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She knew it and finally accepted it She’d started this thing and she had to finish it, no ht want to put it off No ret her impulsive decision to come to New York Tears choked her throat and she knew she couldn’t begin tell him about her body’s deficiency with even a se she could say

And she wasn’t even sure how to say it

Feeling pressured beyond endurance in her current overly emotional state and overwhel held in his arms for what she was sure was the last ti it out, “We have to divorce”

Eyes filling with inie, he dropped her in an act of such utter repudiation her stomach knotted with pain to add on top of all the other hurt she was feeling If she hadn’t grabbed him for support, she would have fallen flat on her bottom

But he shook her touch off with disdainful rejection “You bitch”

She’d never seen hiry and it scared her silly “I…I h-have to tell you—”

“You will divorce me over my dead body,” he interrupted in a deadly voice

Hercome out She tried, but no words would issue forth It all hurt too much She’d never believed she would have to say those fatal words to hiiven any amount of money…even years from her life not to have had to do so And yet as horrific as his response was to her demand for divorce, she could not make herself speak the truth that labeled her a total failure as a wo left inside her of trust for his willingness to spare her emotions

And the harshness of his reaction confused her…made it harder for her to think, to cope hat needed to be said She simply had not expected him to respond with such fury After all, they were in effect discussing the dissolution of what he considered a business contract Nothingbeautiful in her life

Unless…e was ht Could it be true? Could his reaction mean he cared after all? Inside her, her heart leaped…could she have ? All of the evidence she had compiled in her own mind pointed to the fact that she did not matter to him on a personal level, not for who she was—the person inside who craved his love so ardently

But had she misread it all? She didn’t see how she could have No She shook her head It simply wasn’t possible Maybe she could have misread a misspoken phrase here and there, but not an entire lifestyle that continuously pointed out how s could be e of how a Scorsolini er brothers

Yet, he was behaving as if the end of their ry?” she asked in an alain

He looked at her in incredulous fury “You have just told me you want a divorce and you askwith fear and anticipation of what itfor a wife, you knew this,” he gritted fro pro

“One of those requirements was a ho understood and accepted the i one’s personal happiness for the sake of what is best for Isole dei Re”

“Were you sacrificing your personal happiness to marry me?” she asked painfully

She’d alondered if he’d wanted a different woman, even a different kind of wo A woman ould not necessarily make the ideal princess, but ould have matched the fiery passion that bubbled beneath the solid surface of his duty

“Happiness never cah her, she said, “It did for me I was happy toanyone else”

For some reason, her words made him flinch “But now you want a divorce Your desire for me, this happiness you mention was short-lived It did not last even three full years And yet what did I withhold fro” He had withheld nothing except his love and that had never been on offer as part of their bargain

“So, you will accept that I have not reneged on ain?”