That was the only warning Jax got before Paige was in his arms.
Instant jolt of memories. His body reminding him that itâd been way too long since heâd had her in his arms.
And in his bed.
Jax didnât push her away, though. She was falling apart right in front of him, and he felt his arms close around her before he could talk himself out of it.
âIâm sorry,â she said.
The latest apology put his teeth on edge. No way could an apology erase what sheâd done. For nearly a year, heâd grieved for her. Cursed her. Because heâd believed she had caused her own death. Now he was cursing her for lying to him. Cursing her because of this blasted attraction that just wouldnât die.
Chapter One
Iâm not dead.
The voice mail message caused Deputy Jax Crockett to freeze. He stabbed the replay button on his phone and listened to it again. Three words. That was it.
But it felt as if a stick of dynamite had just gone off in his chest.
Paige.
Oh, mercy. It was his ex-wife, Paige.
That was her voice, all right. He was sure of it. But it couldnât be her because heâd buried her a year ago.
Jax listened to the message again. And again. Then, he checked the name and number of the caller.
Unknown.
Which meant the person might have blocked him from seeing it. But itâd come in a half hour earlier when heâd been on the back part of his ranch looking for a calf thatâd strayed from the herd. No phone reception was back there, so the call had gone straight to voice mail.
Was that fear heâd heard in her voice?
Or maybe fear that someone else was pretending to feel?
This had to be some kind of sick prank. That was it. Maybe someone who sounded like Paige.
But his gut didnât go along with that notion.
He knew his ex-wifeâs voice, and thatâd been her on the other end of the line. Of course, that didnât mean someone hadnât used an old recording of her voice, perhaps piecing together words from other conversations to come up with that one sentence.
Iâm not dead.
âYou okay, boss?â he heard someone ask.
Jax dragged his thoughts back to reality and noticed that one of his ranch hands, Buddy Martindale, was looking at him as if heâd lost his mind.
Heck, maybe he had.
After all, he was standing in the barn while he repeatedly punched the voice mail button on his phone.
âDid anybody call the ranch in the past hour or so?â Jax asked him.
Buddy lifted his cowboy hat enough to scratch his head, giving that some thought. âNot that I know of. Maybe you oughta check with Belinda, though.â
Yes, Belinda Darby would know. His sonâs nanny was inside the house, and since it was coming up on dinnertime, Belinda would be close to not only Jaxâs son, Matthew, but also near the house phone. She would have been able to hear the line ringing in Jaxâs home office, too, if someone had tried to reach him there.
Someone like a dead woman.
Get a grip.
Paige had been murdered by the serial killer known as the Moonlight Strangler. And there had to be some reasonable explanation for the call.
Jax handed off his horseâs reins to Buddy, something he wouldnât normally do. Tending the horses was a task he enjoyed. Not today, though. Not after that message.
There were a good thirty yards between the barn and the back porch, so while he made his way to the house, Jax listened to the recording again. Hearing it for the fifth time didnât lessen the impact.
The memories came, slamming into him.
Nightmares of the violence Paige had suffered. Folks often reminded him that sheâd only died once. That she wasnât suffering now, that she was at peace. And while that was true, Jax couldnât stop himself from reliving every last horrifying moment of Paigeâs life.
Their marriage had fallen apart several months before she was killed, but it didnât matter that their divorce had been finalized only days before that fateful night. Paige sure hadnât deserved to die, and their son hadnât deserved to lose his mother.
Before Jax reached the back porch, the door opened, and Belinda stuck out her head. Even though the sunset wasnât far off, it was still hot, the August air more humid than cooling, and the breeze took a swipe at her long blond hair.