"If you're sure?"

"l am."

She straightened and gave someone behind her a thumbs-up. "He meant it. He wasn't interested. Swear to God, I don't think he could pick me out of a lineup. Dani's a lucky girl."

"Appreciate it, Heather," Reid Buchanan said as he walked up to the table and gave Alex a rueful smile. "Hey, she's my sister. I was just checking."

Alex wanted to hit him. Just once, with enough force to break his nose. Not that he would. While he resented being tested, he knew that he would do exactly the same thing for one of his sisters.

"No problem," Alex said. "I'm not worried about passing any test you have. I love Dani. I want to marry her."

Reid sat down. “That's putting it on the table. So why did you ask me to come meet you? You want permission or something?"

Alex shook his head. "Not permission. Just a little help. I'm planning an intervention."

"What? Why?"

"Dani thinks she has to leave Seattle. It's complicated and a lot of it is about the senator's run for president. She doesn't like being in the press, doesn't like that she upset my mother. So she's going to run away. Or so she thinks."

"I don't know anything about this."

"I doubt she's told very many people." He pulled a small, velvet box out of his jacket pocket and put it on the table.

Reid picked it up, opened it and studied the ring. "It's so sudden," he said. "We barely know each other."

"I work fast."

Reid grinned. "I thought I'd make you squirm."

"It would take a lot more than that. I'm going to ask Dani to marry me and I'm not taking no for an answer."

Reid's gaze narrowed. "It's not your decision to make."

"She loves me. She wants to stay in Seattle. But she's hell-bent on sacrificing herself for the good of the family. The whole family. Your side and mine."

"So why tell me all this?"

For the first time since Reid showed up, Alex felt uncomfortable. "I don't know how to approach her. I tried the romantic dinner route and that was a total failure. She's going to be leaving in the next couple of days so I don't have much time. I figured a frontal assault might work. You, me, the rest of the family. Together we can convince her to stay, I'll propose, she'll say yes and we'll live happily ever after."

"You have it all planned out. What if Dani doesn't want to marry you?"

Alex didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about how dark and cold his world would be without her light.

"No one could love her more than I do," he said at last. "If she says no, I'll keep trying. She's everything to me."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because from what I hear, you know what it's like to want to sell your soul to be with the one woman who matters."

Reid nodded slowly. "Good answer."


***

Katherine rode the elevator to Fiona's high-rise condo. She only had a few minutes, which was fine. She didn't have all that much to say.

Fiona wasn't expecting company so she wasn't her normally perfectly groomed self. Her hair was loose and a little stringy, her sweatshirt had a stain on the front and her jeans hung open, exposing a growing belly.

"Katherine!" Fiona touched her hair, then pulled her sweatshirt down over her stomach. "What are you doing here?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago."

"Oh. All right." Fiona sounded wary. "Please come in."

"I don't think so. What I have to say will come more easily in the doorway." She smiled coldly. "You're good, I'll give you that. You played the mourning, lost ex-wife so well that I bought in to the whole story. You had me doubting Alex, which is too stupid for words. I know the kind of person he is and now I know the kind of person you are."

Fiona shifted uneasily. "I don't know what he's been telling you-"

"Very little," Katherine told her. "That's part of the problem. If he'd told me the truth from the beginning, I would never have trusted you. But he didn't want to speak ill of you, which is a statement to the kind of man he is."

Katherine took a step closer. "I know what happened. I know you cheated, I know you lied and tried to get between him and Dani. I know you've been using me to get to Alex, all in the hopes of being the daughter-in-law of the president. I hate to destroy anyone's dreams, but that isn't going to happen. Alex will never go back to you, I will never trust you again and for the record, Mark is no longer running for president. Stay away from me and my family. If I ever see you trying to ingratiate yourself with someone I know, I'll tell that person everything that has happened."

She glanced down at Fiona's stomach. "I suggest you get the real father of your baby to marry you."

"Are you kidding? He's a nobody. Damn him. This should have been Alex's baby. He was supposed to stay married to me."

Katherine wondered how she could have been so wrong about Fiona. She was usually a good judge of character, but apparently everyone had an off day.

