to terms with everything else.
I said goodbye to my friend and returned inside, asked the few people who peered at my sketches if they had any questions.
I was explaining my plans for Aphrodite when the room darkened slightly. I looked to the door, the daylight blocked by a tall, achingly familiar figure.
As if conjured up from my daydreams, he stood there, perfect in his usual suit, accessorized with a dark purple tie today. He looked like a buyer or maybe a Manhattan gallery owner, because who else would be at the colony dressed like that on open studios days. It hurt to see him, but at the same time it was a pleasurable pain. He had come to see me.
Of course, I was also suspicious.
I excused myself, strode toward him, and then past him, knowing he would follow me back outside. I rounded the corner of the studio until, under the shade of one of the maple trees, I turned and faced him.
There was that expression on his face, so similar to the way he had looked when I first met him, only, with something else there.
Julian had said Daniel missed me. Maybe he did.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to apologize.”
I softened inside at the words, just as I had at the very sight of him. But I couldn’t be soft. As much as I’d missed him too, I’d also made a decision, one that didn’t involve him. And if he was here wanting to be back in my life—
“No need,” I said, shrugging, forcing the insidious, traitorous thoughts away. “It’s not like you did anything that needs apologizing for. Unless you did know about my father’s deal—”
“No,” he protested.
I continued quickly, not wanting to analyze the relief that flooded through me. “So what then? You hired me? Oh, you slept with me? Gave me an expensive bracelet? Yeah, you’re a real villain, Hartmann.” I started to turn away. Only, he was here. And he wouldn’t be apologizing just to assuage his guilt.
“I knew we’d be photographed.”
I laughed. “Seriously, Daniel? You’re famous. I should have thought about that. You even warned me.”
His lips curved, and I lowered my lashes, desperate to deny how that smile still made me feel. I almost didn’t see him step forward. Almost lost my chance to step back.
“And I’m the one who leaked your name to the press. Or rather, asked Janine to.”
My gaze flitted back to his face in disbelief.
“Are you trying to convince me that I should be angrier with you?” I asked with a laugh, attempting to cover the confusion his admission created. Did it change anything? “If not you, then someone else would have. But … why?” If not to hurt my father, then why?
He didn’t answer right away.
Or maybe it had been to hurt my father indirectly, to show off that Daniel could have anything he wanted, including me.
“I’ve missed you,” he said again, in that way that made me melt inside my skin, not answering my question and yet saying the words that I wanted to hear. Saying almost enough. “Emily.”
“Daniel, we’re standing here right now because I had some crazy idea I could get back at you for what you had done to my family. Instead … instead I learned that everything I thought I knew was a half-truth. That my father really is a criminal.”
“I’m sorry.” He reached for me but I shrugged him off, shrugged away the sound of concern in his voice.
“That you—”
“That I was a coward?”
I stared at him. Startled.
“You were,” I whispered in agreement, trying desperately to make sense of my swirling emotions, to find steady ground. I missed him, too, but I couldn’t go back. The summer had been wonderful and horrifying and for the first time I finally knew who I really wanted to be. And it wasn’t his mistress.
“I can’t be your girlfriend, living in your house, in clothes bought by you, with your billions.”
He smiled slightly, but I was serious. He needed to understand that. I didn’t need the fabulously wealthy life. When Daniel took that away from my family all those years ago, I’d come down to the ground, grown up like every other normal American teenager with a dysfunctional home life.
“I wasn’t asking you to leave here. You’re talented, Emily. I don’t want you to live my life.”
“What were you asking, then?” I wanted to call the words back because I wasn’t certain I wanted to hear the answer.
“Emily—” He reached for me again, but I