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‘Because this is a conversation we need to have. What about those feelings you claimed you had for me, Millie? Or was it all a damn lie because you wanted the lifestyle?’
She almost laughed at that. The lifestyle had been the problem, but he’d never understand that, would he? ‘I didn’t care about the lifestyle.’
‘Really? For a woman who didn’t care, you certainly spent enough time on your appearance.’
It was such an unexpected interpretation of the facts that for a moment Millie just gaped at him. He had no idea. ‘What you said just now,’ she croaked, ‘about a picture sometimes having another meaning—’
‘Shopping is shopping.’ There was an acid bite to his tone. ‘It’s hard to find another meaning for that. Unless you convinced yourself that it was an act of charity to prop up the world economy single-handed.’
Millie was so shocked and stung by that all she managed by way of response was a little shake of her head. ‘I was trying to be the woman you wanted me to be.’
‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’
Wasn’t it obvious? She was standing in front of him in her oldest jeans with bubbling hair and no make-up. The shiny surface of his large American fridge reflected her deficiencies back at her. Even in the kitchen there was no escape. ‘I’m not your type. We met and married in less than a month. It was just too quick. We didn’t know each other. It was a mistake.’
‘Which part, exactly, was the mistake?’ He made a rough sound in his throat and stepped towards her, trapping her against the wall with the sheer force of his presence. ‘The part when you lay underneath me, sobbing my name?’
She felt the hard muscle of his thighs against her. ‘Leandro—’
He slid his hand into her hair, tilting her face so that she was forced to look at him. ‘Or the part when you came again and again without any break in between—was that when you thought, This is a mistake?’
‘Don’t do this—please don’t do this.’ Millie pushed at his chest and immediately regretted it because her hands encountered sleek muscle and it took every fibre of her being not to slide her greedy fingers over the deliciously masculine contours of his chest.
‘When you fell asleep with your head on my shoulder, were you dreaming of mistakes?’
He’d conjured up one of her most precious memories and she closed her eyes against the tears and felt them scald the backs of her eyelids. The sex had always been incredible but also a little bit overwhelming because she could never quite let go of the thought that a man like him couldn’t possibly want a girl like her. But in those moments afterwards—those moments when he’d held her and murmured soft words against her hair—that had been her favourite time. The time she’d actually let herself believe that the fairy-tale might be happening.
‘When you told me that you loved me, Millie…’ His voice was hoarse and his fingers tightened in her hair. ‘Were you thinking that it was a mistake? Was it all a lie?’
‘No.’
Her eyes flew to his and for one desperate moment she thought he might actually kiss her. His mouth hovered, a muscle flickered in his lean, dark jaw and his eyes glittered black and dangerous. He looked like a man on the edge.
And then he stepped back from the edge, displaying that formidable control that raised him apart from other men. ‘I don’t think you know what you want, Millie. And that’s why I’m not letting you take this baby.’ With a searing glance in her direction, he closed his hand over her wrist and propelled her back to the table. ‘Sit down.’
‘Leandro, you can’t—’
‘I said sit down. I haven’t finished.’ His harsh tone was all the more shocking because she’d never heard it before. Always, with her, he’d been gentle. She’d never been on the receiving end of his biting sarcasm or his brutal frankness.
‘If you yell, I won’t listen.’
‘I’m not yelling.’ But he drew in a breath to calm himself and Millie sat, wondering again why he was so angry.
‘Leandro—’
‘You walked out without even giving me a hearing,’ he said thickly, ‘and at the time I was so angry with you that I let you go. Your lack of trust diminished what we shared to nothing. But I can see how skilfully your sister manipulated you. I can almost understand why you might have believed what you believed. You’re right. We didn’t know each other well enough or you wouldn’t have run so fast. You wouldn’t have looked at me with that accusation in your eyes. You wouldn’t have been so quick to doubt me. You would have known me better.’
‘I saw you,’ she whispered, but his gaze didn’t waver.
‘What did you see, Millie? You saw your sister naked in the pool with me. Isn’t that what you saw?’
The reminder was like the sting of a whip. ‘You’re trying to tell me I was imagining things.’
‘No. I’m trying to make you see the rest of the picture. Was I naked?’ His tone demanded an answer. ‘Was I having sex with her?’
‘Not then, no, but—’
‘Can you think of any other reasons why Becca might have been naked in my pool?’
