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His breath punched through his throat. ‘She’s been gone for over half a week and—?’ And what? He’d given no explanation to his staff as to her presence in his life. As far as his employees were concerned, she was just the woman who’d been working for him by day and warming his bed at night. They’d afforded her respect because she’d been with him, but beyond that Carla might as well have been a treasured painting hung on a wall and admired but nothing else.
He slashed his fingers through his hair, his feet pounding the hallway as he paced back and forth. Belatedly, he realised his housekeeper was trying to get his attention.
‘Yes?’
She reached into her pocket, warily extracted the folded envelope and held it out. Puzzled, Javier glanced at it. ‘What’s that?’
‘Señorita Carla, she left it for you.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
‘I NOW PRONOUNCE you husband and wife.’
Why did I come?
Why did he?
Her letter had been clear. More than clear. And his silence in the weeks after had all but shouted his acceptance of her need for no contact. So why was Javier sitting behind her in the church pew, his eyes glued to her back? She knew she wasn’t deluding herself about the potency of his stare. He’d arrived ten minutes after the ceremony had started. She knew because the murmurs his presence had drawn had made her look behind her.
One look.
One ferocious, intensely rigid stare back from him, and she’d hastily straightened.
He hadn’t joined in the hymns. Or snapped a photo of the stunning bride and groom sharing their first kiss. He’d remained, statue-still behind her, his attention riveted one hundred per cent on her.
The foolish wish that she’d worn her hair down was quickly squashed beneath more desperate anguish. The realisation on the night of his birthday party that she loved him had come as no real surprise to her. Nor had the inevitable acceptance that her love was doomed to bring her nothing but pain. She’d lost her head over him in record time. Or had that love been lying dormant for three years, her heart already his to possess the moment he’d possessed her?
Carla had spent far too many hours debating the whys and wherefores. Each had brought her to the same conclusion. There had never been one single hope of a future with Javier. Her tie to him should’ve begun and ended on paper.
Except it hadn’t...
It had begun with her body and ended up in her soul—
‘Are you going to sit there all day, pretending I don’t exist?’ his hard voice snarled in her ear.
Carla started. A quick glance showed the last of the wedding guests straggling out of the small island chapel where Draco and Rebel had married in his native Greece. Outside the sun blazed in its oblivious glory. Inside, she shivered, her heart leaping into her throat as she finally allowed herself to look at Javier.
His neatly trimmed five o’clock shadow accentuated his hollower cheekbones, his bespoke suit draped upon his lean body with an inherent grace and elegance reserved for demigods.
Standing, she faced him properly. ‘Javier—’
‘No. We’re not doing this here. Two people have been lucky enough to find what they want in each other. I won’t ruin their day.’
‘Then why did you come?’
Dark brows clouded. ‘Perdón?’
‘Despite my asking, no, pleading, with you to give me space, here you are. You could’ve stayed on the opposite side of the chapel. There are over five hundred guests here. We needn’t have seen each other. And yet here you are.’
His nostrils flared, as if he couldn’t believe the words spilling from her lips. ‘Because you owe me an explanation. And because you chose to vanish off the face of the earth for the past three weeks. That is why!’
Her heart slammed into her
stomach. ‘My letter wasn’t enough?’
His hand slashed the air. ‘Your letter was—’ He stopped, then shook his head. ‘I won’t be drawn into this here with you, Carla. We will go outside and wish the happy couple well. We will stay for a glass or two of champagne. I might even bring myself to dance with you. But you and I will leave this island together. Tonight. And we will settle this once and for all.’
He whirled from her, his designer shoes clicking in perfect staccato as he headed outside.
