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His words crushed her. For a horrible moment she thought she might make a fool of herself and slide to the floor and beg, No, no, no. The pride was stripped from her, leaving her vulnerable and exposed. She felt like a mortally wounded animal waiting for the final blow.
Oddly enough, the desire to cry suddenly ceased. It was as if her body had shut down.
‘You want a divorce.’ Somehow she managed to say the words, her eyes fixed on the wooden table, studying the grain of the wood. Anything, rather than look at him and fall apart. It was illogical, she knew, but she’d rather be married to him and never see him than cut the ties forever. ‘Of course you do. Just let me take the baby, and I’ll give you a divorce.’
‘Theos mou, haven’t you been listening to a word I’ve said?’ His voice was rough and angry. ‘I do not want a divorce.’
‘You said you made a mistake.’
‘It seems that whatever one of us says, the other misinterprets it.’ Clearly struggling with his own volat
ile emotions, Leandro paused for a moment, his hand to his forehead. The he looked at her. ‘The mistake I made,’ he said harshly, ‘was letting you walk out that day. I should have dragged you back and made you look at the truth. But I was furious that you doubted me. I was furious that you didn’t stand your ground and fight for what we had.’
‘If something isn’t right, sometimes it’s better just to let it go.’
Leandro threw her a fulminating glare and then paced to the far side of the kitchen, his broad shoulders rigid with tension.
Millie watched him—this man she loved—wondering what was going through his mind. As if reading her thoughts, he turned. The ever-present chemistry flickered across the room, resurrecting a connection that had never died.
‘When I said that I’m ending this mess, I meant that we’re ending this ridiculous separation. I want you back by my side where you belong. When the going gets tough, I want you to stay and fight instead of running. Those are the qualities I expect in the woman I’ve chosen to be my wife and the mother of my children.’
Millie pressed the palm of her hand against her heart to relieve the almost intolerable ache. ‘Are you saying that you don’t think I’d make a good mother?’
Something dark and dangerous shifted in his eyes. ‘Let’s just say that at the moment I’m not convinced.’
Appalled that he could possibly think that of her, Millie stared at him, seeing dark shadows in his eyes that she didn’t understand. ‘You don’t know me at all.’
‘No,’ he said grimly. ‘I don’t. But I intend to rectify that.’
He spoke the word with deadly emphasis. ‘Let’s see how powerful that commitment is this time around, shall we, Millie? If you want to be a mother to that child, you’ll do it by my side, as my wife.’
The shock of his words silenced her and he lifted an eyebrow.
‘It’s a yes or no answer, Millie.’
She stood up, so agitated that she couldn’t stay sitting. The fact that he intended to keep the baby suggested that he must be the father. Did he expect her to just ignore that fact? She wondered why he was so determined to continue the marriage. Was it a matter of pride? ‘Why do you want this?’ Her chair scraped on the floor, the sound grating against her jagged nerves. ‘I don’t understand you.’
‘I know that. But you will have the whole of our marriage to understand me. And I’m going to understand you.’ He strolled across to her and she stepped backwards, but he kept coming, backing her against the wall, planting his hands either side of her head. ‘You and me, Millie.’ His voice was suddenly dangerously masculine and she caught her breath because he was casting the same spell that had drawn her in right at the beginning.
‘Leandro, don’t—’
His hand caught her face, his gaze intense. ‘I want you to stand by those promises you made to me in the church that day.’
His eyes darkened to a fierce black, as if her silence had somehow given him an answer to a question still unasked.
‘Millie?’
Millie closed her eyes. She wanted to ask why he was so determined to keep the baby. Couldn’t he see how that looked? Her mind was a mess—her thoughts so tangled and confused that she couldn’t follow a single strand through to its conclusion. ‘You can’t just resurrect our marriage. We were a disaster.’
‘Our communication was a disaster, that I agree.’ Leandro shrugged. ‘I rarely make mistakes and when I do, it’s just once, so you can relax.’
She’d never felt less relaxed in her life. ‘I can’t be what you want me to be.’
Leandro gave a humourless laugh. ‘Our communication has been so appalling up until this point, agape mou, I seriously doubt that you have any idea what I want from you. But this time around you will not be turning your back on me. And you will not be walking out when we hit a problem.’
Millie thought about what she had to offer him. Even less than last time. ‘You want me to come back as your wife, but things have changed, Leandro. You don’t know everything. Things have happened over the past year.’
‘I don’t want to know,’ he said roughly, and she realised that he thought she was referring to another relationship.
