The Man Ban - Nicola Marsh Page 0,96
to recover.”
Izzy shrugged, infuriatingly calm. “Well, isn’t that why you did it? The timing was very suspicious, just before my surgery, so I put two and two together.”
“It was part of it,” he admitted, dragging a hand through his hair. “But you don’t know everything.”
“Then tell me.” She pointed to a chair opposite. “And for goodness’ sake, stop that infernal pacing.”
He sank into the chair, bracing his elbows on his knees. “I proposed because we get on well together, I love spending time with her, she makes me happy and gives me a sense of peace I haven’t felt since . . .”
“Since?”
“Mom died. Losing her gutted me, and I’ve shut off from everyone but you.”
“You don’t think I know that, Manish?”
He glanced up to see anguish contort her face.
“I’ve left you alone for many years. You needed to find your own path, to make your own decisions. I always hoped you’d find the right woman, and despite my many suggestions, it never happened. Then I saw the way you looked at Harper at Arun’s wedding, and I knew this woman could be different.”
“Then why did you disparage her?”
She screwed up her nose. “Because I’m getting senile in my old age and I wanted to test you.”
“Test me?”
“That’s what last night was about. Anybody can see you two are head over heels for each other. It’s so obvious, like two magnets drawn to each other and unable to pull away. I already suspected your motivation for asking her to marry you, so I wanted to test you, to make sure you really loved her. And the fact you let her break up with you means you failed.”
She tut-tutted and shook her head. “You may have asked her to marry you for all the wrong reasons, but if you’ve fallen in love for the first time in your life, don’t you think she’s worth fighting for?”
“I don’t believe this,” he muttered, dropping his head into his hands.
His grandmother had done all this out of some warped plan to test his true intentions? He’d always been lousy at love; the last thing he needed was an exam he’d be destined to fail.
And he’d failed spectacularly.
Harper despised him, and he didn’t blame her. He’d treated her badly when he should’ve treated the woman he loved like a princess.
He did love her.
It had taken a mighty big wake-up call for him to see that.
“What are you going to do, Manish?”
He raised his head. “I don’t know.”
“You’re a smart man. You’ve got a medical degree to prove it. Surely you can come up with something?”
“The thing is, I don’t think groveling is going to do much. I let her down, badly. She was herself with me, she revealed so much of herself, and I still held her at arm’s length. How can I make her trust me again?”
“By doing what she did for you.” Izzy pressed a hand to her heart that had him surging to his feet. “No, no, sit, there’s nothing wrong. What I meant was, if she opened her heart to you, you owe her the same courtesy.”
Open his heart.
Why did something so simple entail a world of complicated possibilities?
68
Once Manny made his mind up, he could be an unstoppable force. Take his proposal to Harper, for example. He’d arranged it on short notice and made it happen. So after his pep talk with Izzy, he wanted to do the same. Make a grand gesture. Something Harper couldn’t shy away from. Something to show her how much she meant to him. Make it unforgettable so hopefully, if she needed time to think, she wouldn’t forget him.
But the more he thought about it, the more he realized expressing his love shouldn’t be about pomp and show. Harper had never been impressed by his job or his apartment. The best times they’d spent together had been curled up next to each other, chatting, laughing. Shared intimacy. It had been everything to him.
This time, he had to keep it real.
Standing on her doorstep, wearing his oldest faded jeans and a T-shirt, clutching a bunch of flowers, was low-key. He’d thought the flowers could be trite until he remembered her expressing her love for them in New Zealand. Besides, it wouldn’t matter what he presented her with; it was his words that counted.
He just hoped she’d hear him out.
Sweat pooled in his armpits and he flapped his arms, trying to cool down. He hadn’t been this nervous since his final year exams at med school, and