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information he hid from her on a mental pile. The thing was within inches of toppling over and crushing them both.
    “If it’s not Mexico, then I’m thinking you must have found out about my time in jail and got pissed.” He nodded. “I can see where that might be an issue for you.”
    “You were in prison?”
    “Jail.” He held up a finger. “And I can explain.”
    “I somehow doubt you will.”
    “Parts of the experience are fuzzy. A little alcohol and a parrot and things got crazy, but—”
    “Parrot?”
    “No big deal. The charges were dropped before trial.” He reached out and traced a thumb along her chin.
    “Unless you want to lose a finger, now is not the time to touch me.” She brushed his hand away. “So, this parrot issue is in addition to the time in prison?”
    “Jail.”
    “What’s the difference?”
    “A trial and a conviction, and I didn’t have either. And, by the way, no harm came to the bird.”
    “You didn’t tell me any of this, Noah. You still haven’t, really. We were engaged for two months. You never said a word.”
    “That’s what I don’t get. If you didn’t know about this stuff, then how could it matter?”
    “Being purposely obtuse is not helping your case.”
    She wanted to scream, but the women had edged closer and no longer pretended not to listen in. No need to give them more of a show or make it easier to eavesdrop.
    “None of what happened to me before we met means anything to us,” he said as if he actually believed it.
    Even if that was true, there was still the problem of the theft of a client’s money and trade secrets. “What about the part where you forgot to tell me you were married?”
    The older woman of the two gasped. For some reason the idea of Noah being in prison did not warrant a sound, but news of a wife did.
    If Noah heard the noise, he ignored it. “Yeah, you yelled a lot when you found out about Karen.”
    “Your wife.”
    “Ex.” He smiled at the women he had charmed earlier. “She conveniently forgot to mention the divorce.”
    One of the woman treated him to a tsk-tsk sound, then started whispering to her companion.
    “The existence of an ex-wife is not one of those things that just slips your mind,” Lexy said.
    “You shouldn’t assume that. Karen is a pretty forgettable lady.”
    “Not to me.”
    “Because you never met her. If you had, you’d see a certain similarity between Karen and jail time.”
    “This isn’t funny.” It managed to be the exact opposite of funny as far as Lexy was concerned. Hearing him talk about another woman as his wife—the role Lexy at one time thought she would fill—made her wonder why she traveled to Utah instead of just turning him over to the police and letting them figure out his crimes.
    But she knew the answer to why she stayed involved. Despite everything that happened, Lexy wanted to believe in him. To hear a simple and understandable explanation that would amount to something other than a string of nonsense and lies. Seeing him appear in Utah caused hope to flicker to life inside her.
    But his words…well, nothing changed that she could see.
    “Lexy, listen to me.” Those dark eyes softened in a way guaranteed to crush her defenses against him.
    “Don’t call me that.”
    He rested his head back against the wall and made a strangled sound. “It’s your name.”
    “My name is Alexa.”
    “Alexa Annabeth Stuart. We slept together for eighteen months, honey. I took the time to learn your full name.”
    “Then use it.”
    “Also figured out in the first hour the name didn’t fit you.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Alexa Annabeth is a stuck-up rich woman’s name.”
    “Annabeth happens to be my mother’s name.”
    He lifted his eyebrow. “Your point?”
    “Sure, it’s not as pretty as your wife’s name.” Lexy sneered over the word. “Karen. How lovely.”
    “Ex. We’ve been divorced for more than a decade.”
    “So you say.”
    “Back to your mother.”
    “What’s