feel it in her traitorous body as it reacted to his dark, disturbing presence the way it had always done in the past. Her senses went on full alert, her legs giving a little tremble as she thought of how he had taught her all she knew about physical intimacy, how it had been his body and his alone that had shown her what hers had been capable of in giving and receiving pleasure. ‘I can’t see how that is any of your business,’ she said with a hoist of her chin.
A muscle flexed beside his mouth. ‘I know this is hard for you, Gisele,’ he said. ‘It’s hard for me too.’
‘Meaning you never thought you’d ever have to apologise to me for getting it wrong?’ she asked with a cutting look. ‘Hate to say I told you so.’
His expression immediately became shuttered, closed off, remote. ‘I’m not proud of how I ended things,’ he said. ‘But you would have done the same if things were the other way around.’
‘You’re wrong, Emilio,’ she said. ‘I would have looked high and low for an alternative explanation for how that tape came about.’
‘For God’s sake, Gisele,’ he said roughly. ‘Do you think I didn’t look for an explanation? You told me you were an only child. You didn’t even know you had a twin. How was I supposed to come up with something as bizarre as that? I looked at that tape and I saw you. I saw the same silver-blonde hair, the same grey-blue eyes, even the same mannerisms. I had no choice but to believe what I was seeing.’
‘You did have a choice,’ Gisele said, shooting him a blistering glare. ‘You could have believed me in spite of, not because of, the evidence. But you didn’t love me enough to trust me. You didn’t love me at all. You just wanted a perfect wife to hang off your arm. That wretched tape tarnished me so I was of no further use to you. It wouldn’t have mattered if the truth had come out in two minutes or two hours instead of two years. Your business was always going to be the priority. You put it before everything.’
‘I put my business on hold to come out here to see you,’ he said, frowning at her broodingly.
‘You’ve seen me, so now you can jump back on your private jet and fly all the way back,’ she said, sending him a haughty look as she spun on her heel.
‘Damn it, Gisele,’ he said, snagging one of her arms to stall her.
Gisele felt the steely grip of his long, strong fingers on her bare arm as he turned her back to face him. His touch was like a flame. It seared her skin like a brand. Every nerve flinched beneath her skin. She felt her stomach go hollow as his eyes locked on hers. She didn’t want to lose herself in that glittering dark gaze. Not again. Once was enough. It had been her downfall, falling for a man with the inability to love and trust.
She didn’t want him this close.
She could smell the heat of him, the sharp and heady cocktail of musk and male and lemon-based aftershave that made her nostrils flare and tingle. She could see the black pepper of the stubble on his jaw and her fingers suddenly itched to feel that sexy rasp under the soft pads of her fingertips. She could see the grim line of his beautifully sculptured mouth. The mouth that had wreaked such havoc on her senses from the very first time he had kissed her. She only had to close her eyes to remember how it felt to have those hard, insistent lips press down on hers …
She snapped out of her reverie like an elastic band that had been stretched too far. That same mouth had vilified her cruelly. Her ears still rang with his hateful, unforgettable, unforgivable words. There was no way she was going to let him off lightly, if at all. Her life had come undone the day he had cut her adrift. She had been so devastated and alone. Her happy future had suddenly been ripped away from her without warning. She had been shattered by his accusations. She had been left so raw with pain she had barely been able to drag herself through each agonising day.
Finding out she was pregnant a couple of months after she had returned to Sydney had been her only glimmer of hope in that very dark place she had found herself in. But then that hope had been cruelly dashed a few weeks later at the second ultrasound. She had always wondered if that was her punishment for not telling Emilio about the pregnancy. He had forbidden all contact after their break-up, but she had been too devastated and hurt to even try.
And too angry.
She had wanted to punish him for not believing in her. She still wanted to punish him. It was like a rod of steel inside her. The only thing holding her upright was her fury and resentment and hatred towards him. Nothing was going to melt it.
‘Why are you making this harder than it already is?’ Emilio asked.
Gisele needed the trench of her anger to hide in and the deeper and dirtier the better. ‘You think you can breeze in here and issue some half-hearted apology and I’ll forgive you?’ she asked. ‘I’ll never forgive you. Do you hear me? Never.’
The line of his mouth was grim. ‘I don’t expect you to forgive me,’ he said. ‘I do, however, expect you to act like an adult and hear me out.’
‘I’ll act like an adult when you stop restraining me like an out of control child,’ she said, shooting him a livid look. ‘Let go of my arm.’
His fingers softened their hold but he didn’t release her. Gisele felt her heart give a nervous flutter as the broad pad of his thumb slid down to her pulse. Could he feel the thud of those hit-and-miss beats? She surreptitiously moistened her mouth but his gaze caught the movement. His eyes darkened, the pupils disappearing into the chocolate-brown of his irises. She knew that look so well. It triggered a visceral reaction in her body. The pulse of longing was like a lightning strike to that secret place between her thighs. Every erotically sensual moment they had ever shared flashed through her brain like a film on fast-forward. Those sensually provocative images made a mockery of every paltry attempt she had made to keep herself immune. What hope of immunity when one look from those dark eyes made her blood rush through her veins at breakneck speed?
‘Have dinner with me tonight,’ he said.
‘I told you I already have an engagement,’ she said, not quite meeting his eyes.
Emilio tipped up her chin with his other hand, his eyes dark and penetrating as they held hers. ‘And I know you are lying,’ he said.
‘What a pity you weren’t such a hotshot detective two years ago,’ she threw back resentfully as she finally managed to break free. She stood and pointedly rubbed at her wrist, still glaring at him.
‘I’ll pick you up at seven,’ he said. ‘Where do you live?’
Gisele felt a bolt of panic rush through her. She didn’t want him at her flat. That was her private sanctuary, the one place she felt safe enough to let out her grief. Besides, how would she explain all the photos of Lily? It was much better to leave him ignorant of their baby’s short life. She wasn’t ready to tell him. She would never be ready to tell him. How could she cope with the pain of him telling her she should have had a termination as she had been advised? It had been hard enough hearing it from her mother and some of her friends. Emilio wouldn’t have wanted a child who wasn’t perfect. It wouldn’t have suited his plan for a perfectly ordered life.
‘You don’t seem to be getting the message, Emilio,’ she said with a defiant look. ‘I don’t want to see you again. Not tonight. Not tomorrow night. Not ever. You’ve apologised. End of story. Now, please leave before I have you evicted by Security.’
His expression was
