‘Why are you here, Alej? What do you want?’
‘I want to see your face so that I can talk to you.’
‘Tough. You can talk to me this way.’
‘Emily, please.’ His voice dipped. ‘What are you trying to hide?’
She turned around then and his pulse thrummed as he thought how different she seemed from the woman he’d said goodbye to just a few weeks earlier. Even in that short time her body seemed more honed and her cheekbones appeared sharpened as they cast shadows over her pale skin. And she’d had her hair cut. Not short, he registered, with grim relief, but the few inches which had been lopped off the flowing golden locks and the new, blunt-cut style made her look slightly aloof and very contemporary.
‘I’m not trying to hide anything, but I see no need for further communication with you, Alej,’ she said stiffly. ‘So say what it is you came to say and then leave me in peace to get on with the rest of my life.’
Those last few words made him realise how much he had hurt her—more than he’d ever imagined. And, even more importantly, that he had no desire ever to do so again. But would she believe him if he told her that? Did he have any right to expect her to believe him after the things he had done? He walked across the room towards her. ‘Please don’t back away,’ he said.
‘I don’t want you near me.’
‘Okay.’ That hurt, but he took it because he suspected he deserved it, sucking a breath which felt hot and ragged. And suddenly all the words he’d been composing in his head on the flight over seemed to form themselves into just three. ‘I’m sorry, Emily.’
Her eyes looked very dark and very bright. ‘Sorry for what? That you got found out? That Tomas rumbled you and let me in on your little secret sooner than you intended? Which makes me wonder just how long you were going to keep up the pretence of wanting to go into politics, Alej. Long enough for the thrill of having sex with me to wear off, I suppose?’
‘In theory, yes—’
‘You absolute b—’
‘But in practice that day was never going to come around because I could never tire of you, Emily.’ His fervent words cut through her fury. ‘How could I, when I love you?’
She shook her head so that her hair swung in a pale and silky arc around her shoulders. ‘Don’t you dare come out with things you don’t mean!’ she said fiercely.
‘You really think I would lie about something like that?’ he questioned. ‘When I’ve always loved you—even though I’ve spent a long time trying to deny it to myself. It’s why your lies hurt me more than any of the others. Fabrications came to my mother as easily as breathing, which wasn’t really surprising, given her history. And Colette’s lies meant nothing, not really. My relationship with her was never intended to be anything other than a no-strings affair. She was the one who wanted more. Who was prepared to write that vicious book about me when I wouldn’t—or couldn’t—give her what she wanted.’ He took another step towards her and this time she didn’t stop him. ‘Can we start over?’ he said simply. ‘Will you be my wife in every sense of the word, Emily? Will you let me love you and cherish you, for as long as we both shall live?’
Emily looked into his bright green eyes and felt a quiver of hope begin to shimmer over her skin, but still she was wary because she was scared. Scared of what would happen if she let herself believe that what he said was real. Scared of hurt and scared of pain. ‘What made you come here today?’
Briefly, he closed his eyes and sighed as he opened them again. ‘You forgot your necklace.’
She blinked. ‘My necklace?’
He dug into his pocket and withdrew a battered box Emily instantly recognised, just as she did the fine gold chain and tiny pearl which lay inside—the necklace which had belonged to her mother.
‘I rang up the office to speak to you and Marybeth told me you were helping your great-aunt move,’ he continued. ‘I remember you telling me that she didn’t have a lot of money and so I put two and two together and guessed you’d used the payment I made when you married me.’
‘And you were surprised I hadn’t used it for my own greedy gain?’ she said sarcastically.
‘Hardly.’ His lips curved into a sardonic smile. ‘The contemptuous way you slung your wedding and engagement rings across the table was pretty indicative that you aren’t one of the world’s gold-diggers, no matter how much I initially wanted you to be. But the real reason I rang was that you’d changed your phone number and I wanted to talk to you and tell you how much I missed you. Wrong tense,’ he corrected acidly. ‘Miss you. Every second, every hour and every day. And I want to know whether we can try again. Whether you can forgive me for what I did and give us another chance.’
Emily saw the conviction which was blazing from his green eyes and could feel her heart racing as she hovered on the knife-edge of uncertainty. She knew what would be the safest option. To send him on his way, because love inevitably brought with it the potential for pain and if she stayed single she would be spared that. Oh, she might get bored or lonely—but she wouldn’t be leaving herself open to the possibility of feeling as if someone had ripped her heart right out of her chest with jagged fingernails.
But that was a decision she was never going to make. It was a no-brainer, really. She loved him. Totally. She always had and always would. ‘Of course I can,’ she whispered shakily.
His quizzical green gaze met hers. ‘Why?’
It was a seminal moment and Emily realised that she held the balance of power as she looked into his beloved face, which for once held a trace of insecurity, but the thought was lost the moment she went into his waiting arms because weren’t they equals?
‘Because I love you too, Alej. My darling, darling Alej,’ she whispered. ‘You are my man—you always were and you always will be. The only man for me.’ She hesitated. ‘And you aren’t the only one to have made mistakes. I was wrong to let my mother and my stepfather pressure me into giving you up and it’s something I’ve regretted ever since because—’
But he silenced her with his kiss and as the kiss deepened, the hurt and the pain began to dissolve. She was shaking with emotion and desire as he drew his head away, his hand skating slowly down the side of her face. ‘Do you think you might like to show me where you sleep?’ he questioned unsteadily.
‘I think I might,’ she answered, almost shyly.
It was much later, when they were lying in her rather cramped bed, wrapped in each other’s arms, that she traced her finger over the outline of his lips. ‘What about your brother, Alej? Did you find him? Did you even try?’