Because he needed time to rein in his temper, Harlan stood and searched for his pants. When he’d yanked them on, he returned to sit opposite her on the edge of the bed.

“Can we discuss this?”

“I don’t see why you’d want to,” she said dully.

“Because this is too important for you to leap to a snap decision that could affect the rest of both of our lives, to say nothing of Jenny’s,” he explained, fighting to keep his tone even. “You know I care for her as if she were one of my own. You also know I’ve been a good influence on her.”

She shot him a stubborn scowl. “I’m not going to get married again because Jenny needs a father.”

“Then how about because you need a husband who loves you, almost as much as I need a wife who’ll make me feel alive the way you did in this bed last night, the way you have every day since we met? Can you deny you felt the same way?”

“No, of course not. I would never lie to you about something that important,” she told him. “But I came here to find myself. You’re such a strong man. From all I’ve heard, your first wife doted on you. You were her first and only priority. I’m afraid I’d turn out to be just like her, that I’d lose myself in being Mrs. Harlan Adams, rather than Janet Runningbear, a Comanche lawyer in search of her roots.”

“It’s the last that’s important, isn’t it?” he said, experiencing the bitter taste of defeat in his mouth. “It’s this thing you have about your great-grandfather.”

Her gaze narrowed. “What if it is?”

“Why don’t you tell me what really brought you to Texas?” he commanded.

Her gaze faltered. “I’ve told you a hundred different ways,” she said. “You haven’t been listening.”

“You want to know what I hear? I hear you denying yourself a future you want because of some crazy notion that won’t ever pan out the way you want it to.”

She frowned at that. “Don’t be so certain of that, Harlan. There’s very little I can’t accomplish if I set my mind to it. I won’t let you or my feelings for you stand in my way. I can’t allow that to happen. I will never be like Mary, so you might as well accept that and move on.”

It was quite likely the only argument she might have made that he didn’t have a ready answer for. Words were too easy for a fear like that, especially when he couldn’t deny that Mary had given up a part of herself the day she became his wife.