Her grandfather slumped against the back of his chair. “You’re sure?”

“Positive,” Zach said, loudly enough to convince Mrs. McCormick who was working in the kitchen.

“I love you, Gramps,” said Janine, “and I’d do almost anything you wanted, but I can’t and won’t marry Zach. We know you have our best interests at heart, but neither of us is romantically interested in the other.”

Burt Coleman, who stood by the library doors, looked as if he’d rather be anyplace else. His discomfort at witnessing this family scene was obvious. “I think it’d be best if I came back another time,” he murmured as he turned to leave.

“No,” Anton said, gesturing his friend back. “Come in. You’ve met Zachary Thomas, haven’t you?”

The two men nodded at each other, but Janine noticed how rigidly Zach held himself. This meeting with Gramps hadn’t gone the way she’d planned. She’d wanted everything to be calm and rational, a discussion uncluttered by messy emotions. Instead they’d ended up practically attacking each other, and worse, Janine had been the one to throw the first punch.

Without asking, she walked over to the sideboard and poured Gramps and his friend a cup of coffee. Burt sat across from her grandfather, clearly ill at ease.

“I should be going,” Zach said starkly. “Good to see you again, Dr. Coleman.”

“You, too,” Gramps’s friend said, glancing briefly at Zach. His puzzled gaze quickly returned to Anton.

“I’ll walk you to the front door,” Janine offered, eager to make her own escape. She closed the library door behind her.

Both she and Zach paused in the entryway. Janine tried to smile, but Zach was studying her intently, and her heart clenched like a fist inside her chest. They’d done what they had to do; she should be experiencing relief that the confrontation she’d dreaded for days was finally over. Instead she felt a strange sadness, one she couldn’t fully understand or explain.

“Do you think we convinced him?”

“I don’t know,” Zach answered, keeping his tone low. “Your grandfather’s a difficult man to read. Maybe he’ll never bring up the subject of our marrying again and we’re home free. I’d like to believe that’s the case. It’s just as likely, though, that he’ll give us a few days’ peace while he regroups. I don’t expect him to back off quite so easily.”

“No, I don’t suppose he will.”

Zach looked at his watch. “I should be going,” he said again.

Janine was reluctant to see him leave, but there was no reason to detain him. Her hand was on the doorknob when she suddenly hesitated and turned around. “I didn’t mean what I said in there,” she blurted in a frenzy of regret.

“You mean you do want us to get married?”

“No,” she cried, aghast. “I’m talking about when I said you were stubborn and rude. That isn’t really true, but I had to come up with some reason for finding you objectionable. I don’t really believe it, though.”