Page 115 of First Bride to Fall
“Oh yeah? When?”
Her chin trembled, but she held her ground. “On your birthday.”
“Oh wow,” he said sourly. “That’s rich.” He clapped his hands together. “Happy birthday to me.”
She stood up straighter. “You have a lot of nerve being angry with me. Especially after pulling your ogre thing.”
“Ogre thing?” he said, trying not to sound like one, but failing, he guessed. He wasn’t the only bad guy here. She’d been playing her share in this. “You’re the one who started this, Nell. Not me. If this was all about that bet, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I think you know why.” Her eyes flashed angrily. “Because you—”
“Would have walked. Right.” He set his chin. “What rational man wouldn’t have?”
She balled her hands into fists and glared at him. “If you knew all along about the bet and Aidan, then you’ve been acting impossible on purpose—just to torture me.”
“Oh sure,” he said sarcastically. “Pin this on me.”
Ice crystals formed in her gaze. “When wereyougoing to talk, Grant? Why not confront me directly? Instead you did what? Designed a payback plan?”
He huffed. “You told everyone we were engaged, Nell.Engaged.”
“No, I didn’t!” She shut her eyes and groaned. “It was my texts. They got it all wrong.”
Texts? What texts? He shook his head. That didn’t matter. “Don’t go blaming this on your sisters. They didn’t think they were betraying you. They assumed I already knew. That you’dtold me, like you should have. And anyway. Now, it’s all over town.” He scowled. “The McIntyres want to be added to the list.”
“What list?” she asked weakly.
“For our wedding invitations.”
She gaped at him. “Why didn’t you correct them? The McIntyres? And my sisters?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “My family has a reputation in Majestic, and not necessarily a great one. The last thing I need to do is feed into that by dumping one of the town’s sweethearts. That’s why I had to get you to walk away from this. Not me.”
“I didn’t know.” Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she was not going to gain his sympathy. Not when she’d blown his life—and heart—to smithereens.
He exhaled sharply. “For crying out loud, Nell. Trying to catch a husband in thirty days? Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? Any clue at all? Like easy game in hunting season!” He took one step closer and dove into her eyes. “I have news for you, Nell Delaney. Grant Williams can’t be caught.”
Her breathing went ragged, and so did his.
Emotion flickered in her eyes. Heat. Attraction. Devastation, too. Awareness of their impending goodbye. His heart beat furiously as she spilled her truth.
Her breath shuddered. “I didn’t target you, Grant. Not like that. It was never like that. You weren’t any kind of ‘game,’ and I wasn’t trying tocatchyou.”
“No? Then what?”
A few tears escaped her, and she wiped them back. “I wanted you to want me.” Her eyes saidlove me.“For who I am.”
An arrow shot straight through him, cleaving his soul in two because he believed her when she said it, with his whole heart. The crushing thing was, hehadwanted her. He’d fallen so hard before fully understanding what she was doing. Playing him, using him, and that cut so deep. There’d be no coming back from that ever. No matter how badly he wished things were another way. Like when they were laughing together, or watching rainbows, or trading silly jokes or puns—or kissing like their two souls were fused as one. He’d never found a woman who suited him so well. Or so he’d believed.
Heat surged in his eyes. All that wasted potential. The relationship that might have been but that could never be anymore. Not after this.
“You might not believe it,” she said, “but I am sorry, Grant. For everything.”
Understanding coursed through him. Melancholy, too, because he knew that she meant it. But it was too late. He placed his hands on her cheeks and rasped softly, “I’m sorry, too.”
Her voiced quivered. “I thought I could win this war. Could stand up for myself and what I want. But I can see now it’s a losing battle.” She smiled through her tears. “So yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m the one who started this. So. I need to end it.” She released a shaky breath. “We’re done.”
They were two of a kind in the saddest sort of way. Headstrong to a fault. And now that fault had become a chasm—an insurmountable divide that neither one could get over.
