‘So which bit did you think was unrealistic?’ he prompted her.
She was shaking inside, outside, all over.
‘I didn’t like how she died of a broken heart just because that guy let her down,’ she whispered.
‘No, that wasn’t exactly brave of her,’ he agreed softly. ‘What should she have done instead?’
Roxie was still digesting his appearance, so she didn’t answer. She just stared at him some more and tried not to think too closely aboutwhyhe was here.
‘What would you have done?’ He waited for a while. Then offered an answer himself ‘Should she have packed her bags and gone adventuring instead?’
Roxie shook her head, spurred into a sturdier response at that. ‘No, she should have confronted him and told him what for.’
That was what she should have done. She should have told him what she really wanted—been honest and to be unafraid of the consequences.
‘Fair enough.’ Gabe’s eyes were fathomless inky pools. ‘But you know, I think you’d find the second half better.’
‘Why?’ Her throat had seized so tight again she could barely answer, and the trembles were graduating to shudders.
‘Because in that half she proves her strength,’ he answered, still quiet. Still unfathomable. ‘She does everything in her powerto protect that guy because she loves him so much. And to be able to love someone that deeply, that passionately, is beautiful. It’s rare and it’s a gift.’
Her heartbeats boomed like cannons. She refused to believe this might be what she wanted it to be. She wanted it too much—she was still too scared to be honest and to be unafraid of the consequences. So, she tried to joke, just in case. ‘Are you saying youenjoyedthe ballet?’
‘Well,’ he answered seriously, ‘I saw some parallels.’
‘I’m not about to die of a broken heart,’ she said, suddenly indignant. She hated him thinking she was weak.
‘I am so aware of that.’ His grin flashed, even his melt-inducing laugh sounded briefly. ‘That wasn’t what I meant.’
Roxie couldn’t take much more without losing it. ‘Well, whatdidyou mean?’
‘That you’re like her in that you have the capacity to love that deeply, that profoundly.’
Oh, now she felt hurt—and so, so vulnerable. ‘What makes you think that?’
His expression softened. ‘You showed it in the way you cared for your grandparents. You did everything and anything you could for them.’
‘Nothing anyone else wouldn’t have done.’ She tried to minimize it; she was no saint.
He shook his head. ‘You give, Roxie. You give everything.’
She didn’t say anything to that. Couldn’t.
He leaned nearer, bending slightly so their faces were almost touching, whispered, ‘Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m here?’
‘Should I have to ask?’ she basically wailed, her nerves finally shredded. ‘You don’t just want to tell me?’
‘I shouldn’t have let you down.’ He too suddenly sounded rougher round the edges.
‘You’veneverlet me down.’ Every cell inside her hurt from the effort of trying to stop trembling. To stay standing. He’d been wonderful to her in all the ways he could.
He closed his eyes. ‘Yes, I have.’
Did he mean that final night when he’d refused her stupidly desperate advances? ‘You were allowed to say no to me.’
‘No.’ His eyes flashed open, his gaze pinning her. ‘I let you down, and myself down, when I let you leave without telling you how I felt. I should have told you, but I was proud. And hurt. Now I’m just so miserable I’m prepared to grovel as much as I have to.’
Roxie’s shaking became uncontrollable. ‘G-g-grovel?’
