Dropping the newspaper, Tobias got up and claimed her drink for her. But even as he approached, she didn’t seem to see or hear him.

“Hey, you okay?” He gave her arm a slight nudge as he held out her coffee.

Startled, she glanced up and, as her eyes finally focused, he noticed the shimmer of unshed tears—which she immediately blinked away. “You,” she said, recognizing him.

She took her drink, and he slipped his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt. “Yes, me. But don’t worry, I’m not following you. When I heard the barista call your name, I looked up and there you were.”

She didn’t so much as smile. “Thanks.”

“Are you okay? Because I think you could use a minute to sit down and relax, and I just happen to have a table.” He motioned to where he’d left the paper.

She seemed as lost or bewildered as she’d been last night. “Do you know my sister or my brother-in-law?”

“I’ve only been in town for five months, so I doubt it. What are their names?”

“Karoline and Terrance Mathewson. He’s a podiatrist. She’s a housewife who gets involved in about every good cause that comes along—even helped out with the tree-lighting ceremony downtown a week ago. They have two twelve-year-old daughters, identical twins—Amanda and Miranda.”

“They sound like stellar citizens, so I’m sorry to say no, I’ve never heard of them.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You have no frame of reference where I’m concerned. I’m a total stranger to you.”

“Last night the waitress told me you were Axel Devlin’s wife. I guess that’s a frame of reference.”

Glancing away from him in the crowded coffee shop, she took a sip of her drink. “Is that why you bought me the rose? Because you thought I was married to someone famous and that makes me more desirable?”

She wasn’t wearing makeup. She had on a pair of yoga pants and a parka with ear warmers and looked as though she’d just rolled out of bed. But he couldn’t see how fancier clothes or makeup could make her any more appealing. He loved her golden, dewy-looking skin and the cornflower blue of her eyes. He could all too easily identify with the pain he saw in them.

Actually, that was what drew him more than anything else.

“Your connection to Axel had no bearing on it whatsoever,” he said. “I just thought you were beautiful, and it seemed as though you could use the encouragement.”

Tucking the fine strands of blond hair falling from her ponytail behind her ears, she stepped back. “I’m sorry. I’m—I’m not open to a relationship.”

The compliment had spooked her, as he’d known it might. But he was only being honest. “That’s good.”

She seemed taken aback. “It is?”