wouldn’t dare.”
His reaction pleased her but, as he guided the Mercedes over the bumpy road, the protest grew inside her. She didn’t want to see what had happened since the last time they’d been together at the clearing.
Amanda sighed softly. And if it was still the same, lovely spot, she didn’t think she could bear to know.
“See? I told you.” Dane seemed almost jubilant as he slowed the car beside a cluster of tall, leafy sycamore trees on the edge of a wooded area. “Not a house in sight. I’m going to check on our brook. Do you want to come?”
Yes. Of course she wanted to. “No. I’ll wait in the car,” she said, hoping he would accept her refusal at face value.
His eyebrows quirked with the merest hint of a challenge. “Somehow I didn’t think you would. No point in raking up old memories at this point, is there? It’s probably best that you stay here. I’ll let you know if anything is different.” He shut the car door and strode toward the trees without a backward glance.
Frowning, she watched him walk away.
Everything would be different because she was different. He was different.
And it was just a place after all.
Her fingers hovered uncertainly above the door handle. Just a place, she thought. A place where Dane had asked her to marry him. A place where he’d held her, kissed her, loved her.
Just a place.
The door swung open at her touch and she stepped onto the graveled road. She narrowed her eyes at the cluster of trees before starting forward. As her feet followed the barely discernible trail, her wary heart followed the more clearly perceptible path of memory. It had been a long time since she’d thought about that first shortcut into the woods. A long time since she had remembered that mischievous light in Dane’s eyes. The light that should have warned her—if she had wanted to be warned.
“Look at this, Amanda,” he’d shouted that day, calling her to his side and pointing to the overgrown path. “This looks suspicious. We should investigate.”
She had glanced over her shoulder to Dane’s old, but treasured Chevrolet and then met his eyes with a lift of her brow. “I thought you said this was a shortcut to Cape St. Claire and that you knew this area like the back of your hand. Don’t tell me you don’t know where this path leads.”
He lifted his right hand in playful solemnity. “On my sacred honor as a gentleman, I swear I do not know where this path will lead.”
He reached for her hand and covered it in his. “And if I should be lying, may the ogre of the woods come and carry me away.”
“Oh, terrific,” Amanda grumbled as she followed him. “And what am I supposed to do when that happens?”
“You might try hysterical screaming, but if that doesn’t work you’ll have to rescue me. Otherwise, it will be a long walk home. I have the car keys, you know.”
“Always planning ahead, aren’t you, Dam?” she teased. “Remind me to turn you in to the knight-errantry commission. If you can’t behave in a more chivalrous manner and, at the very least, throw the keys to me while you’re being carried away, I’m afraid you’ll never earn a white charger.”
“You’re behind the times, Amanda. These days, any knight worth his salt has a white Mercedes. The upkeep on chargers is just too high.”
She had smiled at his nonsense and hoped that when he did have that Mercedes, she would be the damsel he chose to rescue.
A bend in the path slowed her steps and the memory faded. Lazy patterns of sunlight filtered down through the thick foliage and Amanda paused to appreciate the green and gold tapestry of spring. It had been spring then, too, she thought, her mind drifting back to that day as she walked on.
Dane had led her to a clearing, surrounded by trees and serenaded by the soothing sounds of water flowing over rocks. Amanda remembered how she had looked for the sound and caught a glimpse of a sheltered brook. Then she had turned to Dane, her