Zach chuckled, looking extraordinarily pleased with himself.

An unexpected thought entered Janine’s mind, filling her with curiosity. She was astonished that she’d never asked Zach about other women in his life. It would be naive to assume there hadn’t been any. She’d had her relationship with Brian; surely there were women in Zach’s past.

She waited until later that night when they were sipping wine and listening to classical music in front of the fireplace. Zach seemed relaxed, sitting with one knee raised and the other leg stretched out. Janine lay on her stomach, staring into the fire.

“Have you ever been in love?” She was trying for a casual tone.

Zach didn’t answer her right away. “Would you be jealous if I said I had?”

“No.” She sounded more confident than she felt.

“I didn’t think so. What about you?”

She took her time answering, too. She’d thought she was in love with Brian. It wasn’t until later, after the pain of Brian’s rejection had eased, that she realized she’d been in love with the idea of being in love.

“No,” she said, completely honest in her response. What she felt for Zach, whom she was only beginning to know, was already a thousand times stronger than what she’d ever felt for any other man. She didn’t know how to explain it, so she avoided the issue by reminding him, “I asked you first.”

“I’m a married man. Naturally I’m in love.”

“You’re fond of me, remember?”

“I thought you detested that word.”

“I do. Now stop tiptoeing around the subject. Have you ever really been in love—I mean head over heels in love? You don’t need to go into any details—a simple yes or no will suffice.”

“A desperate-passion kind of love?”

“Yes,” she told him impatiently. “Don’t make fun of me and please don’t give me a list of all the women you’ve been fond of.”

He grew so quiet and so intense that her smile began to fade. She pulled herself into a sitting position and looped her arms around her bent knees.

Zach stared at her. As she watched the harsh pain move into his eyes, Janine felt her chest tighten.

“Yes,” he answered in a hoarse whisper. “I’ve been in love.”

CHAPTER NINE

“Her name was Marie.”

“Marie,” Janine repeated the name as though she’d never heard it before.

“We met in Europe when I was on assignment with the armed forces. She spoke five languages fluently and helped me learn my way around two of them in the time we worked together.”

“She was in the military with you?”

“I was army, she worked for the secret service. We were thrown together for a top-secret project that was only supposed to last a few days and instead dragged on for weeks.”

“This was when you fell in love with her?” The ache inside her chest wouldn’t go away. Her heart felt weighed down with the pain.

“We both were aware that the assignment was a dangerous one, and our working closely together was essential.” He paused, sighing deeply. “To make a long story short, I fell in love with her. But she didn’t love me.”