Wordz Press

Held Hostage during a bank robbery with the man who betrayed her, Sarah's life will change forever in the next 24 Hours

In 10 minutes, Sarah Greenberg's world was going to end.

If she didn't get to the bank, deposit her paycheck, and make it to the training field in the next 10 minutes, life, as she knew it, would be over. Her rent check would bounce. But worse than that, she'd be tardy, a major offense in the eyes of Lena McKinney, Sarah's boss and the commander of the Emerald Coast SWAT Team.

As the information officer of the SWAT team, Sarah had been begging for a promotion. The exercise Lena had planned for today was Sarah's big chance to prove she was ready to move up.

Wheeling into the bank's crowded parking lot, Sarah slid her jeep into the last open spot and grabbed her purse. Working for the SWAT team was exciting, but Sarah longed for more action. A multicounty organization, the team handled all the dangerous situations the local police forces couldn't handle. With their extra fire power and special techniques, the SWAT team was a force of its own.

But Sarah's position on the team seemed mundane to her. Whenever there was a hostage situation, it was her responsibility to find who the captors were and how they could impact the situation. She garnered floor plans and telephone numbers, neighbors' names and relatives' jobs. If it was a domestic complaint or an assailant was holding a gun to someone's head, it was her job to discover who he was and why he was doing what he was doing.

Her job was vital, but she could do more and she wanted to prove that fact to Lena.

Jumping from her vehicle, Sarah ran toward the door of the bank and slipped inside just as the security guard was reaching out to close it.

She gave the gray-haired man a grateful look. She'd lived in Destin all her life and Tommy Tipton had been the guard ever since she had come here with her father. "Thanks, Tommy," she said breathlessly.

"No problem, Sarah." He grinned. "It's always a pleasure to see you, late or not."

She flashed him a smile, then hurried toward the front of the lobby. There were two tellers and a half-dozen waiting customers. Sarah almost groaned out loud. The wait would be forever!

Before she could decide to leave or stay, a motion caught her peripheral vision. She focused without thinking, her cop's radar coming on, her gaze swinging to a man near the front of the line.

After a moment's study, she decided she was being paranoid. There was nothing that unusual about the stranger. Casually dressed and wearing sunglasses, he seemed anxious for the line to progress, stepping slightly out of the queue to look ahead. He was tapping his foot impatiently. She relaxed, but all at once, the feeling returned, even stronger than it was before.

Sarah looked again, her stare going down the line a little more closely this time. The man she'd first noticed had stepped back and she could now see the people ahead of him. Along with a couple of teenagers and a gray-haired retiree in shorts and dress shoes, there was a woman corralling two little boys, an impatient businessman batting papers against his leg, and a solitary figure dressed in black, standing completely still.

Sarah concentrated on the last person, her heart first stalling then accelerating. No one else had shoulders that wide or hair that dark. No one else could send her pulse into such panic. No one else could make her want to turn and run.

No one but Ray Maitland.

The only man she'd ever loved and hated at the very same time.

Sarah whispered his name to herself. Ray Maitland. She'd known he was still in town, but they hadn't had any real contact or even spoken since they'd both been seniors in high school. She'd been young, and so had he, the last time they'd embraced, yet if she lived to be 100, she'd never forget the feeling of his body against hers.

As if sensing her stare upon him, Ray turned slowly and looked over his shoulder. His hair was longer growing over his collar; his brown eyes even darker and more cynical than when he'd been 18. He searched the queue as she had, seeking the source of his discomfort.

A second later, he saw her. Before he could stop himself, everything that had once been between them flashed across his face. Love, hate, confusion, resentment. She could feel the searing heat as the emotions burned their way toward her.

In a single heartbeat, she was 18 again.

Back then, Sarah had thought nothing could separate them. She didn't care that his father wasn't around or that his brother was in a mental hospital. His mom did the best she could but a waitress's salary didn't put her in the same social set most of Sarah's friends and family enjoyed. Her parents had told her Ray wasn't good enough for her but she'd stood up for him. She'd loved him.

Then he'd dumped her.

Sarah, her brother, and her mom and dad had gone on vacation. Almost as soon as their car had pulled into their driveway, Ray had called and told her to meet him. She'd grabbed her little brother for cover and stuck him in the backseat of the car, telling her parents he'd asked for ice cream. Five minutes later, she'd met Ray at the Dairy Queen.

He'd told her he had married Joan Wilson, a former girlfriend.

Naturally Sarah had been devastated. She and Joan hated each other, always had. The stepdaughter of the local sheriff, she'd been Ray's girlfriend before Sarah, and she'd never forgiven Sarah for 'taking him away' as she always put it.

Ray had married Joan.

Ray wouldn't explain, despite the barrage of questions Sarah had thrown at him. She'd cried and pleaded, making a fool of herself. Dignity fled. In the end, he'd said nothing but goodbye. The humiliation of being so wrong had hurt for a long time. After the pain had come the anger.

Unable to look away, Sarah met Ray's gaze, but she kept her thoughts to herself or so she hoped. He stared back, his own expression under control once more.

There were lines in the corners of his eyes and a hardness behind them. She'd heard the divorce had been a bad one, but he still had his business. Sometimes, she drove past it on her way to the beach. Maitland's Motors. He owned a high-powered mechanics shop that specialized in expensive motorcycle repair and sales.

She broke their gaze by glancing down at her watch, then she cursed silently, her fingers tightening on the deposit slip and paycheck. She'd just leave. To hell with the rent. Her decision had nothing to do with Ray, she told herself. He meant nothing to her anymore. All that had passed between them was just that. In the past.

She turned to get out of the queue, but at the very last second, shock rooted her to the marble floor, her eyes disbelieving what she was seeing.

The man behind Ray, the stranger who'd first caught her eye, had suddenly grabbed Ray. As Sarah watched, horror sweeping over her, he stuck a gun in Ray's neck.

"This is a holdup," he screamed. "Everyone down! Down on the floor, right now!"

To be continued

Ray could feel the gun pressed against his temple. He could smell the oil from the weapon's chambers, could feel the cold, hard metal.

For just a second, though, he couldn't comprehend exactly what it meant. He could only concentrate on Sarah. Her shocked stare, as she saw what was happening, actually registered more powerfully with him than the .38 now jammed into his flesh.

Don't do anything stupid, he told himself. Not with Sarah here. God help him, he'd hurt her enough already.

But his instinct for survival was stronger than his need for caution. He twisted abruptly and seized the man's arm. Squeezing tightly, Ray pulled at the weapon, but the guy seemed to possess an almost supernatural power. He held on and crammed the pistol even deeper into Ray's flesh. "Keep trying," he yelled, "and I?ll shoot!"

