LITMIR.BIZ

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you know that you’d never be just like someone I’d pass on the street? That you were and are so very special to me? Too special, she underscored.

      Out loud, she merely said, “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

      “Well, by not saying anything, you did. You made a hell of a very big deal out of it,” he informed her, all but yelling into her face. He struggled to get the better of his anger. Shouting at her wasn’t going to bring her around.

      Isabelle couldn’t wrap her head around the logic of his words. “I just assumed you would have preferred it that way. Quietly,” she emphasized.

      His eyes were dark with suppressed anger. “What I would have ‘preferred,’” he informed her, “was a chance to talk to you.”

      She took a deep breath, telling herself that she wasn’t intoxicated by the very scent of him. That her heart wasn’t beating harder than a bongo drum, racing to a strange, exotic beat. That this rush was normal for someone in an argument.

      She ran the tip of her tongue along her very dry lips to moisten them. “Well, you’re here now. Talk.”

      He should just go. Ignore her. Not let her know that she’d succeeded in shredding him into teeny-tiny little slivers. That was the only way to save face. To save his pride.

      But the truth was, he didn’t give a damn about his pride. What he gave a damn about, now that he’d found her, was Isabelle.

      He struggled not to take hold of her shoulders, afraid he’d wind up hurting her by holding on too tightly. “Damn it, Isabelle. Was it all one-sided? All that time together, was I just there by myself? Fooling myself?”

      She was having trouble catching her breath, centering her thoughts. Trouble staying where she was instead of throwing herself into his arms and just holding on for as long as he’d let her. She’d missed him more than she had ever thought possible.

      Taking in a shaky breath, she tried to sound calm as she asked, “About?”

      “About us!” he shouted. “About you. About you caring.” He took a breath. “Damn it all to hell, Isabelle, you can’t just leave like that. I need you.”

      Isabelle shook her head. It sounded too good to be true. Or maybe she had just imagined she’d heard him say that. Ached for him to say that. “You need me?” she heard herself asking, praying that if this was a dream, a hallucination, she wouldn’t ever wake up.

      “That’s right, I need you,” he all but shouted, struggling to get his voice under control. “I need you very much.” His voice softened, and he smiled down into her face. “As does my mother and Victoria. Nothing’s going to be the same in the house until you decide to take pity on us—on me—and come back.”

      “Come back as what?” she asked. “Your mother doesn’t need a physical therapist. Anastasia’s going away on that cross-country tour. And Victoria’s still at camp—I talked to her yesterday,” she told him before he had a chance to question how she knew his daughter’s current location.

      “You’re right,” he answered honestly. “My mother doesn’t need a physical therapist. What she needs is a daughter-in-law.” His eyes took her prisoner. “Any suggestions? Know anyone open to taking on that position?”

      Again, Isabelle stared at him, this time utterly dumb-founded. She couldn’t have heard him right—could she?

      The ensuing silence throbbed in his ears like a thunderous heartbeat. It was far from a comfortable silence. “Look, I get it. You’re scared. Well, I’m scared, too. We can be scared together,” he proposed. “And tell each other that there’s nothing to be scared about. Your father might have played around on your mother—”

      Her eyes widened as she stared at him, stunned. “I never told you that.”

      “No, you didn’t trust me enough to let me in on that,” he conceded.

      She didn’t understand. “Then how—?”

      “Zoe told me. Nice woman, your sister,” he said with approval. “I like her.”

      How could her sister have betrayed her like this? Made things known about her without asking first? “Don’t get used to her. She’s on borrowed time.”

      He laughed, shaking his head. “You’re unconventional, Isabelle, I’ll give you that. I guess it’s one of the things I love about you.”

      The all-important phrase echoed in her head. “One of the things you lo—” She blinked, stunned beyond words. “You love me?”

      “Hell, yes, I love you. What do you think we’re talking about?” he demanded.

      “I don’t know. You lost me when you said you liked my sister.”

      “I like your sister,” he repeated patiently. “But I love you.” He took in a deep breath. Waiting. Praying. “You have anything to say to me?”

      Adrenaline raced through her like a gathering lightning storm. She was utterly surprised that she was still standing. “You’re crazy.”

      He laughed, waving the words aside. “Okay, anything to say to me other than that?”

      She couldn’t stop smiling. Her face refused to relax. “Maybe I love you, too.”

      He eyed her. “Maybe?” It was going to be all right, he thought. She needed to take baby steps, and he was all right with that. As long as the steps ultimately led to him.

      She felt as if her heart was bursting. As if what she had always secretly wanted was suddenly being granted after all this time. “All right, all right, all right. Yes, I love you. Satisfied?” she cried.

      “Getting there. Now, about that vacancy that I mentioned. You know, the one for a daughter-in-law for my mother—”

      There went her heart again. “Then you are saying what I think you’re saying?”

      “I am if you think I’m proposing.” Right on cue, Isabelle’s mouth dropped opened. “I thought you deserved an unconventional proposal.” His eyes were already making love to her—asking her to give him the answer he needed to hear. “But if you don’t like that one, I can rewrite it until I find one that you do like.” Opening his jacket, he reached into his pocket for a small scratch pad and his pen.

      She put her hand on top of Brandon’s, stopping him before he got carried away. “There’s no point in rewriting it. Why don’t you just ask me?”

      Was that all it took? Just asking her? “Because I didn’t think it would be that simple. In a world of plain butterscotch pudding, you’re custard cream.”

      That had to be the strangest compliment she’d ever received. But it was definitely a compliment, and she loved it.

      Loved him.

      Isabelle couldn’t help wondering what she was letting herself in for. And part of her could hardly wait to find out.

      “Ask me,” she coaxed in a soft whisper.

      God but he loved her. Even so, he couldn’t resist teasing her. “To be my physical therapist?”

      Isabelle was beginning to catch on to the way his mind worked. She shook her head. “Ask me the other thing.”

      He stopped teasing and grew very serious. “Isabelle Sinclair, will you marry—?”

      “Yes,” she cried before he had all the words out. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

      Throwing her arms around his neck, she knew she’d just given him the right answer. It was the right thing to do. The only thing she wanted to do with all her heart. Brandon wasn’t like her father. He wasn’t going to disappoint her. Wasn’t going to break her heart as her father had broken her mother’s. She was betting her own on it, but she’d always been a safe better, and this, she

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