Welcome Home, Bobby Winslow

His sharp tone brought back the memory instantly.

Not far from this very spot, between tears and apologies, she’d tried to explain why she’d decided to leave town.

Alone.

Why she’d accepted a modeling contract in New York City, the prize for winning a contest she hadn’t known her mother had entered Leeann into.

Why she’d changed her mind about marrying him before he was set to leave for the U.S. Army the week after their high school graduation. A ceremony that had only been days away.

Boy, he must’ve waited years to throw her words back in her face.

Leeann swallowed hard against an old ache she’d thought was long buried. Instead, she pasted on a counterfeit smile, honed to perfection from years in front of the camera. “Okay, well, let’s consider this a warning for both of you.”

She looked at Bobby’s friend, who’d remained quiet during this whole exchange. “Please obey the speed limits during your stay, Mr. Zippenella.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the man replied, shoving his license into his wallet before pocketing it. “But you can still call me Dean. Or Zippy. Hell, I’ll answer if you yell out a simple ‘hey you.’“

Leeann’s smile slipped from fake to genuine with ease. Boy, this guy had his namesake’s charm in spades. “I’ll keep that in mind, Dean.”

“So, are we free to go, Officer?”

Stepping back toward her cruiser, Leeann glanced at Bobby again, noticing a slight trembling in his ramrod-straight posture and a growing gleam of sweat dotting his skin.

An urge to ask again if he was okay filled her, but she quickly squashed it as she headed for the driver’s-side door. “Yes, gentleman, you are. Enjoy the rest of this beautiful fall day. And Bobby … welcome home.”

Chapter Two

Bobby dropped his arms, the movement causing him to sway again. Bracing his hands on his hips, he kept his eyes trained on Leeann’s cruiser until it disappeared over the hill.

A familiar shaking of his legs warned him that the searing pain he’d learned to live with over the past few months was fast approaching. He managed six steps toward the camper before his strength gave out and he crumpled into a heap near the front tire.

Zippy raced to his side, crouching next to him. “Dammit, Ace!”

Bobby’s gaze remained on the empty blacktop, his brain still trying to process the fact that the girl who’d walked away from their foolish teenage dreams in order to become a successful model was back in Destiny.

And working as a deputy sheriff.

If not for that low sexy voice of hers, smoky and smooth like the whiskey he’d come to favor over the years, he never would’ve believed his first love was the same person who’d stood in front of him in a khaki uniform, her once-famous waist-length hair now so short it barely brushed her shoulders.

A cop?

Really?

“Hey, bro?” Zip gave him a gentle nudge. “You okay?”

Bobby shook his head, mentally pushing away the long-ago sealed memories before they had a chance to form. Instead he concentrated on the blinding rush that felt like a thousand pricks of hot needles radiating from his hips to his knees.

“Yeah, I’m good.” He pushed the words past gritted teeth. “I’m great.”

“No, what you are is stupid. She obviously knew about your accident. You could’ve had your little reunion through the window.” Zip wrapped one beefy arm around his back, providing a strong and steady presence.

Just like he’d done from the moment Bobby first opened his eyes in the hospital after the accident. Like he’d done the day they’d met in a desert hellhole ten years ago.

“Why didn’t you stay inside the camper?” Zip asked.

No way.

It took a full-on stare at Leeann for Bobby to match the girl to her voice. No, make that woman. Long gone was the girly-girl he’d known in high school who’d entered beauty pageant after beauty pageant and barely had the strength to carry her own books.

When he’d finally realized who’d pulled them over, he’d been determined to meet Leeann Harris again for the first time face-to-face and standing unaided on his own two feet.

“So that was her,” Zip said.

Bobby looked at his friend and blinked. “Huh?”

“You know, beauty queen, first love, heartbreaker, high-rent cover model for Cosmo, Vogue, Brides—”

“Damn you and your steel-trap memory.” Bobby bent his knees and braced his feet in the dirt. “Help me get off my ass.”

Zip managed to shrug while shouldering Bobby’s weight and helping him back to a standing position. “With all the boo-hooing you did that night, how could I forget?”

