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‘I told you this could go nowhere.’
‘You did, but...’
Thatbutagain. He could hear her attempting to defend them. Worse, he was still glimpsing that future.
And so he killed it, with brutal but necessary words, for he could not drag it out any longer. ‘I am to marry,’ Rafe said. ‘My engagement will be announced in the New Year.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’
‘At least I have the difficult conversation, Antonietta. At least I don’t run from it.’
‘That’s unfair.’
‘Why? Would you prefer it if I just take off and leave and then write you a letter in a few months, explaining my actions? Would you prefer that I return in five years and expect to resume where we left off?’
‘Of course not.’
‘So whatdoyou want, Antonietta?’ he asked. ‘You tell me that you are no longer coming to my suite and yet you secretly want me to dissuade you?’
‘No!’ she protested, but that wasn’t quite true. ‘Perhaps...’ she conceded.
Her honesty floored him and made it hard to remain cold, for he could see the confusion in her eyes.
Cleanly, Rafe.
He didn’t want it to be over, though. And neither did she.
‘One moment.’
He went into the bedroom and from the dresser there removed a slim black velvet box. Then he returned to the lounge and handed it to her.
Antonietta opened it with some difficulty, for she could feel him watching her. She refused to gasp, but held her breath when she saw the gorgeous pendant, with a stone so bold and blue that for a moment she could imagine she was back in the Blue Grotto.
‘Thank you,’ she said, ‘but I cannot accept it.’
‘Of course you can.’
‘No.’ She held out the box to him but he refused to take it, so she placed it on the desk. ‘Rafe, I don’t know its value, but I am certain that sapphire would buy me a house—not that I would ever sell it.’
He did not tell her that it was a rare blue diamond. Instead he let her speak.
‘But how on earth could I keep it?’ She looked at him. ‘When my life moves on, am I to wear it for special occasions? Perhaps on my wedding day?’
His jaw ground down.
‘No,’ she answered her own question. ‘For that would be crass. So just on dates, or birthdays, or whatever? Or do I buy a safe? And when my lover asks how I came upon it do I tell him that for a few nights I slept with a prince?’
She looked at him, this girl with the saddest eyes, but still there were no tears.
‘I don’t think that would go down too well.’
She held it out but still he did not take it from her.
‘Please, Rafe, don’t mark the end of us with this.’
‘Take it, Antonietta. Sell it if you have to.’
‘I already told you—I refuse to be your whore.’
