day had dawned.
* * *
Liev watched Bianca nod as they stood there, couples and families moving around them, seemingly oblivious to the tension which stretched almost to breaking point between them. She barely had any make-up on. Her hair, normally sleekly styled, was loose around her face. She looked so vulnerable, so emotionally exposed, it stabbed at him, plunging into his conscience and his heart. He’d done this to her; he was responsible for breaking her, for taking a fiery and passionate woman and destroying her.
He savagely pushed that guilt aside. She was the one who’d sold her body, bargained with her virginity, just to get a bracelet. He would never have asked that of her, never have taken it, had he known. She was as driven to achieve her goal as he was. But what exactly was that goal? Why was the bracelet that important?
He’d been seeking revenge for his parents, for his lost childhood. She should have just been an instrument to gain access to the man who’d offered his father that dubious deal, but instead he’d hurt her in the worst possible way, forced her to do something she’d never have done if it hadn’t been the only way.
‘Bianca,’ he began, but she swiftly cut him off.
‘Don’t, Liev.’
‘Don’t what?’ Guilt cut through him as he saw the pain and mistrust in her eyes. It hurt that he’d done that to her. It hurt because she’d unlocked something deep within him he’d thought crushed by the hand life had dealt him, something he wanted, although he’d never thought he would.
He couldn’t comprehend it. He cared for Bianca, in a way he thought he’d never care for another person again. But Bianca, like Dario, had only ever been a means to an end. They didn’t have any kind of future together.
‘Don’t say you are sorry. Not when using me so spectacularly was always part of the plan.’ The pain in her voice was so clear, so sharp, it almost cut him.
He wanted to tell her that making love to her had never been part of his plan. He hadn’t intended to kiss her—other than publicly for the sake of their fake engagement. But he could see it in her eyes, in the dark accusation within their depths. She thought he’d used her in the worst possible way, just to advance his name. How could he ever tell her it was so much more?
‘I am sorry, Bianca, because I care for you.’ The effort of keeping his voice firm and steady made it sound unnaturally harsh.
She looked suspiciously at him. ‘That’s a lie. If you cared you wouldn’t have left it all week to come and tell me. You’d have told me before we left my grandfather’s home, before we left your island villa. You would never have let me believe I’d become nothing more than just another notch on your bedpost.’
‘You could never be that.’ He took hold of her arms and looked into her face, wanting to kiss away the pain. This was killing him as much as it was her. ‘I didn’t come and see you because I couldn’t face acknowledging what had happened between us. That night should not have happened. Not like that.’
That much was true. He’d put everything aside, forgotten everything, just to be with her, just to explore the passion and desire which had simmered since that day at the auction. He’d wanted her in a way he’d wanted no other woman, beguiled by her innocence, driven by desire.
Their recent time together had shown him who he could have been and who she really was. It had made him yearn for things he’d thought off-limits to an undeserving man such as him, and whatever it was, it had to end. Right here. Right now.
He couldn’t allow it to deter him from his graveside promise. He would avenge his parents, even if it meant turning his back on the only woman to have ever made him feel emotion.
‘I came to give you this.’ He held out the box which contained the bracelet, watched as her dark eyes glanced down at it, then back at him. He could see she wanted to take it and run. He put it back inside his jacket pocket, the agony of knowing it was all she wanted too painful.
‘Does that mean our engagement is over?’ She turned and walked on, leaving him no option but to fall into step beside her again.
He should say yes, but something held him back. She might have achieved an exclusive which had portrayed the ultimate love story to the world, opening the doors to society he’d led her to believe he’d wanted opening, but there was still one more thing he had to know.
‘The deal will be completed once I hand over the bracelet, but before I do...’ He paused and she glanced up at him.
‘What, Liev?’ The resigned tiredness in her voice tugged at his heart, finally awakened by that one night they’d put aside everything and truly loved one another. Or so he’d thought.
She walked to a bench and sat down, crossing her legs and twisting round to face him slightly. Her beautiful dark eyes urged him to talk even though she didn’t say a word, and he would never forget how they’d looked as he’d made her his—only his. But he couldn’t let such thoughts sway him; he couldn’t fall for her charms and innocence, not when they were used against him as a weapon, one more powerful than anything he’d ever battled with before.
‘I want to know exactly why the bracelet is so important.’
* * *
Bianca’s heart went into free fall as she looked at Liev standing before her—alone. People milled around him but he was still very much alone. She wanted to go to him and tell him the bracelet had ceased to have any importance the moment he’d kissed her on the beach. That as he’d taken her to his bed and claimed her as his, binding her to him for ever, it had paled into total insignificance. No amount of glittering jewels was more important than love, and somehow she knew her grandfather would share that thought.
What would Liev say if she admitted that? Would he laugh at her? Would he believe her if she declared her love for him? If his reaction to her virginity was anything to go by, he would never believe a word she said again.
‘It’s complicated.’ She focused her attention on the fountain as it stood majestically rising into the blue summer sky. Even the lily in the angel’s hand, representing purity, mocked her for what he thought she’d done, giving her virginity for the bracelet. Would he ever believe her if she told him it wasn’t true?
He came and sat next to her, and whilst she was rigidly perched on the edge of it, he leant back and stretched his arm out along the back of the bench. ‘I’m listening.’
She closed her eyes and knew she would have to tell him everything if she stood any chance of him ever believing that she loved him. She’d come this far, fallen for the worst man possible, but after years of waiting, could she really turn her back on her love for him?
‘As you know, my grandfather is ill—terminally ill.’ She paused. Saying it aloud made it seem more real. Until now it had just been a fact in her head. ‘Once, he’d owned that bracelet. I have no idea if he bought it for a lover or if it is a family heirloom, but when he arrived in New York in 1942, he had nothing to live off but a few pieces of jewellery. They must have meant something to him because he has asked for them, wanting to see them one last time.’
She moved slightly on the bench and turned to face Liev. He looked relaxed and not at all affected by her words, but the hand which rested on his thigh was clenched into a tight fist.
‘And you bartered yourself, your virginity, for that?’ The shock in his voice brought heated colour to her cheeks. Did he have to make it sound so bad, so cold and calculated?
She dropped her gaze and looked at her hands. Shamefully she would have to admit he was right, although it hadn’t been like that at all. That night nothing else had mattered, only the man she’d loved, the man she’d waited for.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen it that way. If she told him the truth, that she’d given him her virginity because she loved him, he would no doubt push her further away. He didn’t let emotions rule that cold heart of his. She was fighting a lost cause. As far as he was concerned, she’d