THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

with had spoken to her again after her conviction. Thankfully, the people she’d been training around since she walked out of prison knew nothing of her record, only that her marathon race times were exceptional.
    Oh, crap . All the medals she’d earned before being arrested were still on the wall of her two-room house in Raleigh. No going back there.
    Just like always, she’d busted her butt to earn something only to lose it.
    Zane’s simple question opened a wound she’d thought had healed years ago. Six years spent struggling to survive after getting released had given her little time to think about lost dreams.
    Over the past year, though, she’d committed the sin of dreaming again. Running the Tamarind triathlon in Colorado in two months was to be her big chance at returning to the athletic community and regaining a margin of respect.
    Thanks, Mason, for destroying that dream.
    She felt Zane’s eyes on her again. Knew he wanted more than a one-word answer. “I ran in high school.”  She made a show of checking her watch. “How long’s our flight?”
    “Bentley Field is a little over two hours away. Where’d you go to high school?”
    Her throat tightened. “A podunk place. How long have you flown?”
    “Fourteen years. I mentioned being in the Air Force. That was until a few years ago.”
    “How long were you in?” Angel asked.
    He shook his head and smiled. “Not fair. It’s my turn to ask. If we’re going to play question volleyball how about answering mine since I’m answering yours?”
    “Fair enough.”   She’d share what she could.
    “Have you run competitively?” Zane started again.
    Two national titles plus a room full of regional trophies by the time she’d reached sixteen. Yeah, that qualified as competitive running.
    Her father had hocked her brass trophies for pocket cash.
    Tears stung her eyes. Fidgeting, she glanced around and saw a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses in a side pocket. She yanked them out and slid the dark sunglasses over her eyes, careful to touch only the wire frames, which were too narrow to hold a fingerprint. “I ran track in school and a few local races. Why’d you leave the Air Force?”
    His smile faltered. What? Mr. Got-to-know-everything didn’t like question volleyball all of a sudden?
    She smiled, feeling a little smug.
    “After our parents were killed, Trish started having problems. I was no help to her flying jets on the other side of the ocean. By the time I got back to Texas she was in the hospital.” 
    Fingers on his right hand flexed out and back in, gripping the yoke. Angel didn’t think he was going to continue until she heard his low voice in her headset.
    “Her best friend, Heidi, found her after Trish had gone to a hotel with some guy and he’d beaten her half to death. Trish told Heidi she’d screamed until she’d passed out, but no one helped. The place was full of crack-heads. The one thing I can’t tolerate is drugs.”
    Angel’s shoulders sagged. Okay, they were even. Neither had intentionally forced painful memories on the other. Guilt layered his deep sadness.
    She understood how it felt to carry guilt. But his was misplaced. “You’re there for Trish now. You can’t change the past, but you can influence the future. And you’re doing that.”
    He didn’t acknowledge her comment, but the harsh lines in his face relaxed.
    “It’s your serve,” she teased, hoping to lighten the mood, rewarded when his mouth quirked up with a half-smile.
    “What’s your best time in a race?”
    Angel hesitated, fiddled with her seatbelt then lifted her chin with pride she couldn’t hide. She’d been good at one thing in her life and all she had left to show for it were memories. “I’ve run close to five-minute pace.” 
    “No kidding? Did you get a track scholarship?”
    She nodded, throat thick with emotion then realized he hadn’t seen her head move. “Yes.” 
    “Where’d you go?” 
    “I didn’t.” 
    Zane cut his head around to face her. “Why not? With professional training, you might have made the Olympics.”
    What should she tell him? That one of the most prestigious universities in the country rescinded their offer when they found out she’d be delayed a year while serving her time in prison? No way.
    “It wasn’t my choice. They withdrew the offer,” she said.
    “You should have submitted to another college. For someone with your speed, there had to be plenty of universities who would have taken