"A man who will promise to love me forever."
He squeezed her arms. "Christ, are you talking about a wedding ring?" He shook his head. "That's crazy."
Crazy. Anger mixed with heartbreak. "Let go of me."
His eyes narrowed and he dropped his hands. He stepped away from the car, and she yanked the door open and climbed inside before she started to cry in front of him. She shoved her key in the ignition and drove away. She glanced in her rearview mirror one last time and caught a glimpse of him walking up the steps before her vision blurred and she turned her attention to the road.
What was the matter with her? She'd told herself to stay away from Rob. She'd come to Gospel to try and figure out what was wrong with her, not to fall in love, heart and soul, with a man who could never fully commit to loving her as much as she loved him.
She pulled onto the highway. No, there was a difference now. The difference was that she was no longer willing to settle for less than she deserved. She loved Rob. More than she could remember loving any other man, but her grandfather was right. She was worth everything a man could give her. His heart. His soul. His promise to love her forever.
Rob took Louisa and Amelia to the airport the next morning. It had cost him a lot of money to get them on another chartered flight out, but he was afraid he was going to kill his ex-wife. And he really didn't want to do that. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life in jail and have Amelia raised by relatives.
But as angry as he was with Louisa, it didn't come close to what he was feeling for Kate. What the hell was wrong with her? Why had she messed everything up with talk of wanting more from him, wanting marriage? He'd thought she was different, but she wasn't.
He should have known better than to get involved with her. He'd learned the hard way that sex was never free. There was always a price. Kate's price was a wedding ring. He'd been forced into one bad marriage. He wouldn't be coerced into a second.
It was just never going to happen. She could just sit over in her store and bake bread and grow into an old maid for all he cared. He'd liked Kate. He'd told her the truth when he'd said he cared about her. He did care about her, but he was going to try and forget her.
No way was he going to let her make him crazy.
When he pulled the HUMMER to a stop at the back of Sutter Sports, Adam Taber was waiting for him. Rob
opened the doors for business, and Adam followed him inside.
"Mr. Sutter," he said. "Wally can't make it today 'cause he got the chicken pox."
"That's okay. I don't have that much for you to do." Rob looked back at Adam over his shoulder and did a double take at the bag in the boy's hand. "What is that?" he asked and pointed to what looked a lot like granola.
"Granola."
"Where'd you get it?"
"At the M &S. The lady over there is making it."
"Kate? The lady with the red hair?"
"Yep. She gave it to me free 'cause she wants me to tell people it's really good. Then they come buy it."
She'd stolen his granola idea! "Adam," he said. "You're in charge of the store until Rose gets to work. I'll be back in a few minutes." He hit the front door with the heel of his hand and shoved his sunglasses on his face, so angry he didn't care that he'd left an eleven-year-old to run his store. He couldn't recall a time when he'd been so enraged. Yes, he could-last night, when Kate had told him she loved him, then, practically in the same breath, said it was over. His anger burned a hole in his stomach, and he clenched his teeth.
"Hi, Rob. Haven't seen you for a few days," Stanley said as Rob entered the M &S.
"Hello, Stanley." Rob took a breath and forced his jaw to unlock. He didn't want to take out his anger on his soon-to-be stepfather.
"Your mother should be here in a minute to talk about flowers at the wedding. It's coming right up, you know."
"Yeah, I know. Is Kate around?" he asked and thought he'd managed to sound damn pleasant.
Stanley paused a moment then said, "She's in the back bagging up some granola she made this morning. It's been selling like crazy."
Rob thought his head just might explode. He moved around the counter to the back room.
Kate's back was to him as she took a pan from one of the ovens. She set it on the counter and looked up. She didn't even try and look guilty. "What are you doing here?"
He stopped in front of her and put his hands on his hips. "You stole my granola idea."
"Don't be absurd."