The Tycoon's Rebel Bride (The Anetakis Tycoons #2)(48)

Isabella checked her watch as Marley cleared the dishes away after the light lunch she’d served on the patio. Isabella deserved an Oscar award, surely, because she’d smiled and laughed, responded when appropriate. Even as she cracked and broke on the inside.

Piers had watched her, his gaze finding her often, probing and assessing. When the eating was finally finished, it was all Isabella could do not to sigh in relief. Now she had a little time to talk to Theron before the helicopter would arrive to pick her up.

“Theron,” she said as he stood from the table. “Could I speak to you? Alone?” she added with an apologetic look in the others’ direction.

Piers’s brow furrowed, and he gave her an inquisitive look as he stood. She avoided his scrutiny.

“Of course, pethi mou. Why don’t we go for a walk on the beach?” Theron suggested.

She avoided his hand when he extended it, and instead, she brushed past him and to the walkway. He followed her down to the water, and this time, the water failed to soothe her. It mocked her with its false serenity.

The sheer beauty of the brilliant blue, stretching outward seeking the distant skyline, taunted her. Below the surface, there were ugly things. Things that never saw the light, that never disturbed the pristine surface that sparkled in the sun.

When she stopped, her feet sinking into the sand, Theron’s hands closed over her shoulders.

“What’s the matter, Bella mou?” he asked in his deep timbre. “You seem sad today.”

She turned in his arms, finally finding the courage to face him. “There are things I need to tell you, Theron.”

His expression sobered. “What things?”

She broke away and took a step down the beach before turning again. “The whole reason I planned to travel to London this summer was because I thought you would be there.”

Confusion clouded his eyes, and he started to open his mouth. She silenced him quickly with an outstretched hand. “Please, don’t say anything. Let me finish. There’s a lot I need to say, and I won’t be able to finish if you start asking questions.”

He hesitated and then nodded.

“When I arrived in New York and learned that you would be remaining there permanently, I changed my plans on the fly, opting to rent an apartment I didn’t really want and invented a host of other reasons to throw me into contact with you.”

Her hands closed over her arms, and she rubbed up and down despite the heat that prickled over her skin.

“I knew you planned to propose to Alannis. I knew you’d planned your life with another woman. I was determined to try and seduce you away from her.”

He sucked in his breath and opened his mouth again, but she stared at him so hauntingly that he quieted again. Only the glitter in his eyes gave the impression of what he must be thinking.

“I pursued you relentlessly. I’d even planned to crash your engagement party but arrived too late. That was the reason that Marcus was in my room. He’d followed me home in the rain when I took off on foot to try and stop your proposal.”

His lips thinned, and he turned his face away to stare at the ocean.

“I thought I’d lost you, but then you came to the strip club, and then we made love in my suite. The next day you told me we had to be married, and I knew that you felt you’d dishonored me. I knew you didn’t love me, but I was determined to have the chance to make you love me, so I said yes. I let you say all those things. Because in the end I’d have the one thing I wanted most. You.”

She found his gaze again even as tears glided down her cheeks. “You see, Theron, I’ve loved you since I was a little girl. I thought it was infatuation, that it would go away, but each time I saw you, my love grew until I knew I had to try. I couldn’t just live my life standing on the outside of my dream, never giving us a chance.”

She took in a deep steadying breath, her quiet sobs shaking her shoulders. “But I was wrong. And I’m sorry. I ruined things for you and Alannis.”

Quiet lay between them. Theron stood stock-still, his hands shoved into his pockets.

“You don’t love me,” she said in a remarkably steady voice.

She hadn’t intended it to be a question, but it felt like a plea from the depths of her soul. And then he turned to face her again and her hopes shriveled and died. There were a host of things reflected in those golden eyes. Confusion, anger, but not love. Never love.

Quickly, before he could react, she stepped forward and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. “I hope someday you can forgive me.”

She slid her ring off her finger then slipped her hand inside his. Without another word, she turned and ran back up the path to the house.

“Bella! Bella!” Theron shouted after her.

She brushed past Chrysander at the top of the pathway, ignoring his hands as they reached out to steady her.

“Isabella!” he called.

She swallowed the sob caught in her throat and ran inside. The helicopter would be here soon. Her bag was where she left it, at the doorway leading out the back of the house, past the pool and to the helipad.

She grabbed it and after a look back at the house, she hurried out to wait on the helicopter.

Eighteen

T heron stared at the ring resting in his palm then at Isabella’s retreating back. He simply couldn’t comprehend everything she’d admitted. It sounded too far-fetched.