Cautiously he released his hold and braced himself for her to take him at his word and attack him.
Instead, she staggered to the centre of the living room and flopped to the floor. The mermaid tail of her dress made a perfect semi-circle around her. Her chest rose heavily and she lifted her head to stare at him. Misery and contempt pierced him.
Without saying a word, she removed each sparkling shoe in turn. There was a moment when he thought she was going to throw them at him but, after a small hesitation, she flung them to her side.
When she finally spoke there was a metallic edge to her tone that made his veins run cold.
‘Did you enjoy your revenge?’
‘I tried to stop it.’ He knew it was a pathetic thing to say even before her face twisted.
He dragged a hand through his hair and took a deep breath before reaching carefully through the debris of glass for the saved bottle of bourbon.
‘You couldn’t have tried very hard.’ She laughed, a robotic sound that made him flinch. ‘I think your revenge worked. The ruthless Stefano Moretti shows the world that you mess with him at your peril, even if you’re his wife. My humiliation will make front page news everywhere.’
He unscrewed the bottle and put it to his lips. The liquid burned his throat.
‘It was too late to stop it. Miranda must have known I’d change my mind. She made it impossible for me to contact her.’
‘Miranda Appleton? That witch?’
He nodded and drank some more.
‘You’re blaming her?’
‘No. The only one to blame for tonight is me. I set it up.’ After everything that had been said and done between them, the only thing they were left with was the truth. ‘I called her last week, the day after I brought you home from hospital, and gave her a statement. I put an embargo on it that was to be lifted at nine thirty this evening.’
‘And what did your statement say?’ Though she was outwardly calmer, he could see she was clinging to her control by a whisker.
‘That the rumours about our marriage were true and that I would be issuing you with divorce papers tomorrow morning.’
‘Happy anniversary to me.’
‘At the time I thought it fitting.’
‘And all the times you made love to me? Treated me like a princess? Cared for me? Where did that all fit in? I suppose that was to humiliate me privately as well as publicly so that every time I thought of us together in Santa Cruz, the city I love, I would be reminded that I’d been a fool to think I could take you on and win?’
She knew him too well. Better than he knew himself.
Shame rolled through him like a dark cloud. He jerked a nod. There was nothing he could say to defend himself. He didn’t want to even try.
‘The cab? Where was that going to take me?’ she asked.
‘Out of my life.’
She laughed again. He had never heard such a pitiful sound.
‘So, if I’m to believe you’d changed your mind—and in fairness I can see you got cold feet about the cab side of it, so let’s give you the benefit of the doubt about that—what brought the change of heart about? You’ve played me like a violin all week to reach this point so why back out at the last minute?’
‘I’ve been having doubts.’
She trembled but her voice remained steady. ‘Doubts? That’s a good one. Doubts about what?’
‘About whether you really had set out to frame me for adultery and fleece me for as much money as you could get all along.’
Pain lashed her features. ‘That’s what you believed?’
He gripped the bottle tightly. He’d been so caught up with all that had just happened that he’d lost sight of what had driven him to these actions in the first place.