Ray heard the note of insanity and recognized it; his own brother had screamed at him that way. He immediately went still.

"Everyone on the floor. Now!" The crazed man repeated his command then began to shout as one of the smaller children, not understanding, broke free of his stunned mother's grip and ran away.

The terrified customers watched helplessly, some shrieking, some frozen in shock. The robber pushed Ray to the floor, sending him spinning away from where they'd been. Ray stumbled and fell, but not before he realized there were more of them.

Three other robbers had now joined the first, each holding a gun. Ray's eyes returned to Sarah's. They were filled with a fear so palpable it made his stomach clench. He followed her gaze and saw the reason why.

The man who'd first grabbed Ray now had the small child tucked under his arm.

Ray watched in horror as the mother cried out and ran for her baby. In a slow, almost graceful movement, the robber holding the toddler lifted his right hand and brought it down against the mother's head, the crack of his gun against her skull a gut-wrenching sound. Then he turned nonchalantly and handed the child to one of the other men

The uniformed guard by the front door took two steps forward. Until that very moment, Ray hadn't even noted the old man's presence.

"D-drop that kid," he demanded. His weapon shook and so did his voice as he faced the other man. "Drop him and the guns right now, and no one will get hurt!"

Ray's heart faltered. The crook's expression held no understanding, no compassion. Nothing but blank determination

"It's too late for that, old man." The robber raised the .38 and fired....

To be continued

The sound of the gunshot echoed in the lobby of the bank, as pandemonium broke out.

Sarah gasped as Tommy Tipton crumpled without a sound, a small dark hole opening up in the center of his forehead. She ran toward him, then stopped as the robber pointed his gun at her. "Forget him! Get away!"

Having no choice, Sarah stepped back and dropped to the marble tiles with the others, but her mind was spinning through the possibilities. She had to do something and do it fast.

Then she cursed.

She'd left her weapon locked in her trunk.

Lifting her head, Sarah watched the four men huddle together, hoping against hope she might figure out what to do. They split up and headed in different directions.

At the front of the bank, one of the robbers stood in the middle and counted off the time, his eyes trained on a stopwatch. The one with the child stayed by the front door and the other one guarded the hostages. The fourth man, the one in charge, barked out instructions to the two tellers, sending one woman to join the others on the floor and ordering the remaining one to fill the bag he threw at her.

Sarah winced and held her breath as the older woman froze. Lucille Abbot had been with the bank forever and always greeted Sarah with the kindest of smiles. She'd lost her husband to a heart attack last summer, but she had two grandchildren and a third on the way.

"Move it!" he screamed. "Fill the damned bag."

"I I can't...." Lucille clutched the bag to her chest and stuttered the words, the colour draining from her face to leave two circles of blush.

He lifted his gun and pointed it at her, cocking the hammer with a smooth pull of his thumb. "Does this help?"

The clicking sound seemed to jar her. Without another word, she reached toward the nearest drawer and began to stuff money into the sack.

Sarah let out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, then suddenly she realized Ray was right beside her. As the confrontation had taken place, he'd used the opportunity to move to her side. No one had noticed, including her.

She held back a gasp, his dark eyes inches from hers, his head a heartbeat away. For just a second, she didn't know what was making her pulse race faster; the holdup or Ray's closeness. Her eyes went over his face, from the stubble of his beard to the fullness of his lips. They were as sensual and compelling as she remembered. He spoke urgently and she jerked her gaze to his, leaving her thoughts where they'd been.

"Have you got your gun?" he asked.

"It's in the car."

"What about your radio?"

"Same place." She glanced over her shoulder, then looked back at him. "I've got to think of something, though. These guys mean business."

Together they looked at Tommy, then their eyes connected again. Ray's hand was on her shoulder, the heat of his fingers burning through her T-shirt, the strength of his grip digging into her flesh. A second later, Sarah heard Lucille gasp and she jerked her gaze to the woman's white face. The teller had finished filling the bag and had just seen Sarah. Lucille's eyes widened as the realization sunk in.

"Do something," the older woman screamed. "For God's sake, Sarah do something! You're a cop!"

5:45 p.m.>

Sarah was yanked to her feet and found herself staring straight into the robber's eyes. Green and filled with anger, they were frantic in their intensity. Time was passing, and he knew it, the counting man a constant reminder.

"Is that so?" He shook her roughly, as if he were a dog and she a bone. "Are you a goddamned cop?"

"Yes, I am." She hoped she sounded calmer than she felt. Inside her chest, her heart felt as if it were about to explode. She'd been trained for situations like this, but actually going through one was something entirely different. She wasn't prepared for her fright. Knowing Ray was there didn't help, either. A rush of incompetence, sharp and edgy, sliced through her and her emotions pushed in, everything crowding her closer to panic.

Drawing a deep breath, she forced the terror back down, making herself speak with a clear, strong voice. "If you think you're going to get away with this, you're wrong. You made a bad decision when you picked this bank."

"Get over there and get those damned bags filled up!" he screamed over his shoulder at the man by the hostages, ignoring Sarah's warning. The other man nodded then ran past them and Green Eyes turned back to Sarah, his head tilting toward Ray. He'd obviously seen them talking.

"I picked the right bank," he said curtly. "You and your boyfriend aren't gonna stop us."

Sarah followed the track of his movement to where Ray was poised. A ripple of something went down her spine at the look in Ray's eyes. When they'd been together, every moment had seemed more intense, the light more blinding, the smells sharper. It had seemed as if he had the ability to turn up the volume on her senses.

Looking at him now, across the lobby, she felt the same thing happen all over again, a sweep of emotions rushing over her. What was she going to do? How could she protect him and everyone else?

She pulled her gaze away and turned to the man who held her. "I don't think my boyfriend and I will stop you." She took a breath, then continued. "But you will be stopped. I'm sure of that."

"You're crazy —" He swung his head around. "How many bags, Bobby Lee

"Five more! Maybe six

"The Emerald Coast SWAT Team is the best there is, "Sarah spoke again. The longer she could stall him, the better the team's chances were of getting there. "Once they get involved, you're history."

"What the hell makes you think they'll find out?

She shook her head and started to speak, then stopped herself. He didn't need to know about the silent alarm the tellers could trip with their feet. Surely Lucille had managed to get to it. Sarah opened her mouth to answer him flippantly, but she never got a chance. From outside the bank, the startling sound of a bullhorn could be heard.

"This is the Emerald Coast SWAT Team," a voice boomed. "We've got the building surrounded and you are now under our command. Put down your weapons and come to the front of the bank."

