‘Being alone isn’t good,’ she said, her eyes flashing and her body shaking as she took a step closer and jabbed him in the chest. ‘Being alone isn’t clever.’
‘Nevertheless it’s my only option,’ he snapped.
‘But why?’
‘Betrayal is in my genes.’ His voice was tight.
Her eyebrows shot up as she stared at him. ‘Do you really believe that?’
‘How can I believe anything else?’
She gaped at him, for a moment too stunned to know how to respond. And then she really saw red. She didn’t care that they were standing in a cold dark cobbled street
. She didn’t care who heard them. As long as he did. ‘What complete and utter rubbish,’ she said. ‘If genetics ruled, I’d have followed my mother into a life of crime instead of establishing a successful totally legitimate business.’
‘Well, maybe you’re more like your father, whoever he was.’
‘And maybe you’re not,’ she fired back.
The vibrating silence stretched between them. ‘Who do you resemble, Will?’ she said eventually.
He threw her a furious scowl. ‘That’s irrelevant.’
As she thought. ‘You know this is absolutely insane. You aren’t only your father’s son. You’re your mother’s too. So why should his genes outweigh hers?’
For a long moment Will didn’t say anything, but his face was tight. And then something inside him seemed to collapse. His shoulders fell, the anger faded from his expression and his eyes filled with something that made her heart clench. ‘It really doesn’t matter,’ he said hoarsely. ‘I’m not willing to take the risk.’
‘What risk?’
‘That I might hurt you.’
But couldn’t he see that he was hurting her right now? That he was pulling her heart apart piece by tiny piece? She wanted to thump him on the chest, claw at his skin and hurt him as much as he was hurting her.
‘You are not your father, Will, and I am not your mother. God, I’m not even my mother.’ She threw her hands up and let out a short bitter laugh. ‘I can’t believe you’re letting this still dictate your life. Just because your ancestors were unfaithful it doesn’t automatically follow that you will be too.’
‘Doesn’t it?’ he grated, his eyes glittering.
‘Of course not. God,’ she said, summoning up her anger to block out the hurt. ‘You’re one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met so why are you being so pig-headed about this?’
‘Because I was,’ he practically roared, the words sounding as if they’d been torn from somewhere deep, deep inside him.
Bella froze. Her eyebrows shot up and her mouth dropped. ‘What?’
Will sighed, took a step back and raked his hands through his hair. ‘I was unfaithful, Bella. Only once. But it was enough.’
Bella stared at him in complete shock. ‘When?’
‘Years ago. When I was twenty-three.’
‘But why? What happened?’
He twisted away from her. ‘I don’t really want to talk about it.’
‘Well, that’s tough,’ she said, moving back into his line of vision. ‘Because I do. I’ve just told you I love you. The very least you can give me is an explanation as to why you can’t do the same.’
‘There isn’t a lot to explain.’
‘Then it shouldn’t take long.’