Once inside, he led her up to the library and, finding it empty, took her in. He closed the door behind him, leant against it and folded his arms across his chest. His gaze raked over Jenny, who was standing silently in the middle of the room. The silence was unnerving, and she wished he would get this over with so she could go home and wallow in the misery of losing him. She had no one to blame but herself. How could she have been so foolish as to have allowed a seed of doubt to be planted in her mind? Why hadn’t she waited until she had seen him, before rushing off with the mad idea to go to America?

When he did speak, his words startled her.

‘Don’t go to America, Jen.’

‘But, but …’ she stammered, trying to gather her thoughts. This was a time to be honest. ‘Without you there’s nothing here for me.’

‘Do you love me, then?’

‘Of course I do!’ She was getting rattled now, and in no mood to let him torture her like this. He only had to say they were finished, and she would walk out of here and out of his life. It would be agony, but she wouldn’t make a nuisance of herself if he no longer wanted to see her. Closing the distance between them in three steps, she looked up at his face. ‘I love you so much that Gloria’s lies tore me apart. I didn’t know what I was doing! My heart was telling me it wasn’t true, but my mind reasoned that Gloria had nothing to gain by deception.’

A single tear trickled down her cheek and she swiped it away. ‘It hurt so badly that I just had to do something. I hardly remember going to the bank and asking John for money …’ She ground to a halt. ‘Say something, damn you!’

‘I love you.’ Ignoring her startled gasp, he reached out and drew her into his arms.

The tears came in earnest as she snuggled against him. ‘How can you say that after I doubted you?’

‘Jen.’ He kissed her nose and smoothed his hand over her hair in a gentle movement. ‘I admit that at first I was dreadfully upset that you should believe those lies about me. I’m sure Gloria was very convincing, but I never told her anything about us. I didn’t make a secret of it, so all my family knew I’d taken you to the Monseigneur Grill. My parents might have mentioned it to Gloria’s family, and she found out that way. You’ve been hurt so much, and your doubt is understandable.’

‘I wish I understood.’ She sniffed and gazed up at him, hardly daring to believe this was happening. ‘But you were so angry.’

‘Not at you. I was damned if I was going to let Gloria destroy what we have.’