are. I’m taking advantage of you. That is what I hate. I hate that when your memory returns, you’ll regret what you did last night, the things that you said. That’s what I’m trying to protect you from. That’s why I was angry.”
What he was saying made sense, and yet it didn’t. But… “You don’t think less of me for… the things I said. What I did?” Staring into his eyes, Tabetha’s heart cracked.
“I could never hate you.”
She gulped, helpless at holding back her tears any longer. Only, by now, they were tears of relief. Because she had felt only half-alive all morning, and she couldn’t imagine life without him.
He pulled her close but Tabetha dipped her chin, hesitating rather than raise her mouth for a kiss. One arm around her, Rock tipped her head back, allowing her no choice but to look at him.
“I made you cry.” He brushed away a tear with his thumb. And then he trailed it down to her lips. “Forgive me?”
She barely nodded, fearful that forgiveness wouldn’t be enough.
“I don’t know what to do,” Tabetha admitted. “Yesterday, I didn’t even question my instincts, but today... I’m more confused than ever.”
If anyone was a fool, it was him. Strike that, make it a fool and an ass.
Stone was wrong in wanting the two of them to go on like this, but that didn’t stop him from wanting it. And whatever this was between the two of them seemed more impossible with each passing day.
And God help him, he couldn’t drag his eyes away from her. She’d never looked more beautiful. But she was more than classical features and kissable lips. She was more than voluptuous temptation. More than soft sensuality.
She was sensitive and proud and brave. How had he not noticed the depths of courage in her eyes?
“Never doubt yourself with me.” I made her cry!
She blinked. “Do you love me?”
Love?
Oh, hell.
She’d mentioned loving him more than once already. He ought to have been prepared for this question. And of course, she must have assumed that he did. He’d done nothing to contradict it.
If he didn’t admit to loving her now, he would lose her trust. And if she didn’t trust him, it would be impossible to protect her.
But she needed his answer now.
“Yes.”
She studied his expression, her gaze flicking back and forth between his eyes. “Really?”
Stone lifted her hand to his heart. “I do.” The assertion didn’t feel nearly as forced as he’d expected it to.
He leaned forward to seal his declaration with a kiss but stopped when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
A vehicle approached.
Of course, it couldn’t have come along before he’d thrown caution to the wind and declared that he loved her.
He frowned. Something familiar in the rattle and rhythm put him on alert.
It approached from the direction they had just come from. Stone flicked the reins and headed off the road into a thick cluster of trees about twenty yards off to the right.
“You think it’s that Culpepper fellow?” She’d grasped the bench with one hand and was cradling Archie protectively with the other.
“I’m not sure.”
It shouldn’t have been. Unless his source had been paid off to tell him otherwise—much like Culpepper’s housekeeper had told them he’d gone to his country estate.
He’d seen through the woman in London, but was his obsession with Tabetha causing him to lose his edge?
When had his life become so complicated?
Driving into the copse, Stone pushed branches away, ducking but also tucking Tabetha into his side as they entered the foliage. “Stay low.” He didn’t bring Poppy to a halt until he was certain they couldn’t be spotted from the road.
In the ensuing silence, he met Tabetha’s eyes and held a fingertip to his lips. After she nodded in understanding, he silently hopped onto the ground and crept to a spot that provided him sightline to the road.
Sure enough, the vehicle that drove around the bend, flanked in front and back with outriders, was the same one he’d been chasing down less than a week before.
Odd to be on the opposite side of a hunt now.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Tabetha leaning forward, squinting to see through the trees. Would seeing the coach summon any memories?
How would he act in her situation? How might he feel if he didn’t remember his family or his friends? Who would he be if he didn’t remember anything of his past?
Her courage flummoxed him.
Once Culpepper’s entourage was out of sight, he sauntered