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“As if my address would’ve been so difficult to obtain.” She planted her hands on her hips, her dark eyes sparking fire at him. “You are in meetings with my father every day and you never once thought to casually ask, ‘Pardon me, sir, where is my former-girlfriend Jennifer residing currently?’”
Former girlfriend? That was a horrible phrase. But wait—she didn’t know the truth of what had happened between him and the prime minister. His anger flared to life, but not at her—at Henry.
“Jenn.” He kept his voice low and carefully restrained. “I asked, I begged, I pleaded with your father to give me your location. He wouldn’t breathe even a hint of where you’d gone. He said you couldn’t love me any longer and didn’t want me coming after you.”
She studied him, eyes narrowed as if checking for a lie.
He held her gaze evenly. “Have I ever lied to you, Jenn?”
“No,” she admitted. Her lower lip quivered. “But I don’t know you anymore.”
“What do you mean? I haven’t changed.” He touched his face and tried for a charming smile, but it felt as strained as it probably looked. “Besides some new decorations on my left side.”
“My data plan picked up the internet on occasion.” She arched an eyebrow, as if that was all she needed to say. She didn’t care about his scars, but something else he’d done had royally ticked her off.
“And …?”
“You’re a player now, Prince Malik. Oh, excuse me, I mean PrinceTristan.”
Before reconnecting with Sophie Pederson, Tristan’s youngest brother had been a known flirt and proficient womanizer, spreading his charm across all of Europe.
“You call me T,” he reminded her. How dare she call him Malik? She didn’t know how deeply Malik, or he, had suffered. “And I am no player.”
“Social media calls your bluff. Beautiful women constantly decorate your arm. I’d bet you could give Major Chad lessons on charming the ladies now.”
“Social media loves to blow things out of proportion and make a scandal where there is none.”
She held up a hand. “Save it for a gullible female who cares. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish my run in peace and quiet.”
Jennifer was never rude, and she always saw the best in him. What had happened to her? To them?
“Jenn,” he pleaded. “You know me, the real me …” He hung it out there, needing her to affirm that she did know him. That she saw him, loved him. That everything painful between them could be made right.
She stared at him, and for an instant he thought they connected, just as they’d done a few minutes ago. Then her eyes shuttered, and she shook her head. “Not anymore, I don’t. I thought we had true love, but I was wrong.” She tilted her chin up and delivered the final blow. “You aren’t the man I thought you were.”
With those devastating words, she pivoted and took off running up the trail.
Tristan was frozen. His legs were blocks of concrete melded to the forest floor as he watched the love of his life run away. He would’ve thought a platoon of Ray’s best soldiers couldn’t have separated them, but Jennifer saying she didn’t know him—that he wasn’t the man she thought—devastated him. She was the only woman besides his mum who truly knew him, truly saw him. He had always loved and adored every bit of her.
Despite his oath to never let her go again, he did nothing to stop her.
What had happened to his Jenn? Why didn’t she know or love him any longer? The sweetest angel he’d ever known, besides his own mum, had gone from focused on and seeing him to bitter, closed off, and not his Jenn at all.
He’d imagined if she ever returned they’d talk things out, she’d ask his forgiveness, he’d easily grant it, they’d hold each other until all the pain was healed, and then they’d never willingly separate again. For a brief moment, the beautiful fantasy had seemed to come true. Then reality had hit him like a pipe bomb under his bed.
He rubbed at his scars. Instead of his face, neck, and shoulder burning painfully, his heart ached. No matter how painful it had been to have her gone, he’d held out some hope of a solid reason for her absence, that their true love could stand the test of time. Not even death could conquer true love, right?
Having her back and not loving him or knowing him any longer was somehow worse than her living across the world with no contact.
The pain was so great that he clutched his chest.
Jenn. He’d survived without her for eight long months. Now she was back, and he didn’t know how he’d survive knowing she didn’t see or love him anymore.
CHAPTERTWO
Jennifer made it all the way to the waterfall before she burst into tears. Just her luck that it had to betheirwaterfall. The spot of her first kiss with T—and many, many after that.
She couldn’t blame it on luck as she’d been drawn straight here, wanting to bask in memories of Tristan. Then she’d run into him. For a brief and blessed moment, they’d teased and touched and an entire life had passed between their gazes. She’d forgotten all the pain and jealousy and the fact that he’d gotten engaged four months after she’d left.
