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‘What do you mean?’ His voice was soft, his stare intent. ‘Are you saying I’m not capable of loving a child?’
‘Are you?’
Coming around the desk, he stood in front of her. ‘We should give it a chance—give us a chance. You’re as bad as me. You shut out feelings too, and if they creep up on you you tell yourself it’s another of your fantasies, and that makes them easier to deal with.’
‘Maybe,’ she accepted. ‘But how can we give this a chance? How can it work between us? You and your six-star hotels, and your lavish marinas, and me with my vegetable plots?’
Xavier’s face warmed. ‘You don’t know my plans.’
‘Then why don’t you tell me? We should work together.’
‘Do you think that’s what my aunt intended all along?’
Hope was a fragile thing, and she wasn’t ready to commit fully yet. ‘Maybe Doña Anna expected more of me than I can give.’
‘No.’ Xavier shook his head decisively. ‘I don’t believe that for a moment. Everyone has doubts. It’s what drives us forward. You’re stronger than you know, Rosie.’
‘So you believe in me?’
‘Isn’t that obvious?’ Cupping her chin, Xavier made her look at him. His eyes were warm and full of everything she needed to see. ‘You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met. Don’t let the past bring you down, Rosie. Isn’t that what you’d like to tell me? I know you love the island—everyone knows it—but what about something for you? You don’t have to give all the time. Sometimes people want to do things for you, and sometimes you have to let them.’
‘Forgive me,’ she whispered, closing her eyes. ‘I know you had a lousy childhood, just as I know what we both owe Doña Anna.’
‘Do you trust me, Rosie? On our wedding night you said you did.’
‘I did. I do,’ she said, staring that trust into Xavier’s eyes.
‘Tell me what you want—what you really want.’
I want you, she thought. I want you to love me. I want you to put your arms around me. I want to believe you, if you tell me that you want me to stay. I want to have a child we both love and care for, not a child that’s been manufactured just to continue a family line.
‘Say it, Rosie. Don’t just think it. Say it out loud.’
He was asking her to risk her heart, and the words she so desperately wanted to say stalled on her lips. She just couldn’t get them out. And then she had a light-bulb moment, and she realised what Xavier was trying to get her to do. They were both locked up on their individual islands, and it was up to each of them to break free.
She began haltingly. Tiny steps towards sharing her feelings, something she’d never done before. ‘I want this to be real between us,’ she admitted. ‘I want to say what I think, instead of hiding my feelings from you all the time—’ It was almost a relief, she discovered, this letting go, and as she gained in confidence her words gathered pace. ‘I want to tell you how you make me feel, and not have you laugh at me—’
‘Laugh at you?’ Xavier interrupted, frowning.
‘Yes,’ Rosie admitted. She was quiet for quite some time, and then she added softly, ‘I want to tell you that I love you.’
‘Say that again,’ Xavier insisted.
‘I want to tell you that I love you,’ she repeated in a louder, clearer voice.
‘And?’ he prompted.
‘And why am I the only one doing this?’ she protested, only half teasing him.
‘My turn will come?’ he suggested with a smile.
‘I want to tell you that I know what you’re trying to do, and that I agree that until each of us can free ourselves from the past, neither of us is going anywhere, as individuals, or as a couple, however temporary our marriage might be, or even as joint owners of Isla Del Rey. The past will always hold us back, hold us down—we both have to change, and maybe we’ve got a long way to go before we can do that. I want us both to speak openly, for good and for bad, and without editing every comment first. I want to share everything with you, but I can’t, because I get frightened—’
‘You? Frightened?’ Xavier’s look was disbelieving.
‘Frightened you’ll think I’m stupid,’ Rosie admitted.
‘Never.’ Slanting his sexy smile, Xavier shook his head. ‘You’re like a light shining so bright you almost blinded me. And it was definitely a light I didn’t want to see. You blinded me with your honesty, and left me questioning what I’ve been doing with my life. ‘So, why don’t you ask me about my plans for the island?’
