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her eyes met his she was so busy
willing her emotions to be quiet that she had forgotten.
    “I wanted to bring you a copy of the new
house plans like I promised. I put them up on your desk.”
    Betsy’s stomach was doing one flip after
another as he took baby steps in her direction. Stop gaping at him
like some love struck teenager and say something, she ordered
herself. “You didn’t have to make a special trip into town.”
    “I didn’t.”
    “Well good,” Betsy stammered. “I am anxious
to see the plans. I’ll take them home with me so I can give them a
close look tonight.” She’d rambled until his voice cut her off.
    “Do you ever take time out from work,
Betsy?”
    The warmth in his tone was soothing enough
that Betsy relaxed and smiled. “I could probably ask the same of
you.”
    A crooked smile appeared on his face. But
the grin was short lived and the man wrinkled his brow as though in
deep thought. “Maybe we both deserve a little time off. What do you
say to a quiet dinner? Then we could--”
    “No. I really can’t tonight,” Betsy cut in
stammering again. Only problem was she hadn’t said what she really
wanted to say.
    The evening Skylar suggested sounded
wonderful. But if she said yes, what would she be agreeing to next?
The unknown never frightened Betsy before. But when it came to
Skylar Blakewood, she was scared to death of these new emotions
that grew in strength every time she was in the man’s company.
    “Can’t or won’t?”
    Betsy trembled at the sound of his voice.
Had he read her mind? Did he know she was terrified of getting too
close to him? Or did he think she was just playing some sort of
childish game? That’s not what she wanted.
    “I just can’t,” she insisted and bustled
past him and up the stairs to her office.
    “Is it something I said? No wait, it’s my
breath. I have bad breath. That’s it isn’t it?”
    The smile came naturally as Betsy craned her
neck away from the window where she’d taken root, and looked at
him. He balanced his tall muscled frame at the top of the steps, by
gripping the top of the archway. His head was tilted sideways,
while narrow blue eyes peered up at her in a pitiful way. He
reminded her of a little boy who’d just been scolded.
    “No, it’s not your breath.” The smile faded
when an inner voice reminded her of her decision to practice
restraint around him. “I have other plans. But you might want to
ask Stephanie Rogers. I’m sure she’d love to have dinner with you.”
Betsy wanted to bite off her tongue. She had no idea where the
words came from.
    “I had lunch with Stephanie.”
    His words took her breath away. Reminding
herself he could have lunch with whomever he wanted, allowed her to
breathe.
    “I’m sorry. I had no right--”
    “You have the right to assume whatever you
want, Betsy.” Their eyes met and held steady for a long time before
Skylar broke the spell by speaking again. “Since I can’t convince
you to have dinner with me, I guess I’ll go take a closer look at
my new property to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything.”
    But you have convinced me. I can’t think of
anything I’d rather do than have dinner with you. The words were
all there, stuck to the roof of her mouth. And by the time her
tongue had pried them loose, Skylar was already going out the front
door.
    Betsy felt the loss immediately, a void deep
within her. She crossed her arms over her heart, hugging herself,
but the empty feeling did not leave her. If anything, it had
widened into a big gaping hole.
    A few minutes to gather up her things and
she left the building, surprised to find the temperature and
humidity had dropped. The pleasant weather shouldn’t be wasted
indoors.
    That of course was the explanation she gave
to the sensible side of herself. The one telling her it was a
mistake to think about doing what she was already making plans to
do. And when she stopped by the mini-market on the way home
selecting the things she