‘Daisy, please. I want—’
She flinched at the rawness in his voice. But as he took a step towards her she backed away, her hand raised up like a shield.
‘It doesn’t matter what you want, Rollo. I can’t give it to you. Don’t you understand? There’s nothing left. Before I met you, I had a home and a job. It was only a room in my brother’s apartment and a job I hated, but it was mine. It was my life. And you forced me to give it all up.’
She was fighting to breathe and, despite the heat of the day, she felt cold—icy cold. And so alone. Just seeing him again reminded her of the pain of his absence. Of how badly she missed him.
She stared at his face. His beauty broke her heart.
Or it would have done if he hadn’t already broken it.
Crossing her arms in front of her chest, trying to contain the pain and the misery, she lifted her chin. ‘I gave you my loyalty and you told me it was worthless. You said being with me was a sacrifice you weren’t prepared to make.’
‘That’s not what I meant.’ He shook his head, his eyes suddenly too bright, his voice strained. ‘I wasn’t talking about my sacrifice. I was talking about yours.’
His shoulders rose and fell.
‘What do you mean?’ she said shakily.
‘When you told me at the apartment that I didn’t need to blackmail you...that you would help me get the building... I knew you meant it. I knew you’d be there for me.’
‘So why did you throw it all away, then?’ she stormed at him. ‘We were drinking champagne. Celebrating our engagement and your deal. And then you told James it was all a sham.’
She bit her lip. Even though fury burned like fire beneath her s
kin, she couldn’t stop herself from caring about him. About the promise he’d made and now irretrievably broken.
Some of her anger faded. ‘I’m sorry you lost the building.’
‘You’re sorry?’ He frowned, his mouth twisting. ‘How? Why?’
She looked past him, trying to sift through the tangle of her emotions to something neutral.
‘I know how much it meant to you.’
He nodded, his face distant and shadowed. ‘It’s what I wanted my whole life. But it doesn’t matter anymore.’
With an effort, she forced herself to sound cool, pragmatic. ‘You did your best.’
His head jerked up, and the air seemed to tremble around him.
‘You don’t understand. I don’t care about the deal. I don’t care about the building or about the promise I made. I care about you.’
Her heart lurched, and beneath her feet the ground seemed to lurch too.
‘No. You don’t get to say that. Not here, not now.’
The tears she had been trying to hold back began to fall and angrily she wiped her face.
‘I’m not crying because I care,’ she managed finally. ‘So don’t think I am. I’m crying because I’m angry. With you.’
‘I know. And you have every right to be angry. I treated you so badly.’ His voice cracked and he breathed out raggedly. ‘I wish I could go back and stop myself behaving like that.’
‘You hurt me,’ she raged at him. ‘Humiliated me. Discarded me like I was last year’s overcoat. You didn’t just walk out on your deal. You walked out on me. You left me—’
Suddenly she couldn’t bear it any more. She wanted him gone.
‘Just go, Rollo, please.’