Please give him a chance. He really is crazy about you, just like I know you are about him.” Gavin was willing to admit he cared about her right now, but what happened when people questioned him? And how was the relationship supposed to work? If Gavin was ashamed of her for her background, how was he going to react when people got wind of his ménage relationship?
Dex strode back into the room, his face pale. He clutched the phone tightly. “That was the one of the sheriff’s deputies. They found Preston dead. He apparently hanged himself in one of the conference rooms.”
Slade’s hands dropped. “Dear God. What… I escorted him off the premises. How did he get back inside?”
Hannah hadn’t much liked Preston Ward III, but she certainly hadn’t wanted him dead.
“I don’t know. Maybe he wanted to make a statement.” Dex turned to Hannah. “We fired him earlier today. We think he might have been your stalker. Damn it. I need to go to the site.” Slade stepped close to Dex. “I’ll go with you. I’m the one who fired him. He didn’t take it well, but I never expected this.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Hannah said, wrapping her arms around him. “His wife had left him recently, too. There could be a lot of reasons he chose this.” She could feel the coiled tension in Slade’s body, but he hugged her close. Dex came around her back and held her. She was surrounded by their warmth.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Slade replied. “I would feel safer if you went home with Gavin.
You don’t have to talk to him. Just don’t beat him to death.”
“Please, Hannah.” Dex’s hand tangled in her hair. He tilted her head up, twisting her slightly, brushing his lips against hers. “Give him a chance.”
She nodded. She couldn’t tell them no. She kissed Slade and they left.
Hannah was left alone with the man who’d broken her heart.
Chapter Twelve
Gavin turned the Jeep onto the road that led home. The gravel crunched beneath the wheels.
His brothers were going to have a fun time coming home in the golf cart on these rustic roads. It was a testament to Hannah’s desire to be away from him that she’d managed to drive to town in the miniature vehicle.
He glanced at the woman beside him. Her beautiful face was set in stubborn lines, her focus firmly on the road ahead. She hadn’t looked at him once since they’d left the Angry Moose.
Gavin sighed. Of all the people he’d hurt with his refusal to forgive himself, he regretted Hannah the most.
God, he hoped he hadn’t lost his chance with her.
“Hannah, I would really like to talk to you.”
“I’m not sure it would do any good,” Hannah said. Her West Texas drawl always deepened when she got serious. That twang dripped now as she spoke. “I think we’ve said just about all we have to say.”
“That’s not true. I told you a bunch of lies meant to protect myself. Will you let me explain?” She hesitated, and after a halting nod, Gavin went on. “In college, I met this girl named Nikki…”
He explained the entire story, every terrible detail, including his failure to act on her suicide threat. When he finished, the car was dead silent. She was probably judging him, and he deserved it, but Gavin wasn’t ready to give up. It had taken a lot of courage to tell someone with a heart as big as Hannah how small he’d been in the past.
Finally, she said, “It wasn’t your fault. Nikki made a choice. I’m sorry you’ve been living with so much guilt.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t hate him. “I have utterly regretted my part in Nikki’s death. And I’ve been convinced since you walked in my office and shook my hand that, while I might love you, I’d be poison to you. When you said you loved me, my first instinct was to push you away. But you just wouldn’t be deterred, my lovely, stubborn girl.” She smiled softly, and the crushing weight began to ease off his chest.
“I promise, I didn’t mean a word I said to you.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel as he tried to figure out how to convince her of his sincerity.
She turned those green eyes on him. They were so big and pure. God, nothing he or his brothers could do would ever wipe away the innocence that seemed an innate part of Hannah.
“But on some level, you did mean it, Gavin. There was a lot of truth in those words.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have hurt so much. I don’t fit into your world. I don’t even know that I want to. It’s easier with Slade and Dex. They don’t really care what others think.” Gavin sat back in the driver’s seat with a sigh. Just because she was innocent didn’t mean she wasn’t wise. Hannah wouldn’t fit easily into his world. She would always run the risk of being ridiculed. It would happen behind her back because he had the money and clout to hurt whoever rejected her, but he was too worldly to believe it wouldn’t happen.