This time, she was the one who pulled away.
“We have to stop.” Her voice was thready, aroused.
He couldn’t seem to gather his thoughts. He didn’t want to stop, ever. He wanted to spend the rest of his life kissing her here in the moonlight.
Her head was obviously in a different space altogether. While he was still aching and aroused, she stood, breathing hard. She still had her dog’s leash in her hand, he realized.
“I can’t keep doing this with you, Ian. Surely you can see that. I have spent my entire adult life being an idiot where men are concerned. I fall for the guys who are completely unavailable. I can’t believe I’m doing it all over again.”
He was being altogether unfair to her. He had known it from the first time he kissed her.
He felt like the worst sort of ass.
“I’m sorry. I can’t seem to help myself when I’m around you. All logic seems to desert me. I hope you know I wouldn’t intentionally hurt you.”
“I know.” She gripped her dog’s leash more tightly. “You’re a good man, Ian. I... I wish things could be different. Why couldn’t you simply be a rumpled biologist, obsessed with stinky fish?”
“That would have been much better,” he agreed. While he might be embarrassed at her description of him, that didn’t make him any less entranced by her. “I wish that were the case, more than I can ever tell you.”
Her features softened. “I know,” she murmured. Then, generous soul that she was, Samantha hugged him again, resting her head against his chest. She held him for a long time while the night settled around them.
Finally she lifted her head and kissed his cheek before gripping her little dog’s leash and heading back into her house.
SAMANTHA HELPED BETSEY back into the room with the puppies, then couldn’t resist sitting on the floor. Oscar and Calvin immediately waddled to her, licking her until she picked them both up.
They were growing so fast. They were mostly weaned now, only turning to their mother when they needed comfort.
Samantha was the one who needed comfort now. She cuddled the puppies close, feeling their heartbeats.
Oh, she was such a fool. Had she learned nothing from twenty-eight years on the planet? How could she still be making such utterly stupid mistakes when it came to men?
She had known from the beginning that Ian Summerhill wasn’t for her. The roadblocks had been obvious from the first. Any other woman would have been wise enough to stay away from him, to protect herself better. Not her. She tumbled headlong the first chance she had.
She hadn’t changed a bit from the silly, immature girl who had told her high school boyfriend she loved him the first time he kissed her.
Hot, frustrating tears trickled out. Oscar tried to lick them away, which made her smile but didn’t ease the pain in her heart at all.
For once, at least, she had given her heart to a man who fully deserved it. She ought to get a few points for that, right? Unlike many of the guys she had previously dated, Ian was mature, compassionate, dedicated to his family and passionate about his career.
Any woman would have been crazy not to fall for him.
She should have tried harder, though.
What was she going to do? He was a peer of the freaking British realm. He wasn’t the kind of guy who would fall for someone like her, a seamstress from a tiny nowhere town in Idaho who had seen very little of the world.
She was destined for heartbreak, could see no way to avoid the train wreck headed her way.
The wedding was only a week away and then Ian and the children would be on their way back to England. Meantime, she would simply have to figure out how she would navigate the rest of her life without them.
So much loss. She hugged the puppies closer—yet another loss in her immediate future—and wondered where she would find the strength to endure it all.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE DAYS LEADING up to Gemma Summerhill’s wedding to Josh Bailey turned into some of the busiest of Samantha’s life.
The store seemed constantly filled with customers. Samantha couldn’t help any of them and had to leave their shopping to her assistants. She was too busy taking care of a flurry of last-minute alterations, orders for three more wedding gowns and fittings for two of the brides who were planning to marry in dresses she had designed.
At least the frenetic pace helped distract Samantha from the underlying heartache, but throughout her busy days and empty nights, she was aware of a dull, constant ache in her chest.
She hadn’t seen Ian since those moments by the lake. She wasn’t sure if they were simply on differing schedules or if he was purposely avoiding her.
This was the day Margaret had come into the store to pick up her altered dress and Sam waited with bated breath while she tried it on and looked at herself in the trio of full-length mirrors.
“Does it work for you?” she finally had to ask.
Margaret looked enchanted. “It’s gorgeous. Utterly gorgeous. I can’t believe it’s the same dress. How on earth did you manage that particular miracle?”
“I had a good quality dress to start with. That helped tremendously. The dress was fine at the outset. It had to be or you wouldn’t have purchased it in the first place. It just wasn’t quite right for you. I only had to make a few changes, really, to help it fit your style and body type better. I love the drape of the fabric and it’s a beautiful color for you.”
“Yes. I believe I shall wear this exact shade from now until eternity.”
Oh, she liked Ian’s mother so much. His entire family charmed her.
“What do I owe for your work?” Margaret asked after she had changed out of her dress and back into her slacks and white tailored
