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Oddly enough, that made her feel both better and worse Better, because she liked this side of him, a lot It was attractive, evenKhizar But it was also worse, because if she was going to be his family, shouldn’t he be that ith her, too?

JacquiShe wanted a few hours alone to think, to figure out what she needed to do But Khizar’s parents were so nice She didn’t want to upset them, so she waited After dinner, she could take so talk before they went out to find Bill Bauer’s mine

Laying her napkin on the seat and picking up her handbag, she excused herself Khizar stood and offered a hand to her while she slid out of the booth He fingers lingered on hers for just a moment, and then she pulled away

Jacqui took a fewif she messed up her makeup a bit They were almost done with dinner, anyway

She made her way back to the table, but when she rounded the corner closest to their booth, she dropped her bag and the contents spilled out Fortunately, she was out of the way of foot traffic As she knelt down to pick everything up, she realized she could hear Khizar and his parents talking

“Son, she’s a lovely girl We’re just a little surprised, that’s all It seems rather fast How did you two even meet?”

“She’s Bill Bauer’s niece Well, great-niece”

“Really? That’s news I heard he left his entire fortune to charity, except for the mine Must have been quite a surprise to her to inherit that”

Jacqui could hear Khizar’s sigh from her hidden spot around the corner

He said, “Bill was estranged from his brother, and wasn’t aware that his brother’s son had a child—Jacqui—until after her parents died Though he met her once, he didn’t establish a relationship with her Jacqui has no idea who Bill is”