‘I wanted to know why you were so adamant in your refusal to see or speak to me.”
‘Because you hurt me and I didn’t want you in my life any more. I could have told you that”
A muscle in his jaw ticked, but he didn’t get angry. ‘there was more to it than that.”
‘So you thought you’d fix what your imagination told you was wrong with me by getting me pregnant?” No matter how many times she said it, it still sounded unbelievable.
‘I also believed you would agree to marry me once you knew you again carried my child.”
‘so now the baby was yours?” she asked scathingly in an attempt to mask the other emotions swirling through her.
‘you say it is so. I should not have doubted you.”
But then he hadn’t loved her and doubt found a fertile ground in the distrust he’d harbored toward women since Sofia.
‘you can’t force me into marrying you.”
His shrug was anything but reassuring. It as good as said
‘Yeah right whatever you say, but l am Salvatore di Vitale and l know how to get what l want’.
And right now… he wanted her to marry him.
Salvatore watched the emotions flow across her expressive features. None of them were even remotely related to joy at the prospect of marriage to him.
That made him angry. So, he had made a mistake. It happened. That she should dismiss all that they shared because of it was ludicrous.
‘We have a lot going for us.”
‘your distrust of women my distrust of you and lots of lust. That is not my idea of a recipe for a happy life together.”
Her sarcasm was wearing away at his good intentions.
‘oh yes, and let us not forget your guilt. The only real reason you want to marry me in the first Place ”
Why did she have to keep bringing up his guilt? Of course he felt guilty toward her. He had hurt her, his anger had caused the loss of their baby. He would never forget that fact. Did not know if he could ever forgive himself.
‘I have forgotten nothing.”
Like the fact that at one time she had wanted his love. Now she did not care. In a way, he was glad. He did not know if he had this love to give her. He’d thought he loved Sofia, but had realized later his pride had been lacerated, not his heart.
What he felt for Elisa was bound up with the overwhelming desire his body had to mate with hers.
Was that love? Probably not the kind of love a woman would understand or want. It wasn’t flowery and romantic.
What he felt around her was too elemental. In the final picture, love did not come into it. He owed her a baby. He owed her the security of marriage and a family.
‘you will marry me.”
‘1‘11 do as I please.” She looked both incredibly fragile and stubbornly defiant.
‘May I suggest it that you to get ready for our trip to Sicily? If we do not leave on time, my pilot will lose his take-off slot at the airport.”
She glared. ‘1 don’t have to go to Sicily with you.”
‘And those after the crown jewels?”
‘1 can go somewhere else a place neither you nor the bad guys can find me.”