Much later, after making love in a patch of sun-warmed grass, the two of them lay sprawled together beside the waterfall. The roar of the water was the only sound and Teresa was torn between sheer happiness and the grief of knowing that all too soon this time with her husband would end.
“What will you do when the month is up?”
She tipped her head back to look up at him. “I don’t know. Go back to my apartment in Naples, I suppose.”
Features grim, he nodded and said, “I’ve been thinking about this, as well, Teresa.”
“Really?” Was he going to ask her to stay? Could he put aside what had happened between them five years ago and allow for a future? Hope, that treacherous little beast, jumped up and down inside her.
“Yes.” He went up on one elbow and looked down at her. All trace of the romantic was gone from his expression. His features were drawn and tight and the hope inside her withered a bit in response.
This couldn’t be good.
“I’ve been thinking that you should not leave the island.”
And just like that, hope was back. She smiled up at him and felt the strangling knots around her heart loosen a little for the first time in years.
“You want me to stay?” Please say yes.
“Yes,” he said. “At least until we know if you are pregnant.”
This was why she rarely allowed hope to inflate inside her like an oversize balloon. Because when the inevitable happened and that balloon popped, the fall back to reality was a crushing one.
Rico didn’t want her. He wanted the child they might have made together. So much for fresh chances. For starting over. He couldn’t let go of the past and she couldn’t change it for him, so they were at a standstill.
“That’s why you want me here,” she said, for her own benefit more than his. She needed to hear herself say it. “Because I might be pregnant.”
“You will admit, there is a good chance you are.” He laid one hand against her flat abdomen as if already claiming the child that might be inside her. “And if you are, you will stay here. With me. No divorce.”
She pushed away from him and scrambled to her feet. Looking down on the gorgeous man sprawled naked in the sunshine, she felt only disappointment. Regret. And a deep, bone-searing sorrow that would probably be with her for the rest of her life.
“But the only way you want me is if I’m pregnant.” God, it cost her to say those words.
“I did not say that,” he countered, coming to his feet in a slow, languid movement.
“You really didn’t have to,” she muttered, pushing her still-damp hair back from her face with both hands. “God, I’m an idiot.”
“Teresa? Surely you see that we are good together. Staying married wouldn’t be a hardship on either of us.”
His tone was so reasonable. The look on his face so patient. Teresa wanted to scream.
Shaking her head, she reached for her clothes and tugged them on while she talked. “No, Rico. I won’t be part of a marriage that’s described as not a hardship.”
“You are deliberately misconstruing what I said.”