His gaze darkened. But his voice was softer when he asked, “You don’t want me anymore?”
The ache in his eyes almost undid her.
She forced herself to turn away. “I cannot say that,” she whispered.
“Then don’t.”
She felt him before she saw him—his presence closing in behind her, his breath at her ear.
How could she make him understand? Their time together had been unforgettable. But that was the problem. She was losing herself in him, in the feelings growing too fast, too strong. The more time they spent together, the more he bound her to him—his touch, his body, his intimate whispers pulling her deeper. Letting him go needed to be easy. It should have been.
But it wasn’t.
They’d had their fun. More than enough. And this was no longer just about her reputation or the risk of scandal. Her heart was on the line now, and that was a risk she could no longer take.
“I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you, Clare.”
Her eyes squeezed shut. “I can’t stay here and be your lover, Ash.”
Those wordsstopped him cold.
And she could tell.Thatwas when he realized.
Because for the first time since all of this began, he was truly asking her for something that wasn’t in her best interest.
And he had clearly never thought about it that way before.
She exhaled, bracing herself. “I must leave.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face, as if trying to clear his thoughts. “But…but…you have other options.”
She let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “What options? I cannot be a nursemaid. I cannot be a lady’s maid. Who would ever hire me? I can donothingbut listen to my mother’s disappointment for the rest of my life.”
“Youdohave options,” he insisted, pacing away from her.
“Really?” she challenged. “Name one.”
“You can marry me!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
At first, she laughed.
A real, full-bodied laugh, the kind he loved pulling from her, the kind that made her dark eyes glimmer with delighted amusement.
But then she realizedhe wasn’t laughing.
Her laughter tapered off as she took him in—his tight jaw, his arms crossed over his chest, his stance too rigid.
His seriousness.
The humor in her gaze dimmed, but her lips still curved slightly, as if waiting for him to admit he was merely jesting. “You’re not serious.”
Ashwasn’t surehe was serious.
Hell, he hadn’t even been thinking when he said it. The words had just happened. But now that they were out there, now that he had seen the way her face had changed, the way her eyes had flickered with something unreadable before she masked it…
Now, hewasserious.
