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He set down the hamper and throw and quickened his steps in her direction.
Her father?She’d been concerned about his health recently, the stress of keeping his fledgling avionics company afloat taking its toll.
Lieutenant Colonel Williams had retired from the US Air Force last year to start his own firm, a plan Nathalie told him had been in place since her brother Reese’s F-16 was downed in Iraq when she was sixteen.
It was why she’d come to Oxford to study computer science when her genuine passion was art. She intended to help her father design an advanced cockpit system that would keep future pilots alive, even if it wouldn’t bring back her brother.
The proper thing to do would have been to ask Ben Williams for his daughter’s hand before he proposed, but her father’s health kept Nathalie’s parents from attending her graduation, and Ryder was too eager to wait until they met.
Maybe that was why she looked sad.
He reached her side, the tips of his fingers caressing her smooth cheek. “What is it, darling?” Despite his normal reserve, he couldn’t help but touch her.
Only her.
Instead of stepping into his arms like he expected, she stiffened and took a half-step back. Her fingers lifted to toy with the silver earring dangling from her right lobe.
He frowned. She’d never rejected his offer of comfort before.
Why wouldn’t she meet his eyes?
The knot in his stomach crawled to his spine and latched on with icy fingers. He waved toward the hamper before dropping his hand over the pocket holding the ring. “I wanted to set up a picnic before you arrived.”
“I can’t stay. I’m leaving. Back to the States. The day after tomorrow.”
“Has your father’s condition worsened?” Ryder’s heart beat a rapid tattoo inside his chest. This was a temporary separation. She’d be back. She had to come back.
Her head was shaking before he’d finished his sentence. She dragged in a heavy breath and finally, her golden-brown eyes met his.
The sheen of tears in them twisted his insides.
“I’m joining my father’s company. He needs me. That was always the plan.” Her lips trembled, then firmed. “I’m not coming back.”
“I…I don’t understand.” He had the vague sense he was staring into the face of a stranger.
Plans changed when you met your soulmate, didn’t they?
She’d told him she loved him. That she couldn’t imagine life without him.
“We’ll figure out what to do.” He reached for her hand, needing the feel of her warm skin against his.
His anchor.
She pulled away.
The surrounding air changed, and the chill made him shiver. It matched the blank expression on her face.
“I can’t be part of your world of titles and privilege, Ryder, and frankly, I don’t want to be. Your aristocratic circle would never accept me.” Her lips twisted in a parody of a smile. “Think of the gossip—snickering behind your back about how the future Earl of Cannington was slumming it with a Black girl from America.”
He flinched at her harsh words, a curious roar flooding his ears. Where was this coming from? Sure, his parents had been polite but cool when he’d brought Nathalie to the family estate for a visit, but they’d come around, eventually.
“I thought…” His mouth snapped shut. What had he thought? They talked about their future like they would be together, and he’d assumed it would be in London. She knew his father expected him to begin his new position at Arborleigh Holdings next week.
“I can go with you.” The words tumbled out. His father would be furious, but maybe Ryder could do what his sister had done and get an MBA in America, then return to the position waiting for him, with Nathalie accompanying him as his wife.
She was the only person who’d ever made him feel he was enough, just the way he was. He needed her.
Her head shook again. “The gap between our worlds is as wide as the ocean between them.” A tear escaped, then another, traveling over her cheeks in a slow, tragic glide. She swiped at them with trembling fingers. “Your life is here, in England, with your family. My life is back home, in America, with mine.”