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could handle whatever her parents threw at him.
    “You must really love him to make that kind of sacrifice,” he replied.
    Evie looked back at him, wondering if he could see through her ruse. Genuine concern filled his eyes, and guilt twinged in her stomach. Evie shrugged. “So what about you? I’m guessing you don’t have a girlfriend the way my parents blatantly threw me at you the other night.”
    A light shade of crimson rose to Eli’s cheeks. “No one at the moment.”
    “But there was someone?” Curiosity replaced the guilt. “Did she have anything to do with you moving back?”
    Eli wrinkled his forehead. “Yes, there was someone, and I’m still not sure if she had anything to do with me being here. When I left D.C., I promised she wasn’t the reason. If I intended to get into politics, I needed to start somewhere I would have a chance of winning an election. With Dad’s reputation it seemed natural to come back here.”
    “So what happened?” Evie resisted the urge to perch on the edge of her seat.
    Eli shifted uncomfortably. “I wouldn’t want to bore you.”
    “That’s not quite fair,” she whined and pushed her lower lip out in a flirty pout. “You know all about Ben and me. Isn’t it only fair for you to open up to me, too?”
    Eli twisted one side of his mouth. “You’re right, but I hate talking about old girlfriends. She grew up in a tough home. Her mother left when she was in grade school, and her father was an alcoholic. She worked hard through school to get a scholarship to college and moved away from home when she turned eighteen. We met when we were juniors in college, and I fell in love instantly.”
    As Eli talked about his ex-girlfriend, he seemed uneasy. She’d wondered what it would take to shake his confidence and now she’d found his hot button. Strangely, it brought her no pleasure. “So what happened?” she pressed gently.
    He sighed, as if resigning himself to telling the full story. “We were engaged when my father passed away. She seemed to think I would simply step into Dad’s shoes. At that time I wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted to do. If I did go into politics, I knew I would need to come back here to start. She kept pushing me to call Dad’s colleagues in D.C. to ask for a job in one of their offices. When I tried to explain that I was waiting for God to show me his direction, she got really upset. Later, when the invitations to the top political functions stopped coming, she became more and more irritated.” Eli paused to sip his coffee, then turned to stare out the window into the afternoon sun.
    Finally, something real about this guy. Unable to wait for him to continue, she prodded him a bit. “So what did she do?” she asked quietly, hoping her voice did not sound too eager.
    Eli swiveled his gaze back to Evie. “She found someone who still received those invitations and broke it off with me,” he said in a straightforward manner.
    Evie bit the corner of her lip as she stared at Eli. He dipped his head as he concentrated on his cup of coffee. She had no idea discussing this woman would upset him so much. When he finally looked up, his eyes held a dark sadness. She swallowed her next question. Maybe she had already pushed him too far for the day.
    She had intended to use him as an example of how miserable her parents’ choice would make her, but she hadn’t planned to make him miserable in the process. Then again, if she pushed him, if he revealed more of himself to her, she would know what to say and do to keep him at arm’s length so he didn’t get hurt when she eventually broke up with him.
    “So when you told me to hold on to Ben if he was truly uninterested in my family’s name and money, you were really talking about…”
    “Whitney.” His voice was raspy and deep with emotion.
    “Whitney,” she echoed, letting the woman’s name drift into the air between them. She wondered for a moment what this Whitney looked like. Was she tall