“Isn’t it? Then why all the secrecy? Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” she demanded, walking closer to him, stopping only when the toes of her sandals brushed the tips of his boots.

His jaw slid to the side and he stared at her with an intensity that stole the breath from her lungs. “Why?” he countered. “You want the truth?”

“Absolutely.”

His mouth tightened at the corners and his eyes took on the color of midnight “Because, lady, from the moment I set my eyes on you again, I knew that I was lost.”

“‘Lost’?” What was he saying? The room was suddenly hot. Way too hot.

“That’s right, Tiffany.” He pushed his head forward, bending so that his nose was a hair’s breadth from hers, so close that his clean male scent enveloped her. “The second you climbed out of your car the first day I was here, it was all over for me.”

“I—I don’t understand.”

“I’m trying to tell you that I fell in love with you, dammit.”

“In love with me?” Could she believe it? No way. Her insipid heart took flight.

“That’s right.”

For a heartbeat there was silence. Hot, condemning silence. She swallowed hard. Love? J.D. loved her?

“I don’t know what to say.”

He straightened and a look of weary defeat gathered in his eyes. “You don’t have to say anything, Tiff.” Shaking his head he started past her, but she reached out and grabbed the crook of his elbow.

“Wait.”

Beneath her fingers, his muscles tensed. He looked at her over one muscular shoulder with eyes that reflected a pain that tore at his very soul. “For what?”

“Me,” she whispered, swallowing the lump forming in her throat. “Wait for me.”

He closed his eyes.

“I love you, too, Jay.” Tears spilled over at the admission. “I . . . I have for a long, long time.”

For a second he didn’t move and then his eyes flew open, he grabbed her and kissed her hard on the lips. Her arms wound around his neck and his circled her waist. They clung to each other as if they’d been separated for years, star-crossed lovers who had at last rediscovered each other.

When finally his head lifted from hers, he cracked a smile. “So?”

“So marry me, Santini,” she said with a low chuckle. “Make an honest woman of me.”

“I don’t know if that’s possible.”

Tossing her head back, she giggled. “Try me.”

“All right. You’re on. We’ll drive to Portland tomorrow, find a justice of the peace and be married in the afternoon.”

“No way. I did the quickie marriage before. This time we’re going all out. My son’s going to give me away. My daughter’s going to be the flower girl and my sisters . . .” She surprised herself. “My sisters will be there.”

“What about your father?”