Thankful the pain was fading already, Bobby leaned against the camper. He wasn’t ready to try walking yet. “We drank a lot that night.”

“We were celebrating finally being back on American soil.” Zip dropped his hold and stepped back, but stayed close. “Drinking for those who never came home.”

Bobby remembered.

Their first night back after a front-row seat in the Middle East during that “quiet” time between the first Gulf War and the second, courtesy of the U.S. Army. The only two guys in their unit who hadn’t had anyone to go home to, he and Zip had ended up shutting down a hole-in-the-wall bar outside the gates of Fort Bragg. Then they’d stumbled to a nearby motel to continue drinking and talking until the sun rose.

“You know, Ace, if you were so dogged to come out of the camper on your own power, you could’ve at least grabbed a—”

“Let it go, Zip. It’s done and over.”

“Famous last words.”

Bobby glared at his friend. “She’s gone.”

“Yeah. For now. But if I remember correctly from all of your stories, Destiny is a pretty small town.”

Meaning he and Leeann would run into each other again.

Maybe.

Probably.

But next time, Bobby would be prepared.

He dropped his head back against the cool metal of the custom motor home he’d had built a year ago. It was supposed to have been his ride during this past season’s race calendar. Now it was a high-priced ambulance bringing him home.

“Come on, Zip, let’s get moving. I want to finally see in person what my hard-earned greenbacks have been paying for all summer.”

“Meaning all those photos, live video feeds and the miniature model you had sent to the rehab hospital weren’t enough?”

Since he was a kid, first attending and then working summers at a local wilderness camp, Bobby had always wanted to live in a log cabin. He just never thought it would be here in Destiny. Then fate had allowed him to keep a long-held promise.

He’d approved the plans for his upscale and oversize version back in February, but by the time of his accident in May, only half of the outer shell was complete. He’d watched the rest of the construction from his hospital bed.

“No, they weren’t nearly enough.” He looked at his friend’s grinning face while shoving his hat back on his head and pocketing his sunglasses. “And you knew that before you asked.”

“Yeah, I did.” Zip moved to his side. “You okay to walk?”

Gripping his friend’s oversize forearm, Bobby slowly put one foot in front of the other. The stinging had lessened, but the needling sensation had moved down to his feet. Sort of like when a person sat too long and tingled when he first moved.

Only about twenty times worse.

“With a bit of help,” he grunted around clenched teeth.

“That’s what I’m here for, bud. A promise is a promise.”

“Knock it off with that promise stuff, would ya?” Bobby shot back. “I’ve told you how I feel about that.”

“And when was the last time I ever listened to you?”

“Three years ago. At your family’s place in Jersey.” Bobby gripped the handrail and hefted himself inside, conscious of his buddy behind him, ready to catch him if he fell. Which he didn’t do much anymore despite what had just happened.

“I agreed with your sisters, and Frank and Joey.” He kept talking. It seemed to speed up his recovery from these episodes. Or at least distracted him. “That girl you’d brought home was all wrong for you.”

“And perfect for Frankie,” Zip said with a wry twist of his lips.

Bobby purposely shuffled past the dining set and leather sectional sofa where Daisy lounged, her snout on her paws as she watched them. That dog always knew when to stay out of the way. A skill most likely learned in the war zone where Zip had found her.

Thankful when he reached the cushioned passenger seat, Bobby eased into it with a silent sigh. “Yeah, especially when we caught her and Frankie going at it in the backyard gazebo.”

“That wasn’t my brother’s fault.” Zip moved back behind the steering wheel. “He was young and stupid.”

“He was twenty-three.” Bobby pulled on his seat belt. “And yet you still made a show of knocking him through the screen door.”

“Hey, my pride was at stake.”

“And you made sure the girl got home okay. Even Daisy didn’t want anything to do with her.”

Zip shrugged, buckled his seat belt as well and started the engine. “Daisy doesn’t like any females. Never has, unlike me. What can I say? I was in love and stupid. Runs in the family, right?”

Yeah, Bobby and Zip might not be blood, but they were family just the same.

“Drive, bro.” Bobby kept his gaze on the road and ran his hands along the tops of his thighs, kneading at the tight muscles. “I’m ready to go home.”