Sarah's heart leapt as she recognized Beck Winter's voice. A huge blond giant of a man, he was the chief negotiator of the team and she'd seen him in action many times. If anyone could resolve this without violence, it would be Beck. He was phenomenal, his tones liquid, his presence incredible.

But her relief was short-lived. A second later, the robber's gun was at her head and his arm was around her neck. All she could think of was Ray.

Panic filled the elegant lobby once again and Ray jumped to his feet. Before he could get halfway up, the man with the gun at Sarah's head jerked the barrel and pressed it into her flesh, just as he had with Ray earlier.

Ray felt his heart stumble then stop, the metal gleaming evilly in the bank's overhead lights. Sarah stood still within his grasp, her face white but her expression determined. She was going to do something, and Ray didn't wait to see what. He moved forward without even thinking.

The robber stared at Ray. His eyes were filled with a terrifying intensity. "Stop it! Right there." Turning to the others, he waved the gun. "Shut up," he screamed. "Shut up or I shoot the cop!"

The huddled group near the wall fell silent while outside the bullhorn continued.

"We know who you are and we have the bank surrounded. Put your weapons down and come to the front door now. Release your hostages."

The man holding Sarah tightened his fingers on his weapon. Ray could see his knuckles going white with the effort and that was all it took. Something seemed to explode behind Ray's eyes, a white-hot rage over the idea that anyone, anyone! would dare to hurt her.

He started forward again, two long strides, but this time Sarah raised her hand to stop him. When the robber felt her movement, he yanked her back with an abrupt jerk. "Stay there, damn it!" he screamed at Ray. "I'm telling you, man! Stay there or she gets it!"

Ray had no choice; he froze, a giant hand constricting his heart. Without another word, the man unexpectedly pivoted and pushed Sarah hard, his palm in the center of her back.

"Tie her up, damn it." Swinging the gun in Ray's direction, the robber pointed it at him. "And him, too! Then put them by the other wall." He looked over his shoulder. "Get out here, Bobby Lee, we got trouble!"

Sarah went flying across the room, stumbling into the arms of the robber who'd been counting off the minutes. He caught her roughly and tried to spin her around, but she reacted faster. With a vicious kick straight to his groin, she sent the man down. She turned instantly to the next one, but she still wasn't quick enough. The fourth robber was tall and muscular, a huge man with a beefy red face, the largest of the four men. He grabbed both her hands in one of his and despite her best efforts, subdued her quickly.

Seeing Sarah in the robber's grasp, a stab of something rippled down Ray's back. Something uncontrollable this time. He couldn't define the emotion but all caution fled as adrenaline surged through him. He barreled toward Sarah and the big man, a mist of anger filling his vision. Sarah cried out and shook her head, but Ray kept on.

A second later, he saw movement from the corner of his eye. His brain defined the motion and he understood what was happening; the man Sarah had kicked had recovered and he was coming at Ray; but Ray didn't really care. The only thing that mattered was getting to Sarah.

The sharp report of the pistol filled the lobby, then unbelievable pain detonated behind Ray's temple, white stars on a field of black. He went down.

Sarah screamed. The bullet hit Ray and he collapsed to the floor. A line of blood welled up along the edge of his scalp, dark red against the tanned, smooth skin. Without thinking, she headed to where he'd fallen, but the big man jerked her back so hard, it felt as though her arm might pop from its socket.

Pain ricocheted down her shoulder, all the way to her fingers, but she ignored the agony and struggled against the man. She had to get to Ray! Someone had to help him! Twisting and turning she fought until the robber subdued her again. The only reward she got for her effort was a quick glimpse of Ray's body.

What she saw made her ill. She actually went weak, her legs turning to rubber.

The man she'd kicked was dragging Ray's limp form toward the wall opposite from where the other hostages were gathered, his head bumping along on the floor, a streak of red marking its path. She swallowed down a wave of nausea and pulled herself together. Was he alive? She couldn't tell.

At least the SWAT team had arrived.

Like a prayer, she repeated the words in her mind. The team was here. Everything was under control. The team was here. Lena, Beck, everyone else. They wouldn't let anything bad happen to them.

She repeated the mantra several times, as the beefy man at her back tied her hands then pushed her toward the wall. She crashed into the elegant paneling, then slid down into a pile, Ray right beside her.

The second robber tied Ray's hands together then he sent Sarah a nasty look and kicked Ray once, hard and fast. Ray groaned and the man turned and ran to where the other three men waited. They converged, a frantic huddle as the bullhorn outside continued to sound.

Her eyes went back to Ray's face and as she watched, he moved slightly. She felt a wave of relief wash over her as he groaned again. At least he was alive!

A second later, the robbers went back to their work, frantically filling the bags behind the counter. They acted as if they didn't care the team was outside. Didn't they understand what was going to happen? They'd never get out now!

Sarah hadn't exaggerated to the green-eyed robber. The Emerald Coast SWAT Team was the best there was. Every year they won competitions; every year they won awards. No one had a better record for arrests and safe recoveries.

But they'd have to do their job, and Sarah knew better than most what that really meant.

Her throat so tight, she could hardly breathe, she turned back to look at Ray. His wound was vicious, the bullet had cut a wide swath across his head and he was bleeding furiously. It needed immediate attention.

Her gaze then went to the mother still crumpled on the marble floor. A few steps from her was Tommy, obviously dead. She strained against her ropes but they were too tight. She'd never get out of them.

Closing her eyes, she continued to struggle against them anyway. After a while, she gave up and did the only thing she could; she prayed.

Two hours passed.

Unable to move or do anything to help anyone, Sarah was growing desperate. The team continued to try to contact the people inside the bank, but so far the robbers had resisted all efforts. As long as they didn't talk, they seemed to think, they'd be safe.

If they only knew, Sarah thought... There were plenty of ways to handle this situation and if things didn't start to move soon, something would break loose.

Lena didn't let incidents drag out. It wasn't her style; the team members wearied and then mistakes were made. By now, she'd have set up a perimeter and was probably getting information on the bank's layout. Guessing who was inside and praying for their safety.

All the planning would be taking place in the War Wagon, a remodeled Winnebago that carried the team's equipment and Sarah's own workstation. She wished she were sitting there instead of here.

Once again, Beck Winter's voice filled the lobby from outside the bank. "If we don't hear from you soon, an entry will be made. Do you understand what I'm saying? An entry will be made!"

Sarah swallowed hard and inched her way toward Ray. She'd been trying to rouse him for hours, but he'd fallen silent. She was getting more and more worried. He could have a concussion...or worse.

