Steffie couldn’t speak. She couldn’t get even one word past the knot in her throat. She swallowed and slowed her breathing, hoping that might help, because there was so much she longed to say, so many things she yearned to tell him.

“I don’t ever want to be separated from you again,” Charles told her, his voice raw.

She didn’t understand. Charles had all but sent her away. He’d all but cast her out of his life. She turned in his arms until they faced each other and raised her hands to his face.

Charles smiled then and gently gripped her wrists. He moved his head until his mouth met the sensitive skin of her palm, and he kissed her there.

“You know, three years ago there was so much I couldn’t tell you,” he began.

“I have one wish left,” she reminded him. “I want you to kiss me. Now.”

“With pleasure.” She could hear the smile in his voice.

They’d kissed before, but they’d never shared what they did in those moments. Charles’s lips found hers in the sweetest, most loving exchange she’d ever experienced, and Steffie’s emotions exploded to life.

Steffie wanted this, wanted it more than anything she’d ever known, yet at the same time she felt overwhelmed by confusion. Charles had ordered her out of his life, laughed at her declaration of love, humiliated her until she couldn’t bear to live in the same town. Now, he seemed to be suggesting that he hadn’t wanted her to go, and that he never wanted her to leave again.

Steffie wasn’t sure what to believe. With all her heart she longed to lose herself in Charles’s kiss, to savor all the sensations that flooded her. And yet the uncertainty remained. Did he merely desire her, or did he, too, feel a forever kind of love?

But his kiss wiped out all thought as the joy rushed through her, replacing fear and doubt.

“Someone’s coming,” Charles whispered suddenly. He broke away, still holding her shoulders, and brushed his mouth against her forehead. Then he released her.

Steffie’s father was sitting by the fireplace in his den when she let herself into the house later that night. She saw the lamplight spilling into the entryway and decided to check on him.

“Dad?” David was sitting in the wingback leather chair beside the fireplace, her mother’s afghan tucked around his legs. His head drooped and his lips were slightly parted.

Steffie had spoken before she realized he was asleep. But just as she turned to tiptoe from the room, he stirred.

“Steffie?”

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” she told him quietly.

“Good thing you did. I was waiting up for you.” He ran one hand through his hair and sat up straighter. “How was your dinner with Charles?”

Steffie sank onto the ottoman, angling her legs to one side. She knew her eyes had a dreamy look, but she didn’t care. “Wonderful.”

“Did Charles ask you anything?”

“Ask me anything?” she repeated, feigning ignorance. “What could he possibly have to ask me?”

David Bloomfield frowned. “Plenty. I thought—I hoped he was going to mention…an upcoming event.”

“Oh, that!” she said with a light disinterested laugh. If the evening hadn’t been so wonderful, she would’ve felt irritated with his pressure tactics. But she found it impossible to complain when she was this happy.

“He did, you mean? And what did you tell him? Don’t keep me in suspense, Princess.”

Steffie splayed her fingers and studied the smoothly polished nails before sighing. “I told him we’ll see about it on Sunday.”

“Sunday? You’re going to keep that boy in agony until Sunday?”

She nodded, affecting a complete lack of concern. “He wanted to know if we could go horseback riding, and I said we could probably do it on Sunday. That’s the question you’re referring to, isn’t it?”

“No,” came his disappointed reply. “And well you know it. I expected that boy to ask you to marry him.”

“Well, he didn’t and even if he had—”

“Even if he had, what?” The frown slid back into place. “I tell you, Stephanie, you’re as stubborn as your mother when it comes to this sort of thing. You can’t fool me—you’ve been in love with Charles for years. If he asks you to marry him—”

“But he hasn’t and from what I could see, he doesn’t have any intention of doing so.”

“I don’t agree.”

“You’re free to think what you want, Dad, but keep in mind that this is my life and I won’t take kindly to your interfering in it. And remember that Charles values his privacy, too.”

“He didn’t ask you to marry him,” her father muttered under his breath. “You don’t think he intends to, either?” he demanded, louder now.

“Not to my knowledge.”

A look of righteous indignation came over him. “Then I’d better have a talk with that boy. I won’t allow him to trifle with your affections.”

“Dad!” Steffie had trouble not laughing over the old-fashioned terms he used. She was sure Charles would find it humorous, too, if she suggested he was “trifling” with her heart.

“I mean it, Steffie. I refuse to let that young man hurt you again.”

“He only has that power if I give it to him—which I won’t. You’re looking at a woman of the twenty-first century, Dad, and we’re too smart to let a man trifle with us.”

“Nevertheless, I’m having a talk with him.”