By nine the next morning, Bobby felt much better.

If better meant enduring a morning physical therapy session that twisted him inside out and upside down. They’d finished the workout by christening the new indoor pool with a race Zip had won, barely, and twenty minutes in the steam room.

Now fresh from the shower and dressed, Bobby palmed a cup of hot coffee as he sat in his office. He leaned back in his chair and stared out the window at the acres of trees surrounding his new home.

That was a lot of green.

And gold and orange and red and burgundy. Fall in Wyoming. His favorite season.

He’d grown up the child of a single mother, his father gone before Bobby had started kindergarten. They’d lived in a third-floor, two-bedroom apartment located in the center of town next to Mason’s Garage.

Despite Destiny being a small place, it had plenty of parks, fairgrounds and wide-open spaces, but Bobby had always longed for a tree-filled yard of his own.

He finally had it—and it was a yard that once had belonged to Leeann.

A yard where her family’s Georgian-style mansion, the home she’d grown up in, stood, until an electric storm set fire to the empty house.

He’d only been out to the Harris home a few times when he was young, but he’d never been allowed inside. Her parents had forbidden Leeann to invite him in.

Not that he’d stayed away entirely.

A nearby pond, which hadn’t been visible from the Harris house and still couldn’t be seen through the thick forest of trees, was a favorite meeting spot for him and Lee.

Deep in the woods, with only a well-worn path far from the house marking the way, was a place they’d met when they wanted to be together.

To talk, to laugh, to fall in love. It was the place he’d asked Leeann to marry him on a snowy Valentine’s Day with a cheap diamond chip of a ring.

A place that still belonged to his former fiancée.

When he’d heard from his mother that the Harris land was up for sale—one of the rare times she’d mentioned Leeann—he’d put his lawyers on the task of purchasing the property. Originally made up of thirty-five prime Wyoming acres he’d vowed as a teenager to one day own, it was only twenty-seven acres when the purchase went through.

Prophetic, as his race car was also number twenty-seven.

Leeann had held on to the remaining land, eight acres that included the pond. When he’d seen the final offer, he’d had to admit it gave him a warm feeling to know she’d wanted to keep that place for herself.

“There you are.” Zip interrupted his thoughts as he walked into the office. “Jeez, we walked around this castle of yours three times last night and I’m still lost. I think you need to print some maps. I can’t even find my dog.”

“Daisy was sunning herself in the family room the last time I saw her. And you know this place like the back of your hand.” Bobby swung around to face his friend. “You should, you studied the floor plans as much as I did this summer.”

“As long as I can figure out how to find the kitchen, I’m golden.” His buddy took a large bite from the apple in his hand. “So what’s on the agenda today? Maybe bring a little life to this place?”

“What are you talking about?” Bobby put down his mug. “The house is perfect.”

“Yeah, it’s got more flat-screen televisions than a sports bar and the ‘I love me’ wall downstairs is cute, but it still looks like something out of a magazine.”

“Displaying all those awards and honors wasn’t my idea. Blame the decorators.”

“Yeah, they did such a great job this place looks more like a museum than a—wait, what the heck is that?”

A red light recessed into the top of Bobby’s desk flashed. He pressed his thumb over the glass and it went out.

Reaching for the handmade cane his mother had given him in the hospital when he’d first started walking again, Bobby heaved himself up. “Come on, I think you’re going to like this.”

At the far wall, he ran one hand along the edge of the commissioned oil painting of his race car until he found a hidden button.

A door-size portion of log wall slid silently to the left, disappearing into a hollow opening in the wall. Bobby entered the room on the other side, his buddy tight on his heels.

“Okay, that was a little James Bondish.” Zip stopped next to him. “What is all this?”

A double row of monitors lined the far wall, eight in total, which flashed live images of Bobby’s home and land.

“This is my security center. I can see what’s going on 24/7 from the driveway to the ends of my property.”

“Other than that fancy wood-and-iron gate we passed through, I didn’t see any fencing. Jeez, I never even noticed the cameras.”

