He straightened in physical rejection of the idea.
She emerged from the water and all he could do was stare at her. Her face was wiped clean of make-up, her hair was slicked back, and her expression showed nothing but shock. He felt something like a stabbing pain in his gut. She was so young, so innocent and so beautiful.
If she wanted a divorce, what kind of bastard was he to fight it? Didn’t she deserve her freedom? True freedom? Not the kind that was bargained for and arranged by her father, but the freedom that came of being a young woman who had her own place in the world.
All the fight and the anger he’d brought with him, the disbelief that she wanted to end their marriage, evaporated.
He had to let her go.
He had to do what Col hadn’t been able to.
He had to acknowledge that she was a mature woman with every damned right to make her own choices in life.
‘Pietro.’
It was a groan and it broke through his resolve. Her eyes dropped to the document in his hands and at the moment of recognition she blanched. Her eyes held desperate anguish as they met his.
‘You got the papers.’
‘Si, cara.’
Why did she look as though he was killing kittens in front of her? This was her choice. Her decision.
He looked away, the sight of her making him want more than anything to argue with her. To use any tool at his disposal—yes, even sex—to get her to agree to give their marriage another chance.
But she’d been railroaded enough for a lifetime.
‘You didn’t have to hand-deliver them.’
Her words were so quiet. So pained. God, how he wanted to swoop down and take that pain away.
‘That wasn’t my intention.’ He stepped back from the water’s edge, feeling utter disbelief at what he was about to do.
‘Wasn’t it?’
The water made a rippling sound as she lifted her arms out of it and braced her forearms against the coping, then pressed her chin into the back of one hand.
‘So why did you come?’
He shook his head, forcing himself to look at her. But the pain was back—an ache that seemed to rip through him when he met her eyes. The change in her was marked. The happiness that had seemed to shimmer out of her pores in Rome was utterly absent now.
‘I was surprised to receive these,’ he said, without answering her question.
‘Why should you be?’
Visibly, she seemed to tighten her resolve, to assume a mask of unconcern. How did he know it to be a mask? Because he knew. He knew everything about her.
‘Our reasons for marrying are gone now. He’s dead.’ Her voice cracked. ‘You’re free.’
Pietro’s head whipped back to hers. He crouched down. Urgency perforated his tone and he spoke before thinking. ‘What do you mean, I’m free?’
‘You did everything he wanted. You were a very good friend to my father. But it seems only fair to absolve you of this responsibility.’
Now it was Emmeline whose eyes were jerking away, refusing to hold his.
Pietro’s mind moved quickly, rapidly sifting through her statement, trying to comprehend her words.
‘You’re divorcing me because you want to free me from our marriage?’ He held the papers up. ‘This is for me?’
She opened her mouth, surprise obvious in her face. She shook her head, and her eyes showed panic. ‘I... It’s the right thing to do.’
‘Why is it, cara? Do you think I no longer love you?’
Tears sparkled on her lashes, mixing with the water of the pool. ‘Please...don’t. Don’t say those things. It’s not fair.’
His gut whooshed to the floor. She was right. Hadn’t he just been telling himself that? And yet...
‘I’ll sign the papers, Emmeline. If that’s what you really want. But I want to hear you say it.’
‘Say what?’ The words were a whisper and yet they echoed around the pool room.
‘Tell me you don’t love me.’ He crouched down once more. ‘Look in my eyes, see all the love I feel for you there, and tell me you don’t feel the same.’ The words were so deep, so gravelled. ‘Tell me you don’t want to live in Rome with me, as my wife, that you don’t want to be in my bed, that you don’t want to continue your studies. Tell me that you want to end our marriage. That you want that.’
Her sob was heartbreaking but he didn’t withdraw.
‘I don’t want to be married to you. Not like this.’
Her addendum at the end was a lifeline in the midst of a turbulent, terrifying ocean.
‘Not like what?’
‘Not because of him. Not because you felt forced to protect me. Don’t you see? I’m not the girl he thought I was. The girl you thought I was.’
‘I know that,’ he agreed urgently. ‘You never were. I married you because Col asked me to, yes. But I want to stay married to you because of how I feel. How you feel. Because of what we are.’
Tears ran down her cheeks. She bit down on her lip and looked away from him, trying—and failing—to rally her emotions into order.
‘I don’t think I believe you.’
The words were agonising to both of them.
‘I need us to divorce. It’s the only way.’
None of it made any sense. He expelled a soft sigh as he tried to comprehend his wife’s viewpoint.
‘Then say it.’ His eyes held a silent challenge. ‘Tell me you don’t love me and I’ll sign these papers and drop them off at your lawyer’s on my way out of town.’
Her sharp intake of breath told him everything he needed to know.
‘But if you love me—as I think you do—say that. Tell me that. Be honest with me.’
‘Our marriage has no future,’ she murmured, ignoring his question. ‘I’ll never
