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“No” He softened his tone “No, I don’t But if you were, where would that leave us?”

“I don’t know” Tears filled her eyes—so from her but was no less painful to him “I’ve been worried for weeks,” she told hi between you is as strong as it see you till be able to do to fight it Not forever At soet the better of you”

“And then what?”

Marie shrugged “Then we try to love each other through it, I guess”

It was a typical Marie answer One he’d wanted

But that night, it didn’t give him much comfort

SMILING AT A woh she’d known for years, Gabrielle took the cup of hot tea Greta handed her and set it on the s in and the one next to it

Both were in front of a er than any she’d ever seen before Funny—she’d known Liam all these years, felt as if he was more family to her than her own mother and brothers, but she’d never been in his house before

“Thank you, Greta, that will be all” Walter Connelly diser to him

He’d ordered Gabrielle off his property

She’d refused to go

He’d threatened her with a call to the police She’d told hi she knew

He’d shown her to a room with a couch and chairs but no books or television and made her wait there alone for half an hour

And when he’d finally appeared and shown her to his office, he’d demanded that she wait for tea to be served While he’d slowly sipped on a shot of so amber colored