Page 136 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

He dropped his hand and stepped away from her when his every muscle screamed for him to pull her to him, but he resisted.

Her head cocked to the side. She studied him silently.

‘Do you understand?’ he asked.

Jaw tight, she nodded.

‘Use your words, Emma,’ he said, because he needed confirmation that she understood she was safe with him.Secure.

‘I understand,’ she stated, but it wasn’t enough.

‘Tell me, what exactly it is you understand?’ he pushed.

‘That you’ll look after me whether I return to being youractualwife, or not.’ She exhaled heavily, and he heard the tremble she was badly trying to conceal. ‘I understand that whatever sexual relationship we had before it isn’t expected from me now. That just because we’re married, it doesn’t affect anything. Because being married to you doesn’t mean anything to me.Yet. It’s nothing but a ring that fits. And if that never changes, you’ll give me a divorce.’

He nodded, a tilt of his too-stiff neck. ‘And for now, is that enough for you?’ he asked, because he couldn’t help it. He needed to know if the temptation of security would seduce her more than his lips.

‘Yes.’ She clasped her hands together at her midriff. ‘It is.’

He stepped aside. ‘Top door to the left,’ he instructed. ‘You will find our bedroom.Yours,’ he corrected. ‘Until you invite me to share it with you.’

And there it was. The dance between excitement and fear. The shimmer in her blue eyes. The pull tightening the skin on her cheeks. The tension in her shoulders threading into her muscles and lifting them.

‘Good night,’ she husked, and moved. She took a step forward, and another past him and ran.

He fisted his hands. The urge was so dominant to reach out to catch her.

He closed his eyes, denying the urge to follow his wife to bed.

He knew now what he hadn’t allowed himself to acknowledge for the last three months.

He wanted her back. In his life.

He wanted Emma back, in his bed.

CHAPTER FOUR

ALLHERLIFEshe’d refused to wait for anyone. But nowshe was waiting for him.

Emma’s stomach whined. The pressure was too much. She felt too full, too empty at the same time.It was a void she knew no food could fill.

For two days, Dante had starved her of his presence.

He’d disappeared.

Gone.

Left her alone in their house.

Emma dragged her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down. Was this how her mother had felt like every time her father had promised her the world, every time he’d walked away and promised to return?

No, Dante was not her father. Dante hadn’t promised her anything. He’d made everything a choice. It was her choice to stay or leave.

His words flooded through her now. The warmth of them seeped into her bones. The promise to take care of her. To wait until she was ready to explorehim.

He had an effect on her without even touching her. Without beinghere.

She stared, unseeing, out of the port window onto the small airstrip below.

---