the newlyweds.
    But now, here he was, standing right in front of her. The man she’d once loved with all her young heart. The man whose love she had so foolishly tossed away.
    Alaina’s breath caught in her throat as her entire body tensed. Their gazes connected, and she realized that she couldn’t step back from the bars, because the cold steel between her hands might be the only thing holding her upright.
    He had always been good-looking, and nothing had changed much since she’d seen him last. In high school he’d exuded a raw, masculine sexuality made even more attractive by the fact that he didn’t seem to know it. The passage of time had chiseled away the boyish softnessto create hard, precise planes and angles in his features. There were a few more lines around his eyes, but he was still tall and darkly handsome.
    The silence had gone on too long, and Alaina rushed to fill it as Zack’s brown eyes scraped over her. Her cheeks were probably candy-apple red with embarrassment, but she refused to dissolve under the weight of it.
    “Where’s Russell?” she asked, hoping she didn’t sound as unnerved as she was.
    “You’ve pissed him off so much that he’s agreed to give us a few minutes alone. He thinks that somehow I can get you to behave.” The ghost of a smile lifted Zack’s lips. “I didn’t tell him that I’ve never had that kind of power over you.”
    “Is he going to let me out or not?”
    “I can’t imagine why he would. He says you’ve done nothing but berate him since you got here.” Zack cocked his head, as though seeing her for the first time. “Do you think it was wise to call him a power-hungry little weasel?”
    She grimaced, feeling vaguely chastised. “I suppose not. But he’s acting like a complete jerk about this. He hasn’t changed a bit.”
    “No, I can see that he hasn’t.”
    “What are you doing here?”
    There was a slight pause. “He called to tell me the cottage had been broken into.”
    “He promised he wouldn’t.”
    “When has that idiot ever been true to his word? He couldn’t wait to let me know who he’d caught.”
    Frustrated, she shoved a hand through her tousled hair, knowing she must look like hell. “This is all so ridiculous. I just needed a place to get out of the rain.Someplace to rest a little while. I wasn’t going to run off with the Davidson family silver.”
    “I guess Whit thought you looked like a real desperado.”
    She could feel anger making her jaw twitch. “I told him I would make arrangements to pay for the damage. He didn’t have to lock me up. You know he only did it for spite.”
    Releasing a long sigh, Zack crossed his arms. “Actually, I’m the one who told him to keep you locked up.”
    “You?” Alaina gripped the bars even tighter. “Why would you do that? Do you hate me that much?”
    “I don’t hate you,” he said calmly. “I just couldn’t believe what Russell told me. So I caught the first flight up here just to discover for myself what kind of trouble you’ve managed to get yourself into.”
    Alaina lifted her chin. “So now you know.”
    Zack shrugged. “I don’t know much of anything. But I’m willing to listen.”
    “Your mother would never make a big deal about this,” she told him, defiance in her tone. “And your