rose abruptly and Betsy scooted from the door, her heart pounding. Seconds later his office door closed.
Betsy knew she wasn’t the kind of woman they wanted for their successful son. She wasn’t a doctor like Kate and Mitzi or a nurse-midwife like Adrianna. She was the daughter of an alcoholic former showgirl. A legal assistant with a brother in prison.
In time Ryan would have seen that, too. Unfortunately he wasn’t tired of her yet. Which meant he wouldn’t be breaking up with her today.
She would have to do it. She would have to make him believe that this had just been a brief fling for her. That she was tired of him and ready to move on.
Because if Ryan stayed with her, Chad would end up dragging him through the mud and ruining his reputation. Nobody was going to hurt the man Betsy loved. She would protect him...even if it meant breaking her own heart in the process.
* * *
Riding bulls had taught Ryan that he had to trust his gut. And right now his gut was signaling that something was wrong. Very wrong.
He tried telling himself it was simply a stressful morning for both of them. But the set to Betsy’s shoulders, the shuttered look to her eyes and the way she was too busy to share a scone and talk once his parents left told the story.
Worse yet, the day turned busy with clients coming in and out, which meant there was no time for private conversation. But he consoled himself with the knowledge that after work they could go somewhere quiet, have a nice dinner and he could make things right. Once he knew what was wrong.
There wasn’t anything they couldn’t work out. He’d seen his parents do it time and again over the years. An issue would come between them, but they were always able to compromise, find common ground and a solution they could both live with. It would be the same with him and Betsy. If it was simply that she needed more reassurance that he cared, he would give it to her.
In fact, tonight might be the time to pull out the ring he’d been carrying around in his pocket, tell her he loved her and ask her to marry him. His lips curved up in a smile, thinking of the celebration sure to follow....
A knock sounded on his partially closed office door.
He lifted his head and widened his smile. Just the woman he wanted to see. “Since when do you knock?”
“I wasn’t sure if you were off the phone or not.”
Ryan ignored the fact that she hadn’t returned his smile and motioned her inside. “With all the appointments done for the day, let’s take off early and do something fun. What do you say?”
Still no smile.
She took the seat across the desk and folded her hands into her lap. “We need to talk.”
Were there four more dreaded words in the English language? Unease slid its fingers up his spine, even as Ryan tried to tell himself this was no big deal. “What’s on your mind?”
“This isn’t working out.”
He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table, trying to ignore his skyrocketing heart rate. Don’t assume, he told himself. Speculations are dangerous. Always work with facts.
“Could you be a little more specific?” Somehow he managed to keep the smile on his lips and his voice even. “Exactly what isn’t working out?”
“You and me.”
His heart stopped. Honest to goodness stopped.
Ryan blinked and fought to find his voice. “Pardon?”
“Our relationship,” she said. “It’s not working.”
“Since when?” His voice rose, then cracked.
“For a while.” She pressed her lips together and gazed down at her hands.
“How can that be?” Ryan remembered the time he’d fallen off his dirt bike and had the air knocked out of him. He felt the same way now. “Everything has been good.”
She lifted her head and met his gaze. “I just don’t want to date you anymore.”
Panic raced through his veins even as he kept his expression controlled. “Tell me what’s not working. What you don’t like. We’ll make it better. I’ll make it better.”
Compromise. They would compromise and everything would be as good as new, except she was saying it hadn’t been good. Not for her.
“There’s nothing you can do.” She met his gaze. “Just like all those other women you dated that you got tired of and didn’t want to date anymore. A person can’t change the way they feel.”
“But I love you.” The admission tumbled from his lips. This wasn’t the way he wanted to tell her. No, never like this. But it was important—very important—that she knew how much she meant to him.
Something flashed in her eyes. A look he couldn’t quite decipher but one that gave him hope. Hope that her leaving him wasn’t a done deal.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “And because we won’t be together anymore, it’d probably be best if I didn’t work for you.”
“Don’t I get a say in this?” he asked, on the verge of begging.
“No.”
“Don’t you love me? Or even like me? Just a little bit?”
For a second her tightly controlled features began to crumble, but then the mask returned. “It’s over, Ryan. There’s nothing you can say or do to change my mind.”
She rose then and turned toward the door.
“Why, Betsy?” he called out to her. “Why?”
“It’s for the best,” she said without turning as she walked out of his office and out of his life.
Ryan slumped back in his chair and realized his parents had left out one very important detail in their relationship advice.
Compromise only worked when both parties wanted a relationship to succeed.
Betsy kept her composure while meeting with the police and county attorney. She’d worried they might make her feel like a criminal, but everyone was respectful. They mentioned more than once that she’d done the right thing by coming forward. If only the action hadn’t carried with it such a high price tag....
I love you. That’s what Ryan had said. Betsy had wanted to tell him she loved him, too. Only the knowledge that he would be hurt by his association with her made her keep her mouth shut.
This was her battle, not his. And down the road when Chad’s attorneys tried to discredit her by bringing up her relationship with Ryan, his clients would be reassured by the fact that she no longer worked for him. What she was doing
