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“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.
Chapter Two
Jennifer made it all the way to the waterfall before she burst into tears. Just her luck that it had to be their waterfall. 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.
Four months! It was awful to leave the way she had, but how could he fall in love with another woman and cast aside true love so quickly? He hadn’t asked Jennifer to marry him in twelve years of dating but he could ask Macey Clifton four months after Jenn disappeared? His engagement had decimated her.
Seeing him today had been tough and incredible at the same time. Instead of throwing herself into Tristan’s defined, safe, perfect arms, she’d remained aloof and strong. Heaven’s help or purgatory’s curse? She couldn’t riddle that one out right now.
She stared at the cascading water over emerald green overgrowth, the beauty of Augustine that she’d missed deeply. Not as deeply as she’d missed Prince Tristan, her very own big, bad wolf. He was big and strong and definitely an alpha, yet there was nothing bad about the incredible crown prince.
She’d longed to throw herself into his arms, kiss him desperately, and talk for hours to make up for lost time, but she’d lied to him instead. As soon as she’d seen him running in front of her on the trail, she’d stalked him. Then she’d pretended she didn’t know who he was so she could hide how psychotically she’d reacted. All she’d wanted was a few stolen moments to stare into his blue eyes and feel the excitement and safety of Tristan’s love again.
She’d thrown dating other women in his face. She felt that pain deeply and had every time she’d stupidly Googled him and seen him with different gorgeous and accomplished women. The jealousy was like hot pokers slicing through her heart.
When he’d been engaged to the beautiful American Macey Clifton, Jennifer had gone into a deep funk, broken—shattered, truly. Only the children’s sweetness and need for help had dragged her out of bed each morning. Then the engagement had been broken and Macey had married Ray. Jennifer had been relieved yet still angry—at Tristan and at Macey. Had the woman played with his mind? Had Tristan realized Macey wasn’t his true love and Jennifer was? Through all the confusion and angst, the thought of him getting engaged at all and seeing him kiss Macey on the talk show Jessie had been too much to bear.
Her dad had truly refused to tell Tristan where she was? She understood now why he had been so cautious, but couldn’t he have given Tristan some hope? Maybe she shouldn’t put all the blame on Tristan for dating; her dad clearly shared part of the blame. The fact that Tristan could so easily move on and get engaged made her feel despondent and as if they didn’t have true love like they’d always claimed.
True love was stronger than a few months apart, which had made her wonder if their love was what she’d thought.
She’d originally left him with no good excuse the day after his sweet mum had died. All per her dad’s frantic pleas. She’d never seen her dad like that. He’d had been certain she would be kidnapped or murdered if she didn’t leave, and it would seem ‘natural’ for her to disappear to a humanitarian mission because she did it all the time. He’d wanted to send her mum with her, but that would have looked suspicious. He’d promised Jennifer could come back and be with Tristan when it was safe. She thought she’d be gone for a month like she usually was, but it had been eight.
It was far from safe now. The very people her dad had tried to protect her from had gone insane. Her dad should have sent her mum with her. Now her poor mother was in William and Naomi Rindlesbachers’ power. She’d seen that with her own eyes. It was obvious the Rindlesbachers were the ones who had been blackmailing her dad these long months of exile. Jennifer was terrified for her mum. She loved her dad, but he had a lot to answer for, and he seemed to have no answers to give. It was as if he’d hidden the truth and trusted no one, carrying the burden by himself for so long, he didn’t know how to bring the truth to light now or trust even those closest to him.
Her mind spun back to her lost love. Tristan had looked incredible. His blue eyes had captivated her like always. His body was strong, manly, and perfect. She’d seen his scars in pictures. Seeing them in person made her hurt for him, but they made him even more appealing—more the rugged hero than the regal crown prince. His face wasn’t picture perfect any longer, but he was even more handsome, commanding, and inspiring. The love of her life was also thoughtful, witty, and charming.
Despite her jealousy of him getting engaged and all the other women he’d dated since she’d left, obviously not longing for her as she had for him, she couldn’t imagine what he’d been going through not knowing where she was or why she’d left, losing his mum and then being viciously injured with the bombing.