“That ‘fancy’ gate is actually high-strength aluminum made to look like wood. The fencing is electronic, and the cameras wireless and well hidden. This is a state-of-the-art system Devlin Murphy put together.”

“Is he part of Murphy Mountain Log Homes that built this place?”

Bobby nodded. “Same company. Dev heads the home security side of things.”

“I know you had some troubles with that nutty fangirl last year, but still, isn’t this a bit much?”

“That wasn’t just a fangirl. I went downstairs one morning and found her fixing breakfast … after she broke in.”

“And your overnight companion wasn’t too happy to find another female in the house, if I remember the news reports correctly.” Zip smiled. “Or was the catfight just a nasty rumor?”

It wasn’t. Despite his fame and sometimes overzealous fans, it was Bobby’s first brush with someone who’d broken the law to get close to him. “Let’s just say I’m a bit more cautious nowadays.”

“Even up here in the backwoods?”

Bobby nodded as he moved in to read the monitor on the desk. “Especially with the phase two I have planned.”

“As curious as I am about this ‘phase two’ of yours, why exactly did that red light go off on your desk?” Zip walked to the wall of monitors and peered closely at them. “All I see out there is trees.”

Remembering the instructions Dev had emailed him, Bobby pressed a key to move the update backward until he saw the half-dozen screen captures. He leaned in close, then closer still, his eyes fixed on images taken of the driveway, outside the main gate but definitely on his land.

“I’m going to go out and get some fresh air.” Bobby left the room, closing the door behind his friend who’d followed him.

“I worked you over pretty good this morning. You’re not walking so well, even with that cane,” Zip said. “You plan on sticking to the deck?”

“Actually I’m going for a quick drive.” Leaving his study, Bobby headed for the main hall, the tap of his cane echoing off the stone floor.

“Ace, you can’t—”

“It’s a four by four utility, Zip.” He stopped and turned to his buddy, recognizing the man’s serious professional-therapist face. “Nothing more than a tricked-out golf cart. Standard issue, no modifications done.”

“I’ll come with you. Let me get Daisy. She’d love to ride.”

“I think I can handle this—the cart by myself.”

Zip folded his arms and stared at him, but Bobby just returned his steady gaze. No way was he bringing his friend along. Not this time. This was something he wanted—no, something he needed to face on his own.

“Take your cell and call if you need … anything.”

Bobby nodded and headed for the mudroom that led to the attached four-bay garage. Soon he was mobile, pleased he was able to handle the electric utility vehicle. He’d convinced a nurse at the rehab center to let him get behind the wheel of a cart used by the facility, but the results hadn’t been so good.

Steering the machine to the far end of the barn, he slowed to a stop, his focus on the opening between the two oak trees no one else would notice.

No one but him and Leeann.

Leeann prided herself on not making bad decisions. Not anymore. Goodness knows she’d made more than her share in her lifetime, but for the past six years she’d worked hard not to repeat them.

Then this morning she’d made a doozy.

Maybe because she’d overslept, something she never did. Or it could be because she left the house for her morning run without something in her stomach.

She refused to consider that last night’s decision to crack open her old cedar chest filled with long-forgotten mementos and memories could have anything to do with her heading for the pond.

Her pond.

She ran into the clearing at the water’s edge, which offered some relief considering the rocky terrain she’d just covered. Gasping, she slowed to a walk. Deep breaths pulled in the familiar piney and earth scents as the fresh mountain air invaded her lungs and cooled her heated skin.

Pulling off her ball cap, she shook her hair loose and then peeled off her nylon windbreaker, dropping it to a natural bench formed from a pair of felled trees.

The same bench she’d been coming to since she was a little girl. First alone when she needed a place of her own where she could think, dream or just get away from her mother and her beauty pageant obsession. Then one day she’d noticed a scruffy-looking boy on a secondhand bike staring at her from the other side of her pond. She’d been thirteen and within an hour she’d fallen in love with Bobby Winslow.

Leeann willed away the memory, knowing it was crazy to come here now that Bobby was living just down the road, the road that technically belonged to him, but was her only access to this section of woodland.

