Tribute

think?”
    “I don’t know. You do.”
    “I do.” It hurt, she realized. A little pang in the heart. “And when she realized it was hopeless, she killed herself. Her fault. Hers,” she said before Ford could speak. “Whether it was the accidental overdose, as the coroner decided to rule it, or the suicide that seems much more realistic. But this man has to know he played a part in what she chose to do that night.”
    “You want the piece of the puzzle so you can see the whole picture.”
    The shadows were long now, she thought. Long and growing longer. Soon the lights would sparkle through the hills, and the mountains behind them would fold up under the dark.
    “I grew up with her like another person in the house, or wherever I went, whatever I did. Her life, her work, her brilliance, her flaws, her death. Inescapable. And now, look what I’ve done.” She gestured with the bottle toward the farm. “My choice. I’ve had opportunities I never would have had if Janet Hardy hadn’t been my grandmother. And I’ve dealt with a lot of crap over the years because Janet Hardy’s my grandmother. Yeah, I’d like the whole picture. Or as much of one as it’s possible to see. I don’t have to like it, but I’d like, maybe even need, the chance to understand it.”
    “Seems reasonable to me.”
    “Does it? It does to me, too, except when it doesn’t and strikes me as obsessive.”
    “She’s part of your heritage, and only one generation removed. I could tell you all kinds of stories about my grandparents, on both sides. Of course, three out of four of them are still living—and two of those three still live around here. And will talk your ear off the side of your head given half the chance.”
    “And apparently so will I. I need to get back.” She pushed to her feet. “Thanks for the beer.”
    “I’m thinking about tossing something on the grill in a bit.” He rose as well, casually shifting in a way that boxed her between the porch rail and his body. “That and the microwave are my culinary areas. Why don’t you have another beer, and I’ll cook something up?”
    He could cook something up, she thought, she had no doubt. Tall, sun-streaked and charming with a faint wash of nerd. Too appealing for her own good. “I’ve been up since six, and I’ve got a full day tomorrow.”
    “Ever take a day off?” He trailed his fingertips—just the fingertips— down her arm. “And this would be me officially hitting on you.”
    “I suspected that. I’m not actually scheduling any time off right now.”
    “In that case I’d better take advantage of the moment.”
    She expected smooth, a nice quiet cruise by the way his head dipped toward hers, by the lazy interest in those gold-rimmed eyes. Later, when she could think about it clearly, she decided she hadn’t been entirely wrong. It was smooth, in the way a good shot of excellent whiskey, straight up, is smooth.
    But rather than a nice, quiet cruise, she got a strong, hard jolt when his mouth closed over hers. The sort that bulleted straight to her belly. The hands that gripped her arms gave one quick, insistent tug that had her pressed against him. In another of those subtle moves, he had her back against the post, and her mouth completely captivated.
    Zero to sixty, she thought. And she’d forgotten to strap in first.
    She clamped her hands on his hips and let the speed take her.
    Everything he’d imagined—and his imagination was boundless— paled. Her taste was more potent, her lips more generous, her body more supple. It was as if he’d painted this first kiss in the brightest, boldest colors in his palette.
    And even they weren’t deep enough.
    She was a ride on a dragon, a flight through space, a dive into the deep waters of an enchanted sea.
    His hands swept up from her shoulders to her face, then into her hair to tug the band tying it back. He eased away to see her with her hair tumbled, to see her eyes, her face before he drew her back again.
    But she pressed a hand to his chest. “Better not.” She let out a careful breath. “I’ve already hit my quota of mistakes for this decade.”
    “That didn’t feel like a mistake to me.”
    “Maybe, maybe not. I have to think about it.”
    He ran his hands down to her elbows and back up as he watched her. “That’s really a damn shame.”
    “It is.” She took another breath. “It absolutely is. But . . .”
    At her light nudge, he stepped back. “Here’s what I need to know.