“Maybe, and maybe he’d have shrugged off his son’s offer. You were free to say yes or no. But the daughter-in-law bit? No. The dickless asshole may not be able to keep her in line, but Wickham will.”

“It shouldn’t have gotten this far. And it should never have caused trouble between you and me. I’m sorry it did.”

“Makeup sex ought to balance it out.”

When she laughed, he reached out without thinking, stroked his fingers down her cheek in a way that stilled the laughter.

“I missed your face,” he told her.

Moved, she closed her hand around his wrist. “I missed yours.”

He rose, smooth and quick, lifting her from the stool, wrapping her against him. She expected urgency and demand, a prelude to that makeup sex. Instead, the kiss floated over her senses, dreamy and sweet. It shimmered over her heart, then into it before she understood, before she could prepare.

Even when he drew away it held there, beating like a pulse inside her.

His thumb brushed over her cheekbone. Calloused skin; a gentle stroke. “I’ll pick up some food and be back later.”

“All right. I have—”

“Guests. I know. I keep up. I’ll wait.” His eyes, green and searching, stayed on hers another moment. “We’ll wait,” he amended. “D.A. missed you, too.”

He walked out, left her weak and wondering.

Is this what she’d thought she’d felt for Jonathan? Stupid, stupid to have mistaken contentment, habit, what had proven to be a foolish affection and loyalty for this overwhelming, undermining, dazzling emotion.

She had to sit, wait to get her breath back, wait for her knees to stop trembling. She hadn’t understood, had never understood love caused such a staggering physical reaction. She felt feverish, unsteady, and, she had to admit as she closed her eyes, frightened.

She had a plan. Falling in love hadn’t been part of it.

“Adjust,” she ordered herself, and laid her cheek on the cool granite. “Adjust.”

Some people never felt what she felt now. Right at the moment she didn’t know whether to envy or pity them. But realities had to be faced. She was in love with Ryder Montgomery.

She just had to figure out what the hell to do about it.

“Is this what you felt?” Hope stayed where she was, breathing in honeysuckle, struggling to find her balance. “No wonder you’ve waited. What else could you do? He loved you, too. You knew. You didn’t wonder or worry or doubt. If you’d wait, if you could, so could he. I’ll find him.”

Billy.

Hope heard the joy in the name, the life in it.

Ryder.