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Ava glanced at him and almost laughed at his comical expression. “I do.”
He blinked as if he had never seen her before, and she knew it would be all over town by sundown that the Kane princess had a tattoo.
Her father slashed his hands in the air. “None of that matters. You said you were leaving. To go to him that you loved him. You were only twenty-two, Ava. You understood nothing of love, of the real life out there. How would he have provided for you? He was only a few months older than you and a college dropout. What could he have offered my daughter?”
“He loved me, Dad.”
Her father grimaced. “You had never defied me before, but you did that day. You left and I can only assume that, in your haste to get to him, you ran off the road. We will never know how you crashed until you regain your memory. Your mother and I were very relieved when you woke and remembered nothing about him. We thought it was best to not mention him.”
Ava rose to her feet and looked down on him, anger pouring over her in waves. “In whose best interest was it, Dad? You should have treated me like an adult. You should have allowed me to make my own decisions. Has it never occurred to you Devlin might ever return to Benton? He did. And the first time I saw him, it was as if something inside of me came alive! I thought I was mad to be having those images of him and me together. And when I asked you . . . You lied to me again.”
He surged to his feet and she tilted her neck to meet his stare.
“I do not regret keeping the truth from you, young lady. And I am damned glad you did not remember the man who only wanted to take you from a life of comfort to subpar living.”
She stumbled back from him.
“Donald!” her mother said sharply, before turning a gaze filled with compassion toward Ava. “Your father did not mean that. There are no circumstances that exist where we would rejoice in your loss of memory, sweetheart.”
Ava shook her head, her heart aching. “I spent the night at his ranch. He is amazing. He makes me happy, I may not remember it fully but it is there, bubbling inside of me to come out. When I went to his ranch I felt at home, Mom. At home. I couldn’t remember him, but I was at peace.”
She glanced at Patrick. His face was schooled into an expressionless mask, but she could see the anger in his eyes. “Forgive me, Patrick.”
Her mother nodded to her father, and with a heavy sigh and obvious reluctance, Dad spoke. “We were going to make some brunch. You mother and I will continue on into the kitchen to give you and Patrick some privacy. I am sure he has questions.”
Her father gave her a stern glare. “I expect you to be smart with your answers, young lady.”
Be smart. She heard what he didn’t say. He expected her to beg Patrick for forgiveness and move forward with him.
Her parents went into the kitchen. Patrick wasted no time. He rounded on her, his blue eyes darkening with some emotions she was unable to identify. “Did you sleep with him?”
Ava glared at him. Was he not concerned with anything else? Her heart softened. While they barely had any connection between them, they had still dated casually for months. “I . . . Yes.”
He stared at her for endless seconds, the anger slowly dimming. He lowered himself into the sofa beside her. “I think that was to be expected. You were confused and hurt, and then you had memories of being his lover. We will move past it.”
Ava doubted she heard him correctly. They would move past it? He seemed so unaffected at the thought of her in another man’s arms. How could he think they had anything of meaning between them?
“Are you even a little upset that I spent the night with Devlin?”
Patrick gave her an affronted look. “Of course not. He is nobody.”
She was stupefied. So, if she had slept with someone of stature, he would have been angry? She knew that Patrick had always walked around with airs and a sense of entitlement, but he had still managed to shock her. She leaned in closer toward him, so she could peer into his eyes. She wanted nothing of his expression hidden. “Do you love me, Patrick?”
He threw her a startled look, then clasped her hands between his. “I feel affection for you, Ava. You are beautiful, kind, and sweet. My father thinks it is a good idea for you to join our family. I think so, too. In time, I am sure we will feel more for each other.”
“I see.” She pulled her hands from his, her mind churning. This was the man her parents approved of. And yet…acting on impulse, she pressed her lips to his. At first, his lips parted in surprise, but quickly he responded, kissing her back with enthusiasm.
Ava felt nothing.
When he slid his tongue in her mouth, she drew back. There was no fire, no desire, only a sense that she may have just betrayed Devlin. She gritted her teeth. “I don’t think we should date anymore, Patrick. I’m not even sure if we were dating before. We have only been out a handful of times, and this was our third kiss in six months. I know you don’t desire me, not the way it matters, and I don’t desire you. It would be a mistake to keep searching for something that isn’t there,” she said gently, still not wanting to hurt him.
He lurched to his feet, raking fingers through his well-groomed hair, tousling the strands. “Does this have to do with Calhoun?”
“No it has to do with me.”
He gave her a look of patent disbelief. “You do know my father is the mayor . . . and Calhoun is a—”
“If you are going to disparage Devlin, I don’t want to hear it.”
