with
me
but
one
in
law
enforcement.
And
I
loved
him
enough
to
step
aside
to
let
him
fulfill
that
dream.
That’s
the
reason
I
left
without
telling
you
about
the
baby,
Dare.
That’s
the
only
reason.”
He
nodded.
“Had
I
known
you
were
pregnant,
my
dreams
would
not
have
mattered
at
that
point.”
“Yes,
I
knew
that
better
than
anyone.”
Dare
finally
understood
the
point
she’d
been
trying
to
make
and
sighed
at
how
things
had
turned
out
for
them.
Ten
years
ago
he’d
thought
that
becoming
a
FBI
agent
was
the
ultimate.
It
had
taken
seven
years
of
moving
from
place
to
place,
getting
burnt-out
from
undercover
operations,
waking
each
morning
cloaked
in
danger
and
not
knowing
if
his
next
assignment
would
be
his
last,
to
finally
make
him
realize
the
career
that
had
once
been
his
dream
had
turned
into
a
living
nightmare.
Resigning
from
the
Bureau,
he
had
returned
home
to
open
up
a
security
firm
about
the
same
time
Sheriff
Dean
Whitlow,
who’d
been
in
office
since
Dare
was
in
his
early
teens,
had
decided
to
retire.
It
was
Sheriff
Whitlow
who
had
talked
him
into
running
for
the
position
he
was
about
to
vacate,
saying
that
with
Dare’s
experience,
he
was
the
best
man
for
the
job.
Now,
after
three
years
at
it,
Dare
had
forged
a
special
bond
with
the
town
he’d
always
loved
and
the
people
he’d
known
all
of
his
life.
And
compared
to
what
he
had
done
as
an
FBI
agent,
being
sheriff
was
a
gravy
train.
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