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She blinked. "Oh, Justin, it has to matter. As you said, whatever happened, we were friends."
"Not anymore/' He wouldn't forgive her, couldn't trust her. "You don't want to be friends with me, Megan. I'm still the town bastard."
"I'm sorry I said that. You frightened me that day. I didn't know what to do."
"You could have said you'd changed your mind."
"I was afraid you would persuade me." She bit her lower lip. "You always had the power to persuade me."
Did he still? The thought tempted him. No, it didn't matter. None of this mattered. He'd come back to Landing to make his peace with the town. To prove to them, and himself, that he was more than a troublemaker. When his year was up, he would move on and find a place to put down roots. Until then, he would stay as far away from Megan Bartlett as possible. She had always been his greatest weakness. Chances are, that hadn't changed.
"Go home, Megan," he said. "Go back to your respectable life. I'm not here to make trouble."
"You've made it already, and you know it. Did you think that you could just come back here and be sheriff? Did you think people wouldn't notice ... or remember?"
"I'm counting on them remembering."
Her delicate eyebrows drew together. He loved her frowns. They made him want to kiss away the lines in her forehead and hold her close until her worries faded. He drew back a step, putting more distance between them. He'd been right to want to avoid her. She was more trouble than he had ever been.
"Then why are you here?" she asked.
"You wouldn't understand."
"I would." She stepped closer, close enough for her to touch his arm. Even through her gloves, the brief contact seared though his shirt to his bare skin. Instantly, his body reacted to the heat as his blood flowed quicker. "Explain it to me."
The fire of need ignited his anger. He jerked his arm loose and walked over to the desk. After picking up a single sheet of paper, he waved it at her. "This is all you have to know, Miss Bartlett. The town council of Landing has signed a contract with me. Unless I commit a criminal offense, I will
be your sheriff for the next year. I don't need your friendship, or anything else from you."
"Fine." She reached for her cloak and drew it over her shoulders. The heavy fabric swirled around her, brushing against his legs, taunting him like a too-brief caress. "Keep your secrets and your friendship. Til be sure to tell everyone you're back in town and that you've only changed for the worse."
"Why don't you tell them the rest?" he asked, knowing he was pushing, trying to hurt her the way he'd been hurt. "Why don't you tell them the real reason you're so afraid?"
She picked up her reticule. "I don't know what you're talking about."
She started toward the door, but he moved quicker and slammed his hand against the wood, preventing her from leaving. "Tell them your dirty little secret. No one knows, do they? No one knows about our times by the stream."
"Stop it."
She reached for the door handle and pulled, but the door didn't budge. He leaned against it and folded his arms over his chest.
"Tell them about how you liked my kisses, Megan. How you liked me touching you."
"Justin, no."
She raised her head to him. Tears glistened in her eyes. But the visual proof of her pain didn't ease his anger. If anything, it made him want to her hurt her more.
"I was good enough to sneak around with, but not good enough to bring home to your father."
"You don't understand. You never understood." She raised her hands in front of her, palms up. "There are things you don't know. I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell anyone."
"That's you, Megan. You've always kept your dirty little secrets. Does anyone know you promised to marry me?"
She choked on a sob. "Let me g-go." She pulled frantically at the door handle. "I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."
"Sorry you agreed to marry me, or sorry you threw it back in my face? Are you sorry you couldn't marry the town bastard?"
He stepped back and she jerked the door open. She gave him one last glance. He saw the tears on her cheeks and the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly, his anger died, snuffed out by a wave of shame.
