“You didn’t, and you’re well out of that mess.” Dallas sounded as if he knew all about that too. Just as he’d seemed to understand her pain the afternoon they’d...spent together. He’d been so understanding—way too understanding, as it turned out.
“Dallas, do I need to remind you? One of my dearest friends is now raising Harry’s daughter, the one he sired out of wedlock.” She nearly choked on the old-fashioned word, but Elizabeth had been raised in a world with definite social rules to be observed, and those lessons were deeply ingrained. What else could she call it? “In such a short time, tell me, how am I supposed to put that behind me? His child—Emmie—and my Seth see each other at school. They’re practically the same age, which means—” She broke off, not wanting to think of that timing. “As you said, what a mess. Harry may be on his way to Colorado with our children, but I’m still here. Dealing with the fallout. The last thing I need is fresh scandal.”
“And you think you’d create scandal just by having dinner with me?” Dallas glanced away, then turned and retraced his steps to the front door. His tone held an unfamiliar edge. “Your loss.” He obviously had his pride, and Elizabeth had wounded it when he’d only been trying to apologize. He was on the porch and down the stairs before she could take back her hasty words. He wasn’t to blame because, in a moment of weakness, she’d let down her guard or because her life had fallen apart. And she didn’t know how to start over. All she did know for sure was that she had to safeguard her kids. They were her sole priority now.
Alone in the house again, she sank onto the sofa. Pillows plumped. Not a jelly smear in sight on the oatmeal-colored upholstery her mother had picked out. This wasn’t Dallas’s fault.
Neither was the other mess she’d made that did include him.
She was no better than Harry, really.
Copyright © 2020 by Leigh Riker
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ISBN-13: 9781488068157
Her Surprise Engagement
Copyright © 2020 by Cari Lynn Webb
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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