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She gasped and started to run, tripping on her shoes as she ran deeper into the park. She raced headlong down the windswept path, knowing that if he caught up with her, he would see her shameful love for him and he’d see her pathetically broken heart.
One of the high-heeled shoes fell off her feet. Turning around, she started to go back for it, but when she saw him right behind her, she kicked off her other shoe instead and turned back to run. The frozen, snow-kissed path felt like cold knives against her bare feet, the silver dress dragged against her legs and the winter air bit against her naked shoulders.
Then Eduardo caught up with her. His powerful arms lifted her off the frozen ground.
“Go away.” Crying, totally humiliated, she struggled against his hard chest. “Just leave me alone!”
“You think you’re disposable to me?” he said grimly, looking down at her. The moonlight gave his black hair a silver halo, like a sensual, dark angel come to lure her to hell. “Is that what you think?”
“I know it!”
“You just had my baby,” he ground out, his dark eyes glinting. “I’m not a brute. I wasn’t going to force myself on you!”
She tried to kick her way free. “Of course not, when you have half the supermodels of this city queued up outside our door. How can I ever compete with that? You said it yourself—you can’t wait to divorce me!”
“Oh, my God.” His jaw clenched. “Do you know how much I’ve wanted you? How long? Do you?” he thundered.
She stared at him, shocked at his fury.
His voice dropped. “I’ve wanted you for a year, Callie. And I’ve waited for you. For a year.”
“No,” she whispered. “It’s not true.”
What she saw in his dark eyes made her shiver all over. “My God. How can you not know? How have you not seen it?”
Her heart nearly stopped in her chest. She licked her dry lips. “You haven’t tried to touch me, not once. You’ve barely even looked at me.”
“You were a new mother. You were drowning.” Reaching out, he brushed long brown tendrils off her shoulders. “You didn’t need me trying to seduce you, placing more demands on you when you were only getting four hours of sleep. You didn’t need a lover. You needed a partner. You needed me to be a good father.”
She stared at him.
“And you were,” she choked out tearfully. “The best father Marisol could ever have had.”
Callie heard his intake of breath, felt the way his hands tightened on her as he held her against his chest. Looking down at her, his angled face was in dark silhouette.
“Thank you,” he said softly. All around them, the winter landscape glowed in the moonlight.
“You really—wanted me?” she whispered.
He gave a harsh laugh. “I tried not to. Told myself that our night together was meaningless. Reminded myself that you were a liar engaged to anothe
r man, and you’d betrayed us both when you gave me your virginity.”
Ice flashed through her. “I—”
“But I couldn’t forget you. No matter how I tried.” He shifted her weight against his chest. “There has been no other woman since the night you were in my bed,” he said roughly, looking down at her. “Do you understand what I am telling you? No other woman.”
She stared at him. “But … but it’s been a year.”
His dark eyes looked through hers. “Yes.”
Callie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She licked her lips. “But those pictures of you with that duchess in Spain …”
“She is beautiful,” he whispered. He shook his head. “But she left me cold.”
Tears spilled unheeded down Callie’s cheeks, freezing against her skin as she looked up at her husband. “No. No, it can’t be true. You can’t have been celibate for a year, wanting me—”
“You don’t believe me?” he said grimly. He released her, slowly letting her slide down his body to her feet. “Then believe this.”
