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‘What, then? Hurry up, will you? I’m officially off duty and you’re eating into my free time.’
Theo tensed as he met the flash of her blue eyes, which told him as clearly as her words just how angry she was. Had he thought she’d be so delighted to see him again that she would fling herself into his arms, without him having to redeem himself? That she would let him tumble her down on the bed and they could kiss and make up in the most delicious way possible?
Of course.
But nothing in life worth having ever came without a fight—he of all people should have known that. For the first time it occurred to him that she really might not want him any more—and could he blame her, were that to be the case? He had pushed her away so many times. He had erected barriers to stop her getting close and had resisted all her efforts to knock them down. Yet somehow she had managed to melt the icy carapace which surrounded his heart, where everybody else had failed.
He had underestimated her so many times and in so many ways and, suddenly, he recognised that this might be too little, too late.
Did he have a single chance left, or had he blown it?
He thought of all the different words he could use which might bring her round to his way of thinking, though in his heart he knew there was only one thing which might startle her enough to listen to him. He could tell her that he missed her, which was true, or he could use the words he’d never said before. Was that what made his delivery uncharacteristically halting?
‘Mia, I...’
She looked at him impatiently, her brows raised.
‘I love you,’ he said suddenly.
The sudden pallor of her face was the only indication she’d registered the significance of his statement, but her expression remained fierce and defiant and he swallowed. She really was going to make him fight for this.
‘Is that why you pushed me away after my grandfather died?’ she demanded. ‘And why you acted so cold and remote? Is that the behaviour of a man in love? I don’t think so. If you’ve come here because you want to have sex with me, then why not just come right out and say it? But please don’t dress it up in pretty words you don’t mean as a way of winning me over.’
Her taunt was provocative, but Theo stuck to all the things he knew he had to tell her. ‘I have loved you for a very long time,’ he said.
‘Really? You’ve got a funny way of showing it.’ But she screwed her face up suspiciously. ‘How long?’
‘Ever since I asked you to marry me, all those years ago.’
‘No!’ She shook her head and several coppery spirals broke free from her updo. ‘Don’t youdarelie to me—’
‘These aren’t lies, Mia,’ he interjected softly. ‘Why would I come all this way to lie to you? Of course I loved you. Why else would I have married you? Tying myself down with a wife at the age of twenty-three was the last thing on my agenda. I had everything I needed. I was on the road to financial success. I was able to have any woman I wanted and, no...’ Anticipating another objection, he sighed. ‘That wasn’t intended to be an arrogant boast. I’m just trying to tell you the way it was. I didn’t want anything more from your grandfather because he had already given me enough, but I most certainly wanted you. Hell, yes.’ He paused, searching for something in her eyes, but they were still veiled and wary. ‘I really,reallywanted you. I’d never felt that way about a woman before.’
‘Go on,’ she said, though her tone was slightly softer now.
‘I can see now that my determination to make us wait until we were married must have felt as though I were disempowering you. That I was guilty of taking awayyourchoice.’
‘Because you did. You treated me like a child, Theo.’
‘Maybe I did. But you were only eighteen and I was very conscious of that.’
‘That’s no excuse. We didn’t communicate properly,’ she added fiercely. ‘If you and Pappous had trusted me enough, you would have realised I would never have allowed my mother to take my inheritance away from me—especially not a piece of land which I loved so much.’
‘Can you be so sure of that?’ he questioned softly. ‘She still had a big influence in your life. You believed her when she told you I was stealing from you.’
‘I know.’ She sighed. ‘I should have stood up to her. In fact, I should have stood up to you all. But those days are long gone. It’s all in the past now.’ She was biting her lip. ‘And I still don’t understand why you’re here. What do you want, Theo?’ she whispered. ‘What do you actuallywant?’
He thought how speaking to a group of the world’s most powerful financiers in a glitzy hotel in the south of France was a walk in the park compared to laying his feelings on the line to his wife. But what choice did he have, if he wanted to grasp the personal happiness which had eluded him all his life?
‘You made me confront my grief about your grandfather,’ he said unevenly. ‘And to realise that, yes, hewasmy family. And once I had acknowledged that, I accepted it was but a small leap of faith to realise that Icouldmake my own family work.’ He paused, suddenly aware of the raw emotion in his words and his words were husky. ‘But there’s only one woman I want to have a family with and that woman is you. It’s always been you. Nobody else but you.’
Still she said nothing. She reallywasmaking him fight. He drew in a shaky breath. ‘I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you, Mia,’ he said. ‘I want you to forgive me for closing my heart to you, and to tell you that I will try hard never to do that again.’
‘How hard?’ she interjected suspiciously.
‘Very hard.’ He smiled. ‘I want to have babies with you and make a family. A real family. And I know your dream is to be a veterinary nurse, so I’m not sure how that would work, but maybe that’s something we could look into. Now, I don’t know if some or any of that appeals to you, but I need to hear your thoughts.’ His throat constricted as he considered the possibility that she might refuse him and he wondered how he might bear it if she did. ‘So, what do you say?’
What did she say?
