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‘I’m sorry’ She stumbled over her words ‘I didn’t mean it like it sounded’

‘We should go,’ he said and turned to walk back to the waiting car, the driver having kept the engine turning over

As the car negotiated the busy streets, past landed to stop and see, Max sat coldly beside her and that coldness continued after they arrived at the wedding venue There wasn’t even the s when her pregnancy had left her nauseous and he’d rushed her out early, and definitely not now as she stood waiting, the cold ain Or was it the revelations of this uessed they were athe arrival of Lydia, Raul’s bride

Lisa pulled the softness of her black coat around herself and tried to focus on as going on around her Expectation hung in the air of the old town hall as the few asselanced at Max as he sat at her side and then at Raul, aited calmly for Lydia’s arrival Had Max been as calm the day they’d married?

The sun had shone that day and she’d thought she was the luckiest woman on earth She was so in love, so full of the promise of her happy ever after, yet within a few months all that had crumbled aith Max’s admission that he couldn’t love her

Lisa pushed theto such a level she could barely sit still Why was she even here? As the thought careered around in her mind like an out-of-control horse, the bride s, loved to adroo, she hadn’t been feeling well He was so like Max they could be twins, not mere half-brothers

It was the love in Raul’s eyes as he watched his bride come nearer that had her so transfixed she could scarcely breathe There was no doubt that he loved her—completely and utterly The se, known only to the bride and grooan to crack into pieces Max had never looked at her like that and certainly not on their wedding day He’d never shown any sign of love because he couldn’t

‘I can’t love you, Lisa I can’t love anyone’

The words he’d cruelly delivered just ed vows still cut deep She’d been so in love with hi to the hope, like a thirsty woman in the middle of the desert, that one day he’d love her as she did him That had never happened To hi more than undeniable passion, which had blazed between them since they’d first met

Sheas the icy memories invaded the present, desperate not to allow her e so she brushed against Max He stiffened instantly beside her and she risked a quick glance at him His profile was stern, his focus on his brother as Lydia joined him Then he looked at her and the steel in his eyes turned her and her battered heart to stone

‘I would never have guessed’ His whispered words held a feral edge, as if he were a wild animal afraid he’d be cornered at any moment She knew exactly what he meant She’d seen the love there, the very eive

‘That they could be so in love?’ She goaded hier was better than this distant, cool reserve

The sound of his breath being sucked in made a few heads turn their way, but the fierce connection his eyes had ht of Raul Valdez would be so weak He h the motions’

‘Faking it?’ Her gasped whisper once again o now Not when she was finally getting somewhere, finally able to talk about the emotions that had made him marry her, then walk away ‘Like you did?’

‘Sí’ His eyes hardened, challenging her to say more, and she wished they were alone, that they were anywhere else But this was Raul and Lydia’s day and she wasn’t going to spoil it and, da his challenge, his anger She held his gaze for several long seconds, then turned without a word and focused once room

Raul was the epitome of command as he stood, resplendent in a black suit ith a pale blue tie, and even though it was Max who had stolen her heart she had to adly handsome Lydia wore a white cape, the hood tri every bit the winter fairy-tale bride