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Ashley stilled 'I beg your pardon?'

'It's really not important-' 'It is to me!'

Reluctantly he turned back to her 'I considered her to be a close friend,' he confided 'And one evening, not very long after I had learnt of your visit to that clinic, I went to her apartment…'

'And?' Ashley prompted fiercely

'I needed someone to talk to but I was very drunk,' he spelt out with distaste, a dark flush of e the hard slant of his cheekbones 'The nextI woke up in her bed with no ot there'

Deeply pained by the ie, Ashley turned her head away

'That's why I married her She loved e of that I felt that I had to ht that you had soht that you had had an abortion-'

'Yes,' she conceded strickenly

'My father was so ill that ed haste It was coh 'I had lost you I really didn't care what I did and in that state Idid Carina confess that nothing had happened that night So you see, cara… I was an absolute fool Had ht have suspected that I was too incapable of a night of passion, but my eren't about me'

He hadn't told her the truth about his e to Carina because that truth had made him feel stupid Carina had trapped hi on his sense of honour to close the bars on that trap

His htened 'I should be entirely honest with you That wasn't the only reason I married her She loved et on withanyone… least of all a woive her-'

'She made her choice'

Vito grimaced 'She knew I didn't love her but she had this sunny belief that in the end I would She put up the photos everywhere Theyto have theot she existed if she wasn't immediately in front of me!'

Ashley winced

Vito straightened 'I did try to make her happy, but I failed I couldn't ood in relationships…in fact, I'm bloody useless!'

'No, you're not If she knew that you didn't love her, she must surely have known that there would be problems-'

'Which of us are so practical about attaining our heart's desire?' His lustrous dark eyes clung to her briefly and then he squared his broad shoulders and turned away 'Four years ago, I was so crazy about you I would have married you the first e met That wasn't practical either, was it? And that's why I' now I don't want your pity'

'Why would I pity you?' Ashley dee, Vito, and you certainly took it!'

'I never wanted revenge,' Vito contradicted with a harsh laugh 'I wanted you… I needed you, and within days I kneas still in love with you!'

Ashley gaped at him, transfixed

'You wouldn't have given me a second chance if I'd asked for one You hated ht I could make you love me-'

He had said exactly the sao in her bedroo her He had been telling her that he still loved her, asking if she could ever forgive him for what he had done – and she had made no response 'I can't bear your silence', he had said

'But you said you wanted a child!' she cried

He grimaced 'I didn't want you to suspect how badly I needed you And if there was a child, I intended to use that child to keep you I was betting on a dark horse but I couldn't believe that you would be able to walk away'

'You were right'

'One right and countless wrongs,' he countered savagely