If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense

lousy with them. Three cousins served on the town council. The vice principal of the high school was also a Jennings. Several of the county cops were Jennings by blood, a few were Jennings through marriage, and at least one person on the minuscule city police department.
    A quarter of the people in Ash were related to the Jennings clan in some way, shape, or form. Hope would be one of them before another year was out, Law had no doubt about it.
    “Speaking of goals … you thinking you might make a run for that goal with Remy any time soon?”
    Hope blushed and hunched her shoulders. “I … I don’t know.”
    “You haven’t talked about it?”
    Her blush deepened.
    Law laughed. “That’s a yes.” And knowing her as well as he did, he suspected she was terrified and excited. Dipping his head, he kissed her again, this time, pressing his lips to her brow. “Go for it, kid. You know you’re not going to find another guy who’ll love you the way he does. And you’re never going to love anybody as much as you love him.”
    She sighed. “No. You’re right. I just …”
    Something dark and ugly moved through her eyes, memories that would take a lot longer than a few months to fade.
    “He’s gone, kid. Dead and gone.”
    “I know. It’s just …” She didn’t have to say.
    Law knew her as well as she knew herself sometimes. Hope and Law had gone to high school together, back in Clinton, Oklahoma, a small town that was pretty much dominated by one family, kind of like the Jenningses seemed to dominate Ash, Kentucky. At least in size.
    But the Carson family wasn’t a kind dictator.
    Hope had married the golden boy, Joseph Carson, not too long after they’d graduated. His control over her had been subtle at first.
Dress how I want you to dress. Act how I want you to act. Wear your hair the way I want
.
    And when she didn’t, that’s when the real abuse started.
    Years passed and it got to the point where Hope felt the only escape was through killing herself. She’d tried … and failed. Her ex-husband had been a cop and he’d abused his badge and his family’s name, managed to get her locked away in a mental institution.
    When she got out, the abuse had gotten so much worse.
    It wasn’t until Law finally managed to get back in touch with her after a few years of sketchy communication that he realized just how bad things had been. He no longer gave a damn about any so-called power the Carson family might have had, and at that point, he’d been more than capable of causing his own brand of trouble.
    He’d gone looking for Hope, and he would never forgive himself for not doing it sooner. Once he realized how bad things were, Law had been ready to kill Joe.
    Although Hope had never confirmed it, he suspected that was what had given her the courage to leave. Not fear for herself, but fear for what it would do to Law’s life.
    Why in the
hell
hadn’t he gone back sooner? Why hadn’t he known? She’d gone through hell, and if he’d listened to his gut, he could have done … something. Anything.
    Like kill the bastard. He could have killed the bastard, and saved Hope all that heartache. Damn the consequences.
    A storm of memories burned in the back of his mind, memories he struggled to hold at bay. Fuck that bastard to hell and back—
    “Law.”
    A soft, cool hand touched his cheek and he looked down, met Hope’s sad eyes.
    “It’s not on us, right?”
    He just stared at her.
    “You keep telling me, I can’t blame myself for what he did. I can’t blame myself for Nielson being dead, and I can’t blame myself for how he killed that girl.”
    Nielson—the cop who’d died saving Hope when Carson came after her.
    And Joely.
    That girl …
the memory of the woman who’d lost her life was imprinted on his mind forever—a wound he’d carry for always.
That girl
. Swallowing, he looked away. His voice was gruff as he said, “Her name was Jolene. Joely Hollister.”
    “Joely.” Hope looked away. “I know. I know her name. But you keep telling me I’m not to blame. How can I believe that, though, when I look at you and see just how much you blame yourself?”
    Swearing, he shoved a hand through his dark, overlong golden-brown hair, only to have it fall right back into his face. Closing his eyes, he shook his head. “It’s not the same, Hope. Damn it, I
knew
something was wrong, and I didn’t listen to my gut. I didn’t
do
anything …”
    “Neither did I,” she said