Local Hero

“You’re not being reasonable.”
    “
I’m not?
” Struggling for calm, he walked behind her and began to do up her buttons. Her back went rigid. “You’re the one who’s basing her feelings now on something that happened years ago.”
    “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    “Maybe not, and maybe now’s not the best time, but you’re going to have to.” Though she resisted, he turned her around. “We’re going to have to.”
    She wanted to get away, far enough that she could bury everything that had been said. But for the moment she had to face it. “Mitch, we’ve known each other for a matter of weeks, and we’ve just begun to be able to accept what’s happening between us.”
    “What
is
happening?” he demanded. “Aren’t you the one who said at the beginning that you weren’t interested in casual sex?”
    She paled a bit, then turned away to pick up her suit jacket. “There wasn’t anything casual about it.”
    “No, there wasn’t, not for either of us. You understand that?”
    “Yes, but—”
    “Hester, I said I loved you. Now I want to know how you feel about me.”
    “I don’t know.” She let out a gasp when he grabbed her shoulders again. “I tell you I don’t know. I think I love you. Today. You’re asking me to risk everything I’ve done, the life I’ve built for myself and Rad, over an emotion I already know can change overnight.”
    “Love doesn’t change overnight,” he corrected. “It can be killed or it can be nurtured. That’s up to the people involved. I want a commitment from you, a family, and I want to give those things back to you.”
    “Mitch, this is all happening too fast, much too fast for both of us.”
    “Damn it, Hester, I’m thirty-five years old, not some kid with hot pants and no brains. I don’t want to marry you so I can have convenient sex and a hot breakfast, but because I know we could have something together, something real, something important.”
    “You don’t know what marriage is like; you’re only imagining.”
    “And you’re only remembering a bad one. Hester, look at me. Look at me,” he demanded again. “When the hell are you going to stop using Radley’s father as a yardstick?”
    “He’s the only one I’ve got.” She shook him off again and tried to catch her breath. “Mitch, I’m flattered that you want me.”
    “The hell with that.”
    “Please.” She dragged a hand through her hair. “I do care about you, and the only thing I’m really sure of is that I don’t want to lose you.”
    “Marriage isn’t the end of a relationship, Hester.”
    “I can’t think about marriage. I’m sorry.” The panic flowed in and out of her voice until she was forced to stop and calm it. “If you don’t want to see me anymore, I’ll try to understand. But I’d rather . . . I hope we can just let things go on the way they are.”
    He dug his hands into his pockets. He had a habit of pushing too far too fast and knew it. But he hated to waste the time he could already imagine them having together. “For how long, Hester?”
    “For as long as it lasts.” She closed her eyes. “That sounds hard. I don’t mean it to. You mean a great deal to me, more than I thought anyone ever would again.”
    Mitch brushed a finger over her cheek and brought it away wet. “A low blow,” he murmured, studying the tear.
    “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to do this. I had no idea that you were thinking along these lines.”
    “I can see that.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “In three dimensions.”
    “I’ve hurt you. I can’t tell you how much I regret that.”
    “Don’t. I asked for it. The truth is, I hadn’t planned on asking you to marry me for at least a week.”
    She started to touch his hand, then stopped. “Mitch, can we just forget all this, go on as we were?”
    He reached out and straightened the collar of her jacket. “I’m afraid not. I’ve made up my mind, Hester. That’s something I try to do only once or twice a year. Once I’ve done it, there’s no turning back.” His gaze came up to hers with that rush of intensity she felt to the bone. “I’m going to marry you, sooner or later. If it has to be later, that’s fine. I’ll just give you some time to get used to it.”
    “Mitch, I won’t change my mind. It wouldn’t be fair if I let you think I would. It isn’t a matter of a whim, but of a promise I made to myself.”
    “Some promises are best broken.”
    She shook her head. “I