THE EMPTY CHAIR AT HER SISTER’S WEDDING WAS SUPPOSED TO PROVE HER FIANCÉ HAD LEFT HER—BUT WHEN A QUIET STRANGER SAT BESIDE HER, KORA NEVER IMAGINED HE OWNED THE HOTEL, OR THAT HIS FAMILY WAS ALREADY PLANNING THE MARRIAGE THAT COULD DESTROY THEM BOTH

left Liam a note.

Thank you. I will come back.

The next Friday, Liam took her to dinner at a small Italian restaurant a long block from the river, the kind where the owner answered the phone himself.

He did not kiss her cheek when they met.

He did not take her elbow.

He did not touch her chair in a proprietary way.

He waited until she sat, then sat across continue reading …