“I beg your pardon,” the man said.

Elise’s cheeks burned as the couple disappeared back the way they came.

“Sorry about that,” Harry murmured under his breath and picked up her hand.

She clasped his for something solid to hold on to.

He stared at their joined hands for two beats before he lifted his head. “Now you know. It almost killed me not to act on my feelings when we were partners. Then you were injured, and they shipped me off to Lebatu immediately after.”

“Harry.” She leaned against his shoulder, her head swimming in a phosphorescent fog. “I thought it was over between us, that you were just a tease, that you didn’t care. I convinced myself it was true.”

“Didn’t care?” He groaned. “Darling, you positively slew me when you cut me out of your life.”

“You got married soon after,” Elise said darkly.

“That’s because Vanessa needed me when you so obviously did not.” He dropped her hand and rose to his feet.

The trickle of the fountain and the distant music were the only sounds between them.

Harry paced back and forth in front of her, his hands under his tails and a furrow between his brows. She smiled at the picture he made.

He stopped short and faced her. “Do you like my son?” he asked abruptly.

Sammy? Her mind scrambled at the unexpected question. “Aye. He’s a charming lad. A bit of a handful perhaps, but quite charming.”

“His mother couldn’t handle him. She left him on my parents’ doorstep.”

“I’m sorry, Harry.” Elise tugged him back down on the chair beside her. What a thoroughly rotten time he must have had stationed far from home and unable to help his son.

“Did you love her?” Elise asked softly, almost afraid of the answer.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Vanessa needed constant attention. After dating you, her demands were a definite ego boost. I convinced myself it was love.”

Her heart jolted. She had wounded him? Even though she had broken things off with Harry, his quick marriage after their split had crushed her, proving, at least to her, that his emotions had not been as deeply rooted. “Everyone thought you were deliriously happy.”

“For a while it worked. But I wasn’t completely astounded when Vanessa left while I was on tour.” Color filled his face. “It wasn’t the first time she had wandered.”

The fountain’s trickle grew in volume as Elise absorbed the information.

“Vanessa’s leaving made me reassess my life—my relationships, past and present.” Harry played with a curl on her shoulder.

She lifted her eyes to his in the shadowy light, hardly daring to breathe.