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Once she rejoined Gramps in the living room, she went around the shanty and turned on the lanterns against the encroaching night shadows.

She was just about to sit down when there was a knock on the door.

“That’s probably Gus. When I saw him earlier today, he mentioned he might stop by this evening,” Gramps said.

Gus Martine was a fisherman and one of the young men who had been a real support to them since Danny had been born. Mimi considered him a very close friend.

She opened the door and froze. Clad in a pair of jeans and a blue polo shirt, Johnny stood on the porch as if he owned it. He was just as handsome, just as sexy as he’d been the last night she saw him.

His black hair was slightly shaggy, and his blue eyes were as bright, as intelligent as she remembered. His facial features were bold and sharply defined into a handsomeness that couldn’t be denied.

“Hello, Mimi,” he said, his deep smooth voice like a hot caress against her bare skin.

She hadn’t been able to sort out her feelings where he was concerned until this moment. She now realized her emotions.

She decided she hated him.

“ARE YOU GOING to let me in?” Johnny asked. He drank in the sight of her.

She was still just as beautiful as she’d been the last time he saw her. Her hair was a rich dark waterfall that cascaded over her shoulders and down her back. Her features were delicate with high cheekbones and lush lips. Her eyes were the forest green of the swamp.

But there was certainly no smile of welcome on those lush lips. There was definitely no invitation in the hard glare from her eyes. Not that he could blame her.

“I’d like to say hello to Gramps,” he added.

That made her open the door wide enough to allow him entry. As he swept past her, he caught a whiff of her scent. It was a fragrance of wildflowers with a hint of spice. The smell ignited old memories of an abandoned shanty, a bed made of plant fronds covered in a red blanket and the sweet slide of skin against skin. He consciously shoved the memories aside as he stepped into the living room.

It was like stepping back in time. The same black sofa set against one wall, flanked by the familiar wooden coffee tables that had been there five years ago. A small potbellied stove was in one corner, and bookshelves filled with books were on another wall. The floor was covered with a large black-and-yellow braided rug that he knew Granny had made before her death.

He grinned at the old man seated in the worn black recliner at the far end of the room.

“Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in,” Gramps said. He rose from the chair. Johnny walked over to him and the two men shook hands.

As Gramps eased back down in his chair, Johnny sank down on the sofa next to Mimi. Gramps had been like a father to Johnny before he left town, and a deep affection for the older man filled him now.

“So Gramps, how has life been treating you?” Johnny asked.

“Oh, I can’t complain, although these old bones deal me fits sometimes. What about you, son? Tell us all about your time away,” Gramps replied. “We were somewhat shocked when you left.” There was a faint censure in Gramp’s tone. Johnny had expected Gramps would be disappointed with him.

As he told Gramps about the big construction job he’d been in charge of in Houston, Texas, he was acutely aware of Mimi’s closeness to him. He could feel the animosity that radiated out from her, and he wasn’t really surprised by it. He knew he’d hurt her badly when he’d left town, but for all he knew she was happily in a committed relationship now.

When Johnny had left and his friend Frank moved into Johnny’s home to house-sit, one of Johnny’s instructions was that Frank never speak of Mimi to him. Johnny hadn’t wanted to know anything about her. It hurt too badly to even think about her while he’d been gone. Still, he was the one who had made the choice of work over romance.

But now that he was back in Black Bog, he was hungry to learn all about her.

He assumed she hadn’t married because if she was, surely a husband would be present in the shanty. Though it was possible her husband was off working someplace tonight. A woman as beautiful as Mimi wouldn’t have spent the last five years without male companionship. Even if she wasn’t married, surely she was in a committed relationship with somebody.

However, the minute he saw her again, he realized she was still hot and heavy in his blood. He’d never gotten over her.

He turned to look at her. She was in a defensive posture, with her arms wrapped tightly around herself and her legs pointed away from him. She looked like she’d rather be anyplace else in the world than sitting next to him on the sofa.

“Mimi, how has life been for you since I’ve been gone?” he asked.

“It’s been great.” Her chin went up a notch. “I’m working at the grocery store and just enjoying my life.”

“Are you married?”

“No, but I’ve come close a couple of times,” she replied.