He held her close, his face buried in her hair, his body warmed by hers. She wept softly, her face in the hollow of his throat, and he whispered to her, words he’d never even thought to use with another woman, words of comfort, of solace, and gradually her tears lessened.
“Liam,” she said, and he felt as if a hand were reaching into his chest and closing around his heart.
She pulled back in his arms and looked up at him. Her eyes were tear dampened and swollen. He kept one arm around her, dug in his jeans’ pocket, took out a folded white handkerchief, dabbed at her eyes, then held it to her nose.
“Blow,” he said gently. She smiled a little and did as he’d asked, and he laid his hand against her cheek, threaded his fingers into her hair and tilted her face to his.
“I can’t marry William.”
Liam wanted to tell her that she could, but the words caught in his throat. A woman wasn’t supposed to weep like this on her wedding day. He’d already made one wrong judgment, thinking she was after Bill’s name and money, and he’d be damned if he wanted to make another.
“He’s a wonderful man. And I love him, but not the way I should. I didn’t realize that, Liam. I swear I didn’t.”
He nodded. He knew that, too.
Jessie gave a shuddering sigh. “Tell him I’ll be fine. He mustn’t worry about me. And tell him I’ll get in touch with him, once I—once I get my head together.”
“Come back with me. Tell him yourself.”
She shook her head and moved out of his arms. “I can’t. Not yet. If I did he might realize…he might see…” She opened the door of her car and got behind the wheel. “Goodbye, Liam.”
“No,” he said, “Jessie, wait—”
She moved quickly, heard his hands slap against the car as she put it in gear, and then she was moving and he was running across the lot. Seconds later, a shiny black Corvette was on her tail and she choked back a spurt of hysterical laughter. What else would Liam Malone drive, except for a car that was sexy and fast?
She drove recklessly, tossing aside her usual caution, but his car followed hers like a shadow. A horn blared. Jessie looked to her left, saw a white-faced driver shake a fist at her. Chagrined, she realized she was endangering everybody on the road, and she slowed her car. There was no reason to drive so fast. What was she running from? Liam? That was ridiculous. He couldn’t make her do anything she didn’t want to do.
Yes, he can, a sly little voice whispered inside her head. All he has to do is kiss you, and you’re lost.
No, she wasn’t. She’d never been the kind of woman whose head could be turned by a handsome man.
Well, then, the voice said, even more slyly, maybe you’re running from yourself.
That was even crazier. Just because she’d turned to jelly in Liam’s arms, just because he was all the dangerous things Bill wasn’t, things she’d spent her life trying to avoid….
She had a plan. Maybe it wasn’t great. Still, without money or credit, she had only one place to go where she could marshal her thoughts, and one way to get there.
Liam was right behind her as she took the exit ramp, but it didn’t matter. She’d left her groom, her wedding and her carefully planned life. Now she’d leave the man who’d made her realize that she didn’t want any of those thin
gs. If she had, she’d never have been unfaithful to William and yes, that was what she’d been, unfaithful, kissing a stranger, wanting him, still wanting him….
Jessie swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, drove into the airport and pulled into the first parking spot she saw. Liam did the same thing. He was behind her as she locked her door and started briskly toward the AmericAir terminal.
“Jessie!” His footsteps pounded after her. “Jessie!”
He caught up to her, clasped her arm. She wrenched it free.
“Leave me alone, Liam.”
“Do you think I’m just going to let you run away? We have to talk.”
The terminal doors slid open. She stepped inside, walked to a departure board, checked it. If she remembered correctly, there’d been a morning flight to Miami as well as the one she and William had planned to take. Yes, there it was, Flight 937, leaving from gate twelve. With luck, she could swap her ticket and get on this plane. But there wasn’t much time. She picked up her pace, almost stumbled when Liam did a quick two-step to get in front of her.
“You can’t solve anything by running away from it.”
She moved around him, dumped her tote bag on the conveyor belt at the security checkpoint and went through the gate with Liam right behind her. When she heard the buzzer go off, she heaved a sigh of relief.
Goodbye, Liam, she thought, and blinked back the tears that welled in her eyes again.