Page 114 of Reign

“You know, I once thought you were my friend,” Daphne said softly.

“Iwasyour friend.” Nina found that she wanted to cry, too. “When I saw you with Jeff in the hospital that day—the hateful way you stared at me—I thought you’d been playing me the whole time. It wrecked me, Daphne.”

“I didn’t play you.” Daphne’s voice was small.

“I know that now.”

Nina had realized as much at the department store, when Daphne had accused her of working with Gabriella. She and Daphne had both imagined betrayal where there wasn’t any.

It saddened her that they’d been so ready to think the worst of each other.

Nina forced herself to apologize. “I’m sorry if I went too far, sending those emails. Clearly I was wrong, since I bullied you and threatened you and you’restillhere, ready to marry Jeff. I just wanted to make sure you really knew what you were signing on for.”What you were giving up,she almost added.

Daphne stared at Nina in disbelief. “How can I possibly call off the wedding now?”

“I think the better question is, how can you marry someone you don’t love?”

A knock at the door interrupted them. Daphne and Nina exchanged a glance, and then Daphne called out, a little hoarse, “Come in.”

A young woman with a perky smile, probably one of the PR team, ducked inside. “Excuse me, Miss Daphne, but it’s time for your bridal photos in the orchard.”

Nina stared at Daphne in disbelief. “The orchard? Really?”

“It’s beautiful this time of year, and I need a branch from the bridal tree, anyway.” Daphne stood and slipped her arms into a luxurious white coat. Then she looked at Nina as if reaching some decision. “Are you coming?”

Samantha hoped she’d done the right thing, leaving Daphne and Nina alone together. The looks on both their faces had frightened her a little. But there had been a steely determination in Nina’s voice when she told Sam to go, and that, at least, made her hope that Nina had a plan.

“Sam?”

Slowly, heart racing, Sam turned around.

There he was, standing a few yards down the hallway—the boy she’d given her heart to, who had it still.

“Marshall?”

If this was a movie, she would run headlong into his arms, and they would kiss as the soundtrack—probably violins or something else romantic—swelled in volume.I’m sorry, and I love you, they would both say, as if their time apart had never happened.

But this wasn’t a movie; it was real life, and Sam found that she couldn’t run. She just stood rooted to the spot as Marshall started toward her. He looked like he’d come straight from the plane, in an old college sweatshirt and sneakers.

The world spun around Sam. She blinked, fighting off the disorienting, dizzying feeling, and tried to speak.

“What are youdoinghere?”

“I came back for you,” he said simply.

“So you’re staying?” Sam’s heart leapt.

Marshall’s smile faltered at her words. “I thought…don’t you want to come back to Hawaii after the wedding? You’ve accomplished everything you came here to do. You must have resolved things with Jeff, if you’re in the wedding,” he added, nodding at her bridesmaid dress. “I was thinking we could go to the wedding together, then leave straight from the reception. I called your aunt Margaret for help, and we have a plane ready.”

She blinked; this was all happening too fast. “Your family will be at the wedding. They’ll see you.”

“What are they going to do, arrest me and drag me away? I’ll tell them we’re going back to Hawaii and there’s nothing they can do to stop us. I’m not afraid to take on my grandfather, Sam,” he said fervently. “I would do anything to protect us.”

Marshall took another step toward her; they were only a few feet apart.

He was going to kiss her. The thought of it was so tempting: melting into Marshall’s arms, pulling him close and breathing him in. Running away again, far from everything that was hurtling toward them.

No. Sam refused to bury their issues beneath a kiss, and she was done running away.