Page 108 of The House Guest

“Sorry.” I shook my head. “I’m getting ahead of myself.”

“Take your time, Primrose. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Thank you.” I rubbed my palms on my pants. “I called off my wedding to Casey.”

He took a breath in. “I see.”

“Marrying him wasn’t what I wanted in my heart of hearts. It took me a while to reach that conclusion, but it was inevitable. I’d felt that way even before Dorian came to town. I was still in love with him and never got over the heartbreak. It affected my ability to fully give myself to Casey, despite what a wonderful man he is.”

“You’re leaving Casey altogether?”

I nodded. “He’s determined to save our relationship somehow. But he knows about Dorian.”

“He knows you’re here?”

“Hetoldme to come here and sort out my feelings. He broke up with me to give me that freedom. I’m here for a week.”

“You came here to get Dorian back, then...”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what I expected, Benjamin. I needed to see Dorian while I had nothing holdingme back and to apologize for not being brave enough to accept my feelings for what they were when he was in Ohio.”

“What made you run like that from the main house tonight? Second thoughts?”

Looking down, I played with some lint on the sofa. “I saw him with her.”

“Ah.” He closed his eyes. “I feared it was something like that.”

“They’re serious?” My stomach tensed.

After a brief hesitation, Benjamin nodded. “It’s new, but things seem to be moving fast. I believe she’s helping him get over you. I also believe he’s happier than he was before he met her. But if you were gonna come here, I think you might’ve arrived just in the nick of time.”

Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. “What if I’m too late?”

“I can’t answer that for you, sweetheart.”

I chewed on my lip. “Maybe I should go home.”

“Don’t you think he deserves to know you’re here? You came all this way.”

“I think maybe what he really deserves is peace. My being here will only disrupt that.”

“I think Dorian finding out that you came here and left without seeing him would provide him anything but peace.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to know.”

“Primrose…” Benjamin frowned and quite frankly looked a little sorry for me.

“I wanted to believe that love conquers all, but haven’t I done enough, Benjamin? And who’s to say he doesn’tlove her now? This is my fault for not being true to my feelings when he gave me the opportunity to choose him again. I was a coward.”

“None of this is your fault,” Benjamin assured me. “It’s no one’s fault. It’s just the way things happened. Not to mention, you had averygood reason for not jumping back into Dorian’s arms.”

“Does she live with him now?” I asked.

“She’s not officially moved in.”

I stared off. “They were slow dancing,” I said softly. “It looked so romantic.”

“I’m sorry you had to see that. But you need to remember, he thinks he lost you. Anything he’s doing is based on that.”