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A good question, but some part of him already knew. He wasn’t going to ask her to marry him. He wasn’t going to hold the home over her head the way he’d done a few days earlier. Libby had never deserved that. He would give her the money for Worthington, however much she wanted, and as for Neve’s legacy… He didn’t want it. Not anymore. Her legacy was a poisonous one and he wanted no part of it.

Slowly he lifted his head and looked down into Libby’s pleasure-flushed face. ‘I’m going to give you all the money you want to keep Worthington going indefinitely,’ he said. ‘No strings attached.’

Her golden eyes widened. ‘I thought that was on condition I marry you?’

‘No. You don’t have to marry me. No strings, I said.’

Shock flickered over her lovely face. ‘Why? What made you change your mind?’

‘It’s something Neve wouldn’t even think twice about doing, which means I’m not doing it. I don’t want to be her, Libby. I don’t want to turn into her.’

The breath went out of her. ‘You really mean that?’

‘Yes.’ He shifted his weight off her. ‘I won’t make you stay for Christmas, either. If you want to leave, then I’ll get a helicopter to come and pick you up.’ It was actually the last thing he wanted to do, but he would give her the option, to let her know that he was done with manipulations and strings. Except he found himself watching for her reaction, his heart clenching tight with a hope he didn’t quite understand.

She glanced away, though, making disappointment sit heavy in his gut.

‘Oh,’ she said, sitting up. ‘Well, maybe that would be for the best. The kids need me.’

There was a tense expression on her face that he couldn’t read. ‘That doesn’t mean I want you to leave,’ he clarified, forcing away the sudden urge to pull her close and hold her tight. ‘In fact, I want you to stay.’ It felt exposing to say this, to voice his feelings, but he was done with repressing them. Done with detachment.

Her gaze came to his, then darted away again. ‘I don’t know, Kai,’ she said softly, reaching for her robe and pulling it around her shoulders. ‘I can’t tell you what it means to me to be here with you, to find you again, but…’ She stopped and then looked at him. ‘I have responsibilities. I have people who need me, and staying here…’

He searched her face, pain gathering inside him. ‘Staying here what?’

She let out a breath. ‘I mean, where is this going? You and I?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said with total honesty. ‘But why not stay and find out?’

She looked away yet again, her expression becoming fixed. ‘I can’t, Kai. I can’t leave the kids.’

He reached out and cupped her cheek, turning her attention back to him. ‘But what do you want, Libby? If you didn’t have the home or the kids? If you were on your own and free? Would you want to stay then?’

For a long moment, she stared up at him, and what was in her gaze he didn’t know. But then she carefully pulled away from him, once again. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t.’

Pain wound through him, unexpected and far sharper than the situation seemed to warrant, and he felt his anger rise in response. ‘Why not?’ he demanded. ‘Is it because of Neve? Because of what she did to me?’

A horrified look rippled over her face. ‘No. Oh, my God, no. It’s got nothing to do with that. It’s just… I can’t think about what-ifs. I can’t. I do have the home and I do have the kids, and I can’t abandon them. I’m not looking for relationships. I’ve got too much on my plate as it is.’

The words came out fast, a hollow ring to them, as if it wasn’t him she was trying to convince, but herself. ‘So?’ He couldn’t keep the edge out of his tone. ‘I didn’t say anything about a relationship. It can be only a week if that’s all you want.’

She pulled the robe tighter, as if it was armour she was trying to wrap herself in, her gaze flicking away from his and then back again. ‘Kai, please. I really don’t think it’s a good idea.’

Again, he reached for her, this time taking her chin in his hand and holding it firmly, forcing her to look at him. ‘Why not? What are you afraid of?’

A small golden flame flared briefly in her amber eyes. ‘Nothing,’ she said with a touch of impatience. ‘I’m not afraid. What I am is worried about the kids.’

‘This isn’t about the kids.’ He narrowed his gaze, trying to read her. ‘This is about you and I.’

‘I told you—’

‘Libby.’ Her name was a whip crack, but he didn’t try to temper it. He was tired of her denial. ‘Don’t you dare use those kids as an excuse.’

She blinked then her cheeks flushed, anger leaping in her eyes. ‘Okay, fine,’ she said hotly. ‘I don’t want to stay here with you, because this could become something more and I don’t want it to. You’re still grieving and—’

‘No,’ he interrupted yet again, every part of him tense. ‘That’s just another excuse. What do you mean about something more?’

Libby went very still all of a sudden, and he was sure he saw the gleam of tears before she blinked them away. ‘I missed you so much when you left, Kai. I thought about you constantly for years, but then I managed to let you go, and that made my life so much easier.’ She swallowed. ‘I can’t…do that again. If I stayed and then…’ She broke off.