Jack paced the lobby of the Porter County bus station. Being cooped up in a bus seat for two hours had taken its toll on his back. His long legs weren’t made to fit into such a small space. Did Mitch Rawlings have long legs? He glanced at his hands. Long fingers and toes? He’d always known he didn’t look like the father he’d grown up with, but he looked enough like his mother that the question of having another father had never even crossed his mind.

How was he supposed to process this? How many hours on a therapist’s couch would it take to make peace with the fact that his mother, the only person in the world who he’d ever truly trusted, had lied to him his whole life? An unexpected fury roared through him, and on the heels of the fury came a bone-crushing guilt. He loved his mother, and he’d find a way to forgive her.

He was distracted from his personal crisis when Luanne came strolling out of the bathroom. She was talking to a mother and her little girl. Something the little girl said made her laugh and the sound chased away his misery. How someone who’d been treated so badly as a child could’ve grown into such an amazing woman was beyond him.

She waved to the little girl and her mother and made her way to him.

“Making friends?”

“Yeah, they’re headed to see the little girl’s father at Fort Benning. He’s coming home from a nine-month deployment, and they’ve been living with family while he was gone.” She watched the mother and child make their way to the ticket line. “She showed me pictures her daddy drew and sent to her while he’s been away. They’re very sweet.”

They sat in a couple of seats next to the window to wait for their bus. “Sounds like a good guy.”

“The mom said this was his third deployment in four years. I can’t imagine the kind of stress she must live with every day.” She took a deep breath and blew it out. “The good news is, this is his last trip ever. He’s out after this. Lucy, the little girl, said they’re getting a house and she’s getting a puppy.”

“Did you ever have any pets?”

“No. Mama wouldn’t let me, and Gigi’s allergic to almost everything. You?”

“A blue tick coonhound named Sis. After we got settled my dad came home with this puppy and I just about peed my pants. Cutest little speckled thing you ever did see, she and I were inseparable. My mother originally said she couldn’t stay in the house, but after I kept sneaking her into sleep with me, she finally gave up that fight.”

“Sis, huh?”

“Yeah, I loved that dawg. She passed after I left for college. Mom said she was only waitin’ for me to get settled and then she let go. I cried like a baby. Here I was, this eighteen-year-old boy, hidin’ under his covers cryin’ over a dawg.”

She laughed. “Your accent comes out when you talk about your life in Louisiana. Did you know that?”

“Really? I never noticed, but then again I don’t usually talk about my life there.” And wasn’t that a little sad? He wasn’t that poor kid wearing hand-me-down clothes anymore. He was successful, intelligent, and had everything he ever wanted. Maybe it was time to make some peace with his past.

She leaned to one side then the other to stretch out her neck and back. “The bus was nice enough, but I feel all stove up, as Honey would say.”

“Me too. I had to take a couple of laps around the lobby to work out the kinks.”

She grabbed her left elbow with her right hand, and stretched her arm across her body. A glare flashed, nearly blinding him. “Hey. Put your hand down.”

“What?”

“The sun reflecting off that rock on your hand damn near blinded me.”

“Oh, it’s my engagement ring.”

They both froze. They looked at the ring, then at each other, then back at the ring.

“Are you telling me that I took my clothes off for money in order for us to survive, when you had that three-carat monstrosity on your finger the whole time? Mother—” His hands went to his waist and his fingers flared across his hip bones. “I can’t believe this.”

Her hand flew to her mouth and the ring mocked him.

“Oh, my lord, I don’t even notice it’s there most of the time.”

“How can you not notice that rock?”

She held her hand with the other and gazed at the ring. “The setting’s flat. It never snags on my clothes or anything…I forget I have it on most of the time.”

“How did Pearl and June miss that thing when they robbed us?”

“I had your jacket on and it covered my hands. They never asked me to take it off and I was so freaked out I never thought of it. And by the way, you only took your shirt off.”

He stood and took her hand. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“To pawn that sucker.”

* * *

“Fake? Fake?” Luanne fumed, stomping down the street. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this angry. “I’m going to kill that lying piece of horse shit.”

“Wait up, Luanne.” Jack jogged to catch up with her.

“No.”

His big hand wrapped around her upper arm and he pulled her to a halt. “Stop. Think about what you want to do. Take a deep breath and calm down a minute.”

