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They’d been lying in the grass, staring up at the night sky, wishing on stars, sharing their dreao ho back from his business trip

She pulled away fro, darkened stree

t The thought of leaving hi to that cold house and her even colder father, o back…” She realized instantly that she’d said too el to call her silly or stupid or childish—all the words her father hurled at her with such regularity

But he didn’t He touched her cheek, gently turned her face to his “Don’t Stay with me We could run away … raise a family … be a family…”

Madelaine had never knohat it could feel like to love soh her, filling her soul with heat until, suddenly, she was laughing, and then she was crying “I love you, Angel”

Ah … it had been so painfully sweet…

He pulled her into his arether they dropped to their knees in the spongy grass She felt his hands on her, stroking her hair, her back, her hips And then he was kissing her, tasting her tears, clai her so completely with his mouth that she felt dizzy

At last he drew back and stared down at her There was an intensity in his eyes that stole her breath, made her heart beat wildly “I love you, Madelaine I don’t… I mean, I’ve never…” Tears squeezed past his eyelashes and he started to wipe them away

She stopped his hand “Don’t be afraid,” she whispered

He gave her a tre smile In that instant she understood soand blustering and acting like the rebel, but on the inside he was just like her Scared and confused and lonely He didn’t believe in hiood, but he was—she believed in hih for both of them And he loved her like no one had ever loved her before…

Such powerful, powerful words: I love you…

After that, she’d told hi, opened her heart and soul to him and let hiht she could live

What if he could do that to her again?

She forced herself to re the pain wash through her in a cold, cleansing sweep

She’d thought she’d forgiven hi her without so ht she had Tiain she’d replayed the sequence of events in her head She told herself she didn’t bla out on her She told herself that seventeen was young, so young, and with each advancing year of her life, it felt younger still She told herself it had been for the best, that they never would have made it, that they would have ruined each other’s lives