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He’d rushed into e with Charlotte because, deep down, he’d been afraid that if she’d had the chance to change her ht

Jason didn’t knohat lunacy had proh with the ceree annulled the folloould still embarrass hi all the wedding gifts Eventually he’d have to face people Make explanations

He’d taken the easy way out, delaying the inevitable because of his pride

Charlotte had wanted to cancel the wedding and he’d perversely refused to release her So now they were stuck in Hawaii on a teek honeymoon neither of them wanted Stuck in each other’s coht back to Seattle

Once his eyes had adjusted to the dark, Jason ant room Charlotte was still curled up on the bed, but the sheets and blankets were strewn about as though a storh

He discovered a second and a third pillow hurled across the roo from a chair It looked as if his bride had thrown a temper tantrum

So she hadn’t liked it that he’d left A smile played across his lips It was the first time since he’d found her on the beach that she’d displayed any e her teiven to bouts of anger He felt a pang of concern but brushed it aside--it belonged to the past, to the old Charlotte, the one he’d loved

Exhausted and depressed, he gazed about the rooe Everything else in the room remained untouched

Not knohat to think, and too tired to care, he quietly stripped off his clothes and slipped beneath a ru to fall asleep, but his drea

Not once during the night did Charlotteaway fro, the bright sunshine slashing through the bedroom curtains Charlotte was on her back, already awake She shifted her head and stared at hi at her

"I lied when I said I didn’t love you, Jason," she whispered and a tear rolled down the side of her face "I do…so veryI’ve done"

He nodded, his throat thick "I’m sorry, too, Charlotte"

Thirteen

Charlotte closed her eyes because looking at Jason was so painful, knowing he hated her, knowing he’d never really forgive her for what she’d done

"I lied when I said I wanted to marry you because of your family I…ran away because I was afraid"

"Of me?"

Her pulse scampered She should’ve told hireed to be his wife; he had a right to know But the truth was so easy to put off, so easy to deny So hard to explain

There’d been opportunities to tell hih she’d tried to convince herself otherwise She’d been too much of a coward to present Jason with the truth And then, when time ran out, she’d panicked

"Charlotte?" Jason said in a low voice "What are you afraid of?"

She couldn’t explain that she was, to put it bluntly, afraid of sex Of intimacy That wasn’t what a man wanted to hear Not just Jason, but anyhim He deserved a woman as emotionally whole and healthy A woman as physically responsive Not someone scared and battle-weary and all but dead to her own sexuality

"I owe you an explanation…"

"I’d say so," he agreed, but his voice was devoid of the previous day’s sarcaser

"Ithrough with the wedding or not But as time went on I--I couldn’t…and then it was too late"

"Tell e when she’d been innocent, vulnerable and naive "My h school My father had abandoned us years earlier and I don’t think my mother ever recovered If he contacted her at any point after he left, I didn’t know about it She was different after he was gone It was like she’d given up on life She loved h to plan for my future"

Jason’s hand reached across the bed for hers Their fingers entwined and Charlotte was grateful for his touch

"I e He ca classes on a li When he asked me out, I was thrilled He seemed to like me… Later I realized it wasn’t me that attracted him, but the insurance money I’d received when my mother died After a few months, we made love and…and he asked me to marry him I didn’t have any family and…I desperately needed someone I was too stupid to knohy Toe as a way of paying for his education without having to work for it

"I dropped out of school after one seot married The money that was ot a full-ti expenses"