Page 40 (1/2)

Prologue

“Only one more week”

Anne Easton shook her head in response to Liaretful murmur “Don’t say that It ether if you’re going to be counting down the minutes”

They stood at a rock wall of the Argyle Battery of Edinburgh Castle, a breathtaking view of northern Edinburgh, Scotland, spread in front of theled around the over the ancient cannons and battle exclusively on each other on this beautiful summer day

A brisk, warht her fine, blond hair and she reached up to brush a lock away froertips glided across her cheek when he tucked the errant strand behind her ear, then bent his head to press a quick kiss against the lips he’d uncovered

She smiled up at him, enchanted by the way his thick, dark hair, worn in his trade that her throat still tightened when she looked at hilasses, but she knew they were focused on her face as though nothing else around them was of interest to him That heady attentiveness was one of his more seductive talents

“I’llher into the crook of one araze out over the streets of the historic city

“I’ll h to express how much she would feel his absence in her life

They had just spent a blissfully private eight weeks in London, and this jaunt to Scotland was a last celebration of their tiether In only one short week, she would return to Arkansas, where she would begin os Islands on an assign journalist

“I don’t want our relationship to end this time Not like the last time”

She bit her lower lip in response to the pain that shot through her “There were reasons e broke up three years ago I’ed all that much”

“Except that you’re an adult now, not an inexperienced college freshman You’re twenty-three years old, Annie Your parents can’t tell you how to run your life now You have the right to be with me if you want, even if they still hate me”

“They don’t hate you”

He snorted “Right Which is why you haven’t even told theain for the past two months”

Because she wasn’t sure she could win that argument, she said instead, “They weren’t the only reason we broke up anyway”

“Maybe But it’s different now The eight weeks that have passed since we ran into each other in London have been great, haven’t they?”

“They’ve been perfect,” she agreed wistfully

As if on i his body to block her fro thes “Then why does it have to end?”

They both knew the answer to that question, but she shrugged and replied, “Because I’ medical school in Arkansas in just over a month and you’re contr

acted to travel the globe for the next year Longer if your show gets renehich I knoill”

He brushed that logical argument aside with characteristic impatience “We don’t have to be joined at the hip to be coo to medical school and I can pursue my career We have phones and coether, and airplanes to get us both to the same place at the same time whenever we have a few free days”

She sighed, thinking of how unlikely it was that such an arrangement could last the entire four years she would be inthat far ahead Maybe he was just thinking about playing it by ear after they went their oays next week He wasn’t known for long-ter

“I would love to hear froreed “There’s certainly no reason we can’t stay in touch after we go back to our separate careers”

He shook his head, his expression dissatisfied “That’s not what I meant I don’t want to be computer friends, or whatever the ht be I want us to be connected A real couple”

She laughed soo steady?”

“No” He wasn’t sazed soo back to the States next week”