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how he refused to settle on any one endearment, preferring to make use of them all. “I’m too late,” she said, trying to resign herself to a bleak future that didn’t include Jared at the center of it.
    As if he could no longer sit still, he got up suddenly to bank the fire. He squatted before the stone pit that was built into the pool deck, his shoulders rigid with tension as he tended to the fire with stabbing motions.
    She couldn’t stand to see him so wound up, especially knowing she had caused his dismay. Quietly, she moved to the end of the chair he’d occupied and rested her hands on his bare shoulders.
    His sharp intake of air was audible over the cricket music coming from the nearby bushes.  
    “I’m so sorry, Jared,” she whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
    “What did you think would happen when you turned me down?”
    “I didn’t mean to turn you down. I… You caught me off guard, and I wasn’t prepared…”
    Remaining in a squat, he turned to face her. “You didn’t mean to turn me down? Then why’d you say no?”
    “I didn’t intend to. I shook my head because it was happening too fast, and I couldn’t process it. But I never actually said no.”
    “Lizzie… Yes, you did.”
    “No, I didn’t.”
    “So what you’re saying is you didn’t actually turn down my proposal?”
    “I didn’t intend to turn down your proposal. I panicked.”
    He tilted his head like he was trying to get a read on her, the gesture so familiar and so totally him that she couldn’t stop herself from placing her hands on his face.
    His eyes closed as he released another deep breath that shuddered through his big body. “Don’t do this to me, Lizzie. I can’t handle it. You broke me. You have no idea…”
    “I think I do. You broke me when you wouldn’t take my calls or respond to my texts. I couldn’t sleep or eat. I couldn’t find you. No one would tell me where you were. I didn’t even know you owned a place out here.”
    “You couldn’t eat?” he asked softly, his gaze filled with concern.  
    She knew he was asking whether she’d suffered a setback in her recovery and appreciated that he remembered and cared so much. “Because I was upset, not because of the anorexia. I swear.”
    “Thank goodness.” He curled his hands around her wrists and pressed his lips into one of her palms.
    Elisabeth felt the charge of that small connection throughout her entire body.
    “How did you find me?”
    “I finally wore down Marcy, but you have to promise not to fire her.”
    “What do you mean ‘finally’?”
    “I’ve been to your office every day since that night.”
    “That’s four trains. Each way.”
    “Believe me, I know. You won’t fire Marcy, will you?”
    “I won’t fire Marcy.”
    “Good.”
    “Why did you shake your head when I asked you to marry me?”
    “You caught me by surprise, and I panicked. That’s the only explanation I have.”
    “How could you be surprised after everything we’d shared? You knew how much I loved you. I’ve never loved anyone the way I loved you. You knew that.”
    “Past tense?”
    “I… I don’t know. I just don’t know. You’ve caught me by surprise this time.”
    “Does that make us even?”
    His sinfully sexy lips curved into the slightest of smiles, which she took as a small victory. She’d made him smile. “I should get going.”
    “Going where?”
    “Back to town to find a hotel, since I missed the last boat.”
    “You can stay here, Lizzie.”
    “I don’t want to put you out.”
    “You’re not putting me out. I have five empty bedrooms.”
    She took it as a good sign that he wasn’t planning to send her away. She wouldn’t have blamed him if he had. “When did you buy this place?”
    “A couple of years ago, after I came here for a friend’s bachelor party and fell in love with the island.”
    “You never brought me here.”
    “I hadn’t brought you here yet . The place

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