How To Steal The Lawman's Heart. Kathy Douglass

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СКАЧАТЬ wouldn’t want the next funeral to be yours.”

      “Thank you.”

      He reached into his pocket and pulled out her driver’s license, glancing at the name. His heart stopped.

      Carmen Shields. Carmen Shields! The woman responsible for his wife’s death. She might not have been driving the night of the crash, but she’d been in the car and hadn’t kept her friend from driving drunk.

      He looked at her outstretched hand and then back at her face. He was surprised he hadn’t recognized her. True, she looked nothing like the run-amok teenager whose face was forever emblazoned in his memory. That girl’s hair had usually been a tangle of waves and curls that hung to the middle of her back, not smooth as silk and barely brushing her slight shoulders. And she’d always worn large earrings, not tiny pearls. The polite, respectful woman standing in front of him was definitely different from the rude and belligerent teen she’d been. But still, because of this woman, he’d lost his precious Anna.

      “Carmen Shields. I should have recognized you.”

      The sympathy he’d felt a moment ago vanished, replaced by fury as the night of the accident came rushing back to him.

      Anna had wanted chocolate ice cream for dessert. He’d promised to pick some up after work, but he’d gotten busy and forgotten. She’d kissed his cheek and hopped in the car for a quick trip to the store. An hour later he’d gotten the call. Now, as he stood here by the side of the road, his vision blurred and his stomach churned with guilt. If only he’d remembered that stupid ice cream, his beloved Anna would never have been on that road.

      “You have me at a disadvantage, Chief. I don’t know who you are. When I lived here, Dale Muldoon was the chief.”

      Trent fisted his hands. Dale had helped rush the inquest, something Trent would never forgive him for. That was the reason Trent had challenged him for the position of chief of police.

      “Dale retired three years ago.”

      “Okay.” She stood there, hand still outstretched, waiting for him to drop her license.

      “My name is Trenton Knight.”

      She didn’t so much as blink in recognition. The name meant nothing to her.

      “Anna Knight was my wife.”

      Still no response. There was no change at all in Carmen Shields’s expression. He might as well have been speaking Greek. Had she completely forgotten the identity of the woman killed in the accident? Did the loss of life matter so little to her that she couldn’t be bothered to remember Anna’s name?

      “She was killed seven years ago when an SUV driven by an intoxicated teenager ran a stop sign and plowed into her car. You were a passenger in that car.”

      Carmen gasped, and he watched with grim satisfaction as the blood drained from her face. She staggered and placed a hand against her vehicle. “The woman in the other car died?”

      “Yes. And our two daughters lost their mother.”

      “I—I didn’t know.” She shook her head as if processing the information. “I didn’t know her name. No one would tell me anything.”

      How could she not know Anna’s name or that she died? True, when Carmen had skipped town immediately following the inquest for the two teens from her vehicle who’d died in the accident, Anna was still fighting to live. But that was seven years ago. How could it be in all that time no one in the entire Shields family had felt Anna’s death was worth mentioning to her?

      Anger surged through him and he spoke through gritted teeth. “She clung to life for nineteen days, fighting to live. Trying to stay with her family, who loved her. But her body had been battered too badly and she wasn’t strong enough to survive her injuries. She died in my arms.”

      Carmen reached out her hands. He stiffened and stepped back. He wouldn’t be responsible for his actions if she touched him.

      She paused and then folded her hands as if in prayer. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry for everything. If I could go back and change things, I would.”

      “Your apology changes nothing.” He had half a mind to prolong this traffic stop and make her late for the funeral he now knew was for her mother. But he didn’t. Anna would never have approved of such a vengeful act. She’d been full of love and forgiveness, even for people who didn’t deserve it. He wouldn’t dishonor her memory by giving in to his hatred.

      He dropped the license into Carmen’s hand. “Don’t speed while you’re in my town.” He strode away, determined to get away from her and the memories she awakened. But it was too late. Seeing her had ripped open the wound in his heart that had never completely healed.

Chapter Two

      Carmen stood apart from the dwindling group of mourners lingering beside her mother’s grave. She’d been close enough to hear the service, but far enough away to go unnoticed. Everything was over now. The preacher had prayed the last prayer and the final white rose had been placed upon the casket before it was lowered into the ground. One last neighbor hugged her sisters, patted her father on the shoulder and then left, leaving the sad trio alone.

      A gentle breeze blew and a squirrel raced across the green grass. Carmen lifted her face to the clear blue sky. It was a perfectly beautiful day and it broke her heart that her mother wasn’t alive to enjoy it.

      Rachel Shields had loved summertime, spending countless hours puttering in her garden. While their neighbors hired landscapers to design their flower beds and gardeners to maintain them, Carmen’s mother had done it all herself, despite her husband’s claim that such work was beneath the dignity of the Shields name. With flowers in every color imaginable in the numerous flower beds, the Shieldses’ gardens always outshone every yard in their neighborhood, if not the entire town. Rachel had claimed being surrounded by flowers made her happy. Now the only flowers around her were those dropped onto her casket. Soon they would be dead, too.

      Carmen lowered her head and allowed the tears to fall. She’d lost so much precious time with her mother. Time she could never get back.

      If only she could go back and change the events of that horrible night. She would have stayed away from those kids, would have gone to school and then straight home like she was supposed to. If she could have a do-over, she never would have started hanging out with that rowdy crowd in the first place.

      But there was no magic eraser to remove the mistakes of her past. She could only move forward and make better decisions.

      Swallowing more tears, Carmen eased closer to her family. Although she’d seen her father as he’d walked into the church between her two sisters, she was still shocked by the physical changes in him. The father she remembered had been tall and slightly overweight. Robust. He’d always been larger than life. Charles Shields had dominated every room he’d been in, throwing his weight around until he’d gotten his way. Now he looked like a strong wind could blow him over. Where he’d once been the man in charge, now he looked lost.

      “Daddy,” Carmen said, her voice cracking. No one turned and she realized she’d whispered the word. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Daddy.”

      Her father СКАЧАТЬ