Gideon could still hardly believe it.
He was free…free of an obligation that had torn at him, pulled at him, for weeks.
It had been an ugly moment with Rachel.
An ugly, mortifying situation when he’d realized—belatedly, and only after having made a complete ass out of himself—how much of anasshe’d actually been all along.
To Rachelandto Fiona.
But now, thanks to a woman with too much sense and pride to settle for his half-assed decision to marry her—he was set free.
He wouldmakeFiona take him back. He loved her; he knew she loved him.
Hehopedshe loved him.
A dark worry clouded his moment of elation. What if she didn’t?
What would he do then?
He’d fight for her—and be damned if he’d spend the rest of his life looking for a more “suitable” woman.
Fiona was the only one for him…despite her quirky ways and off-the-beat habits, he’d found what he needed. She’d brought fun and spontaneity into his life, and she’d even forced him to look beyond hiding his sketches in a drawer.
His dad was right, Gideon reflected, pacing as he waited for the valet to bring his car.
Damn Gid. First time in his entire life, Gideon’s father had actually acted like a father and given him something worthwhile to think about.
“Gideon?”
He turned to see Iva standing there. She had a sort of arrested look on her face. “Your grandfather and I are leaving now—just waiting for him to bring up the car. I…thought I just saw Rachel climbing into a car. To leave.”
Unspoken were the words: without you.
“Yes,” he replied.
“Is everything all right?” Iva said. “With the two of you?”
He sighed, loosening the tie at his throat. “I suppose it depends who you ask. We’ve broken off our engagement.”
Iva did a very poor job of hiding the elation that leapt into her eyes, but her voice was calm and properly sympathetic. “I see.” She waited a beat before continuing, “I never had the chance to tell you that I admired you for walking away from something you really wanted in order to do what you thought was your duty—as misguided as I thought you were…”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you walked away from Fiona to do what you thought youshoulddo. Needed to do. You put—again, misguidedly—someone else’s needs before your own, and in many ways that’s very admirable. But…what kind of man would you have been without Fiona in your life? Now you have the chance—”
“Fiona dumped me before I even had the opportunity to talk with her about the situation with Rachel.” He should have been feeling elated, relieved, and giddy…but it was more of a desolation that crept over him.
“Oh, Gideon. That was self-defense. Pure self-defense. She had to dump you before you walked away from her—that wayshewould be the one left standing. You scared the hell out of her, and when she saw you acting all mopey, she knew the writing was on the wall.”
“Maybe.”
“She cares about you deeply, Gideon,” Iva said as his grandfather’s sleek Mercedes pulled up at the curb. “Everything will work out all right. Call her.”
* * *
Fiona’s fingers shook as she fumbled the spring on the hidden drawer to show Bradley, who bent close enough that his fading cologne nauseated her. She’d never be able to smell Blue Water again without wanting to puke.
If she lived to smellanythingagain.
