Gripping the jewelry in her hand, she held it out to him across the table.
“That necklace is a gift,” he said, hurt. “I bought it for you.”
“Take it back. Wait.” He watched in shock as she pulled the diamond ring off her left hand and added it to the ball of precious jewels she extended toward him. “Take it all. I don’t want it anymore.”
Disoriented, he held out his hand, letting her drop the hard, cold diamonds into his palm.
“Not even the ring?” he said, his heart numb.
Her green eyes looked gray. “You don’t love me.”
“I never promised to love you. Just to honor and cherish. To romance you.”
“I didn’t know the difference then.” She took a deep breath. “Now I do.”
A roar of pain rushed through him, which swiftly turned to anger. Dropping the diamonds to the table with a clatter, he said, “If you’re threatening to divorce me because I can’t give you every single thing you want—”
“Every single thing?” she repeated incredulously.
“You’re being unreasonable,” he ground out. “What does love matter? It’s just a word.”
“Not to me.” Anguished tears filled her eyes. “Please, Stefano. If you cannot love me, then please,” she whispered, “let me go.”
Let her go? Let her go? Every part of him rejected that ridiculous notion. She belonged to him! Tess was his wife. Esme was his child. They belonged with him. At his disposal. At his command.
He set his jaw. “No.”
“You must.” Her sad voice echoed in the great hall, beside the crackling fire. “If you don’t let me go, it will destroy us both.”
He stared at her. “You would throw our marriage away for nothing? Because I won’t say those three words? Because I won’t lie?”
“Because you’re afraid.”
“Afraid,” he sneered.
She nodded. “I understand why, after everything you went through, but Stefano, don’t you understand?” Shaking her head, she choked out, “Loss happens anyway. Whether you’re brave enough to love or not. The answer isn’t to feel nothing until we die. The answer is to seize our joy and live. To love as hard and long as we can.” Tears streaked openly down her face. “As I wanted to love you.”
Stefano’s jaw clenched as he stared at her. Did she think he was a fool? Of course he wanted to love her! He just did not know how! If he could have spoken three words as a magic incantation to make her happy forever, he would have!
But he couldn’t feel them, and he couldn’t lie and pretend he did. He wished he could. Stefano took a deep breath, trying to force the words from his lips. I love you. No one else found it hard. Why did he?
The words choked in his throat.
Savagery filled his heart as he turned away. Fine. He would simply lay down the law. He would tell her how it would be. She was his wife, damn it. She would remain so. She would obey—
Then he heard the quiet heartbreak in her earlier words. If you don’t let me go, it will destroy us both.
He thought of the optimistic, romantic, dreamy-eyed girl she’d been. He looked at the heartbroken woman in front of him now.
When he’d married Tess, he’d honestly thought it was for her own good. He’d believed he could take better care of her than any other man.
He was no longer sure of that.
He said in a low voice, “I have given you everything I have to give.”
“I know,” she whispered.
Stefano rose unsteadily to his feet. He felt dizzy and powerless and cold all over, in a way he hadn’t felt since he was a boy. He stared down at her.