Her daily runs didn’t always bring her here, but she’d fallen into her runner zone quickly. Her feet had a mind of their own, easily eating up the miles, drawing her to the peace and comfort she’d always found here.

Until now.

Until Bobby came back to town.

She stopped her pacing, slapped her cap back on and rubbed at the ache in the center of her chest. Lacing her fingers behind her head and planting her feet shoulders-width apart, she pressed her elbows outward and stretched, staring at the thick grove of multicolored trees surrounding the still blue waters.

Despite all the craziness that was her life, this calm oasis was still hers and she’d be damned if anyone was going to keep her away.

Dropping her arms, she stepped her feet together and bent at the waist. Hands curled around her ankles, she touched her forehead to her knees.

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

Eyes closed, she thought again about the events of yesterday afternoon, after she said goodbye to Bobby and his friend.

She’d finished her shift without writing up the verbal warning she’d handed out. It wasn’t a requirement and fielding the inevitable questions was something she wanted to avoid. It wouldn’t take long for the news to spread that the hometown hero really was back in town, but she wasn’t going to be the one to herald Bobby’s arrival.

Instead she offered quick goodbyes and walked out of the sheriff’s office for the last time with the contents of her locker in a box, including the card she’d found wedged into the metal latch of the locker door, signed by everyone in the department. That was a nice surprise considering she’d refused the goodbye potluck dinner they’d wanted to throw for her.

Of course, tonight she had plans to meet up with Maggie and Racy at the Blue Creek Saloon, for her official “turning the page” party. Seeing how the next chapter in her life was nothing but a blank slate, Leeann didn’t really feel like celebrating.

She wasn’t worried about her lack of income despite the devastating loss of her inheritance and model earnings thanks to a Ponzi scheme a couple of years ago.

She still had enough money in the bank thanks to the sale of the land to pay the bills for a while, but her aunt’s last round of cancer treatments had eaten up most of it. Thankfully, Ursula’s latest medical checkup had come back negative and she was already back to work at her hair salon, but that still didn’t explain the restlessness Leeann had been feeling for the past week.

Heck, for the past month. The past few months.

A restlessness that came to fruition this morning when—for the first time in a long time—she’d awakened without a plan.

Leeann always had a plan.

Most times in writing, sometimes only in her head. Knowing how her day was laid out—hour by hour, step by step—helped her to maintain balance and purpose for her life.

The last time she’d been without a plan had been thanks to a police investigation that came to an abrupt end with the decision there hadn’t been enough evidence to go forward.

A decision that had reduced her to being a prisoner in her penthouse apartment in the heart of Manhattan. Rarely bothering to shower or get out of her pajamas, she’d had all her food delivered to her front door, her only contact with the outside world via her computer.

She hadn’t even answered her cell phone, blessedly silent for weeks thanks to the press of a button. Not that she’d let that stop her from smashing it into a million confettilike pieces one night with a hammer—

“Stop!”

She jerked upright, her voice echoing in the quiet morning, bouncing off the water and causing her to blink.

She’d almost done it. She’d almost gotten sucked back into the nightmare that had been her life six years ago. A nightmare she hadn’t thought about for a very long time.

No, that’s not true.

Three months ago she, Racy and Maggie had gone away for a girls’ weekend at a spa in Jackson Hole. After a day filled with massages, facials and body wraps and a couple shared bottles of wine later by the fire, she’d finally disclosed to her best friends in the world her deepest secret.

Telling them hadn’t been as hard as she’d thought it would be. They were very sweet and supportive, and Leeann now realized the restlessness she’d been feeling had started after that trip, despite her believing she’d truly moved on from the past.

Until last night.

Until Bobby had come back to town.

“Don’t blame him. Your thoughts are your own. Your actions are your own.” She spoke aloud her familiar mantra while dropping into a deep lunging stretch. Planting her hands midthigh, she lowered her forehead to her knee. “Your decisions are you own.”

“Words to live by.”

Chapter Three

The male voice caused Leeann to jerk upright; the sudden movement sent her stumbling backward. She lost her balance and ended up on her backside in the damp grass.

“Jeez, me and my big mouth.” Bobby made his way toward her, leaning heavily on a cane. “Here, let me help—”