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“Shh. I understand now why you had to be so wretched.”
“You do?”
“You had to get rid of me before you could bring Noah here.”
He tipped her chin up so he could see her face. “But you know I used you to get to him.”
“Your original plan was probably to have him catch us like this.”
He glanced down the length of their entwined bodies. “Yeah.”
“But that changed when you fell in love with me. You couldn’t bring yourself to subject me to an ugly scene like that. So you hurt me in order to protect me. You made certain I would leave.”
He stroked her cheek. “You’re so smart you amaze me.”
“So I’m right?”
“As rain. Especially about me falling in love with you.”
“You did?”
“I am. Present tense.” He lifted her face toward his and kissed her in a way that left no room for doubt.
“There is one thing I can’t figure out,” she said when the kiss finally ended. “I know we promised not to talk about this tonight, but I’d like to have one point clarified.”
They had agreed that they wouldn’t rehash everything tonight. They faced months, possibly years, of legal entanglements before Parker was exonerated and Noah was tried and punished for his crimes. She had a publishing house to run, and he had books to write. They didn’t yet know how they were going to divide their time between New York and St. Anne Island. She would grieve her father’s death for a long while yet, and Parker was deliberating whether or not to reveal Mackensie Roone to his legion of fans. They had much to work out but were committed to making it work.
However, they had agreed that tomorrow didn’t start until sunrise and that they deserved tonight to strictly enjoy one another.
“I don’t want to invite Noah into bed with us,” he said.
“I understand. And agree. But this isn’t really about him.”
“Okay. One point and then I want to do some more of what we were doing.”
“I promise,” she said, smiling. “Mike discovered that The Vanquished was actually your book with Noah’s title on it.”
“Right.”
“And he tried to contact you for an explanation.”
“It took him almost a year to track me down. By then the paperback edition had already come out.”
“Why didn’t Mike expose Noah then?”
“Because I threatened his life if he did.”
“Why?”
“I was in piss-poor condition, Maris. An ex-con who looked like a beggar and was living like one. I was wheelchair-bound. Only after years of physical therapy am I able to walk at all. If you can even call that walking. When Mike found me, I was weak, wasted. Addicted to pills.” He shook his head stubbornly. “I refused to confront Noah in such a reduced state when he was the book world’s crowned prince.”
“Enjoying the success that rightfully belonged to you.”
“I chose to wait until I was strong and confident.”
“And successful.”
“That, too. I wanted to challenge him as an equal, when I had the credentials to back up my claim that he’d stolen my book. I knew it might take years, but I was willing to wait.”
