Her voice was husky. ‘I thought you said I’d have other priorities—the baby, my role as Queen?’
Alix looked serious. ‘Leila, you inhale the world without even realising you’re doing it—it’s part of you. You’re led by your nose. I want you to be happy here. And I hope that this will make you happy. I know you want more...you deserve so much more...’
A slightly rueful expression crossed his face.
‘And I need you to make me more of that scent, because I destroyed the bottle you gave me in Paris. I destroyed it because I was angry and hurt.’
Leila’s heart gave a little lurch. ‘You weren’t hurt. Your ego was wounded because I dared to say no to you.’
Alix nodded. ‘That’s what I believed. That it was my ego. Except it was a lie that I told myself and kept telling myself, even when I saw you again. The truth is that it wasn’t just my ego—it was my heart. And I didn’t have the guts to admit it to myself.’
He took her hands in his.
‘It hit me today, Leila. Like a ton of bricks. I’ve been falling for you from the moment I saw you in your shop. When we were leaving Isle de la Paix I knew I had to let you go, but I didn’t want to. I think I came up with the idea of proposing to you because it was the only way I could see to make you stay...’
Leila looked at Alix. She said a little dumbly, ‘You’re saying you love me?’
He nodded, looking wary now.
For a second Leila felt a dizzying sweep of pure joy—and then a voice resounded in her head: Silly Leila...there’s no fairy tale. The joy dissolved. She had thought the chasm in her chest couldn’t get any bigger, but it just had.
She pulled her hands free. ‘Why are you doing this? I’ve told you I’m not leaving.’
Alix frowned. ‘Doing what? Telling you I love you? Because I do.’
Leila shook her head, those damn tears threatening again. ‘I can’t believe you’d be this cruel, Alix. Please don’t insult my intelligence. I tell you that I want to go, that I don’t think I can marry you, and now suddenly you’re claiming to love me? You’re forgetting I heard your conversation on the phone that day: “If I have to convince her I love her then I will.”’
Alix ran his hands through his hair, his frustration palpable. Leila folded her arms.
‘Why would I do this now? Pretend?’
Leila felt ill. ‘You’ve made a very convincing case for persuading me that you’re incapable of love, and now I’m suddenly supposed to believe you’ve had some kind of epiphany? It’s three days to the wedding, Alix, and I know how important it is for you and for Isle Saint Croix, but I never thought you’d be unnecessarily cruel.’
Alix looked as if she’d just punched him in the gut, but Leila steeled herself.
He opened his mouth, but she said with a rush, ‘Please don’t, Alix. Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do—and all this...’ She put out a hand to indicate the site for the factory. ‘It’s enough—it really is.’
It’ll have to be. At least he didn’t know that she loved him. It was her last paltry defence.
She turned away and started to walk back to the Jeep, fiercely blinking back tears. She didn’t see the way Alix’s face leached of all colour as he watched her go. She also didn’t see the look of grim determination that settled over his features.
* * *
Their journey back to the castle was made in tense silence. When they arrived Leila jumped out of the Jeep, but Alix moved faster than her and her hand was in his before she could react.
He led her into the castle, and when she tried to pull her hand free Alix only tightened his grip and looked at her, his face more stern and stark than she’d ever seen it.
‘We have not finished this conversation, Leila.’
She had to trot to keep up with his punishing pace, and only recognised where they were when he opened a door.
Immediately Leila dug her heels in and pulled furiously on Alix’s hand. ‘I am not going in there.’
Alix looked at her and said tauntingly, ‘Why, Leila? Sex is just sex, after all—isn’t it?’
They were in the impressive hammam room before Leila could object and the door was closed. Alix stood in front of it, arms folded. She hadn’t even registered him letting her hand go.
‘You know, I never thought you were a coward, Leila.’