“I suppose not.”
“Whatever happens now is out of your hands. But you’ve tried your best. You have, Savannah. You have to keep telling yourself that.”
She sighed. “I know.”
For a minute, there was total silence on the line. Jared broke it by saying, “Are you okay?”
“Mmm. I’m okay.” She actually felt a little better for having aired her concerns.
“Can I come over?”
“No. You’re not supposed to know about this. You’re not supposed to know about any of this, and here I am, blabbering about every little worry. Don’t you get sick of it?”
“Sick of what?”
“Women pouring their hearts out to you.”
Jared frowned. “They don’t do that.”
“They must. There’s something about you that invites it.”
“If there is, they don’t see it. I lead a very private life, Savannah. I go my own way, do my own thing.”
“But half of Rhode Island is in love with you.”
“Half of Rhode Island may be in love with my voice,” he said firmly, “but that’s the extent of it. Most of Rhode Island doesn’t know who I am or what I look like, and that’s just the way I want it.”
Savannah was startled by his vehemence. “I just assumed—”
“You assumed I had a steady string of women waltzing in and out of here, each one pouring out her heart and soul? Not quite. Even if I had the time, I wouldn’t be interested. I work by night and sleep by day. I don’t date a hell of a lot, because no one has interested me a hell of a lot.” His voice went low. “Until now.”
Savannah was without a comeback. Men as gorgeous as Jared didn’t go through life alone. “I don’t understand,” she murmured. “There are dozens and dozens of women who’d be on your doorstep in a minute.”
“I don’t want women cluttering my doorstep. I’m not desperate. I don’t need a woman to survive.”
“I know that, but still I’d have thought—”
“That I’d be unable to resist what was offered? I’m thirty-nine years old, Savannah, not some rutting teenager. I like to think I’ve become a little discriminating with age.”
“You don’t date much?”
“I’ve already told you that, and why. Besides, when do I have time?”
“Weekends.” She let her imagination wander to sweet places. “Evenings before work.” And even sweeter places. “Early mornings after work.”
Early mornings after work.Following her to those imaginary spots, Jared felt himself begin to swell. “Savannah…”
“What?”
He cleared his throat, which did little to cancel the thickness of his voice. “You have it all figured out.”
“I was just answering your question.”
He swore under his breath, then said gruffly, “I must be nuts, chasing after a lady lawyer. My ex-wife was one. I thought I’d learned my lesson.”
Savannah wasn’t sure which statement to react to first—the fact that he was chasing after her, or that he had an ex-wife. A previous marriage meant that he valued the concept of monogamy enough to give it a shot. Of course, something had gone wrong. His wife was an ex.
She closed her eyes. “You’re being very unfair.”
