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And then silence.
Crap, oh crap.
“Well, then...”
Anneke held her breath again.
“That was one hell of an icebreaker.”
A small squeak of embarrassment escaped her. “I’m sorry,” Anneke blurted out. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“No apologies necessary,” Marcus said smoothly, “since it’s completely true.”
In a blink of an eye, the moment of lightheartedness between them came to an end, and a tense kind of silence fell in replacement.
So they were really going to do this then, Anneke thought dumbly. They were finally going to hash things out, here, now. As she raised the cup to her lips and took a sip, she felt his gaze settle on her, dark and intense.
As she lowered the cup, Marcus began, “I’d like to—-”
Anneke cut him off, saying stiltedly, “Willem told me you were fighting the divorce because you wanted to ask mewhy. He said you were waiting for me to come to you, to ask youwhyyou were doing the things you were doing.”
Marcus stilled.
“He said—-” And this time, Anneke could no longer keep her voice from trembling. “He said you weren’t acting like a husband who had thrown his wife away on their first night of marriage.”
Marcus sucked his breath. “Anneke—-”
She shook her head, forcing his words to a stop. “But we both know that’s exactly what happened.”
Marcus put his own cup on the table, fearing he’d accidentally crush it. Leaning forward, he said in a low, driven tone, “It won’t happen again.”
Anneke couldn’t help raising her gaze to his, asking incredulously, “That’s all you have to say?”
“No.” His tone was curt. “I can say with complete honesty that I haven’t fucked another woman since you left me. And that includes the woman you saw me with that night—-”
“Liar.”Anneke could only stare at Marcus. What in the world made him think she was so gullible she’d fall for such a lie?
“I can prove it.” There was a slight pause, and then Marcus said abruptly, “And your brother Jaak can testify that it is so.”
The words stunned her into silence.Jaak?Her own brother could corroborate such a story?
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered.
Marcus took his phone out of his pocket and laid it on the table. “Then call him and ask him yourself.” When she didn’t say a word, he pushed the phone closer to her, saying forcefully, “Call him—-”
“No!”
When patrons from other tables turned to look at them, it was only then Anneke realized how dangerously close she was to succumbing to hysterics—-
Oh God.
It was starting all over again, her world turning upside-down and it was because of him, always because of him.
Marcus Ravelli.
When Anneke turned to him, the look of vulnerability on her face tore at him. “I’m sorry,” she choked out, “but I just can’t do this.” And then she was rising clumsily to her feet.
Panic struck him, and he stood up right away. “Anneke—-” He caught hold of her wrist just as she turned away.
