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"I love you and it doesn’t matter what you did in the past." She dug into her salad. "It's just hearing that you were with those women, I just want to-" Putting down her fork, she reached for her glass and took a long sip.
"Do them some damage?" His lips quirked.
"Yes." She whispered. "God! I feel so stupid. It shouldn’t matter, none of that-"
Reaching across, he took her hand in his. "But it doesn't. Not to me. I’ve never been in love before." Turning it over, he stared at the pattern and lines in her soft palm.
"You’ve never done a day's work in your life." He held on when she tried to jerk her hand away. "Just saying." His head lifted to look at her. "You wouldn’t have given me a second look if we’d have been in the same high school."
"I went to an all-girls’ school."
"Exclusive. You played lacrosse and all those fancy sports. Now, here we are." His fingers tightened on hers. "I dropped out when I was just sixteen. Mother was getting ill, too much hard work was making her frail. I had to help out, but even then, it wasn’t enough. She died - her heart just failed her.
Just conked out. We didn’t have much of a relationship, because she was always working, but still, she hung around and tried to make it work for us when that bastard turned tail and ran." There was a snarl on his face. “She was buried in an unmarked grave, because I couldn’t afford a burial plot."
"Maxwell-" She felt like weeping. Her throat was tight and her chest felt as if she was going to explode.
"I’m not saying all this for you to pity me." He told her harshly.
"Damn you!"
She tugged her hand, but he held on.
"You’re too good for me. The princess and the toad." His eyes were spitting at her. "You should find someone who fits your neat and tidy world to be with. I’m never going to be accepted by your father.
I could give you anything your heart desires; diamonds dripping from your ears and around your throat. Houses, cars and it wouldn’t be enough for him. I’m too uncouth and not refined enough. I’m proud of what I have accomplished but it will never be enough."
"Why are you doing this?" She felt like weeping, felt the despair going through her body. She knew what he was doing, what he was trying to accomplish. "Do you want me to end things? Is that it?"
"Do you want to end things, Alessia?" He asked her silkily.
“Right now, I do.” She blinked at the tears. “You’re making it so hard for me. You’re hurting me and I don't know why."
"Don't you?" He lifted her hand to stare at the elegant fingers. "I thought about buying a ring, not an engagement one of course, because that would be ridiculous.
Ruby with diamonds surrounding it. I actually went into a jewelry store in Italy, this quaint little place in Tuscany and I stood there looking at the piece and thought how it would look on your finger."
His eyes lifted to hers. "Then, I remembered that you would have to tell Daddy dearest where you got it from and I didn’t see you doing it. Would you have accepted it, darling?”
“Maxwell-“
“You don’t have to answer.” He laughed mirthlessly. “You happen to have a very expressive face.” Lifting her hand, he kissed her fingers. “I've never been in this situation before, and if someone had told me that I’d fall for a woman who couldn’t own the relationship, I would have laughed at them.”
“Why?”
“Why am I here? I-“
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because the sensible thing to do would be to tell you to get the hell out of my life.” He was angry and was lashing out at her. “I’ve thought about doing that so many times but the very idea of not seeing you-“
He sucked in a sharp breath. “Of never being with you gives me the shakes. I’ve never been afraid of anything or anyone in my life until now. You have a hold on me that is unbreakable.”
“You think this is easy for me?” She cried softly. “I love you-“
“Just not enough to defy him.” He concluded softly. She let out a gasp when he hauled her out of the chair to sit on his lap. He shucked the robe, carelessly tossing the expensive material to the hardwood floor. “It makes me want to march right over to that fancy house of yours and tell him what we’ve been doing.”
His hands cupped her breasts. She wanted to resist him, wanted to hate him for the harsh words, but he made her weak. "Force him to acknowledge me." His thumb flicked over the rigid nipple, his hazel eyes on her face. "Tell him that I have lain with his princess-"
