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Isobella stared at the door, scandalised. But she believed him. She looked down at her robe, knowing it wasn’t the most suitable attire to be entertaining a gentleman in, but, hell—he’d seen her in a lot less. And he wouldn’t be staying. She walked to the door and flipped the lock.
Alex took a calming breath before he entered. He was about to tell a woman who never wanted to see him again that he loved her. He opened the door cautiously, half expecting something to be hurled at his head. She was standing by the bed, her hand clutching her robe tight at her throat.
‘Isobella.’
She darted him a nervous look, and he saw her knuckles tighten at her neck, but she didn’t say anything—just stood looking mutinously at the floor.
His gaze fell on the discarded dress. ‘Please get dressed and let’s go to dinner.’ His nerve had deserted him. She looked so closed-off right now. Maybe if he could get her to loosen up she’d be more receptive to what he had to say.
‘I’m not going to dinner with you, Alex. It won’t change the outcome. I’m resigning, and it doesn’t matter what you say to try to persuade me—’
‘Why?’ he asked. ‘Why do you want to leave? I thought you loved your job. And don’t give me some politically correct legalese mumbo-jumbo.’
She did love her job. Shehad . But she loved him more, and she just couldn’t put herself through the torture of being so near to him and yet so far. He wanted her to be honest. But she couldn’t. Not totally. She didn’t want her heart to be crushed again—it might not survive this time.
‘It’s too hard now.’
Alex held his breath. ‘Because of Piccolo?’
Isobella nodded.
Alex searched for words. The right words that might be the key to unlocking her guarded heart. ‘You know, I learnt a lot about you while we were away. But I also learnt a lot about me. You told me that not all women are the same. That not all women leave. And I was actually starting to believe that. But here you are, walking away, because it’s suddenly got too hard. Just like Sonya.’
Isobella felt a swelling in her chest, pushing at her ribs, grabbing at her heart, rising into her throat at the unfairness of his comparison. Sonya had cold-bloodedly left him when he had needed her most. It had been cruel and harsh and sheso didn’t deserve a second chance. The memory of Sonya’s voice on Alex’s phone line needled further.
She raised her head and looked him directly in the eye. ‘I would never have left you like she did,’ she spat at him. ‘Never.’
Alex saw the hard glitter in her gaze and the indignant rise of colour in her cheeks. He started to hope. His heart thumped a loud slow march in his chest. ‘So why are you leaving me now?’
His husky voice growled at her, and she resented the hell out of his implication. He wasn’t ill or dying. He didn’t need her. That needled as well. ‘I’m leaving you because I love you, not because I don’t.’
Unlike Sonya.
There were a few moments of silence as her statement sank in. Isobella realised too late he’d goaded her into admitting the one thing she hadn’t wanted him to know. She was frozen for a moment, frantically trying to organise her brain to take back what she’d said.
Alex couldn’t believe what he’d heard. She loved him? Dared he hope it was true? It was more than he had dreamed possible. ‘You love me?’
His voice was a mere whisper, and she could see the confusion in his gaze. Was he already trying to think of ways to reject her? To let her down gently? He took a step towards her.
‘It’s okay, Alex,’ she said, holding out her hand to ward him off as her heart broke—irreparably this time. She felt shaky all over, the earlier tears threatening again. ‘I know you don’t do this type of thing. I swear I didn’t plan it or expect it. I know how you feel about relationships. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as Reg comes back, and then you can forget all about me and this highly—’ she sought around for a word ‘—distasteful conversation.’
Alex took three more steps and covered the distance between them, his heart tripping madly in his chest now.She loved him. ‘Isobella,’ he whispered, lifting his hand to cup her cheek, ‘shut up.’ And he lowered his eager mouth to her startled one.
Isobella felt a surge of desire blindside her as her lips clung to his of their own volition. She shouldn’t be doing this, but he tasted as she remembered, and she’d been so hungry for him. Would it be so wrong to indulge for a little while? Just to get her through the lonely years ahead?
