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an deny you nothing.”
“I’m not sorry,” she said.
With an intake of breath, Cristiano looked down at her.
“Because I did it for a good reason.” Her caramel-brown eyes were feverishly bright.
“What is that?” he said coldly.
Her red, luscious lips curved in a tremulous smile.
“Because I love you,” she whispered.
For a few seconds, frozen on the dance floor, he stared at her as couples continued to whirl around them.
“You love me,” he said slowly.
“Yes.” Hallie’s face was deliriously happy. “I know it wasn’t supposed to happen. But it has. I love you, Cristiano. For the boy you were. The man you are. The man you’ll be.”
The boy you were.
Hallie’s words felt like ice in his heart. She saw past his defenses? Past all his wealth and power, to see the helpless boy he’d once been?
His hands tightened on her.
“I love you,” she choked out, searching his gaze desperately. “I’m not your enemy. And I’m not your servant. I’m your wife. I’m fighting for our family. For our home. I’m fighting for you...because I love you.”
Music swelled around them in the ballroom. A warm sea breeze blew in from doors opened wide to the moonlit terrace.
Hallie loved him.
How could she?
Then he got it.
A low, fierce laugh bubbled up from inside him as he realized what she was doing. He relaxed instantly.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” he said, still laughing. He shook his head admiringly. “I just respect you.”
“You respect me?”
“Yes.” He sometimes thought that women didn’t realize how valuable it was, respect. Most men he knew could tolerate a lack of love far better than any lack of respect. But the women he’d known in his life, starting with his mother, seemed to feel the opposite, willing to put up with a total lack of respect from their lovers, finding it acceptable to be taken for granted and talked down to, as long as they were loved. He’d never understood that.
Hallie clearly didn’t see his perspective, either. Her deep brown eyes looked hurt. “That’s all you have to say?”
“I don’t blame you for trying. You thought that angle might work. But it will take more than that to manipulate me.”
Her beautiful face was pale. “You think that’s what I was trying to do? Manipulate you?”
“Of course it is.” Leaning down, he confided, “You’re wasting your time. That emotional stuff doesn’t work on me, but—” reaching down, he twisted a tendril of her hair “—you’re welcome to try to convince me in bed. Not that it will work, but we’ll both enjoy it.”
Angrily she pulled her head away. “I’m telling you the truth!”
“Fine.” He rolled his eyes. She seemed determined to stick with her story. “But there will be no more complaining. We will never stop traveling. We will never settle in just one place. And if you ever speak to Bennato again—” he looked at her evenly “—I will divorce you.”
Her brown eyes were cold. “You would divorce me? Just for talking to someone?”
