To Marry McKenzie

much time had passed, for him to be able to trust completely the things she

had said to him.

Logan shrugged. 'I'm sure he'll get over it,' he said.

Darcy gave him a troubled look. 'I wish I had your confidence. Perhaps if I

spoke to your mother—'

'Whatever for?' he burst in incredulously, putting down his coffee-cup. 'The

other evening you couldn't even bear to be in the same restaurant as her!'

Darcy pulled a face. 'But maybe I was wrong about her. I've been giving all

of this a lot of thought—with my father the way that he is, I thought I had

better! And if he loves her—'

'You said yourself that he didn't, that he couldn't know how he felt about her

after only three weeks of knowing her,' Logan reminded her. He had known

his mother for thirty-five years—and even he wasn't sure that he loved her!

Margaret was his mother, yes, and as such he knew he should respect and

protect her, but love...? He wasn't sure.

Darcy gave a heavy sigh. 'I thought this broken engagement was what I

wanted, but now that it's happened— I just can't bear to see my father so

unhappy!'

'Better a brief unhappiness now than a lifetime of it,' Logan assured her.

Darcy tilted her head to one side as she gave him another of those

considering looks. 'You really never have been in love, have you?' she stated

evenly.

'I simply doubt that it's a basis from which to build a lifetime relationship,'

he dismissed hardly.

Darcy gave a start of incredulity. 'What other basis is there?' she gasped.

'I have no idea—I've yet to see a successful relationship!' Logan claimed

scornfully.

His mother said her marriage to his father had been happy, but Logan had

been too young himself when his father had died to be able to judge the truth

of that statement. And Margaret's second marriage had been like a

battlefield.

No, he had decided long ago, if he ever took the drastic step himself of

getting married—and he couldn't conceive of a situation where he ever

might!—then it most certainly wouldn't be because he believed himself in

love with a woman. Love made you vulnerable, left you completely

exposed to the whims and fancies of the other person. It was not a feeling

Logan ever wanted to experience for himself!

A cloud marred Darcy's creamy brow. 'I find that very sad.'

And she did look sad. So much so that Logan found he didn't like being the

cause of that sadness. 'Hey,' he chided teasingly. 'We aren't here to discuss

how I see love and marriage. It's your father you're concerned about,

remember?'

Not the right thing to say, Logan decided as he saw her sadness deepen. But

she had been getting too close, asking him questions he would rather not

answer.

'I really would like to talk to your mother,' she decided firmly. 'Do you think

it could be arranged?' She looked at him with clear grey eyes.

Not by him it couldn't! His mother was definitely not someone he would

like Darcy to meet.

'For what purpose?' he probed guardedly.

Darcy looked perplexed. 'To be honest, I have no idea.

It's strange, but somehow I feel the fact that we both love my father gives us

a bond of some kind... Can you understand that?' She looked at him

questioningly.

Maybe. But— 'Have you forgotten that my mother has broken her

engagement to your father?' he reminded her. 'Hardly the act of a woman in

love!'

'But that's the whole point. I need to know why she broke their engagement,'

Darcy persisted. 'If it had anything to do with me—'

'Even if it did, what can you do about it?' Logan insisted, still not sure

himself that he believed his mother when she said she wouldn't marry

Daniel Simon, the man she professed to love, if it meant damaging his

relationship with his daughter. Because if he believed that, he had to believe

her regret concerning their own relationship too. And he wasn't sure he

could do that... 'My mother is a woman not easily swayed by the needs and

wants of others.' He replied.

Logan didn't like the way Darcy was looking at him now, knowing he must

have given away too much of his own resentment and bitterness towards his

mother.

But after Margaret Fraser had rung him this morning to inform him she had

ended her relationship with Daniel Simon, Logan's one thought had been to

let Darcy know it was over, too. Darcy had responded predictably by going

straight to her father. Daniel Simon was the one who had altered the

scenario by going away in the manner that he had. Now Darcy, after

expressing deep loathing for his mother, was asking to meet her. Logan

wasn't sure he would ever understand women... Correction—most women,

he had found, were all too easy to understand; it was his mother and Darcy

who were enigmas!

Darcy continued to look at him determinedly. 'Will you introduce me to your