Lover Beware

I’m getting to know you and I think you prefer that your friends don’t see you with me.”
    Sarah’s breath caught in her throat at the hint of pain in his voice. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to be with him. And the dark shadow surrounding him gripped him all the harder. “I don’t mind anyone seeing us together. You’re the one worried about gossip. I’m used to it and it doesn’t bother me.”
    “Then we’ll go into town together.” It was a challenge.
    Sarah let out her breath. The early morning fog had burned off, leaving the sky an amazing shade of blue. She could see clouds gathering far out over the sea. She looked carefully at Damon, inspecting every inch of him. There was no dark shadow around him and his shoulders weren’t hunched as if carrying a great weight. “Sounds great, if you’re really certain you want to brave it.”
    He stood up and held out his hand to her. “Come on.”
    “Right now?” She hadn’t expected he would really want to go, but she obediently took his hand and allowed him to help her up.
    “Yes, while I have my courage up. Walking with you through town should set a match to the gossips. The story will spread like wildfire.”
    Sarah laughed softly, knowing it was true. Once they had walked the short distance to the town, she started in the direction of the grocery store, determined to get it over with.
    “I feel a little sorry for Harrington,” Damon said as he walked with Sarah along the main street of town. “He drops by the house sometimes and he’s very nice.” He reached out and tangled his fingers with Sarah’s.
    “Are you certain you want to do this?” Sarah’s voice was skeptical. “Holding my hand in public is going to bring the spotlight shining very brightly on you. Rumors are going to race through town faster than a seagull flies. I know how much your privacy means to you.”
    “That was before I retired. When I worked from morning until night and had no life.” Damon laughed softly. He was happy. Looking at her made him happy. Walking with her, talking with her. It was ridiculous how happy he was when he was in her company. It made no sense but he wasn’t going to question a gift from the heavens. “We may as well give them something real to gossip about.”
    Sarah’s laugh floated on the breeze, a melodious sound that turned heads. “Not ‘gossip,’ Damon, it’s ‘news.’ No one gossips here. You have to get it straight.”
    Damon listened to the sound of their shoes on the wooden walkway. Everything was so different with Sarah. He felt as if he’d finally come home. He looked around him to the picturesque homes, so quaint and unique. It no longer felt alien or hostile to him; the people were eccentric, but endearing. How had Sarah done that? Mysterious Sarah. Even the wind welcomed her back home. His fingers tightened around hers, holding her to him. He wasn’t altogether certain Sarah was human and he feared she might fly away from him without warning, joining the birds out over the sea.
    She waved to a young woman on a porch. “They’re good people, Damon. You won’t find more accepting people in your life than the ones living here.”
    “Even Harrington?” he teased.
    “I feel a little sorry for him, too,” Sarah answered seriously. “Most of the time, Jonas is a caring, compassionate man and very good with everyone, but he just refuses to see the truth about Hannah. He looks at her and only sees what’s on the outside. She’s always been beautiful. He was very popular with the girls in school, an incredible athlete, tons of scholarships, the resident dreamboat. He thought Hannah was stuck up because she never spoke to him. He made her life a living hell, teasing her unmercifully all through school. She’s never forgiven him and he’ll never understand why. He’s a good man and he wasn’t being malicious in school. From his perspective, he was just teasing. He has no idea Hannah is painfully shy and he never will.”
    Damon made a dissenting noise in his throat. “She’s a supermodel, Sarah—on the cover of every magazine there is. She travels all over the world. And, I have to say, she appears very confident on every television and news interview and talk show I’ve seen her on. I would never associate her with the word ‘shy.’ ”
    “She hyperventilates before speaking in public; in fact, she carries a paper bag with her. Most of the talk show hosts and interviewers are