Anger sizzled through her whole body. Even the tips of her ears burned. “Don’t you tell me to calm down, Jack Avery.”

“All I’m saying is you don’t want to go off half-cocked. Let’s get a plan together, then I’ll help you hang the guy.”

She sucked in a lungful of cool, crisp West Virginian air, letting it calm her fury long enough to think. “Alright, a plan is good. You’re right. We need the perfect plan so that I may relieve my ex-fiancé of his balls.”

Jack’s eyes crinkled at the corners, and she knew he was trying not to laugh. “It is not funny, Jack Avery. My fiancé bought me a fake engagement ring.”

“Would it make any difference if I told you it was an excellent fake?”

“No! I’m going to pinch his nipple off.”

That must’ve been all Jack could take because he doubled over laughing. “You looked like he’d slapped you with his dirty underwear when he said it was cubic zirconia.”

She shoved him away. “I repeat. It. Is not. Funny. The little weasel lied to me. He said it was a family heirloom. He teared up when I put the fucking thing on. I actually felt sorry for him.” She kicked the air. “I’m such a fool.”

He lifted her face to his. “No, you’re not. You just didn’t care enough to get it checked out.”

She stopped her fit and looked at him. “You’re right.”

That one admission was enough to calm her down. She shook her fist at the sky. “Well played, Doug Divan, well played,” she said with mock admiration.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry, killer. You’ll get him next time.”

Oddly, that made her feel better. “Okay, where to? I’ve got an extra hundred dollars burning a hole in my pocket.” A hundred dollars. Doug had made her think the ring was worth thousands of dollars. Dick. If she was honest, it wasn’t that Doug had given her a fake ring, it was that he’d pulled one over on her. She hated that. In all likelihood, her father had been in on the joke. She’d get them back one way or the other.

“What devious plan are you cooking up?” He pulled a lock of her hair. “No time for that. We both need some clothes and to find a way to rent a car. I am not getting back on that bus.”

Good thing too, because the bus had left them far behind. After they’d realized she had her engagement ring, Jack had got a refund for their tickets and bought the mom and little girl’s fare to see their soldier.

He was like that—generous and kind. Luanne knew that now. He would tell you he was no one’s champion. In fact, he’d told her that very thing. But, like it or not, Jack Avery was a hero. A reluctant hero to be sure, but a hero all the same.

Why was he so determined to not show that side of himself in his normal life? She remembered the arrogant, condescending jerk who’d showed up on Scarlett’s doorstep eighteen months ago. If he’d shown even an ounce of this kind of chivalry toward Scarlett, their whole relationship would be different. Instead, he’d bullied his way onto Scarlett’s land, and home, all the while pouring on that fake charm. Not that his sweet talker ways weren’t genuine. They were, but now that she knew him better, they seemed…not his true nature.

“Where should we go first?” His red-velvet voice cut through her thoughts.

That dimple in his chin nearly did her in. Good lord, he was handsome, and that combined with his heroic ways was a combo she could barely resist. Not to mention his kindness toward her. He’d been sincerely furious about how she was treated as a child. Only Scarlett had ever been so mad about all of that.

Granted, he’d been a little overly dramatic by saying she’d been abused. She hadn’t been abused. No one had ever hit her or screamed at her. She was given nearly everything she wanted, especially after she’d gone to live with Gigi. Okay, maybe she hadn’t had the attention of the adults in her life until it suited them, but you could hardly call that abuse. It was just bad parenting.

Jack snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Hey. Where’d you go?”

“What?”

“You kind of checked out on me. You okay?”

“Oh, sorry.” She could feel the prickly heat of embarrassment creep up her neck. “Let’s get clothes and—thank you, Jesus—new underwear, first.”

“What? Wearing two-day old undies isn’t your idea of fun?”

“Oh, I ditched my undies back at the hotel room. It’s been commando all the way today.”

A low growl rumbled up from his chest. “Woman.”

It was a warning, and it sent little zings of pleasure zipping around her body.

She patted his arm. “Not now, Jackie. We’ve got shopping to do.”

“Alright. But no thrift store clothes for you this time. I know how to treat a lady. It’s Wally World all the way.”

“You’re too kind.”

“Nothing’s too good for my dumplin’.”

She laughed and shoved him aside. “Shut up, you idiot.”