undeniably attractive in a rough, earthy kind of way.

But the last thing in the world she wanted was for Dev Weber to have the

slightest indication that she found her attractive.

Dev looked in Leslie’s direction for the Þ rst time, her expression one of mild

disbelief at Leslie’s easy dismissal of her accomplishments.

Dev’s glance drifted down, taking in Leslie’s long legs, sleek beneath her sheer

silk stockings, and the swell of her breasts beneath silk and lace. Leslie had

turned into the beautiful woman that the lovely teenager had foreshadowed.

Maybe it was the unexpected juxtaposition of the woman upon her memory of

the girl, because Dev ventured into territory she had never meant to revisit.

“What happened to landscape architecture?”

Taken by surprise at the question very few people in her life knew her well

enough to ask, Leslie laughed harshly. “I haven’t thought of that in ages. It was

just one of those things that kids think they want before they know anything

about life. Once I got to college, everything changed.”

No, Dev wanted to say, it changed long before that. But then she realized that

was just her truth, not Leslie’s.

“So you like what you’re doing?” Dev asked, hoping to Þ ll the time with safe

conversation until they reached the lake and could politely go their separate

ways once more.

“I don’t know that I’d say I like it,” Leslie said, “but it’s satisfying.”

She grinned. “I like winning cases. So what about you? Are you running the

store for your parents now?”

“No, they Þ nally sold the place and moved to Florida about six years ago.”

Leslie’s question brought home to Dev how little they knew of one another now.

There might have been a time when they’d understood each other without

words, but now there was nothing between them. “I’m working up at the lake

this summer, though. I’m a biologist.”

“You’re kidding,” Leslie said before she could catch herself.

“Jesus, I’m sorry. That was rude.”

Not insulted, Dev laughed as she exited onto Route 9 North, the twisting twolane

lake road that she once could have driven from memory. “No. I don’t

blame you. I’m sure it’s nothing anyone who knew me in high school would’ve

guessed I’d be doing.”

• 42 •

WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE

“I just never remember you being interested in that kind of thing.”

“I wasn’t.”

“So what caused the big switch?”

Dev swung into the driveway to Lakeview and parked in the lot beside Eileen

Harris’s Jeep. She shifted on the seat and met Leslie’s curious gaze. “After the

accident I couldn’t do much more than read, and studying kept my mind

occupied.”

Leslie paled at the unexpected reference to a time she assiduously avoided

thinking about. Ambushed by guilt and regret, she felt a sudden need for air. She

yanked the door handle up and stepped out in front of her childhood home. The

rambling, three-story white clapboard house with its wraparound porches and

gabled upper windows looked just the same as it always had. Her mother, also

seemingly unchanged in jeans and a sweater Leslie thought might once have

been hers, waved from the front porch. On the far side of the parking lot the

grassy slope led down to the boathouse. The boathouse. There were some

things she couldn’t forget, no matter how much she wanted to.

Leslie looked back into the truck. “I’m sorry. So sorry. I’d undo it all if I

could.”

As Dev watched Leslie walk quickly away from her and the painful past that

had suddenly resurfaced, she heard the words she’d never be able to forget.

She’s nothing to me. She’s nobody.

And still, even knowing she’d been wrong about everything, she’d never wanted

to change any of it. Dev climbed from the truck, pulled Leslie’s luggage from

behind the seat, and started toward the lodge.

Leslie’s parting words, in the past and the present, reminded her more

powerfully than any blow that she and Leslie had never shared the same dream.

It had all been in her mind. A Þ ction created from her own need and foolish

hopes.

Thankfully, those long-ago dreams had been put to rest, but she was still going

to need to Þ nd another place to stay. She had never expected that seeing Leslie

again would hurt quite so much.

• 43 •

• 44 •

WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE

CHAPTER FIVE

Leslie stopped a step below her mother and tried to decipher the expression in

her mother’s eyes. Despite the fact that it was only a three-hour trip, Leslie

hadn’t been home in over three years, and the last visit had been only for a few

hours one Christmas. She’d never had to lie about the reason for her absence.

