The Man Ban - Nicola Marsh Page 0,87

. . .”

She trailed off, horror widening her eyes. “Oh my god, that’s why you asked me before she went in for her surgery, isn’t it? You wanted to give her hope, something to focus on, to get her through it.”

She slapped her forehead. “I’m such an idiot,” she said, glaring at him like he was the last man on earth she wanted to be near let alone marry, and he sat there like a dummy, letting her vent, hating how she was partially right.

“She actually said I was a convenience, I just happened to be the one you were dating at the time and that’s why you asked. That we weren’t suited . . .” She trailed off, and he hated the sheen of tears in her eyes.

Numb, he let her rant, each word ramming home what a prick he was. He wanted to say all of it was a lie. That he never wanted to hurt her. That he cared for her deeply, more than he’d cared for any woman before.

He’d been committed to making this work. Harper had become a part of his world so quickly he couldn’t imagine her not in it.

But if Izzy knew the truth, did he have to go through with this?

The very fact his first instinct was to renege gave him his answer.

In that instant he knew he’d have to break Harper’s heart.

“Do you know you’ve never said you love me?” Harper pressed a hand to her chest, her devastated expression making him feel like the biggest bastard in the world. “And I’m so stupid I believed every slick word you said about falling for me. How could I have been so dumb?”

“You’re not stupid, you’re wonderful—”

“Shut the fuck up!”

He jumped at her sudden vehemence.

“Do you hear yourself? With everything I’ve just said, not once have you refuted it or tried to convince me I’m crazy or that you do, in fact, love me.” She shook her head. “The first words you say are I’m wonderful? Well, if I’m so freaking wonderful, why do you want to walk away from me?”

She’d given him a chance. A chance to say something to save their relationship. A chance he didn’t deserve.

“I don’t want to walk away from you.” He reached for her, and she shrank away until her back hit the passenger door. “You’re the best thing to ever happen to me.”

“But was your grandmother right? About why you asked me to marry you?”

Manny hated men who lied. He’d been privy to secrets at the hospital, wealthy consultants and specialists who earned seven figures a year and split their money between their real families and their mistresses. Those men thought nothing of lying. It soon became second nature, but he never understood their compulsion.

He loathed deceit, but in that moment, with Harper staring at him with a spark of hope, he wished he could lie.

“Yes,” he eventually said, hating how she crumpled, hugging her arms around her middle. “I’d already fallen for you and the timing seemed right and—”

“Don’t.” She held up her hand. “There’s no way you can justify what you did.”

“I know it seems harsh, but we’re so good together, and if we’d had a chance to date for longer I would’ve probably proposed—”

“Bullshit. You would’ve sabotaged us because . . .” She trailed off, her expression morphing from fury to devastation, her eyes filled with pain and disappointment—in him.

“Because why?”

“We’re done,” she said, fumbling for the handle to open the door. “You can courier my overnight bag over.”

He had to stop her.

He had to beg and plead and do whatever it took to save this.

But he was floundering, out of control, as helpless as he was when he lost the last woman he loved.

So he sat there like a jackass, flinching when she slammed the car door shut on him and their fleeting relationship.

62

Harper drove home in a daze.

What the hell had just happened?

One minute she was celebrating her engagement to a guy she loved, the next they’d broken up.

She didn’t blame his grandmother. Izzy had been right. She’d only been telling the truth, a truth Harper had probably recognized deep in her gut, in that place where instinct ruled, an instinct that should never be overridden by stupid pheromones.

She’d known this had happened too quickly, that it was too good to be true. But she’d gone along with it anyway, all in the name of love.

What a crock.

The unfortunate thing was, once she started to analyze this ridiculous relationship, she’d