“That’s pretty darned ridiculous, Jason.”

“Hey, I wasn’t even born when it all happened. I’m just telling you what people are saying, that’s all. Her dad and her mom got burned up in the last fire. The three sisters, they got split up all over the country. People said the three girls, they cried and screamed when folks tried to separate them. That it all was a tragedy. That nobody guessed there was something so broken in Mr. Campbell. That was her daddy. Mr. Campbell. Anyway. The fires stopped after they left. Only now she’s back. And there’s a siren.”

Griff frowned. “Jason, that’s ludicrous. Who’s spreading these rumors?”

“I dunno. Hey, don’t be mad at me. I was just telling you what I heard, that’s all.”

“Well, think about it. If she left town when she was a little girl, there’s no reason to think anyone even recognizes her. And if her father was an arsonist, that has nothing to do with her.”

“I never said he was an ars’nist. I said he started fires.”

“Jason. An arsonist is someone who sets fires.”

“Sheesh. It’s summertime. You’re not supposed to have to learn stuff in the summertime. It’s not fair.”

There were times Griff loved living in a small town. This wasn’t one of them. That young, pretty woman was soft clear through. It was in her eyes, her face, the look of her. That anyone could think she was a criminal-or in town for no good-was beyond absurd.

But Pecan Valley did love its gossip. And good news was boring. The chance of something naughty and meaty was always the ideal, but it was only now that Griff remembered-Lily had mentioned something in that short first conversation. Something about how he might not want to get to know her. He wasn’t sure what it meant at the time. Didn’t matter then. All he’d been concentrating on at the time was the lap of her soft tongue on Griff’s Secret.