Today hadn’t gone as she’d hoped or planned. She batted her eyes and wished she had a better answer. “I married you.”
It was his turn to exhale as he glanced out in the distance. “That doesn’t mean much to many people. From what I understand, my own parents didn’t love each other.”
Giving her heart to Matteo wasn’t part of their plan, was it? She wasn’t ready for this. Her heart whispered she might love him, but what if that whisper was just a reaction to his question. She needed to be sure. “For me, it means loyalty to my vows. I won’t kiss or ever be with another guy. We talked about this.”
He stood straighter and stiffer. “We talked about it before your Charles returned for you.”
The air was warm but she shivered as she asked, “So what are you saying, Matteo? That you think our marriage was a mistake? I thought we were working on trust?”
He puffed out his chest. “I think we married for business reasons, and we need to keep our relationship as business, which is why I moved my clothes to my old boyhood bedroom.”
Separation. A stab to her chest would hurt less. And this room didn’t seem like a childhood anything. This was a simple guest room. “What?”
He turned to leave the balcony. “I’m going out to clear my head.”
She followed him. “When will you be back?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I need to come to terms with the idea that we’ll need to use a doctor for fertility and sleep in separate rooms.”
Fertility doctor? This was bad. She pressed her hand across her chest. “Why?”
He shook his head. “Because I don’t trust you or myself with you.”
Matteo reached for the bedroom door leading to the hall. If he left, she might never get a second chance. “Matteo, wait.” He flung open the door and started to walk out. “I’m sorry.”
He turned toward her in the doorframe. “You were always honest, Sheena. I need to straighten my thoughts out and then we’ll be fine. I can be just business from now on, at least once I stop my heart from falling any further for you.”
No. No. No. This wasn’t what she wanted at all. Somehow she needed to rewind today and find a way to start over, but Matteo strolled away like this was done.
And as he disappeared from sight, tears sprung in her eyes. She couldn’t stop the flow as they spilled down her cheeks. She wished she could, but somehow she’d just lost Matteo. They were over for good.
Chapter 16
The memory of Sheena’s pressed lips as Matteo had asked her if she loved him wouldn’t leave him. She didn’t. She didn’t care about him. Yet his heart lifted when she was near.
He’d skated on his board toward the cold mountain peaks, his legs pumping, the wheels spinning as he flew over the asphalt.
Standing over these bluffs where some of his ancestors had once watched for foreign invaders usually sent calm through him.
Not tonight. The moon, high in the sky, and the nip at his nose from the cold did nothing to stop how his heart had caved in.
The ride here made it clear to him why. He loved Sheena. Sheena loved another man. And he was a colossal fool for ever thinking he might be happy married to her.
As he stood on the edge where soon snow would gather, Matteo glanced behind him.
Avce. The brilliant lights of his small country were a beacon of hope for so many. Here the inhabitants were all charmed, and for the most part, he was included in that number.
But Sheena had taught him that luck only went so far, because for once in his charmed life, he’d lost.
His cell phone rang and the sound was like a trumpet in the still night air. He dragged his phone from his back pocket and before he could even say hello, Stefano asked, “Matteo, where are you?”
If anyone knew him, it was his friends. He stepped on the board to keep the wheels from freezing before he had a chance to get out of here. “I went skateboarding in the mountains.”
“The mountains?” Stefano said in a higher octave than his normal gruff tone.
He wiped the ice from the corner of his eyes. “I needed to clear my head.”
“Your wife is looking for you,” Stefano said.
