“Then I’ll tell him no. Just like I did before.”

“Why would you give up everything for me?”

He looked straight at her. “Because I catch myself watching the door for your face. Because I admire your mind and your nerve. And because tonight you saved my life, when everyone in this town assumed you were the fragile one who needed saving.”

He didn’t reach for some hollow compliment about her looks. He told her he loved her as she was. Rosalie leaned in and kissed him first.

The next morning, fire investigators ruled the blaze deliberate arson, finding chemical accelerants in the hallway.

Phone logs showed the family lawyer, Wesley Turner, had called the property guard just before the man vanished.