She shook her head. ‘‘I do much better with a group of five hundred than one-on-one. At least in situations like that. I’ve never met a man’s parents before.’’
‘‘All the princes you know are orphans?’’
She glared at him. ‘‘That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I’ve never met the parents of the man I was, well, involved with.’’
Despite all that they were going to have to talk about, he couldn’t help teasing her. ‘‘You mean your lover’s parents.’’
‘‘Yes. Thank you for making that so clear. My lover’s parents.’’
He leaned back in the chair. ‘‘You’ll do fine. You’re pretty, intelligent, you have a great job. What’s not to like?’’
She smiled. ‘‘When you put it like that, I sound like a prize.’’
‘‘Youarea prize, Alex.’’ His momentary humor faded. ‘‘They’ll get here in the next couple of days. They wouldn’t tell me exactly when. They hadn’t booked their flights when they called, and they don’t want us to bother taking time off to pick them up. My parents are like that.’’
‘‘How lovely.’’ She closed her eyes briefly. ‘‘I’m taking up two guest rooms. Is that going to be a problem? Is there enough room?’’
‘‘Plenty.’’
She nodded. ‘‘How long will they stay?’’
‘‘I don’t know. A few days. They haven’t been back in nearly a year, but they won’t want to be away from their bed-and-breakfast for long.’’
He crossed one ankle over the opposite knee and tried to relax. But the knot in his gut wasn’t going anywhere and all he could think about was how empty his life would be when she was gone.
‘‘We have to talk,’’ he said.
She looked at him. ‘‘I know.’’ She tried a smile, but it failed pretty miserably. ‘‘Things have gotten out of hand, haven’t they? At least they have for me. I didn’t mean to presume—’’ she bit her lower lip ‘‘—that is to say…’’
‘‘I know what you’re getting at,’’ he told her, then tried a fake smile of his own. ‘‘I didn’t know you’d start to matter so much. We’ve created an impossible situation.’’
She shifted in her chair. ‘‘More than impossible. Potentially disastrous.’’
‘‘What?’’
She looked startled, as if she hadn’t meant to speak aloud. ‘‘There are ramifications that neither of us considered.’’
What was she going on about? ‘‘The press?’’ he asked.
‘‘That, too.’’
‘‘Alex, you’re not making any sense.’’
‘‘I know. I don’t think I want to.’’ She stood up and crossed to stand next to him. ‘‘Mitch, I don’t want to talk about this right now. I’m confused and frightened and all I want is for you to hold me. Let’s worry about the rest of it tomorrow.’’
He wasn’t sure he wanted things put off. He’d worked himself up to having this conversation with her and he wanted it done. He wanted to put his cards on the table and tell her that he loved her. But he couldn’t resist her invitation.
He rose to his feet and pulled her close. ‘‘But tomorrow we talk,’’ he said.
‘‘Yes. I need to go into town in the morning, then we’ll talk after that.’’
‘‘What’s in town?’’ he asked, his voice teasing. ‘‘You want to check out the other cowboys to see if you can do better?’’
Instead of answering with a laugh or a comment of her own, she wrapped her arms around him and hung on as if she never wanted to let go. ‘‘You don’t know how much I need you,’’ she whispered.
He felt an answering tug in his own heart, and the whisper of the pain to come. ‘‘Actually, I do.’’
* * *
