Don't Look Back (Love Inspired Suspense Series)

Two months earlierCassie Winters spied him across the Event Hall at the Mossy Oak Inn where the dinner and fund-raiser for the library expansion was being held. Her heartbeat increased at the sight of him, just as it had when she'd been in his journalism class ten years ago. But instead of his usual jeans, blazer and tie, he was dressed in a black tuxedo. She'd never seen him in formal attire, but Dr. Jameson King had changed little over time. His dark brown hair still looked tousled, and his tall, muscular build was still on the lean side."Cassie, are you listening?" Her friend Jennifer Pappas moved into Cassie's line of vision. "Have you heard anything about the skeleton they found under the library sidewalk?""Who hasn't? Everyone has been talking about it." Cassie shivered.Kate Brooks, another friend, sidled closer and lowered her voice. "I hate to think what happened to the woman. Do you think it was someone who attended Magnolia College?""I hope not. But there were some women who didn't come to the reunion in June, who haven't been heard from in years." Suddenly cold, Cassie shuddered and hugged herself. "To think a murder happened ten years ago, not too far from here." Murder on their quiet campus. The very thought unnerved her."To someone we may have known," Jennifer added in her usual quiet voice.Cassie scanned the crowd again, hoping to get another glimpse of Jameson King. Quinn Nelson, the assistant basketball coach, and Edgar Ortiz, the assistant director of Admissions, had joined him and Dr. Cornell Rutherford, the head of the English Department. The coach patted Jameson on the back, then laughed at something Dr. Rutherford said.Cassie started to look away when Jameson turned his head, and her gaze connected with his cobalt-blue eyes. For a few seconds, she experienced all over again the lure those eyes had for her.He smiled at her. Heat scored her cheeks at being caught staring at him. He said something to Dr. Rutherford, then weaved his way through the crowd toward her."Excuse me," Cassie said to her two friends who were still discussing the recently found skeleton. "I see someone I haven't had a chance to talk to yet."Kate laughed. "I see who's heading this way. Although you didn't major in journalism, I do believe he was your favorite teacher.""He was a lot of students' favorite teacher." Cassie brushed her hair behind her ears, a nervous habit she wished she could break."He still is. His classes are always full from what I hear." Jennifer took a sip of her punch.Cassie walked toward him before he had a chance to join the three of them. All she needed was an audience when she finally talked to him after all these years. She wondered what else he had been doing besides teaching. Her brother had kept her informed some since Jameson had been Scott's college adviser, but she'd dared not ask her brother too many questions or she would have never heard the end of it. It was bad enough her friends kidded her about her college crush on her professor.Jameson stopped in front of her. "Cassie, it's so good to see you again."The other people crowded into the room faded away. Cassie offered a smile, clenching a glass of punch in her hand. "It's good to see you, too. I wanted to tell you how sorry I was to hear about your wife's death last year."One of his dark eyebrows rose. "You knew? It wasn't common knowledge in Magnolia Falls.""As you know, Scott works for the Savannah paper, and he told me." She remembered her surprise when her younger brother had called her about the news. Although Jameson had always worn a wedding ring, there had never been any evidence of a wife. All the students had speculated about the mysterious woman whom no one had ever seen. Some people had even wondered if a wife had really existed."How's Scott doing? I haven't talked to him lately."Suddenly she wanted to share her good news with someone who would care. She glanced around her,Daley, Margaret is the author of 'Don't Look Back (Love Inspired Suspense Series)', published 2008 under ISBN 9780373442829 and ISBN 0373442823.