"Ray?" she spoke urgently. "Ray, can you hear me?"

He didn't answer, and all Sarah could do was think again about the men and women outside the bank. They were doing everything they could, she knew.

Another sweep of helplessness came over her. She should be doing something besides sitting here, thinking about what her team was planning. She looked across the lobby at the group on the other side. Lucille, the mother and two kids, the businessman...

With her hands tied and no weapon, there was little to be done, but the more Sarah thought about it, the faster the ideas came. Suddenly, she knew what she had to do. She gave Ray a final look, then she struggled to her feet.

"Hey!" she called out. "Hey, you..." She raised her bound hands and pointed them at the man in charge.

The startled robbers, in a group by the teller's counter, broke apart, their eyes turning her way.

For a second, she didn't think they'd answer, then the man in charge broke away from the others. As he stepped toward her, a stutter of fear made its way down her spine. But it was too late now. She'd caught his attention.

"What?" he growled from across the way.

"Get over here," she said. "Right now. I've got a proposition for you."

Ray's first impression was pain.

His second was of Sarah.

Sitting beside him on the floor, she touched him softly, her hands cool and gentle as they dabbed at his temple. Despite her care, he jerked as he became aware of his surroundings and tried to sit up.

"Stay still," she demanded. "You'll bleed if you move." She was biting the end of her tongue, the tip of it sticking out as she concentrated on his wound. "I'm no nurse, but I found a first aid kit with bandages in it. I think I've got the bleeding stopped. You've been out almost two hours."

Ignoring her words, he eased up, and a swell of dizziness hit him. He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them and looked around, touching the gauze at his temple. They were in a small room lined with shelves filled with paper goods and file cabinets. "Where in the hell are we?"

"They locked us up in the supply room, in the back of the bank."

"What about everyone else?"

"They're gone," she said calmly. "I traded the other hostages for time. The SWAT team threatened an entry, but I got them to hold off. In return, the robbers let everyone go and sent out Tommy's body. I tried to get you out, too, but they wouldn't release you. I made them untie us, though. I think they're saving us to exchange for transportation."

"What do you think they'll want?"

"Who knows," she answered. "Some kind of car, maybe a plane. As much sense as they've apparently got, they might want safe passage to Timbuktu, who knows?" she repeated.

Ray nodded, then grimaced at the pain.

She put her hand out and touched his shoulder. "Don't move. It's a nasty wound. You're lucky to be alive."

Her touch etched itself into his skin, her fingers warm, the nails painted a pale shade of pink. It was the same color she'd always used, he realized with a start. How many times had he imagined her skin against his since they'd broken up? He answered himself quickly: too many to count.

He reached out and covered her hand with his, raising his eyes to hers. Her blue gaze turned unsettled as he made the connection and spoke two words. "I'm sorry.

She hesitated for a long moment, then said, "For what?"

"For not trying harder. There should have been something I could have done"

She shook her head quickly, her hair swinging back and forth, brushing whispers across her neck. "Don't worry about it. The team will come through — Beck's a great negotiator and it'll work out. With the hostages out of the way, they have a lot more options." She paused. "You did the best you could."

"Did I?" His face shifted and grew hard. "That's what I tell myself all the time about us, too. That I did the best I could. But you know what?"

She licked her lips, her heart freezing in place as she waited for him to continue.

"I didn't do the best I could. I screwed up, big time. And I've regretted it every day of my life."

The silence between them thickened and grew until it was suffocating, the weight of their past too much to keep ignoring. Sarah tried anyway, removing her hands from underneath Ray's, inching away from him as she did so. "It's in the past. We wouldn't have stayed together anyway."

"How do you know that?" he insisted. "We might have".

Her gaze falling to her lap, she interrupted him. "Drop it, Ray. I don't want to go there. Now isn't the time to explain all that."

He waited for her to raise her face but she kept her eyes down. If she looked at him, he'd know she was lying, and she didn't want that to that happen. Not now.

"But I hurt you," he said bluntly. "And I shouldn't have. You didn't deserve it."

At his pronouncement, a flood of emotion overcame her, and she couldn't stop herself. The mask she'd constructed so carefully fell away. She jerked her head up and looked directly into his dark eyes. "You didn't just hurt me, Ray. I was devastated when you left me."

He pulled himself together with an obvious effort, a grimace of pain rippling over his face. "I know."

She blinked hard, the memory of that agonizing time suddenly as fresh as if it'd happened the day before. "You could have warned me."

"No," he said slowly. "I couldn't have."

"I don't understand. What do you mean you couldn't have? What kept you?"

"It was complicated. Too complicated"

She interrupted him again. "Nothing's that complicated. Tell me what I did that was so horrible, tell me what I did that ran you off." She clasped her arms against her chest as if the gesture could protect her heart, the one he'd already broken so many years before.

"You didn't do anything," he answered wearily. "It had nothing to do with you. I told you that then and it's still the truth."

"You're lying."

Despite his pain, he leaned toward her. She didn't reach for him, but she didn't move, either. He clasped her shoulders with both his hands and looked straight into her eyes. They were blue, so blue it almost hurt him to stare at them.

"It's the truth, Sarah. I left you because I had to. You didn't do a thing. Something...happened. Something neither of us could control."

"What? Just tell me, Ray. "

In the past five years, Ray had played this scene a thousand times inside his head. He'd picked up the phone countless more times, wanting to call her only to put the receiver down abruptly.

More than once or twice, he'd even driven past her apartment. She lived on a quiet side street, just off Highway 98, kept flowers on her porch and flew a bright blue windsock shaped like a cat. Sometimes she stayed up late and watched television. He'd seen the blue flickering light.

He took a deep breath. "We couldn't stay together, Sarah. I had to marry Joan. She was pregnant."

Sarah's heart flamed, then turned into ashes, leaving a gaping hole in her chest, where it had rested a moment before.

"Pregnant? Yo-you were sleeping with her and me? My God, all that time I thought you loved me and this is what was going on. I can't believe this bull"

Ray tightened his hands on her shoulders, his dark eyes glittering, the heat in his touch reaching deep into the place she'd kept hidden all these years. "I did love you," he said sharply. "I loved you with everything I had inside me, Sarah. You were my world."

She tried to pull away but he wouldn't let her. "But how could you?"

"I said she was pregnant," he interrupted again. "I didn't say I was the father."

Sarah fell still, the words echoing inside her head, her brain incapable of unscrambling the situation. Through the years, she'd accused him of many different sins in her mind but this possibility had never entered the realm of thinking. Not this.