She always had work to do, even if that was only a convenient excuse. There

was warmth in her mother’s eyes, but wariness too. After Leslie left for college

they’d lost the easy companionability they’d had when Leslie was a teenager.

No, Leslie reminded herself, after you decided to go to law school.

“Hi, Mom,” Leslie said.

Eileen wrapped her arms around Leslie’s shoulders and hugged her. “Hi, honey.

I’m sorry I couldn’t pick you up.”

Leslie felt the stiffness in her mother’s embrace and imagined that her own body

felt much the same. “That’s okay. I didn’t give you any notice, after all.”

“Well,” Eileen said, looking past Leslie down the gravel walk,

“I’m glad Dr. Weber was able to give you a ride.”

Leslie turned just as Dev reached her, Leslie’s briefcase under her arm and the

suitcase in her hand. “Dr. Weber?”

Dev shrugged, coloring faintly. “Not the regular kind.”

“You didn’t need to bring my luggage up,” Leslie said, reaching for the suitcase.

“No problem,” Dev replied, climbing the stairs. “Where do you want them?”

“Your old room’s available,” Leslie’s mother said, “if you want it.

• 45 •

RADCLY fFE

I don’t rent that one out unless I really need to, and the lodge isn’t full now.

You’d have plenty of privacy.”

Not if Rachel manages to come up, Leslie thought. There was no way she was

going to subject Rachel to her mother’s scrutiny or have sex in her childhood

bedroom. That wasn’t exactly the way she wanted to introduce her mother to

the idea that she had a girlfriend.

Plus, even if Rachel didn’t visit, she didn’t want to spend two weeks in the

constant company of her parents and be faced with the subtle disappointment in

their eyes. “I’d rather have one of the cabins. They’re not all full, are they?”

“Not yet, but we’ve got reservations—”

“Actually,” Dev said, wondering if the other two women had forgotten her

presence, “she can have mine. I…uh…should probably get a place closer to the

lab.”

Eileen look startled, and Leslie scrutinized Dev intently before saying, “Mom,

let’s settle the room situation later.”

“Of course. Let me double-check the registrations, and we can decide after

dinner. I’m sure I can work something out.” Eileen looked at Dev. “I hope you’ll

be able to join us tonight.”

“Thank you, but—” Dev said, scrambling for a polite way to decline when the

phone rang inside and Eileen turned away.

“Wonderful.” Eileen hurried inside, leaving Dev to stare after her.

Leslie lifted the suitcase Dev had deposited on the porch. “I’ll make your

excuses, if you want to pass on dinner.”

“I’m that easy to read, huh?”

“You might take a little bit of coaching before I’d put you on the witness stand.”

Leslie smiled softly. “Besides, your eyes always did give you away.”

“No, they didn’t,” Dev said quietly. “You were just always able to tell what I

was thinking. No one else could.”

When Leslie’s face lost all expression and she hastily glanced away, Dev knew

she had no good reason to put off sitting down to dinner with the Harrises. Until

now she’d avoided them because she didn’t want the subject of Leslie and their

shared past to come up. She hadn’t wanted to be reminded, and she hadn’t

wanted to talk about it.

But the past was standing right in front of her, and she couldn’t have stopped

thinking about Leslie now if she got into her truck and drove a thousand miles

away. What she needed was to understand that this

• 46 •

WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE

woman was not the girl she remembered, and whatever friendship they’d shared

had ended the night when everything in her life had changed. Maybe a casual

dinner where it would be apparent they had nothing in common any longer

would do the trick.

“Sorry,” Dev said.

“For what?” Leslie said, shifting her eyes away from the boathouse and back to

Dev.

“For bringing up old history. I’m just surprised to see you.”

“I won’t be staying long,” Leslie said abruptly, feeling inexplicably

claustrophobic. She was standing outside in the June afternoon sun, looking out

over a vista of forest and clear blue water that was still unspoiled by the

trappings of modern life. She couldn’t imagine a place where she might feel