Page 68 of Guarding My Love

“I’ve done the same!” he shouted.

She stopped and stared at him. He didn’t normally yell anymore, but he was getting worked up.

It had to mean something more than he was willing to admit if he was losing control.

“Why are you mad at me?” she asked. “I’ve told you who I was and haven’t hidden anything. You even know my sister and who she’s married to.”

“You’re accusing me of something and it’s pissing me off,” he said. “I told you why I didn’t tell you.”

“No, you really didn’t,” she said. “Why don’t you do that? From a dating perspective I don’t care about your brother or his money or businesses. I don’t care about anyone in your family. The only person I care about is the one that I opened my heart and soul to and I’m trying to decide if I’ve made another mistake in my life.”

He could see she was trying not to yell back at him, but it was hard.

Her fists were clenched, her body was stiff, and she was staring him down.

But she was giving him a chance to explain, which was more than he could have hoped for.

“When women find out who my brother is, they know right away I’ve got money,” he said.

“They are going to know it by your house, Foster. Get real.”

“I know,” he said. “But around here, lots of people have houses on the water, but that doesn’t mean anything more than they could be house-poor.”

“You’ve got a point. So you don’t want women to want you for money. Got it. I didn’t know who you were until a few hours ago, so you can’t accuse me of that. Unless you think I’m the one lying?”

The way there was fire all but shooting out of her eyes, there was no way he was saying he thought that. He was positive all the hair would be singed off of his body if he did.

He didn’t believe it anyway.

“You’re not,” he said. “You’re one of the most truthful people I know. I think that is what drew me to you.”

“Oh really,” she said. “Yet you couldn’t be the same way.”

“I haven’t lied to you,” he snarled.

“You do have a temper,” she said. “And surprisingly, I’m not afraid of it.”

He frowned. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because,” he said.

“Because why?” she asked. “Give me something, Foster. I called Amanda. I was upset and mad. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. I really do. I’m hurt that I didn’t see how much you were hiding, but at the same time when I did some research, I saw how much you told me without giving all the facts.”

“That’s right,” he said. “I gave you enough. Any other woman would have tried to find me or searched for me at this point. Charlotte, you know my address. All you had to do was look at the property records for the town.”

Her lips were twitching. “I know. But do you know why I didn’t do that?”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I figured there had to be a reason you were being so private and that it wouldn’t be right for me to do it. I thought you’d tell me when the time was right. Not that I’d have to find out from someone else.”

Which meant she hadn’t tried to find out on her own.

“Who told you?” he asked.

“Does it matter?” she asked.

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