Ray dropped his hands from her shoulders but didn't move away. He was so close she could see his pulse jumping at the base of his neck, could smell the soap he'd used that morning. All her senses went on high alert and suddenly she was even more aware of him than she had been before. After a moment, she realised he hadn't answered her. With an almost Herculean effort, she pulled herself together and focused once more.

"Why did you marry Joan, then? Why would you do that if you weren't the father of her baby? I don't understand...."

"She was raped," he said bluntly. "She went out on a blind date and the guy roughed her up then raped her. When she learned she was pregnant, she didn't know what to do. The guy was long gone and even if he'd been around, she would have had nothing to do with him".

"She came to me and asked for help." He raised his gaze. "I couldn't walk away from her, Sarah. She wouldn't have survived."

"Wouldn't have" Sarah broke off her incredulous words. "She could have gone to the police! She could have told the counselor at school. She could have gone to her church. Damn it, Ray, there're a million places Joan could have gone for help besides you."

A sudden memory broke free. "Damn, Ray, her father! Joan's father was the sheriff! He could have found the guy. He could have"

Ray shook his head, then closed his eyes, his face going pale at the pain. It took him a second to look at Sarah again. When he did, she could tell the anguish he was feeling came from a deeper place than the wound he'd just received.

"She couldn't tell him, Sarah. He was a total son of a bitch and he would never have believed her. He'd been beating her for years and I believe he would have killed her if he'd known.

"I was the only one who could help her."

12:30 a.m. 
"Oh, my God..." Sarah said the words softly, each one holding the weight of her shock. "Sheriff Bentley? Ray, are you sure"

He cut her off. "Believe me, Sarah I knew the man. He was brutal and angry and he had the size to back it up. Joan wouldn't have had a chance. He hated her...or at least he acted as if he did. Maybe it was something else and he couldn't allow that to happen...so he beat her instead."

A sick roll of disgust washed over Sarah. "How horrible for her. I always thought..." She stopped herself and started over. "I never knew".

He looked past her, to the window above. He had no idea what time it was, but behind the streetlights, there was total darkness. "No one knew. No one but me. Every night he'd come home and work her over...or her mother. I think Joan deliberately put herself in his way sometimes to spare her mom. Her life was hell, believe me."

Sarah thought back. Joan had been beautiful, a tiny girl with golden hair and dark green eyes. Sarah had always been so jealous of her, never knowing, never suspecting....

Her heart clenched at what the other girl had gone through. She raised her face to Ray's, his expression torn with grief and sadness. "What about the baby?" she asked softly. "I didn't ever hear"

"She lost the baby, which was a blessing, I guess." His face went tight and closed. "We tried to stick it out for a few years, then realized it was pointless. We didn't love each other and we never really had. Not like..."

Sarah knew what he'd been about to say.

She started to answer, although she had no idea what words to use, but all at once Ray shook his head then grabbed her. "Shh..." Pushing her behind him, both of them still sitting on the floor, he slid himself between her and the door as he whispered urgently over his shoulder, his hands on her legs. "Listen! I think I hear someone...."

She held her breath and concentrated, the heat of his touch burning through to her skin. The sensation was a familiar one; she'd dreamed about it for years.

Frozen against the wall, she waited behind him, but her pulse was the only sound she heard. After a moment, he relaxed. She could see his shoulders slump and feel the tension ease from his muscles. He shifted to face her, but he didn't move back.

Instead, he closed the gap between them and reached out for her....

1 a.m. 
Ray put his arms around her, then pressed closer. He thought he could feel Sarah's heart beating, but he wasn't sure. Maybe he was imagining the sensation because he wanted to, because he needed to. It had been far too long since he'd held her this close.

She raised her face to his, her skin glowing in the dimness of the office, her eyes bewildered. Was the shock of the situation finally reaching her or was it his embrace that had her confused? She touched her lips with the edge of her tongue, darted her eyes across the room, then brought them back to his face.

"I thought they might be coming back," he explained.

She nodded.

He made no effort to move away. And Sarah didn't, either.

Instead, he lifted his hand and cupped her cheek. Her skin was smooth, the satin softness just as sensual as when they were young and in love. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and pulled in the fragrance of her body.

She'd never worn perfume, he remembered, but she hadn't needed it, either. A seductive essence all her own rose in the heat between them, and in a flash, he was 18 and they were in the backseat of his old Camaro. He hardened with the memory.

"What are you doing?" she whispered. The words were whispered with a sexy hoarseness.

He didn't answer her. He couldn't. Instead, his throat closed down with a sudden, overwhelming desire, any words he might have spoken, trapped just as he was in the memories surrounding them.

Then she touched him.

It was a dove's feather across his brow, the brush of an angel's wing, but he felt it all the same. A thousand nights he'd woken from a dream, haunted by just such a sensation but knowing at the same time he'd never really feel it again except in his dreams.

"I thought you hated me," she said softly. Her eyes were liquid; they pulled him into her heart. "I thought I did something terrible, something wrong, and you just stopped loving me."

His fingers tightened against her back and he brought her closer without even thinking. She fit against him as if she'd never left, her arms going around his waist, her hands smoothing his back.

"Stopped loving you?" His gaze connected with hers in the dark and something passed between them. He couldn't explain the feeling, couldn't even name it, but he recognized it all the same. Its unexpected appearance and the strength of it shocked him. He knew he couldn't lie and he couldn't hide behind anything less than the truth. Not now.

"I could never have stopped loving you, Sarah." The words hurt as they came out in a rusty whisper.

She gripped his back with her hands, her face expectant. Suddenly Ray understood, as he looked down at her, the reality of what he was really saying.

He could never have stopped loving her.

And he never had.

1:30 a.m.
Wrapped in Ray's warm embrace, Sarah felt her heart clutch. She'd gone through enough pain over their breakup. To have him say something like that and not really mean it would be beyond cruel. She had to make sure she was hearing what he was really saying.

"What are you telling me?" she asked quietly. "I have to know what you mean."

He didn't answer her with words. He brought his face to hers and covered her lips in a kiss that stole her ability to even think. Beyond the reality of what was happening, though, she understood. He loved her. He really loved her.

She kissed him back with abandon.

For what felt like a lifetime, they clung to each other and didn't let go, their bodies meshing in the old familiar way, their hands exploring the sweet paths of the past. He'd filled out, she thought, his shoulders wider, his hips more narrow.

She wondered if he could tell how her shape had changed, as well. Since joining the force, she'd slimmed down, toughened up. She felt a fleeting sense of anxiety; her soft teenage curves had been replaced by a leanness born of strenuous exercise. Would he still find her attractive?

