My heart sped at his gentle voice, and I turned. “I’m not sad.”
He stood a few feet away with the setting sun behind him. I tried to still my heart, but it was impossible. Each time I saw him, affection overwhelmed me. Even in Salem, thoughts of Lucfollowed me—filling me with perplexing emotions I had never felt before. Happiness, joy, uncertainty ... longing.
Guilt.
He put his hands in his pockets and slowly walked closer to me.
I had changed out of my flight suit and was wearing a simple skirt and blouse with a pair of heeled boots and a plain black ribbon around my head. My hair was in a long braid that rested over my shoulder.
When Luc stopped next to me, he reached out and lifted my braid, running his thumb over the strands of blonde hair. “C’est doux.”
I held my breath.
A smile warmed his eyes as he met my gaze. “It’s as soft as I always suspected.”
Slowly, he moved his hand from my braid to my cheek, pausing as he studied me. Waiting for me to stop him?
I had no desire to stop him.
Something had been building between us for weeks—something I had tried to deny and push aside. The tension was coiling deep within me, winding tighter and tighter, until I feared I might burst from the pent-up longing that filled my soul.
With a tenderness that made my heart ache, he laid the back of his fingers against my cheekbone and trailed them down to my jaw. A delightful shiver ran up my spine and made me tremble, so I reached up and put my hand over his. It was an anchor. Warm and strong.
Luc’s gaze became very serious. The setting sun shadowed one side of his face while casting the other side in shades of rose gold.
“Grace.” He said my name almost reverently as he drew closer to me.
He was going to kiss me—and I wanted him to, more than anything. Perhaps if he kissed me, this feeling in me would subside.
Even as I leaned into him, Hope’s face appeared in my mind’s eye, and guilt washed over me again. What would she think if she saw me standing here with the man she loved?
I wanted to let him kiss me, but I shook my head and swallowed my disappointment. “I’m sorry.”
The look in his eyes instantly shifted, and I could see his old guards rising. He lowered his hand, but I reached for him, wanting him to understand. But how could I make him see?
I held his hand between both of mine. “I-I can’t,” I said, swallowing again. “But it’s not because I don’t want to.”
His shoulders were stiff.
“Please,” I said, bringing his hand to my lips. I pressed a kiss there as tears burned behind my eyes. “It’s because of Hope.”
“Hope?” He frowned and shook his head, clearly confused.
I briefly closed my eyes, forcing back my tears. When I opened them again, I lowered his hand. “Hope is—was—desperately in love with you.”
He still looked confused.
“Didn’t you know?” I asked.
“Of course I knew.” He took a step away from me and ran his hands through his dark hair before putting them in his pockets again.
I pressed my lips together, needing to know the truth. “Did you love her?”
He looked at me, and there was no guile or pretense in his gaze. “No.”
Relief filled me for reasons I wasn’t ready to examine, but it didn’t change the fact that Hope loved him.
Luc stepped closer to me again. “Are you afraid that you’re my second choice? Because you are not—and never have been.”
