“You might have to tell her you love her, son.” She tipped her cheek to the back of his hand. “Don’t keep denying yourself happiness just because Zachary Eldridge didn’t have the chance for a long, full life.”

When she let go of his hand, it took him a minute to process that he was free to walk away now. Her words looped in his head, making no sense because he’d never thought that way. Never consciously made that sacrifice for the sake of a friend who’d been dead for almost half of Gage’s life.

Had he?

Worry fueled his steps as he kept an eye on Elena turning in a slow circle inside the studio space he’d built for her. He feared her leaving, yes. He could admit that. And was it because he loved her?

Gage tried the idea on for size. Found it fit everything he was feeling. Explained everything that had perplexed and infuriated him about his relationship with her over the last couple of weeks.

He loved Elena Rollins. He’d been blind and unbending, but he could fix that. The one constant—the one thing that was never going to change—was how much he loved her.

Elena might not have realized what she was looking at in the room under construction in the back corner of Gage’s mammoth house. Except that the work crew had left a big inspiration board propped up in a corner of the room, with drawings of every architectural element to be incorporated in a design project called “Elena’s Studio.”

Just seeing the title had made her knees feel a little weak. But then, peering back and forth between the half-finished space and the poster, Elena could see where the ideas on the outline were coming to life in the physical setting. Releasing the handle of her suitcase, she walked across the dark hardwood floor to read the notes under the heading “Window Nook” with a series of photos pinned beside it. The board showed ideas from a built-in chaise surrounded by bookshelves to a candlelit, faux-fur-covered bench with retractable blinds on three sides for privacy. The actual window seat in progress was a bump-out of floor-to-ceiling windows.

In another corner of the room, a raised platform was taking shape and the inspiration board suggested it could have mirrors on three sides for designing clothing on mannequins or doing fittings on real-life models.

Stunned to see the space that propelled her dreams that much closer to reality, Elena was speechless when she heard the door creak open behind her. She knew who would be there: the man who’d created this haven for her by listening to all of her half-formed dreams over the years, then translated them into workable goals for a crew that he’d said was building a wine cellar for him.