She didn't have to ask. Ray murmured deep in his throat and dropped his hands. His fingers followed the lines of her hips then smoothed their way to her buttocks. He almost lifted her up as he brought her close and for a moment, she halfway expected him to do just that. She did nothing to stop him, either. She wanted to feel him against her, wanted even more. The need must have made itself known. He yanked her black T-shirt from the waist of her pants then slid his hands underneath it.

Like a heated torch, his touch imprinted itself against her skin, and Sarah gasped. It'd been years since they'd been together, years since they'd made love. In her memory, she'd imagined it, but all the images from the past had fallen short as had every man who'd ever touch her since Ray. No one but him could make her feel like this.

No one.

Her body took control and Sarah let it. With her hands, she pulled Ray closer and with her mouth she urged him on. Nothing meant anything but this, the moment taking on a life of its own.

Later on, she wondered how it could have happened. How could she have lost control so easily? How could she have forgotten where they were, what was happening? It seemed impossible that a man could have that kind of power over her very sense of survival, but then again, maybe that's what the moment was about. Even in the face of danger, one had to survive, to feel...to live.

She had no real answer to her questions because nothing had made sense that day. She only knew she did what she did because she had no other option. In this moment, at this time, nothing was important but the feel of Ray's body, his skin against her own.

Their mouths still locked, they fell into each other's arms, their kiss deepening with a passion sending them straight into the past.

2:30 a.m. 
The door opened without warning.

Ray and Sarah rolled apart, Sarah gasping, Ray coming up with his hands fisted. He didn't know what was going on but he wanted to be prepared.

"Entertaining yourselves?"

The man with the green eyes stood in the doorway. Despite his mocking words, he wore an unmistakable aura of tension. His expression was tight and so were his hands, wrapped about his weapon. Ray shifted his gaze from the gun back to the man's face.

The robber didn't let them answer, he simply turned and nodded to one of the men behind him. It was the big guy, Ray saw, as he pushed his way into the tiny supply room. Without a word, he walked up next to Ray and put a gun to his head.

Ray watched as Sarah started forward automatically, her hands fisted, her whole body ready to do battle. But Green Eyes swung toward her, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward him. "Not so fast," he said as he thrust a cell phone in her face. "Your buddies are back on the line. I want you to give them a message for me."

Ray struggled to contain himself. All he could think about was elbowing the creep with the gun, then leaping across the room to smash the other man's face in. He could even see the action in his mind. Sarah had always been important to him, but the past few hours had confirmed what he'd reluctantly suspected. He loved her and he wanted to save her.

His body must have telegraphed his intent. The man at his side reached out with a beefy hand and touched his arm. "Don't even think about it," he warned softly. "You'll regret it."

Despite the gun at his head, Ray shook off his touch and sent him a cold glance. Green Eyes spoke again, pinching Sarah's arm until the flesh went white.

"It's time to wrap this up. You're going to confirm what I've told your negotiator, then you're going to tell him they've got two hours to bring a helicopter to the parking lot. When it gets here, we're going to leave — with all our money and one of you. We'll tell the pilot where we're going once we're inside."

He held out the cell phone and Sarah took it, her hand steady. She brought it to her ear, then paused as the robber spoke again, his voice almost conversational.

"By the way, there's one more thing you might want to mention to your friends out there...."

She looked at the man with a neutral expression. Ray couldn't believe how cool she was, how unruffled. A few seconds before her heart had been pounding beneath his, her skin hot with desire. No one, including Ray, would have thought her anything but capable as she glared at the man beside her.

"What might that be?" she asked coolly.

He tilted his head in Ray's direction. "If our directions aren't followed and our hand is forced, we're going to start with your boyfriend. We'll shoot him one leg at a time and work our way up."

3 a.m.
Sarah hadn't thought she could get more scared, yet when the robber made his pronouncement, she actually went weak, her stomach churning. She forced her eyes away from Ray's and stared at the robber from behind a mask of aloofness.

Her voice was chilly. "I understand."

Lifting his cell phone to her ear, she began to speak. On the other end, Beck Winters answered her. He was the SWAT team negotiator and there was no one better at his job. They kept the conversation short and blunt.

"They want a chopper," she said. "In the parking lot. You've got two hours to get it. When they leave, I'll be going with them."

From across the tiny room, Ray started to protest, but the man at his side silenced him

with a rough backhanded slap. From beneath his makeshift bandage, a trickle of fresh blood appeared. Sarah held back a groan of her own. She didn't want him hurt but he wasn't getting on that helicopter. If anyone did that, it'd be her.

Beck quizzed her, as she'd known he would, but she couldn't answer his questions with anything but a grunt. Before she even managed two of those, the robber grabbed the phone from her hands and closed it with a flip of his wrist.

"Did he agree?"

"They'll do what they can," she said. "But they may need more time."

"Well, for your friend's sake, I hope they don't."

Green Eyes nodded to the big man at Ray's side. The robber tied Ray's hands again, as Green Eyes tied Sarah's. In unison, they pushed them into the hallway, Sarah following behind Ray with a gun in her back.

She felt a rush of angry hopelessness. She ought to be doing more.

But she couldn't.... And for the very first time, Sarah truly understood the meaning of teamwork.

She was a cop, but she was also a SWAT member. By herself she could do nothing. She had to depend on the men and women outside to get her through this one. The things she normally did for the team were as essential as the officers who busted in with weapons drawn. Why had she never realized that until now?

For the same reason she hadn't realized she still loved Ray.

The real truths of life had a way of getting away from you. When you were covered up in the details of living, you didn't have time for the larger picture.

But she did now.

In the lobby, the robbers tied their hands again, then pushed them both to the floor — on opposite sides from one another. For more than two hours, they sat there, opposite each other, their eyes saying what their hearts couldn't. Sarah wasn't ready to give up, though.

She used the time to work on the knots of the ropes binding her hands. After a while, she thought they were actually getting looser. After a little bit longer, just when she was sure they were, she watched as the big robber came over and spoke to Ray.

The guy's expression didn't change as he talked, but it was clear something was about to happen. A flash of shock and then surprise crossed Ray's face as the robber reached behind him and did something to his ropes. Sarah tensed, her mind spinning; if nothing else, she could create a diversion, do something, do anything....

But she didn't have time.

A second later, Ray turned to her and mouthed three words. She was translating them in her brain I love you when the two men rushed the three remaining robbers and the bank doors exploded open.

6 a.m.
The flash-bang went off with a blast of noise and smoke, and the SWAT team poured through the door, a rush of black movement and noise. Sarah jumped to her feet and struggled to free herself in the confusion as Ray and the fourth robber attacked the three gang members. As total chaos erupted, finally dropping her ropes, Sarah joined the Ray.

