“I’m sorry, but I can’t. I think it’s best if we never see each other again.” She walked away, her boot heels loud on the old tile.

Shoes slapped behind her and Kit caught her arm. His eyes were panicked, a little wild, as he searched her face. “Just like that? You don’t want to ever see me again? Are we not friends?”

Was he truly this dense? She retreated a step, putting distance between them. “Kit, you shouldn’t ask it of me. It’s unfair. Can you not see? I wish for more than friendship from you and you are incapable of it, which hurts.”

He put up his hands. “Alice, I warned you. I never lied. If I led you on in any way, then I apologize—”

“Stop. I never expected you to feel something deeper for me. You’ve made your thoughts on marriage perfectly clear. But I must have it. For many reasons. And so, we arrive at an impasse. You have your companionship every night, and I need something more permanent. While I do not wish you any harm, please, do not make this more difficult for me.” A tear spilled out from behind her eyelid, and he watched it roll down her cheek.

“I care about you, I do. However, I am incapable of anything more. I’ll always be a scoundrel, a bounder.”

“Balderdash. That is an excuse. Everyone is capable of love. But some people”—she pointed at the casket—“prefer to push it away.”

His face fell, hurt flashing in his expression. “I am nothing like him.”

“For your sake, I hope you are right. Goodbye, Kit.”

She walked out of the church and this time he did not stop her.

Kit stomped into the foyer of his town house. A terrible headache lingered behind his eyes, the pain his constant companion since the night of Forrest’s death. It had receded temporarily when Alice rubbed his head after the service, but now the pounding in his skull was back.

I wish for more than friendship from you and you are incapable of it, which hurts.

He hadn’t wanted to hurt her, ever. Was that why she cried the other night in his office? At the time, he attributed it to the emotion of her first experience with a man. Now he suspected the tear may have signaled something else. Something deeper.

Everyone is capable of love, but some people prefer to push it away.

The words pricked at him. Yes, Forrest had pushed everyone away, his demons too powerful to overcome, but that was not Kit. He had countless friends and acquaintances, a party wherever he went. The only person he’d pushed away had been his father, but that conniving bastard deserved it.