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“Yes, I do!”

“No, youdon’t.” His tone and his eyes were unyielding. “You just want me to go so youwon’t feel insecure, but you have nothing to feel insecure about. You’ve doneremarkable things with yourself since you left high school. You don’t need todrag a man along with you as a prop to give yourself value in their eyes.”

Lori scowled,her flash of anger intensified by her suspicions that he was entirely rightabout her unconscious motivations. “That’s arrogant and obnoxious,” shesnapped, “There’s nothing unusual about wanting to bring a date to a wedding.Anyone might feel awkward by themselves.”

“Anyone might,”Ander allowed, not at all affected by her indignation. “But you want me to comebecause you still feel second-best. I won’t support those feelings. Ever. Go byyourself. And prove that having a man doesn’t equal success.”

One part of Lorialmost melted at the bland words—it was as if he’d seen into her soul and knewexactly which wounds still needed healing. But another part of her wasfrustrated and annoyed.

For so long, Anderhad done anything she wanted. His role in her life had been to please herbecause she’d paid him to do so. And moving away from that was sometimes a hardtransition. It was hard to recognize that Ander’s will was just as strong ashers and that he could be even more stubborn.

When it didn’tmatter to him, he was still accommodating and considerate, but she’d never beable to push him around.

The fact thatshe was just learning this now was one more sign of how unnatural theirinteractions had been before.

She curled upher lip to show him she wasn’t pleased. “I could always take someone besidesyou.”

He lifted hiseyebrows. “You’re more than welcome to do so. Any possibilities?”

Lori sniffed.“Phil Rothe is available again.” To her delight, she managed to say the wordswithout cracking a smile.

Ander choked onstifled amusement. Then he couldn’t stifle it. Lori watched with a tender acheas he laughed openly, his face transformed with warmth and his body shakingwith the tremors of his hilarity.

“You go rightahead and take Rothe to the wedding,” Ander said at last, laughter stillevident in his voice. “That would prove...something.”

Giving up herbad mood, Lori leaned back against the sofa cushion and smiled up at Ander’sface. “I guess I’ll have to go by myself.” For good measure, she muttered, notquite under her breath, “Jerk.”

Ander’s lipstwitched. “Did you just call me a jerk?” He stood up and picked up the platesto carry into the kitchen. “Want some more wine?”

“Sure,” shereplied absently. Her eyes had come to rest on Ander’s leather case on thefloor, and she experienced a sudden, very familiar surge of curiosity.

Impulsively,she leaned over, opened the case, and pulled out the book Ander had beenreading before.

He hadn’twanted her to see it for some reason.

She stared atthe cover. It didn’t look particularly clandestine or exciting. Some sort ofhistory book on early Aegean art and architecture. Glancing at the spine, shesaw a sticker from a university bookstore. She flipped through the pages andnoticed most of them were marked in the margins with Ander’s small, precisescript.

Vaguely baffledon why he would have wanted to hide such a boring book, she pulled out a fewsheets of paper that were folded and stuck inside.

It was asyllabus for a graduate-level class on ancient Mediterranean archeology. Aclass that, from the time listed under the title, met Wednesday evenings fromsix to nine.

She was staringdown at the syllabus blankly when suddenly it was snatched away. His jaw setand lips pressed tightly together, Ander glared coldly as he pulled the bookout of her grip as well.

“What is this?”she rasped. “Are you taking an archeology class?”

“I put the bookin my case because I didn’t want you to see it,” he bit out. “Will you ever getover this childish habit of snooping?”

“No,” she said,brushing off his cold tone. “That’s what I do. Ander, tell me what’s going on.Are you taking that class? On Wednesdays?”

Despite herconfusion and a little pang of hurt that he would have kept something like thisfrom her, another feeling was starting to swell in her heart.

Hope.

Ander stared ather stonily for another minute, but gradually his face relaxed into tiredresignation. “Yes. I’m taking the class.”

“And it meetson Wednesdays? That’s where you were last night?”

“Yes. That’swhere I was.”

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