Heaving sobs escaped her.
She didn’twantto love him. Love had only ever caused her anguish and grief.
Ethan enveloped her in his strong arms, which somehow only made everything worse.
She couldn’t bear his caring right now.
Not when her heart was in pieces, torn between options that felt untenable. How could she choose between the terror of keeping him or the pain of losing him?
Pushing, she broke free of his embrace, dashing a palm across her eyes.
He stared at her—hatless hair mussed, eyes bloodshot, forehead furrowed in confusion.
“What is it? What has overset ye?” He reached for her again.
Allie stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself.
His brows fell lower.
“Allie?”
Ethan stared athisladra—the taut line of her mouth, the rigid set of her shoulders, the faint tremor where her hands clutched her upper arms.
In this moment, she seemed more akin to the woman he first met in thevetturiniin Italy—cool, withdrawn. A fortress unto herself.
Clearly something had transpired to shatter her, to force her to retreat into a protective shell.
He blinked, his exhausted brain trying to parse the sequence of events.
One minute he was holding his new nephew. The next, Allie had bolted from the house as if lit by a lucifer match.
“What occurred tae upset ye so?” he repeated.
She bit her quivering bottom lip. That wee sign of distress nearly did in the remains of Ethan’s heart.
“Mia ladra.” He reached for her again . . . anything to ease her pain.
She skittered back, tears spilling down her cheeks . . . tears she brushed furiously away.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” she said, voice watery, lungs hiccupping.
“Pardon?”
“This!” She motioned between them. “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you!”
She said the words with such vehemence, such anger, it took Ethan’s weary thoughts a moment to catch up.
He stilled.
And then shook his head.
Had he heard that right?
“Pardon? Ye love me? Ye be, as ye said,in lovewith me?”
“Of course!” Allie wailed, throwing her arms up in misery.
Hope ballooned so quickly, Ethan’s ribcage could scarcely encompass it.