Her expression might have been outwardly serene, but Steffie’s insides were dancing a wild jig. “You’ll do no such thing,” she insisted.

“Apparently Charles Tomaselli doesn’t know what’s good for him.”

“Dad! We talked about this before, remember?” Her good mood was quickly evaporating. “Now I want you to promise you’re not going to interfere with Charles and me.”

Her father refused to answer.

“I’ll be mortified if you even bring up the subject of marriage to him.”

“But—”

“I’m trusting you, Dad. Now good night.” She stood and kissed his forehead before hurrying up the stairs to her own bedroom.

“I appreciate the ride to the airport,” Valerie said as they drove out of town early Saturday afternoon. Her sister’s flight was scheduled to leave at six, which gave them plenty of time for a leisurely trip into Portland. Valerie was going to meet with Rowdy Cassidy to tell him about her engagement and request a job transfer.

“I’m glad to do it,” Steffie assured her older sister. Now that Valerie had set the preparations for her wedding in motion, she was free to return to Texas. There were several tasks, besides the discussion with Cassidy, that she needed to take care of. She had to pack her personal things, deal with her furniture and put her condo on the market.

“Colby wanted to come with me, but his schedule’s full,” she explained wistfully. “That’s something we’ll both have to adjust to.”

“Heavy schedules?”

Valerie nodded. “I’ll talk to Rowdy about that while I’m in Houston.”

“Do you think he’ll agree to let you head up the West Coast branch of CHIPS?”

“It’s hard to say…. I don’t think he’s going to be pleased about my wanting to leave Houston, but he hasn’t got a choice.” Steffie noticed a hesitancy in her sister that she hadn’t seen earlier. “Rowdy can be hard to predict,” Valerie added. “He might be absolutely delighted for me and Colby. But there’s also a chance that he’ll be angry I took an extended leave of absence to plan my wedding.” She sighed. “I didn’t tell him the whole truth about why I didn’t return the day I said I would.”

“Why not?” Steffie prodded, briefly taking her eyes from the road when Valerie didn’t immediately offer the information.

“I know I should have, but it just didn’t seem right to do it over the phone. Besides, I’m afraid Rowdy might be…have been interested in me himself. At one point, I even thought I was interested in him! Good heavens, I didn’t know a thing about love until I met Colby. I don’t mean to hurt Rowdy’s feelings but I can’t give him any hope.”

“Do you want me to fly back with you?”

“Oh, no. Rowdy’s really a gentleman beneath that cowboy exterior.”

Steffie’s suspicions were raised. “Does the good doctor know how Rowdy feels about you?”

“I think he might. Then again, we’ve never really discussed Rowdy, and why should we? If you want the truth, I think Colby would rather forget about him.”

“Maybe he should take his head out of the sand.”

“Don’t you go saying anything to him,” Valerie said vehemently. “I mean it, Steff. What happens between Rowdy and me is between Rowdy and me.”

“Is Colby the jealous type?” Steffie remembered how she’d felt the day she saw Charles standing next to Wendy, the intern at the Clarion. Until that moment, she’d never thought of herself as jealous. Even now the blood simmered in her veins when she recalled how the little blonde had gazed up at Charles, her blue eyes wide with open admiration.

“I don’t know if Colby is or not. I only know how I’d feel if the situation was reversed.” Valerie seemed to consider her next words. “Before Colby and I became engaged he was dating a nurse named Sherry Waterman, a friend of Norah’s. Apparently he’d been going out with her for quite a while. Everyone was expecting them to announce their engagement. Norah seemed to feel otherwise, but that’s another story.”

“I swear Norah’s got a sixth sense about these things.”

Valerie nodded. “I think she does, too. At any rate, Colby and I decided that although we were attracted to each other, a long-term relationship was out of the question. Colby…asked me to hurry up and leave because my staying made everything so much more painful for us both.”

“He didn’t!” Steffie was outraged. “It’s a good thing he didn’t say that around me.”

Valerie laughed. “He didn’t really mean it. Oh, maybe he did at the time, but I didn’t make falling in love easy for either of us.”

Valerie’s stubbornness was a trait the three Bloomfield sisters shared, Steffie thought with a small, rueful grin.

“After we talked, Colby started dating Sherry again. I think they went out four or five nights in a row. I didn’t know about it, but in a way, I guess I did. I certainly wasn’t surprised when I heard.

“Poor Norah felt she had to let me know what was happening. I think it was harder on her than on me.”

“Were you jealous?”

“That’s the funny part,” Valerie said pensively. “At first I was so jealous I wanted to scratch Sherry’s eyes out. I fantasized about hunting down Colby Winston and making him suffer.”

“You should’ve asked me to help you. I’d gladly have volunteered.”