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front of witnesses. Have you changed your mind?”
    â€œNo!”
    â€œGood—”
    â€œGood? Good!” She cast a longing glance at his shins. If only she were wearing shoes! She grabbed the lipstick tube out of Rylan’s hand and shook it at him as if she could kill him with it. “Ooooh! When it comes to thick-skinned, dirt-for-brains men, you absolutely steal the prize, Rylan Quaid! Good? What do you mean, good? If you had one molecule of gentlemanliness in you, you’d know enough to pretend at least a little bit of disappointment when a lady turns down your proposal!”
    Ry held his hands up in surrender. “Now don’t go getting all riled up again, Mary Margaret. All I meant was you and I have a good thing going. Why ruin it by getting married?”
    â€œRuin—?” She heaved a sigh and shook her head. “You have an extremely twisted view of marriage.”
    â€œI haven’t seen many sterling examples.”
    Immediately Maggie backed off from the fight. She knew all about Ry and Katie’s parents. Their mother had walked out on the family. Katie rarely spoke of the woman, but Maggie was well aware of the effect the desertion had had on her friend. Somehow she had never thought of it as having influenced Ry. He was so big and strong. Now she could see she’d been wrong. She could also see, in his simple answer, a tiny glimpse of that man she had dreamed lay under Ry’s abrasive exterior.
    Growing up in an environment of hostility had tainted his view of marriage as much as having his mother abandon them had. No wonder he had approached the subject from the practical point of view. That would be the safest way—no emotional risk.
    â€œDo you think getting married will ruin Katie and Nick’s relationship?” she asked.
    â€œNo. What they have is special,” he said quietly, turning once again to browse through her cosmetics. He knew his sister and her husband were in love—deeply, irrevocably in love. He also knew it was something that could never happen for him. He couldn’t inspire those kinds of feelings in a woman. The best he hoped for in a relationship was understanding, friendship, and fidelity. “What they have is rare.”
    We could have it too, Ry,
Maggie thought, her heart aching.
    â€œSo,” he said, accidentally squirting himself with cologne. He swore under his breath and put the atomizer down. “What do you say, Mary Margaret? Can we go on being friends and forget I ever mentioned marriage?”
    She nibbled her lush lower lip as she considered his question. Whether he realized it or not, what Ry was offering her was a prime second chance, a chance to make him fall in love with her, a chance to change his mind about marriage. She would have been lying to say she didn’t want that chance.
    Sure, he was hardheaded and thick-skinned. Sure, he made her angry. No one could rile her the way Rylan could, that was part of what she loved about him.
    She could cling to her pride and spite herself by refusing his offer of “just friends,” or she could seize the opportunity and make the most of it. Deliberation wasn’t necessary.
    Determination filled her previously weary body with strength. She was through waiting for Rylan to make all the moves. She would do everything she could to capture his interest, to make him see her love was a prize to be cherished instead of settled for. And she was finished with resigning herself to nothing more than a hot good-night kiss. “Just friends” was going to last only as long as it took her to work her feminine wiles on him. The next time Rylan Quaid asked her to marry him, practicality would be the last thing on his mind.
    She met his expectant gaze in the mirror, offering him a reluctant smile. Slowly she stepped closer to him and slid her arms around his waist. She rested her cheek against his broad, muscled back, breathing in his warm, masculine