Risky Business

daughter, Elizabeth.”
    “She’s done a great deal of it herself.”
    He turned and saw the nerves on her face. It didn’t displease him. But he remembered the way she’d looked when she had opened her arms to Faith at the airport. He wanted, he would, see her look that way again. “Do you want to talk inside?” he began as he walked up the steps. “Or right here?”
    “Jonas, I don’t know why you’ve come back, but—”
    “Of course you know why I’ve come back. You’re not stupid.”
    “We don’t have anything to talk about.”
    “Fine.” He closed the distance quickly. She didn’t resist, though she told herself she would. When he dragged her against him, she went without hesitation. Her mouth locked hungrily to his, and for a moment, just for a moment, the world was right again. “If you don’t want to talk, we’ll go inside and make love until you see things a little more clearly.”
    “I see things clearly.” Liz put her hands on his arms and started to draw away.
    “I love you.”
    He felt the shudder, saw the flash of joy in her eyes before she looked away. “Jonas, this isn’t possible.”
    “Wrong. It’s entirely possible—in fact, it’s already done. The point is, Liz, you need me.”
    Her eyes narrowed to slits. “What I need I take care of.”
    “That’s why I love you,” he said simply and took the wind out of her sails.
    “Jonas—”
    “Are you going to tell me you haven’t missed me?” She opened her mouth, then shut it again. “Okay, so you take the Fifth on that one.” He stepped back from her. “Are you going to deny that you’ve spent some sleepless nights in the past couple of weeks, that you’ve thought about what happened between us? Are you going to stand here and look at me now and tell me you’re not in love with me?”
    She’d never been able to lie well. Liz turned and meticulously spread the dishcloth over the porch rail. “Jonas, I can’t run my life on my feelings.”
    “From now on you can. Did you like the present Faith brought you?”
    “What?” Confused, she turned back. “Yes, of course I did.”
    “Good. I brought you one too.” He took a box out of his pocket. Liz saw the flash of diamond and nearly had her hand behind her back before he caught it in his. Firmly, he slipped the ring on. “It’s official.”
    She wouldn’t even look at it. She couldn’t stop herself. The diamond was shaped in a teardrop and as white and glossy as a wish. “You’re being ridiculous,” she told him, but couldn’t make herself take it off.
    “You’re going to marry me.” He took her shoulders and leaned her back against a post. “That’s not negotiable. Afterthat, we have several options. I can give up my practice and live in Cozumel. You can support me.”
    She let out a quick breath that might have been a laugh. “Now you’re really being ridiculous.”
    “You don’t like that one. Good, I didn’t care for it either. You can come back to Philadelphia with me. I’ll support you.”
    Her chin went up. “I don’t need to be supported.”
    “Excellent. We agree on the first two options.” He ran his hands through her hair and discovered he wasn’t feeling as patient as he’d thought he would. “Now, you can come back to the States. We’ll take a map and you can close your eyes and pick a spot. That’s where we’ll live.”
    “We can’t run our lives this way.” She pushed him aside to walk down the length of the porch and back. But part of her was beginning to believe they could. “Don’t you see how impossible it is?” she demanded as much of herself as of him. “You have your career. I have my business. I’d never be a proper wife for someone like you.”
    “You’re the only wife for someone like me.” He grabbed her shoulders again. No, he wasn’t feeling patient at all. “Damn it, Liz, you’re the only one. If the business is important to you, keep it. Have Luis run it. We can come back a half a dozen times a year if you want. Start another business. We’ll go to Florida, to California, anywhere you want where they need a good dive shop. Or…” He waited until he was sure he had her full attention. “You could go back to school.”
    He saw it in her eyes—the surprise, the dream, then the denial. “That’s over.”
    “The hell it is. Look at you—it’s what you want. Keep the shop, build another, build ten others, but give yourself something for yourself.”
    “It’s been more than ten