He moved behind her, standing so close that she felt the heat of his body. “Aren’t you?”

She’d thought she was being so clever dangling Dean in front of him, but he’d seen through her charade, and now he’d stolen what was left of her pride, in addition to everything else. “Yeah, but so what? I fall in love easily. Thankfully, I get over it just as easily.” What a lie.

“Don’t say that.”

She finally turned to face him. “I know you so much better than you think I do. You saw how well I got along with the guys at the party, and that was when you realized I’d be enough of a business asset to compensate for not being gorgeous.”

“Stop putting yourself down. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”

She might have been able to laugh at his sheer gall if it didn’t hurt so much. “Quit lying. I’m a compromise, and we both know it.”

“I never compromise,” he retorted. “And I sure as hell didn’t compromise with you. Sometimes two people fit together, and that’s what happened to us.”

He was slick as an eel, and she couldn’t let him get to her. “It’s starting to make sense. You don’t believe in blowing deadlines. Your thirty-fifth birthday is coming up. Time to get a move on, right? At the party, you saw that I could be a business asset. You like being with me. Then tonight you found out I was born with that silver spoon you’ve been looking for. I guess that hit it out of the ballpark for you. But you forgot something, didn’t you?” She made herself meet his eyes. “What about love? What about that?”

He didn’t miss a beat. “What about it? Pay attention, because I’m going to start at the top. You’re beautiful, every part of you. I love your hair, the way it looks, the way it feels. I love touching it, smelling it. I love the way you wrinkle your nose when you laugh. It makes me laugh, too, every time. And I love watching you eat. Sometimes you can’t shovel it in fast enough, but when you get interested in a conversation, you forget there’s anything in front of you. God knows, I love making love with you. I can’t even talk about that without wanting you. I love your pathetic attachment to those seniors. I love how hard you work…” On and on he went, pacing the small square of carpet, cataloging her virtues.

He began describing their future, painting a rosy picture of their life together living in his house, the parties they’d have, the vacations they’d take. He even had the temerity to mention children, which brought her to her feet.

“Stop it! Just stop it.” She balled her hands into fists. “You’ve said everything except what I need to hear. I want you to love me, Heath, not my awful hair, or the way I get along with your clients, or the fact that I have the family you’ve always dreamed of. I want you to love me, and you don’t know how to do that, do you?”