Ezra tilted his chin down slightly and looked at her, both eyebrows arched. His expression would say what his words didn't: both of the explanations she'd offered seemed rather thin. Guilt was the more likely answer, because it was perfectly reasonable to assume that he would be feeling guilty in the situation as she understood it, but it didn't explain why he would have told her. If he'd been feeling guilty about tricking her into marrying him, he could have broken it off for any reason at all, or no reason at all. There was no reason to admit to what was presumably a well-guarded family secret if he intended to chase her out of the relationship. As for cold feet, well — she could not seriously have believed that, he didn't think, so it didn't even merit thoughtful consideration in his response.

"Thousands of times," he said. "And you've never come up with an answer that feels right."

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