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"So you’re not totally evil?"

"Is that a question and if so, do you expect uess not But you surprise me You were so icky about Julie and Ryan"

"I was not icky and I thought Julie was in it for the money"

"She would never do that"

"I know that now"

"You should have given her the benefit of the doubt It’s the right thing to do"

"Not if you haveto punish every wo to look forward to I’ll be sure to tell Marina"

Todd looked both pained and amused by her comments "You know about our date"

"Oh, yeah We’re all counting the hours"

One corner of his mouth twitched "Is she ure that out for yourself But I will tell you that she’s incredibly smart, so don’t try any of your srinned "I’ll remember that Leave the smarmy crap at home"

She hated that he was amused "You knohat I htful to h to let you go I think you would have been good for hi and she knehere that road led

She maintained control until Todd had left, then she let the tears fall She wanted to believe that his visit , but how could it? Kane hadn’t sent hi by

Todd had said Kane was in bad shape Did the fact that he was hurting ? Would he want to fix the proble, she wanted to go to him and hold him until he felt better But she wouldn’t She couldn’t force the er interested in soht she ht Willow curled up in a corner of her sofa and tried to get interested in the movie she’d rented It was a comedy and it see her laugh Maybe because she hurt tooshe would just go to bed and try the movie another time, when she heard an odd noise outside It sounded like scratching Or whining Or both

She listened and heard the sound again

She crossed to her front door and pulled it open A black, fluffy, furry, adorable puppy stared up at her, then yipped

Delighted, she dropped to her knees The puppy plunged into her ar her face

"Who are you?" she asked as she laughed and tried to hold on to the wiggling buddle of kisses "Where did you come from? Are you lost?"

"He’s not the one who’s lost," Kane said, stepping out of the shadows

Her heart froze She actually felt it stop ht in her throat and she momentarily lost her hold on the puppy who used her inattention to lunge forward and knock her onto her back

"Okay, that’s enough" Kane stepped forward and grabbed the puppy under one arets kind of rowdy"

"I can see that"

She didn’t knohat to think, what to feel "Why are you here?"

"Can we come in? He should be okay He just had his ith a couple of your rosebushes out front, so I think he’s safe on carpet for a few minutes"

The only man she’d ever loved, theabout whether or not a puppy would pee on her rug?

She stepped back and let thean licking her bare feet

She dropped to her knees and gathered the puppy close "Does he have a na was a whole lot safer than talking about anything else

She wanted to believe that Kane’s presence here , but she wasn’t sure And she hurt too ht you’d want to naht hioing to have to come back to me"

She sed Okay, sure, now there was hope, but there was also fear and a broken heart "You want me back?"

"Want?" He shook his head "Want is such a sht I knehat I wanted Solitude My peaceful world I had it all planned out I was careful--I never got involved I knehat caring ot in, ever Until you"

The hope got a little bigger and brighter Her breathing quickened

"I thought I wanted to live on an island soht I wanted what I had I did--until I ed after that Noant noise and confusion and conversation and laughter I want candles and plants and food and your mess everywhere"