“Why didn’t you say anything?”

He shrugged. “Because you needed to figure out you could trust me enough to tell me the truth.”

Tears stung her eyes. “Oh, Harlan.”

“Hey,” he protested, “don’t start crying. I won’t say I wasn’t mad as a wet hen when I first figured out what was going on after Jenny spilled the beans about where Lone Wolf had once lived. Then I did a little research of my own. I discovered you had cause to come here and do what you were doing. I’m sorry you couldn’t figure out a legal way to do it.”

“But you see, then, why we can’t get married,” she said. “I just wanted you to know that it’s not because I don’t love you. It’s because you’ll never know for certain if it’s you I want or White Pines.”

“Darlin’, my ego’s in no danger of being deflated by uncertainty,” he said, waving off that argument dismissively. “You’d never marry a man you didn’t love. There’s never been a doubt in my mind about that.”

She refused to accept that. It was too easy. She deserved his hatred or, at the very least, his disdain. Yet he was still claiming he wanted to marry her.

“I have to go,” she said, leaping to her feet and heading for the door.

He stepped in front of her. “Not without saying yes to my proposal. All our cards are on the table now. There’s no reason to say no.”

“I can’t,” she insisted, guilt and confusion tumbling through her. How could she say yes, when she didn’t deserve the love of a man like Harlan?

“Mom!” Jenny wailed from the doorway.

Her gaze shot to her daughter. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to know you’ve flipped out completely. I can’t believe you’d do something like this.” With that she whirled and ran from the room.

Janet stared after her in shock, then turned back to Harlan. “I have to go after her.”

He nodded. “Go. But this isn’t over, Janet. Not by a long shot.”

Jenny refused to say a single word during the entire drive home. She huddled against the passenger door and stared out the window, her expression sullen. Janet felt as if they were right back where they’d been when they’d first arrived in Texas. All of the progress she and Jenny had made over recent weeks had disappeared in an instant back in Harlan’s study.

When they got home, Jenny headed straight for her room.

“Jennifer, get back here.”

“I’m not in the mood to talk.”