Page 45 of A Convenient Ring to Claim Her

“Do not say you are going back to Canada. You are not running away. You want to know why I want to marry you? So you’ll have to sit there and work things out with me for a change.”

“There’s nothing to work out,” Quinn insisted, and did walk away.

Quinn’s heart was knocked sideways by his proposal. On the one hand, it suggested he had deeper feelings for her than he’d ever let on, but it also felt threatening.

She had promised herself for years that she would never marry. Partly because, as a feminist, she did think marriage was an outdated institution, but, more importantly, as someone who had been dependent on people who didn’t really care about her, she couldn’t stomach anything but complete self-sufficiency.

That was why she had made such a point of keeping an ocean and every other type of boundary between herself and Micah. At least, she had managed to until this last week when she had become almost completely reliant on him.

Even on an emotional level, she was sliding down a slippery slope.

She further panicked when she arrived in the room they shared. The bed was still mussed from their active night, reminding her of all she would be giving up if she ran away, but she genuinely felt herself in peril. If she stayed, she would finish falling in love with him. Her heartbreak would be even greater when everything fell apart later so why not leave now, when it was on her terms?

Amid her agitated flitting, trying to work out what to do, her phone pinged with a text.

Yasmine.

Can you call me when you have a minute? Any time is fine.

Worried it had something to do with Remy and therefore Eden, Quinn jabbed the button for a video chat.

“That was fast. Hi! Howareyou?” Yasmine greeted brightly. She wore a colorful scarf over her locks, shimmery gold eyeshadow and violet lipstick. “Remy told me about your shoulder. I thought if you’re in a sling, you wouldn’t want to type.”

“Calling is easier. Thanks.” Her heart warmed that Yasmine was so understanding. “So this is a social call? I was worried something was wrong.”

“No, I’m fine. Definitely social.” A pause, then, “Mostly.”

“Oh? Do you need something?”

“No,” she insisted. “No, I actually saw your photo on the red carpet in Berlin and I guess I was surprised you were still, um...” Her gaze seemed to search Quinn’s through the screen. “Seeing Micah.”

“I’m not.” Her own voice sounded so high she thought it ought to crack the screen on her phone. “I’ve been staying with him, but I was thinking about checking flights to Canada today—”

She realized Micah had come to the bedroom door.

She swallowed as she met his grim expression.

“I heard my name. Is that Eden?”

“Yasmine.” Her throat dried to a rasp.

His cheek ticked once before he drew the door shut and, presumably, walked back downstairs. Maybe left the apartment and the building and the country.

Oh God.

“Is it bad that we’re talking? I didn’t mean to start anything between you,” Yasmine moaned.

“You didn’t. I promise. We’re going through our own thing.”

“Oh?” That was concern, not lurid curiosity, but Quinn didn’t want to get into her own baggage about marriage and family and how very deeply she was hung up on Micah.

“It’s nothing. Honestly,” Quinn lied.

“How, um... How is he?” Yasmine asked apprehensively. “Remy told me he knows about me. Is that why he walked away? Believe me, I get that he needs time. I wasn’t trying to impose myself on him. Oh, maybe I was trying to get his temperature,” she acknowledged with a small cringe.

“It’s understandable that you’re curious,” Quinn said faintly.

“I am, but...” She blew out a breath. “Eden mentioned introducing us when he comes to Canada for their mother’s birthday. I don’t want to put him on the spot like that. And with Remy there, weighing everything we might say to each other? That would be way too much tension for everyone involved. I guess I called you hoping you would tell him I don’t expect him to meet me if he doesn’t want to.”

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