‘It wasn’t about being unhappy. I was always just a wrong fit. I could never inspire the way you do. It’s true!’ Carl exclaimed when Dante shook his head, looking patently uncomfortable.
‘This was always my decision to make and for a long time I wasn’t brave enough.’ His hand fell from his brother’s shoulders. ‘I’m happy I’ve met someone. And you have Beatrice back. How is the heroine?’
‘I love her,’ Dante said in a driven voice. He looked shocked. ‘I love her,’ he repeated slowly. ‘Is this how it feels?’ he asked, a kind of wonder in his voice. ‘Oh, hell, I’ve been such an idiot.’
‘Have you told her any of this?’
‘She deserves better.’
‘Than what?’
‘Me! I’m a selfish bastard.’
‘I have to tell you, brother, I prefer you as a bastard than a martyr. Maybe Beatrice does too,’ he added slyly, and watched the hope flare in his brother’s eyes.
‘What are you doing?’
Beatrice gave a start and spun around, her blonde hair almost flaring out then settling in a silky curtain to her shoulder blades as she faced Dante, who stood with his broad shoulders propped against the wall beside the door.
Once she moved past the head-spinning blood rush of adrenalin that had her poised in ‘deer in the headlights’ mode, she realised that, though the anger he had been nursing earlier had gone, it had been replaced by an explosive quality. He made her think of a time bomb ticking down, every taut muscle and clenched sinew stretched to the limit.
‘I’ve just been packing.’
‘So, you’re running away?’
She turned away as she felt her eyes fill. ‘I’m moving rooms,’ she contradicted. ‘I’m not sure I could be termed essential travel. It’s ironic. I can cope with the petty official and your family, but, you’re right, I am leaving because I can’t stay with a man who doesn’t trust me. You’re not wrapping me in cotton wool, you’re suffocating me!’
He flinched. ‘I know I said some unforgivable things but when I knew that you had been… I just went like ice inside. I felt terror, real gut-freezing terror. I haven’t felt that way since you lost the baby. I felt so bloody helpless.’
Her eyes fluttered wide with shock.
‘I could see the pain in your eyes and I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t help you. It was the worst feeling of my entire life, seeing you hurt. And being the emotionally crippled mess-up I am, I had no words…’ He made a sound of boiling frustration between his clenched teeth as she grabbed his head in both hands. ‘I should have been able to make you feel better. I should have kept you safe. I failed you and this time… I cannot bear to see you go through that again.’ He swallowed hard, and captured her eyes with his agonised gaze. ‘I swore to myself that I’d keep you safe but all I’ve ended up doing is pushing you away—again!’
‘I’m still here.’
He extended his hands towards her and after a moment she took them. ‘Don’t leave me, Beatrice. Stay with me.’
‘I’m frightened too,’ she whispered.
‘But you are no coward. You are the bravest person I know, and now the world knows too. I am proud of you and even if there was no baby, I would love you.’
Her lips quivered as she looked up at him, drinking in the details of his marvellous face. ‘I love you, Dante.’
He bent his head, the ferocious hunger of his kiss leaving her limp and ludicrously happy as he trailed a finger down the curve of her cheek. ‘I adore you. I am half a man without you but—’
She pressed a finger to his lips; she was not interested in buts. She had heard all she needed to. ‘I love you, Dante. I always have and I always will.’
He caught her hand, his eyes not leaving her face as he pressed it to his lips. ‘I love you, Beatrice. I thought loving you meant letting you go free, but now I know that I can’t make that choice for you. It is yours to make.’
Raising herself on tiptoes, she took his face between her hands. ‘I choose love.’ She kissed him. ‘I choose you.’ She kissed him. ‘I choose staying…say that again,’ she said fiercely.
‘What part?’
‘The only part that matters, idiot. Say you love me!’
‘I love you, Beatrice!’
She wound her arms around his neck, her feet leaving the floor as he kissed her back.