‘obviously.” Therese sighed, but smiled. ‘you do not need to crow about it, Francisco. We can all see for ourselves how right you were.”
Elisa forced herself to laugh along with the others and managed not to flinch away when Salvatore touched her to help her from her chair and lead her out to the patio for before-dinner drinks.
And somehow she kept up the pretense of happy bride-to-be for the rest of the evening, her heart as good as dead in her chest.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE minute they got home Elisa peeled away from Salvatore and headed for the stairs. ‘l’m sleeping on my own tonight.”
‘che cosa?” She paused in her head
long flight up the stairs and turned her head so she could glare at him.
‘you heard me. I don’t want to sleep with you.”
‘What is the matter with you?” That perfectly gorgeous face was set in lines of genuine puzzlement and that made her even angrier. How could he not know what was wrong? Was he that insensitive?
‘l’m not sleeping with a man who thought I was good enough to screw but not good enough to marryl”
He gasped. ‘Do not speak like that of yourself”
‘you’re allowed to think it, but I’m not allowed to say it? Get real, Salvatore.”
He looked completely taken aback by her words. ‘i do not think this thing.”
‘yes you do and don’t you bother denying it.” The tears were burning her throat and eyes, but she would have her say and get to the privacy of the guest room before she let them fall.
‘you spoke to my father about marrying Annemarie while you were busy flirting with me and seducing me, and why did you do that?”
‘Because-” She didn’t let him finish.
‘you thought I was a slut you could sleep with and leave, but you had no intention of having any sort of future with me.”
‘perhaps I tried to convince myself of that, but-”
‘But nothing! I can’t believe you think 1‘11 go to bed with you after finding this out. You’re only marrying me out of misplaced guilt. If I hadn’t had the bad luck to get pregnant the first time, you would be married to Annemarie by now.”
A sort of dawning horror was reflected in his eyes. He was probably appalled she knew the truth.
‘you cannot believe this.”
‘Don’t insult my intelligence by trying to tell me otherwise. I may have acted like one with you, Salvatore, but I’m not a fool.”
Did he think she couldn’t put two and two together? With that she spun on her heel and rushed up the stairs.
He shouted her name, cursed in Italian and then yelled at her to be careful. She ignored all of it and slammed into the guest room, locking the door and then falling against it as she let the burning tears track down her cheeks.
Seconds later he pounded on the door making it reverberate against her.
‘Elisa let me in.”
‘no ” ?
Be reasonable. Open up.”
‘I w-wo n ‘ t ” The pounding stopped.
‘Are you crying, amore?”