His eyes narrowed as he pushed out of the swing. She took a step back. A muscle twitched beneath his eye as he stared at her. “Right where we started.” He bent down and snagged his T-shirt, turning it right side out before pulling it back over his head. “It was fun, Emerald. It was great. But we both know that your life isn’t here on this farm. Your work, your life is in New York.”
Emerald felt curiously detached as she watched him, a peculiar numbness coming over her. Her heart felt as if it had shattered into little pieces. He wasn’t going to ask her to stay. Didn’t want her to stay. She’d gone into this knowing there were no promises or guarantees, but God how it hurt.
It wasn’t his fault that she’d fallen in love with him, but he didn’t love her. Like he’d said, they’re both adults and they had a good time together. Now it was over. She wouldn’t make a scene even if it killed her. He’d saved her life for heaven’s sake. The least she could do was get out of his life and let him rebuild what her coming had shattered.
“I’ll pack my things and go.”
Jackson nodded. “That’s probably for the best.” He opened his mouth as if he might say more, but closed it again. The muscles in his jaw were tight and his hands were fisted as he stalked away from her. He stopped at the bottom of the steps and for a second she hoped and prayed that he might turn around and come back to her. One word from him and she was ready to admit that she loved him and wanted to stay.
Tension surrounded them. Emerald could almost feel an invisible thread between them, holding them together. Then it snapped as Jackson thumped down the steps and hurried across the yard. He didn’t look back.
She watched him until he disappeared from sight, swallowed up by the orchard. Tears filled her eyes, slowly overflowing and trailing down her cheeks. Swiping at them, she shuffled into the house. The room she’d stayed in had escaped most of the damage from the kitchen fire, but it had been cleaned and aired. Emerald yanked her bag out of the closet and began to stuff her clothing into it. It didn’t take her long. Her laptop was gone, destroyed in the explosion, but she’d get another. She still had her sketchbook with all her original drawings and ideas. Not that she’d ever forget the farm or the man who lived here.
Dragging her bags out to her car, she threw them into the trunk and slammed it shut. She went into the house one last time and walked through it. Standing in the doorway to Jackson’s room, she stared at the chair where he’d held her so tenderly while he’d fed her. Her eyes strayed to the bed and her feet moved forward as if some unseen force were propelling her.
She sat down on the bed and inhaled, dragging Jackson’s unique outdoorsy scent into her lungs. A shirt was tossed onto the end of the bed and she picked it up, bringing it to her nose and sniffing. It smelled like him. Standing, she tucked the shirt beneath her arm and left. Her bare feet made no sound on the stairs as she padded down to the main floor. She ignored the fresh, new kitchen as she strode through it, didn’t stop to admire the brand-new maple trestle table situated in the center of the room. Tears pricked her eyes, but she wiped them away.
She was alive and her stalker had been caught. That was all that mattered. She’d shared an incredible few weeks with an exceptional man and now it was over. It was time to move on with her life.
Tilting her chin up, she walked out of the farmhouse and closed the door behind her. Stopping long enough to snag her sandals, she hurried to her car without looking at the porch swing. Emerald slid into the front seat of her car, shut the door and turned on the ignition in one smooth motion. She backed the car away from the house and headed down the road, refusing to look in the rearview mirror as she drove away.
Jackson watched from the edge of the tree line as Emerald left the house for the last time and got into her car. His fingers dug into the trunk of the tree to keep from running to her and dragging her back inside. He didn’t want her to go, but he had no right to keep her here.
Their relationship had been intense because of the circumstances that had brought them together. But he knew that her life was not here. She was a city girl, reared in a famous family. Her family and her career were in New York. He was a farm boy through and through and could never be happy anywhere else.
These past few weeks had been the best of his life. Emerald had filled a void he hadn’t even known existed until she’d arrived. Smart, funny and beautiful, she’d brought joy and sunshine to his mundane existence. There was no doubt in his mind that he loved her. He could easily picture growing old with her, rearing a family together. But that wasn’t in the cards.
He loved her enough to let her go.
He knew himself well and knew there would never be another woman for him. Emerald, with her curly black hair and her gypsy looks was the one for him. Any other woman would pale in comparison.
As the car pulled away, he took a step forward, reaching out his hand as if he could somehow stop her. He blinked as his eyes began to sting. It was only dirt on the breeze, he assured himself as he dragged his hand over his eyes. As the car disappeared from view, he turned and slowly trudged back to work.
Chapter Twenty
Emerald stared at her computer screen, her eyes burning from overwork. All she’d done since she’d returned home to New York was work. She’d not only managed to recreate all the work she’d lost when her computer was destroyed in the kitchen explosion, she’d outlined an entire new collection as well. Seasons, she was calling it.
So far she’d created summer, which consisted of wildflowers such as daisies, buttercups, violets and a multitude of others, along with butterflies and bees. It was colorful and dramatic and would look wonderful on cards, stationery and journal covers, not to mention a line of accessories that would be ready for next summer.
Now she was starting the work on the fall collection. She wanted rich burnt orange, red and gold as her palette. She’d done some research on the area surrounding Meadows, seen some pictures of the autumn season, but it wasn’t the same.
Pushing her chair away from her desk, she rose and went to the window. Staring out, she took in the sights and sounds of the city. People and traffic bustled up and down the busy streets. Horns blared, people shouted. What had filled her with energy and excitement only months before now just annoyed her.
Slamming the window shut, she leaned her head against the glass and took a deep breath. She longed for the clean air of the countryside, the sound of the birds twittering in the morning, the silence. She wanted to be back on the farm with Jackson.
But she had to stop thinking about him. What was done was done.
“Are you okay?” Emerald almost groaned aloud. It was Topaz. Both she and Sapphire had been watching her like a pair of hawks since she’d returned home.
Summoning up a weak smile, she turned from the window. “I’m fine. I’ve finished the summer collection and started on autumn.”
“That’s good.” Topaz strolled into the room, looking chic and sophisticated in a cool green linen suit. Chunks of amber circled her wrist, set in an intricate band of silver. It was one of Sapphire’s pieces. Emerald, in her jeans and Jackson’s shirt, felt like a wrung-out dishrag next to her sister.
As Emerald watched warily, her sister went to the desk and examined several finished designs for the summer line. Her stomach clenched and she realized she was slightly nervous. With everything that had gone on with the stalker and her design block before that, it had been quite a while since she’d created anything this special.