‘It wasn’t like that,’ she whispered. ‘I had a choice, and I chose to marry you.’
Javier stared down at the photo and then thrust it at her. ‘You only accepted my proposal out of love for your father. It wasn’t what you wanted. You saw your parents’ happy marriage as a blueprint for your own future, but what did I give you? A heartless business contract—and the expectation that you would make the vows that are so important to you knowing that they were a lie. I watched your face in the chapel, Grace,’ he said huskily. ‘And I knew how much it hurt you to say those words to me rather than a man you loved and hoped to spend the rest of your life with.’
He walked over to the huge stone fireplace and stared moodily at the flames dancing in the grate. ‘I’ve decided that you should go back to England,’ he said suddenly, his voice shattering the silence that had fallen between them. ‘You’re so pale and sad—you need to spend time with the people who love you.’
‘I see.’ Grace felt a shaft of pain slice through her but she refused to let him see how much his words had hurt her. He couldn’t have made it plainer that he had no feelings for her, she thought as she dashed her tears away impatiently. He was probably sick of the sight of her crying all the time. She bit down on her lip until she tasted blood, and forced her voice to sound unemotional. ‘When do you want me to leave?’
‘Whenever it suits you—tomorrow, if you like,’ he replied with a shrug. His indifference was like a knife in her chest and she choked back a sob, but as she stood silently, wishing he would go and leave her to her misery, he spoke again. ‘Grace…I want you to know that the past months that you’ve lived here at the castillo have been the happiest of my life—apart from the last few weeks, which have been hell,’ he added on a raw undertone.
He was still staring at the fire, his face turned away from her as if he was deliberately avoiding her gaze, but his startling admission was too much for Grace. ‘In that case, why are you sending me away?’ she demanded, marching over to him. Her nightdress was a prim floor-length white gown with a high neck and long sleeves designed for warmth rather than seduction. In her haste she tripped on the hem and muttered an oath as she gathered up the material in one hand and stood before him.
‘There are still over four months remaining of our marriage contract, and I’m fully prepared to honour them,’ she said fiercely. ‘I thought you needed me here to convince the bank’s board members that you no longer lead a playboy lifestyle and are a happily married man.’
For a moment he said nothing, simply slid his fingers into her hair and smoothed the silky strands down to her waist. ‘I’ve resigned from my position at El Banco de Herrera and relinquished all rights to it. From now on, my cousin Lorenzo Perez has total control.’
‘But…’ Grace gaped at him until he put a finger beneath her chin and gently closed her mouth. ‘The bank is everything to you, the most important thing in the world.’ In her urgency to understand, she gripped the front of his shirt and stared up at him. ‘You don’t have to give it up now, when you’re so close to winning your rightful place as its head.’
She closed her eyes as comprehension suddenly dawned. ‘That’s why you’re sending me back to England, isn’t it? You can’t wait another four months until you can divorce me. You must really hate me if you’re prepared to lose your birthright rather than remain married to me for a few short months,’ she said thickly, her throat aching with tears.
‘Of course I don’t hate you!’ he denied explosively. He gripped her shoulders and forced her to look at him, his eyes softening at the abject misery in hers. ‘How could you ever think it?’
‘It was my fault that I lost the baby,’ Grace wept. ‘If I had trusted you more, instead of listening to Lucita’s lies, I would still be carrying our child.’
‘A child that you believed I only wanted to fulfil the terms of my grandfather’s will.’ Javier gave a harsh laugh. ‘Even I am not as ruthless as that, querida, but the fact that you thought me capable of such cruelty is proof of your opinion of me, and after the way I’ve treated you I deserve your contempt.’
His face was a taut mask as he struggled to control his emotions. There would be time enough after she had gone to deal with the despair that threatened to overwhelm him. ‘Don’t cry any more, Grace,’ he pleaded huskily as he drew her against his chest and felt her tears soak through his shirt. ‘It’s time to end this madness. You’re free to go home to your father, and you have my word that Angus is safe from prosecution. If I had been in his shoes, watching helplessly as the woman I loved suffered, I would have done the same thing,’ he confessed, his voice so low that Grace had to strain against him to hear it. ‘I forgive him, querida, and I can only hope that one day you might find it in your heart to forgive me for the way I hurt you.’