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Courtney bit her lip and found there were many more tears. Tears she would shed later rather than now.
“You taught me to follow my heart, Father,” she whispered huskily. “That’s what I must do. ”
He nodded. Cleared his throat again.
“Ian called,” he announced as his head rose.
She flinched. She couldn’t help it. The pain built inside her until she was certain it would take her to her knees. He hadn’t called her. Not even once.
“Is he doing well?” Any news of him was better than nothing.
She worried about him, she admitted. Though she doubted he needed her concern. She was terrified she had added more pain, more guilt to his already haunted eyes. The thought of that was nearly as painful as losing him.
“Yeah. ” He nodded firmly. “He sounded tired though. ”
She stared back at him calmly, despite the agony resonating through her.
“You’re talking to him again then?”
“Yeah. ” He nodded again. “I was…worried about him. ” He shifted his shoulders uncomfortably.
She had worried as well. She talked to Khalid often, though he rarely had any real news of Ian.
“I’m glad he’s well. ” She fought the trembling of her lips as she smiled back at him. “Now, I really need to get dressed…”
“He asked about you. ” His eyes met hers, a question forming there.
Pain curled through her chest, making it difficult to breathe.
“I hope you told him I was well?” Her smile wobbled as she met his gaze.
“I told him he fucking broke my daughter’s heart,” he finally snapped. “What the hell was I supposed to tell him, Courtney?”
“That I am well,” she answered, her voice thickening with more tears. “He needs know nothing more, Father. I am alive. I am healthy. I am not suicidal. Nothing more should concern him. ”
He grimaced in disgust.
“You haunt this house like a ghost,” he growled. “Even Sebastian is worried. The bastard wasn’t supposed to break your heart. ”
“For pity’s sake, what do you think I’m going to do?” she yelled back at him. “Did you have Ian thinking I’m going to kill myself because I couldn’t gain his heart? What would make you believe I’m so weak?”
“I did no such thing,” he informed her fiercely. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t tell him what a sorry bastard he is. ”
“Argh. You are as insane as any man I have ever met. It is no wonder you and Ian are so close. ” She threw her hands up in surrender. “First, you do not want him to be with me, now you would chastise him for not being with me. Make up your mind, Father, before you make yourself crazy. ”
He grunted at that. “He didn’t have to hurt you. ”
“He did not hurt me. ” It was no more than the same argument they had fought for the past month. “I hurt me, Father, don’t you understand that? I was wrong to push him…” The tears came again. “Would you just stop speaking of him? Please…”
“Why, so you can forget me?”
She stared in shock as Ian stepped into the room.
Her eyes widened as heat began to fill her body, racing through her bloodstream, chasing away the chill that held her in stasis for so many weeks.
He looked horrible. His face was haggard, lined with weariness, his deep blue eyes filled with shadows.
Her head whipped around to her father, staring at him in mute shock.
