Once Upon a Proposal by Allison Leigh

his finger at all.
    Which only succeeded in making her lips tingle even more.
    â€œI know that was years ago. Look, I’ll admit that there were women—” he grimaced a little “—a lot of women, for a while after Steph and I split. But none of them mattered. And since I’ve come to Seattle, I’ve had more important thingson my plate.” He moved his hand back to her shoulder. His lips twisted wryly. “If that gets me a sympathy vote, I’m not above using it to my advantage, either.”
    Sympathy wasn’t what was curling through her.
    â€œI don’t want to mess anything up for you.”
    His hands tightened. “You won’t.”
    â€œThat’s what my fiancé told me,” she countered, “and he learned how wrong he was, too.”
    â€œYou were engaged?”
    â€œ Were being the operative word.”
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œNearly a year ago.”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    She exhaled. Maybe if he knew, he’d understand. “I was engaged to Lawrence McKay.”
    His brows pulled together. “He has something to do with the city, doesn’t he?”
    â€œHe’s on the city council, though he has much grander aspirations.” At least he had when they were dating.
    She stepped away from Gabe’s hands, hoping that her mind would function more clearly if he wasn’t touching her. But when she stepped backward, her sharp heel caught in her gown and she heard an ominous rip as she tottered backward.
    â€œWhoa.” He caught her before she could fall flat on her rear.
    â€œSee?” She craned her head around, lifting the back of her gleaming gown to see the torn hem. “This is the kind of stuff that always happens!”
    â€œYou catch your heel?”
    â€œOr I spill cherry pie down the front of a white blouse at a fund-raising luncheon, or I laugh too loud, or I don’t get a joke when everyone else does. Or I tell the largest supporter of my fiancé’s congressional aspirations that he’s a hypocritefor publicly criticizing a waterfront project that he’s privately investing in!”
    â€œSounds like he was a hypocrite.”
    â€œWhich wasn’t the point. Lawrence needed a woman by his side who was a credit to him, not someone who hadn’t stuck with one job for more than a year at a time and that he was constantly having to find excuses for, or—”
    â€œHe sounds like a drip,” Gabe said flatly.
    Bobbie stared. “That’s what Fiona calls him.”
    â€œAnd she’s generally right when it comes to summing up people. So what happened after you called the hypocrite a hypocrite?”
    She made a face. “Lawrence learned that I wasn’t sitting on the trust fund he assumed I’d have.”
    â€œWhy would he think you had a trust fund?”
    â€œBecause my father was Harrison Hunt’s partner when he started HuntCom and I’d already donated a…small amount to his campaign.” If nearly every dime she’d had left in her savings could be considered small. She rubbed the side of her nose, looking away.
    Uncle Harry had given her and her sisters each a hundred thousand dollars when they’d graduated from high school. Bobbie, of course, was the only one who had managed to fritter away the money without accomplishing something brilliant first. Like opening her own restaurant or traveling the world or getting a fancy degree.
    â€œHe made the same assumption that a lot of people have, who know about my connection with the Hunts. But my father died when I was little and with expenses and, um, stuff, there wasn’t as much left over for us as there might have been. HuntCom didn’t really take off until after that.”
    â€œAnd McKay?”
    â€œBroke off the engagement, of course.”
    â€œHe’s an idiot.”
    â€œIn front of five hundred people attending the fund-raising dinner,” she added.
    He