Just as they were meant to, the SWAT team quickly gained the upper hand. The men and women were trained, a superb team of lethal precision. Lena McKinney, the commander, along with four other officers, all garbed in black, instantly took control while the rest of the team checked the lobby and secured the area. No weapon was discharged.

Lena rushed to Sarah's side. "Are you okay?" Not normally a demonstrative person, the other woman wrapped her arms around Sarah, her Ray eyes filled with tension and concern. "God, Sarah, I couldn't believe it when I realized you were in here"

Sarah hugged her back then pulled away. "Lena, wh-what happened? How'd you know?"

Before Lena could answer, Ray and the big robber joined them. Sarah looked up at the huge man and blinked. "You helped us? I don't understand...."

Lena tilted her head toward the man who'd turned then back to Sarah. "Meet Jack Cutter, Sarah. He's under cover with the ATF."

The towering would-be robber held out his hand. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I had no idea what was going on until he brought us in here and threw me a gun. I didn't have a clue."

Astonished, all Sarah could do was nod.

"Jack's been under cover for almost a year," Lena told Sarah. "But he sacrificed his investigation to end this."

Sarah followed Jack Cutter's gaze to where the three robbers stood, their hands already cuffed. The leader of the men was staring back, his eyes so full of hate, Sarah could feel it all the way across the lobby.

"I almost had him," Jack Cutter said. "He was planning a big drug buy from a pipeline out of the Caribbean, but he didn't have enough money." He turned back to Sarah and Lena, his expression filled with regret at what had almost happened. "That's why he was robbing the bank. He needed cash for the buy. If I'd had any notice, I would have told you guys."

Sarah nodded but she wasn't listening. All at once, she'd realized Ray was no longer by her side. Her eyes almost frantic, she jerked her gaze from one corner of the lobby to the other, searching, staring, disbelieving. She saw team members, bank officials, and EMS personnel, but no one that looked like Ray. Her heart spiraled down in a slow descent, the past rushing in with pain and disappointment. He was nowhere in sight.

He'd left her. Just like before.

11 a.m.
Sarah was a wreck by the time she was debriefed and released to go home. Driving Sarah's Jeep, Lena chauffeured her there, another officer following in Lena's SUV. They hadn't wanted Sarah driving and that was fine with her.

They arrived and Lena parked against the curb, turning to Sarah as she killed the Jeep's engine. She spoke softly. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather come out to my place?" "We can have dinner, sit on the deck. You might not want to be alone tonight, you know...."

Sarah pushed a hand through her hair. It felt as tangled and confused as her emotions. "I'm okay, Lena. Really. It was...it was scary but I'll be okay. You don't need to baby-sit me."

"Now that sounds like something I'd say...."

Sarah smiled wanly. "I'll consider that a compliment."

"You should." Lena smiled broadly. "You did a great job in there, Sarah. You really kept your cool. I'm proud of you." She hesitated, then asked, "Are you going to call the guy who was in the bank with you? Ray?"

Being on the team was more than just a job they were a family and Lena knew Sarah's history. Nobody's private life was actually private.

"I don't know," Sarah answered. "I thought we might get together again...then he was gone. I guess that pretty much tells me everything I need to know."

"Don't count on it," Lena cautioned. "You can't read someone else's mind, no matter how close you are."

"Maybe so," Sarah agreed reluctantly, "but we shared more than words back there at the bank, Lena. We connected. Ray explained everything that happened back when we were dating, and then we...well, we got to know each other again. I thought..." She let her words die slowly, her hopes going with them.

Lena reached across the seat and patted her arm. "Don't give up," she said. "You might be surprised by how things turn out."

"That might be true. I learned one thing from this experience, that's for sure, something valuable."

Lena's gray eyes turned curious. "What's that?"

Sarah took a deep breath. "I learned what teamwork means. Until today, I hadn't understood. We're all important, whether we break down the door or sit at a desk and get information."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you all along."

"I know that now," Sarah said.

"Well, it was a hard way to learn the lesson," Lena smiled, "but I'm glad you feel good about it now." She paused. "And don't worry about Ray, either. It'll all work out like it's supposed to. It always does."

Sarah went inside and shut her door behind her, sliding to the floor in a heap. All alone, she let the tears flow.

Lena was an incredibly smart and unbelievably strong woman, but this time she didn't know what she was talking about. Things weren't going to work out right this time.

Not for Sarah and Ray.

Noon
Ray stepped inside his house and slammed the door behind him. He'd insisted on giving the cops his statement from the parking lot, then he'd grabbed his motorcycle and taken off.

If he'd stayed any longer he would have made an even bigger fool of himself than he already had.

Walking to the rear of the house, he peeled off his T-shirt and jeans and stepped into his shower. He turned on the water full force but even the cold blast couldn't erase the image of Sarah from his mind.

Her soft brown hair, her startling blue eyes, her lips against his. Touching her had been a dream come true, the taste of her mouth against his even more sweet than he'd remembered. She'd become a woman since the last time he'd held her, and quite a woman at that.

The memory of everything that had happened between them flashed inside his brain. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the cold hard tile, the water streaming over him in freezing rivulets.

What on earth had he done?

He lifted his face and scrubbed it with his hands. She'd been living in his memory forever, and now, with a single rash choice, he'd renewed her license to stay there. The taste of her mouth alone would keep him awake for years.

He stepped out of the shower and toweled off, shaking his head and slinging water drops to the mirror. It had to be ironic, he thought. He was no shrink, but it seemed like most people might come out of a failed bank robbery with some kind of traumatic anxiety. He didn't have that problem. The cold barrel of that gun against his head meant nothing compared to his emotions now.

All he wanted was Sarah. But he couldn't have her.

He'd hurt her too much the last time and expecting her to come back to him just because he'd explained was ridiculous. She was a smart woman. She might kiss him, might even do more, but she wouldn't take a second chance on a loser like him.

Not the kind of second chance he wanted he kind that would last forever.

He padded into the kitchen with the towel wrapped around him, and headed for the refrigerator. Reaching inside, he pulled out a beer and drained it in two swallows. The cold bitter taste eased his throat but did nothing for his heart.

3:30 p.m.
Sarah woke up late that afternoon, her head still fuzzy, her heart still hurting. Stretched out on her bed, she thought back to the previous day.

Barely 24 hours before, she'd been walking into the bank. It didn't seem possible, but in the course of a single day, her life had been flipped upside down and turned backward, as well. Her career. Her past. Her future. Nothing seemed the same.