"Stay away from Alex. Stay away from me. Go somewhere else, Fiona. Trust me, it would be for the best."

Katherine turned to leave. Fiona followed her into the hallway.

"You can't do this," she cried. "We were friends. That has to mean something."

Katherine glanced back at her. "We were never friends. You played to win and you lost. Deal with the consequences. They're relatively minor. If you're smart, you'll appreciate that and disappear. If you try to cross me, you will be very sorry. I promise you that."

"You don't frighten me."

Katherine smiled slowly. "Don't I? Are you sure?”

Fiona took a step back. "Bitch. Stupid old cow. I hate you."

"Really? I don't have the energy to even think about you."


***

“This is a mistake," Gloria said as Dani pulled out more clothes and put them on the bed. "You can't run away. I forbid it."

Dani tried to smile. "Then what? I'll be grounded."

"If that's what it takes."

“I’m doing the right thing and deep in your heart you know I’m right. There's no other solution."

"There's always another solution. You can't leave now."

"I don't want to" Dani admitted, wishing they could talk about something else. It was hard enough to think about leaving without facing her grandmother. "I can't keep hurting the people I love."

"You're not hurting your Buchanan family. So what if you hurt them?"

"That's warm and loving."

"Katherine and Mark have eight children of their own. They'll hardly notice you. You're the only granddaughter I have."

Dani didn't know if she should laugh or burst into tears. "You do have a way with words."

"Am I wrong?"

She sank onto the bed. Gloria sat next to her.

"Don't go," her grandmother said. "I’m old. What if I get sick and die and you never see me again?"

"Don't you dare play the death card. That's not fair."

"I don't care about being fair. I want you to stay. Dani, you have to stay. We just found each other."

It hurt so much, Dani thought as she fought against the pain. It hurt to breathe. She didn't want to leave-not now when she'd found everything she'd ever wanted. She was supposed to be starting her dream job, learning about her new family while being with her old family, being in love with a great guy. It should have been perfect. If only…

"I know," Dani said, staring into Gloria's eyes and seeing the pain there. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Stay. We'll work it out. I didn't raise you to be a quitter."

"I'm not quitting. I'm doing what's best. Can't you see those things are bigger than us?"

"They might be bigger than you, but they're not bigger than me."

Dani managed another smile. "You are determined, aren't you?"

"I fight for what's mine. You could learn from that. What about that boy you're seeing? Alex?"

"I don't know. We had a big fight."

"So that's it? One fight and it's over?"

"I can't make him love me."

"How do you know he doesn't? Did you ask? Did you tell him you love him?"

Had she? "Not exactly." And Alex had said he'd fallen for her. Which meant what?

"Not exactly?" Gloria stood and glared at her. "Dammit all to hell, Dani, you're really screwing this up."

Dani opened her mouth, then closed it. "You're swearing. I'm shocked."

"Get over it. This is important. This is your life. This is for real. Why do you feel that everyone else comes first? Why do their dreams matter more than your own?"

"Because she's afraid."

Dani rose and turned toward the speaker. It was Alex. He stood in the doorway to her bedroom.

Her heart instantly started dancing in her chest. The rest of her body sighed in appreciation, as if every cell had always been waiting for him.

She ignored the biological betrayal and raised her chin. "I'm not afraid."

"Sure you are. You've been fighting your whole life and time and time again you got slapped down. All those years fighting Gloria." He glanced at the older woman. "No offense."

"I'll decide if I'm offended when I see where this is going."

Alex turned back to Dani. "You gave everything you had to Hugh and he dumped on you. Ryan was worse because he planned it. Gary was…" He shrugged. "I don't know what Gary was."

"Biblical humor," Dani murmured, not sure what she thought of Alex's words.

"You've been burned so many times, you're afraid to get near the fire. So when you and I got together, you were terrified. Maybe not consciously, but somewhere deep inside. Then you found out you were hurting Katherine, which you hated. You respect her and didn't want to make things harder. You were totally out of your comfort zone. Throw in a political campaign and the attack on Bailey and you reached your breaking point. It makes sense."