After Dark by Beverly Barton Page B

had been so bruised and bloodied, she hadn’t recognized him at first. Them that had done the deed had meant to kill Johnny Mack. But they had miscalculated the boy’s strength, determination and sheer survival instincts. He’d grown up hard and tough and wild. It took a lot to kill a man like that.
    â€œThis man…well, he wasn’t much more than a boy back then, but he was a tough kid…he had done things that got some of the menfolk here in Noble’s Crossing all riled up.”
    â€œWhat had he done?”
    â€œDon’t interrupt me. Besides, some of this story is X-rated, and you’ll have to wait until you’re twenty-one to hear it.”
    That comment gained Lillie Mae one of Will’s beautiful smiles. Those smiles had warmed her heart for fourteen years and would continue to do so until the day she died. There was absolutely nothing she wouldn’t do for this boy.
    â€œGo on,” Will said. “But don’t leave out the X-rated parts, even if you have to sanitize them for me. Okay?”
    â€œSanitize them, huh?” Lilie Mae grinned. “Well, this young man had romanced a few ladies who belonged to other men. He was a regular heartbreaker, and your mama’d had a crush on him since she was fourteen. Just the age you are now.”
    â€œThen, why didn’t she marry this man instead of marrying Kent?” Will’s smile vanished, erased by memories of the man who had so cruelly disowned him.
    â€œThat’s another story, but mainly because this other man left town a long time ago—before Miss Lane married Kent.” Lillie Mae paused, took a deep breath and then continued her tale. “Your mama used to spend a lot of time down by the river. Thinking. Daydreaming.” Using her thumb, Lillie Mae motioned toward the back of the house. “Her favorite sanctuary was the old boathouse. Anyway, that night she went down there and guess what she found lying on the riverbank, half-drowned and beaten so bad he couldn’t even stand up?”
    â€œThis man—the one she’d had a crush on since she was fourteen?”
    â€œRight. So, she helped him get on his feet, and halfway dragging him, she got him to the back door of this house. That’s when she started hollering for me. We took him to my room because it was the only bedroom on the ground floor. Miss Lane wanted to call a doctor, but he said no, not to call anybody. That’s when he told us that they had tried to kill him.”
    â€œWho had tried to kill him?” Will sat perched on the edge of his seat, his eyes wide with speculation.
    â€œHe didn’t tell me who, but I suspect he told your mama. And I got my suspicions.”
    â€œHow’d he get better without seeing a doctor?” Will asked. “And what did Grandfather and Grandmother Noble think about him staying here in their house?”
    â€œYour grandparents were out of town, so they never knew about Miss Lane rescuing him. Your mama and me took care of him, the best we could. He was tough as they come and he was determined not to die. I think plotting revenge is what kept him alive. That and…and your mama.”
    â€œWho is he?” Will looked Lillie Mae square in the eye.
    â€œBest your mama tells you.”
    Will snapped his head around and glared at the closed kitchen door. “He’s Johnny Mack Cahill, isn’t he? He’s the lowlife, son of a bitch bastard that Kent told me was my real father!”
    Â 
    For years after he had left town, Lane had dreamed of this moment. Johnny Mack Cahill coming home—home to her. But as time went by and she never heard from him, she had given up her dream. And somewhere along the way, the love she had once felt for Johnny Mack had slowly turned to hatred. It had been apparent that wherever he’d gone and whatever he’d done with his life, he had forgotten about her. So with each passing year, it had become easier