“You expect me to believe that?”
“I have never lied to you.”
“You would undo our marriage if you could?”
“If it would take the expression of pain from your beautiful brown eyes, yes.”
He really meant it…he would give her up if he could undo the past and save her pain.
“The baby, would you undo that?” she pressed.
If he had looked like the damned being tortured before, he looked worse now. “I thought you might…”
“What?”
“Then I realized you never could. Not you and I was glad and I’m ashamed that I was so relieved not just for the sake of our baby, but for my own sake. As your baby’s father, I would always have a role in your life. And yet, if I could save you this pain, yes…I would make it so we never met, so you never married me and let me into your body.”
If he meant those words then he had to really love her. “How can I believe you?”
His face twisted in sorrow and he averted his gaze, strain coming off of him in tangible waves. They remained like that, her on the couch, him kneeling before her, for several silent minutes and then he turned to face her.
“I loved you when I married you even though I did not admit it to you or to myself.”
“I wish that were true.” It would make the pain so much more bearable.
“Do you remember our prenuptial contract?”
“We don’t have one.”
“Wouldn’t we, if I only married you to spite Randall? I’m a very rich man. If I didn’t love you, if I had the least intention of ever letting you go, wouldn’t I have done something to protect my empire? I’m not a stupid man…in the normal course of things anyway.”
“You said you wanted the marriage to last. You weren’t planning on divorce.”
“No, but only love would make me trust you enough to leave something so vital to a man in my position undone.”
She bit her lip remembering the prenuptial contract her mom and Darren had signed. The man had been top over tails in love, but businessman first last and always, he’d had one drawn up. It had protected her mom, too, in a way, but still the implication had been the marriage had a chance of ending.
Considering the number of relationships her mom had had between her dad and Darren, his subtle concern had been justified, but Angelo had shown no such concern. And he had a lot more to protect than Darren had.
“You married me to keep me away from Baron.”
“I married you to keep you near myself.” The urgency in his voice rang true.
“But—”
“Tara, I met you and I wanted you. I got to know you and I knew having your body would not be enough. I’ve spent ten years spurning emotion, staying apart from my family, never letting anyone as close to me as I allowed you within a week of meeting.”
It had been the same for her. “But the revenge…”
“What revenge? Did I do a single thing to Baron Randall that he did not bring on himself?”
Tara considered her husband’s words and his need for revenge and realized that he was right. He might have brought the pieces together, but Baron had put them all on the game board. “No.”
“If I had met you under any other circumstance, I would have wanted you for mine for all time.”
“How can I be sure?”
But even as she asked the question memories bombarded her. Angelo was capable of utter ruthlessness, but he had not seduced her when it was obvious he could. In fact, the whole time he had known her, he had done nothing to hurt her.
He had given and given and given and that kind of behavior from an alpha guy like him denoted she had a very special place in his life.
A place that could not begin to be defined by his need for revenge.
“It is a matter of trust, stellina. If you love me, then you can trust me…your heart will beat with mine and know the truth despite what logic might say.” The vulnerable expression in his indigo eyes said more eloquently than any words how unsure he was of her feelings, how much she could hurt him right now if she rejected him.
His mom had done that. She hadn’t loved him enough to stay and face her own demons, but Tara was stronger than that. If they had a chance at happiness, she couldn’t bear to let him go.
“I do love you, Angelo. So much.”
His throat convulsed. “Enough to stay with me even though I am not the perfect man you deserve?”
“None of us is perfect, my darling, but I couldn’t leave you without ripping my own heart out.”
The kiss was a mutual melding of their mouths and their lovemaking afterward was beautiful and tender enough to make even a stone heart cry. Her heart was not made of stone, so tears seeped from her eyelids and Angelo rubbed a wet cheek against her own.