She stared at the stripes of sunshine above her bed. They danced in the late afternoon heat, their shimmering lights reminding her of the dark gleams in Ray's eyes. He wasn't the young boy she'd known all those years ago. He'd grown up and become someone else. The cynical, jaded mask was still there, yes, but underneath it was a man with deep convictions. The sacrifice he'd made by marrying Joan was one few men would make.

Sarah felt a strange mixture of confusion as she thought about his actions. He'd done the right thing, but a part of her still hurt over his choice. On the other hand, had he made a different decision, she wouldn't have loved him as deeply as she did. He would have been someone else entirely.

He would have been a man who didn't have the capacity to feel as he did. A man who wouldn't put others above himself. He'd done the right thing, she told herself, but in doing so, he'd hurt her in a way she hadn't really understood until today.

With a moan, she rolled to the edge of the bed and stood up, the sheets falling away into a pile. However she felt about Ray...however he felt about her...none of it really mattered, did it? He'd disappeared last night and she was sure this time, it was for good. Sarah would probably never see Ray Maitland again and if she had harbored any hopes that something else might come of their encounter, she was kidding herself.

She walked into her kitchen, her sadness wrapped around her like a blanket with holes.

* * *

The wind rushed past his face in a stinging wave, but Ray gunned the motorcycle's engine to its outer edge and forced the big machine to go even faster. The passing scnery at his left the blue-green water and pearl white sand disappeared into a blur as the cycle responded.

He wished he could make his thoughts blur as easily.

Unable to sleep, unable to work, he'd gone to his shop after cleaning up. The guys who worked for him had all heard about the bank robbery; some reporter yahoo with a camera had even caught his image as he'd rushed from the lobby afterward.

He'd brushed off the mechanics' questions just as he had the reporters. He didn't want to talk about the incident or his part in it. All he wanted to do was forget it had even happened.

But he couldn't.

Sarah's eyes haunted him with a vengeance. He couldn't get their blueness to leave his mind. His fingers still felt her skin, his lips still tasted hers. Reaching the limits of town, he slowed the cycle. There was nothing he could do. He was doomed.

One way or another, Sarah would always be with him. In his heart. In his mind.

She'd seemed to accept what he'd told her about Joan, but her expression had given her true emotions away. Just as he'd known all along, he'd hurt her, hurt her so badly, she'd never forgive him. When you chose one woman over another, the reasons didn't really matter, did they?

Slowing to stop at a red light, Ray looked around him, his eyes burning with exhaustion and despair. The sad part was he'd told Sarah the truth yesterday. He loved her.

Loved her with everything inside of him. He always had. He took off again, the cycle's motor screaming, the pavement streaming beneath him. Now that he'd said the words out loud and to her; they'd taken on a life of their own. There was no way he'd go on pretending that wasn't the case anymore and suddenly he wondered why he'd even tried.

The question hit him hard, reality crashing all around him. He fought the cycle as he fought his thoughts, then finally he gave up. With a wild jerk on the cycle, he pulled the big machine over to the curb and braked, scrubbing his face with his hands. How could he have never wondered what this meant? How could he have ignored the truth for so long?

Through the years, he'd thought he wasn't good enough for Sarah. He'd made up all kinds of excuses and given himself dozens of reasons why he couldn't contact her. Every time he'd wanted to call her, he'd convinced himself she wouldn't talk to him.

Why? Why had he done that? It made no sense at all.

Without any warning, the answer came to him swiftly, the power of his words to Sarah opening his eyes and laying out what had always been there. What he'd been too blind to see. A cold whisper of disappointment came over him, then anger, hard and fast. He'd wasted all these years, all this time, and he had no one to blame but himself.

He slowly lifted his head and stared off to his right. The Gulf of Mexico stretched out before him, an endless vista of emerald waves and glistening light. He cursed softly, the wind snatching away his words and sprinkling them over the water. An hour passed then he started the cycle's engine and pulled away.

Sarah wrapped her housecoat more tightly around herself and opened her front door, her house shoes shuffling against the concrete sidewalk. Without even thinking, she bent down to pick up the evening paper. The boy always left it directly on her doormat, but this evening it wasn't there.

She straightened up and saw Ray.

He was sitting in the white patio chair she kept on her tiny front porch. The newspaper was spread around him as if he'd been there for a while. A foam cup of coffee rested on the concrete floor beside his feet along with a crumpled bag from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.He raised one eyebrow and her heart melted.

"I didn't want to wake you," he said. "Hope you don't mind that I made myself at home."

She shut the door behind her and walked slowly to the empty chair beside him. She was making a mistake, she told herself. "Go back inside. Forget him." She ignored the warning as he offered her a doughnut. She took it and sat down.

"I have something to tell you," he said without preliminaries. "Something I should have said a long time ago."

The doughnut turned to dust but she continued to chew.

He leaned closer to where she sat. He'd shaved and changed clothes. His dark hair gleamed in the evening's dying light and she felt a catch inside her chest as she remembered how soft it'd been when she'd run her fingers through the black strands.

"There's a lot of things I shouldn't have done in our relationship. I shouldn't have left you yesterday without a word. And I shouldn't have left you all those years ago and married Joan. I probably shouldn't have gotten into your life to begin with...."

He paused. "But the worst thing I did was ignore the truth, Sarah. And if it's the last thing I do, I had to come over here and tell you that."

Sarah swallowed hard. "I understand"

"No. No, you don't." He interrupted her gently, his expression taking the bitterness from his words. "Because I didn't understand myself until just a little while ago."

He reached out and took her hands in his. "I was scared, Sarah. Scared to death. When we met and fell in love, I'd never cared for anyone like I cared for you. And I couldn't believe someone as wonderful as you could actually love anyone like me. I think I married Joan because it was the easy way out."

"The easy way out! You gave up your life to help her"

"She made it safe, don't you see? That way I didn't have to be the person you thought I was."

"That's ridiculous!" Sarah gripped his hands. "You are the person I think you are. You're brave and smart and loving...you're everything any woman could possibly want."

"Any woman?" He waited a second and she felt as if her world were dropping away. "Does that mean you, too? Could you love me, Sarah? As much as I love you?"

It took her only a second.

"Yes." Her hands were holding his so tightly her knuckles went white. "It does mean me. You're the only man who's ever meant anything to me, Ray. Since I was 18 years old, I've loved you and as much as I wanted it to be different in the past, that's just not the case."

He pulled her out of her chair and into his, the warmth of his arms melting her heart as she pressed herself into his embrace. They needed no more words. The kiss they shared said everything.