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She expected to hear the door closing behind Gabriel as he made his hasty escape now she’d uttered the word love, so she wasn’t prepared when she felt his hands on her and he swung her around to face him, his eyes more intense that she’d ever seen them.
‘What did you just say?’
She hiccupped.
Gabriel took her over to a couch and sat down, pulling her with him. He took her hands in his. ‘What did you say, Leo?’
Her vision was blurry. ‘I said, I won’t do it for anything less than love.’
He gripped her hands tight. ‘Are you saying that you love me?’
She debated denying it for a second. But how could she? She’d just exposed herself spectacularly. She nodded.
Gabriel let her hands go and rubbed the tears she’d shed from her cheeks with his thumbs. She couldn’t read his expression. It was something she’d never seen before. A kind of emotional nakedness.
He looked at her. ‘I love you, Leo.’
At first his words didn’t impact, and then they did. She pulled back instinctively, disbelieving. ‘You don’t. You’re just saying that.’
He shook his head. ‘I’m not lying. I would never lie to you.’
‘But you don’t believe in love. You never wanted it.’
‘I didn’t. Until a dark-haired temptress captivated me and ruined me for any other woman. I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you that night in the hotel. I’ve never had such a visceral reaction to anyone. I had to know you, follow you. Have you. And the next morning I knew that this was different. I wanted more.’
Leonora looked at him, searching his eyes, his face. Searching out insincerity. But she couldn’t see it. She could only see him.
‘Why didn’t you say something?’
‘Why didn’t you?’ he countered.
She flushed. ‘I was scared.’
He said, ‘I was in denial. I kept thinking my feelings for you were strong just because you were my wife. It was natural. Expected. I only realised what they truly were when you suggested a divorce... I was so angry. I suspected you of marrying me solely to secure your family’s fortune. But mostly I was hurt, and I had to acknowledge that you only had the power to hurt me because I’d fallen for you. And then afterwards...when you closed yourself off...’
‘I’m sorry... It was too hard. I was afraid of what would spill out if you touched me. I was barely holding it together. But that night... I couldn’t not touch you.’
‘And then you left.’
She took his hand. ‘Because I knew that I wouldn’t survive a loveless marriage. That’s my weakness.’
He shook his head. ‘It’s not weak. It was self-preservation. I was the one who was weak. I was prepared to bully you into staying married to me in the hope that if you agreed to try for a family you’d learn to love me.’
Leonora took her hand from his. ‘There’s a very strong possibility that we won’t ever have children, Gabriel, no matter what we try. If that happens...how do you know I’ll be enough for you? What will you do about having no heirs?’
Gabriel took her hand back, lacing his fingers with hers. ‘You are enough for me. If we never have a family but I have you that’s all I need. I’ve met with my board and we’ve drawn up a document that details what will happen in the event of my having no heirs. The Cruz y Torres name won’t die out. It’s a brand now, and brands last far longer and far more effectively than mere humans. And I’ve also been in touch with Lazaro Sanchez.’
Leonora instinctively held tighter to Gabriel’s hand. ‘And?’
He smiled a rueful smile. ‘He is my half-brother. I did the DNA test. He wants nothing to do with the family name or any inheritance. It’s a point of pride with him. Even when I told him our situation, and that any children he has might be the only heirs to the Cruz y Torres name. We’ve also teamed up for a bid on the marketplace. We’re going to work together.’
Leonora shook her head, as if that might help her to understand everything Gabriel had just told her. ‘You did all of that...before you knew...?’
‘That you loved me? Yes, I did. I’m not as selfless as you. I wasn’t prepared to let you walk away. Ever. You’re mine.’
Leonora’s vision was blurring again.
Gabriel said, ‘You haven’t actually said it yet.’
