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‘Wait, you gave me this to keep ive me what I really need—you don’t love me that way But you don’t want anyone else to have me either, because I’m your wife Seb, this isthis is low’

‘No!’ Oh, hell, this was all going wrong Very wrong This hat happened when he planned a grand gesture on no sleep, clearly ‘That’s not what this means, okay?’

Scrubbing a hand over his head—and dislodging his elf ears—Seb sank onto the sofa, his whole body aching with exhaustion After a moment Maria sat down next to him

‘Okay, then Tell me what it does mean And why you’re dressed up as an elf, come to that’

Seb huffed a laugh ‘The elf thing was e tastes you never mentioned before And because Leo wouldn’t wear the Santa suit unless I dressed up, too’

‘Ha! No Although I think Anissa was secretly impressed with Leo’s costume’

‘And she looks a lot better as an elf than I do,’ Seb coree with him, which wasn’t a surprise

‘So Explain?’ Maria asked ‘Everything, preferably Starting froht’

Seb sighed How to explain it in a way that she would believe? It felt like the realisation of his love had come on so slowly, over the years, then had sped up over the last week and a half But would she believe that? If he just said ‘I love you’, Maria would think they were just words to make her stay, like she had with the shares

It wasn’t enough to just say the words But he also knew the words ould mean the most to her

‘When you left last night,’ he started slowly, thinking his way through as he spoke, ‘I realised that you were right about so about others’

‘Like?’

‘You said I didn’t see you’ The memory was almost as painful as the words had been, especially when he knehat he’d been ot —a business deal, a partnership And I never looked beyond that In ned you to the role of “wife of heir to Cattaneo Jewels”, and looked forward to the day you’d be the “wife of the CEO of Cattaneo Jewels” And it never occurred to ht’

‘I noticed,’ Maria said drily

‘But that doesn’t mean that was all you were toher to see the sincerity on his face ‘Just because I never assigned words to it the way you did, or even gave it too ht Maria, you were never just a convenience to me You were a friend, a trusted confidante and partner, the mother of my child, and thequalitiesof course I fell in love with you So in love that you becah any hoop, et you asked me to in order to keep you there It just never occurred to s, what you really wanted was , even if I didn’t realise it until now I love you, Maria Not as a friend or anything except as the woman I love My wife’

Maria froze, trying to take in his words First Leo’s shares, now declarations of love Seb really was pulling out all the big guns to try to make her stay

‘Is this? I have to ask Are you just staying this to keepthat it was even a question But after everythingit was

‘No! Maria, I’ Seb stopped, looked down at his hands, then started again ‘You knohat you said last night? About ht and last dream? I’d like to Can I tell you about my day yesterday?’

His day? The day where he’d sneaked off to work in the early hours and skipped out on seeing Santa with their son? And he thought that was going to help his cause?

‘I guess so,’ she said, confused

‘I woke up yesterday nore it and curl back up with you But it wouldn’t stop and I didn’t want to wake you, so I checkedon before he died—the one you helped ht That clause I dis down the whole deal’

‘I told you so,’ Maria said absently Salvo’s last deal His legacy Seb’s last chance to make his father proud

Suddenly Seb rushing off to Geneva to save it made a lot more sense

He had been thinking about fa up to his father’s expectations had always been what had mattered most to him

‘It wasit hat Dad had been working towards for years Our biggest expansion yet He always said that once it was sorted, he was going to hand the whole company over to me and retire’

‘Only he never got the chance,’ Maria murmured

‘Exactly And I couldn’t I just couldn’t let this one go doithout a fight You know?’