“Don’t worry about it.” She tried to pull away from him, but he held her fast.

“It’s you I worry about,” he said, as if he hated the words. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“Neither did I, but there it is.” She was near tears again. This should have been the happiest, most definitive moment of her life. Instead, she wanted to melt away. Already he regretted making love to her. “We’re both adults. You didn’t force me into doing anything I wasn’t ready for.” With renewed energy, she pulled away from him. “Let me go, Mason.”

“I can’t.” He held her fast. “Why me, Bliss?”

“I told you it was time.”

“It’s more than that.”

“Meaning what?” she demanded. “That I was waiting for you? Is that what you think?”

“I don’t know what to think.” he admitted, staring at her as if for the first time. “But you’re over twenty-five and—”

“Don’t remind me, okay?” she said jerkily. Yes, she’d been a virgin, and no, she didn’t have a husband, or children, or any reason to think she would anytime soon, and though those things bothered her, she wasn’t going to let them get her down. She was young, had a career, a life in Seattle. She didn’t need Mason’s pity.

No, only his love.

“Bliss, I didn’t mean to imply—”

“Look, you don’t have to say anything, okay?” She wrenched away from him and this time he let her go. Quickly, before she broke down altogether, she snatched up her clothes and dressed, sliding her legs into her panties and jeans, still feeling new and achingly feminine. As she buttoned her blouse, she whistled to her horse and Mason, still naked as the day he was born, grabbed hold of her hand.

“What the hell’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she lied.

“Bliss, I think we should talk.”

“Maybe we should have talked more before we . . . we—”

“Made love?”

Oh, God. Her throat tightened and she blinked against a wash of tears. She couldn’t face him, didn’t want to cry like some fragile female, some spoiled princess, for heaven’s sake! She had to get away, had to avoid saying something she would regret. “I—I have to go.”

“You’re running away,” he accused.

“Like you did?” The minute the words were out, she regretted them. She saw the tensing of each of his muscles, the dark fury in his eyes. “Forget I said that. But don’t accuse me, okay? Maybe I am running away. I don’t know. But I need time, Mason, to think all this through.”

“Ten years wasn’t enough?”