Her gaze darted across to meet his, but he was already standing, moving around the table to lean over and scoop the glittering pendant from its nest of pure white satin.
Tessa held her breath as he stood behind her, and then lowered the necklace. She felt its weight on her bare skin, the touch of his hands, firm and warm, at her nape.
She didn’t need a mirror to see if the pendant looked beautiful. Tessa felt beautiful, as she never had before. Her blood fizzed with the knowledge that Stavros cared for her enough to entrust her with something so precious to him. She didn’t try to hide the radiant smile of joy that filled her face.
For now she knew.
Stavros loved her. He reciprocated the feelings she’d hardly dared dwell on, the emotions that made him the most important thing in her world.
It seemed a lifetime ago that she’d railed at the hard, deliberately brutal man who’d hurled accusations at her. Since then she’d discovered the side he kept private from the world: the tender, caring man, strongly protective, with a wicked, teasing sense of humour and unbounded passion. The man she loved with all her heart. Tears glazed her eyes and she blinked them back.
‘I was right.’ His voice was husky as he looked down from his immense height. ‘It’s perfect for you.’
His eyes were shadowed but Tessa read the stillness in his big frame and knew he felt it too, the momentousness of the occasion. She reached up a hand to the pendant and touched its hard facets, trying to ground herself in reality. Her heart pounded in her chest and her breasts seemed to swell as he looked down at her.
‘Stavros, I…’ What could she say that would convey the wealth of feelings inside her? There was only one answer: the obvious, the most important. I love you.
‘Tessa,’ he spoke before she got the words out, ‘I’ve been thinking about us.’
He pulled his chair around the table to sit with her, knee-to-knee, drawing her hand into his. It was warm, solid and comforting and she never wanted to break its grip. Her words dried up as she watched him, willed him to say it, admit his feelings. She could hardly believe it was true, despite the unconscious signals these past weeks that had seemed to reveal a true tenderness for her.
‘Yes?’ Her voice was a breathless whisper.
His thumb stroked her wrist, teasing the pulse point, firming across her palm to locate the erogenous zone at its centre and send shivers of delight spreading out from there.
‘This marriage of ours.’ He paused for so long she wondered if he was groping for the right words. But that was impossible. Stavros was always so confident and articulate.
His lips firmed for an instant before he continued. ‘I want to make it permanent.’ His eyes held hers, his gaze intense and captivating. She couldn’t look away, even though her stomach had gone into free-fall and her limbs had started to tremble.
‘You want us to stay married?’ She had to be absolutely sure she wasn’t deluding herself.
‘That’s right.’ His fingers tightened around her hand. ‘I’ve already cancelled the divorce proceedings. I want you to be my wife. Permanently.’
The words echoed in her brain, dying away only gradually. Joy was a rising tide inside her, bubbling and bursting to be free.
But his face was so still, so sombre, with the light emphasising the almost grim cast of his features. Nor did he move to embrace her or kiss her.
Out of nowhere a single, ice-sharp splinter of doubt froze her, even as she opened her mouth to blurt out instant agreement.
His razor-edged gaze dropped to her mouth, then back to her eyes. It was only then that Tessa noticed how unreadable it was. No heat, no passion. No love.
He looked like a man intent on closing a business deal, poker-faced and wary. Giving nothing away.
‘Why?’ The word emerged as an almost silent croak and she tried again. ‘Why do you want us to stay married?’
He didn’t hesitate for an instant. ‘It’s the logical thing to do. Believe me, I’ve considered every angle and it works best for everyone.’
‘Everyone?’ Tessa’s lips felt stiff and numb, as if with cold.
‘That’s right.’ Once more his thumb stroked across her palm, but this time there was no shiver of erotic response, no quickening in her blood. Her body felt lifeless against his touch.
‘We’ll all gain by it. You most of all.’ He paused as if waiting for her to say something. But she couldn’t think what. Her brain had atrophied, trying to cope with the dawning revelation that Stavros saw their marriage as a matter of logic, not love.
‘You’ll belong here, as part of my family. You’ll want for nothing. As my wife you’ll have security, wealth, anything that an indulgent husband and a private fortune can provide.’ Again he paused, but continued when her lips remained pressed together. ‘We can start a family soon too. You want children, don’t you?’