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He had no right to her.
The jacket fell from his hand. There was no way around the truth. He’d betrayed Bill, made a promise he hadn’t kept. Now he had to go back, face Bill as Jessie was going to do, admit his guilt and ask his forgiveness before fading out of the picture. Anything else—like loving Jessie—he’d relegate to the past.
Liam lifted his head. He could hear the faint sound of an airplane engine in the distance. He went to the door, opened it, looked up into a clear, rain-washed night sky. The small plane that ferried guests to and from the island, that had taken Jessie from him, forever, was coming in for a landing. He could tell the pilot to gas it up, turn it around.
Not yet.
Tomorrow was soon enough to fly west. Once he did, it would all be over. Could it really be only a couple of days since he’d first seen Jessie, days that had changed his life, forever?
Liam sank down on the bed again, lay back and put his arm over his eyes. Jessie, he thought, Jessie, my love.
Early the next morning, he was on a flight headed for Seattle.
* * *
IN MOST PARTS OF THE COUNTRY spring meant flowers, sunshine and birdsong. In Seattle, tucked be
tween the rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula and the towering Cascade Mountains, spring meant rain.
Jessie had never minded that. She’d heard some people say the gray skies were depressing, but she loved the misty feel of the air, and those moments when the clouds parted and Mount Rainier was visible on the horizon always made her spirits lift.
Nothing could make that happen, not this spring.
Except for a stop at her bank, where she’d picked up a new ATM card and used it to take some money from her account, and then an hour spent buying a few things to wear, she’d been huddled in her hotel room ever since she’d arrived in the city. She’d intended to face William immediately but once she stepped into the hotel, she’d realized she had to get herself in hand first. She felt as if her life had stopped when the plane carrying her away from Liam lifted into the air. She’d watched their villa recede and then the hotel until, finally, the island had been only a small dot in the vast ocean.
“Liam,” she’d whispered, and she’d wept for what could never be, the lifetime of love they might have shared. If only they’d met some other time, some other place.
Jessie sighed.
Perhaps not.
What she’d shared with Liam couldn’t possibly last. She’d always known that. Such fire, such heat, would only burn out over time. For all she knew, it had already turned to cold ashes, otherwise why wouldn’t Liam have come after her?
No. No, she didn’t want him to do that. She wanted to set things right. If William was willing to take her back, she’d—she’d…
She’d never let it happen.
Yes, she’d beg his forgiveness, tell him he was a wonderful man and that he deserved to find a woman who’d make him happy, but she wasn’t that woman. She loved Liam. She always would, for the rest of her life, even though she’d never see him again.
A sob caught in her throat.
“God,” Jessie whispered, “help me, please.”
She reached for the phone, punched in the number for the big house on the lake before she had too much time to think about what she was doing. Her heart was thumping; her hand was so wet her fingers slipped on the plastic handpiece. Who would answer? The maid? The cook? Or William, himself. What would she say to him? What—
“Thornton residence.”
Jessie blinked. “Carrie?”
“Jessica?”
“Yes. It’s…did I dial the wrong number? I’m sorry. I’ve been so—so upset that—”
“You’ve been upset?” Carrie gave a cold laugh. “I hardly think so. William’s the one who’s upset.”
Jessie closed her eyes. “I know.”
“You don’t know. How could you, when you and that man have been—have been…”
