He glanced up and saw her blue eyes shining with understanding and, maybe, something else. She reached across the swing bench and took his hand, lacing her fingers with his. The simple contact of her palm against his made his heart pound like he was racing on horseback at breakneck speed.

“You’re making perfect sense to me,” she said, her voice tinged with sadness.

He gazed into her eyes, determined to show her everything inside him—his flaws and fears, his scars and his love. “I know you have your future planned out, and I respect that. But I also need to explain what you’ve meant to me. What you’ll always mean to me. I love you, Sophie. You stole a piece of my heart on the day you first walked into the tailor’s shop, and you’ve owned it ever since.”

“Oh, Reese,” she breathed.

“I should have told you before. I wanted to, but I was afraid of dragging you down and dimming your happiness. Now I know you’re too strong for that.”

She shook her head. “I don’t feel very strong right now. But I do know that your love could never bring me down. It couldn’t bring me anything but joy.”

“Then marry me.” He lifted her hand and pressed a long, tender kiss to the back. “Let me spend the rest of my life taking care of you. Let me wake up beside you every morning and lie down beside you every night. Just … let me love you.”

Sophie felt as though she were drifting through a lovely dream. She and Reese were rocking on a swing in the middle of an exquisite, exotic garden, and he was holding her hand.

Telling her he loved her.

Asking her to marry him.

It was a fantasy turned real. A dream come to life. Perfect in every way but one.

Because the man she loved had given her the proposal she’d longed for—and she couldn’t accept it.

“Reese,” she said softly, even as her own heart was breaking. “If I could wish for one thing in this entire world, I would wish that I was free to say yes.”

He blinked slowly, then looked at her, his eyes imploring. “You are free. Say yes to me. Say yes to us.”

“I cannot,” she said, her voice cracking with regret. “I’ve already accepted Lord Singleton’s proposal. Our engagement ball is next weekend.”

“But … but you don’t love him,” Reese said. “You could break it off. People might gossip for a while, but they’d move on to a new scandal before long.”

She shook her head sadly. “If the only obstacle to marrying you was a little gossip, I’d wed you tomorrow.”