She pushed away from him and scrambled to her feet. Looking down on the gorgeous man sprawled na**d in the sunshine, she felt only disappointment. Regret. And a deep, bone-searing sorrow that would probably be with her for the rest of her life.
“But the only way you want me is if I’m pregnant.” God, it cost her to say those words.
“I did not say that,” he countered, coming to his feet in a slow, languid movement.
“You really didn’t have to,” she muttered, pushing her still-damp hair back from her face with both hands. “God, I’m an idiot.”
“Teresa? Surely you see that we are good together. Staying married wouldn’t be a hardship on either of us.”
His tone was so reasonable. The look on his face so patient. Teresa wanted to scream.
Shaking her head, she reached for her clothes and tugged them on while she talked. “No, Rico. I won’t be part of a marriage that’s described as not a hardship.”
“You are deliberately misconstruing what I said.”
“I don’t think so,” she countered, shooting him a quick glare while she hopped on one foot to pull on her shorts. “I think you said just what you meant.”
He got dressed too, but with more casual, easy movements than she managed. “You are overreacting.”
“Really?” She hooked her bra and then grabbed her shirt. Pulling it on, too, she asked, “Then what would your reaction be if I asked you to forget about prosecuting my family?”
He went still as stone, his pale blue eyes fixed on her, looking like chips of ice.
“Could you let them go?” She already knew the answer but she had to hear him say it.
Then he surprised her. Again.
“If I let them go,” he said shortly, his voice as cool as the gleam in his eyes, “what do I get out of it?”
She threw her hair back out of her eyes. “I’ll stay with you.”
“For how long?”
This cost her. Humiliation flushed her cheeks as she realized she was blackmailing her husband into keeping their marriage alive. He wanted her. The passion between them was strong. And this last week she’d seen a side of him she hadn’t seen since five years before. Maybe, she told herself, if she stayed and they were together long enough, love would eventually win the day.
“Forever,” she said simply, surrendering her last ounce of pride. “Or for as long as you want me.”
He took a long, deep breath and steadied himself. His eyes were shuttered, emotions sheathed to keep her from reading whatever he was thinking. It seemed to take forever before he finally said, “It’s a deal. The Corettis go free and you stay here. With me.”
She should have been happy. This was exactly what she had wanted so badly. To be able to remain with Rico here on the island. But getting it this way left her feeling as empty as she had during the previous five years. She could only nurture that small, now silent surge of hope and pray that eventually it would prove enough to conquer Rico’s heart at last.
* * *
That hadn’t gone at all as he’d planned.
Rico had spent the last week being the most attentive husband in the world in an attempt to get her to beg him to let her stay. That way he could keep his word to her family and hold on to his pride at the same time.
But she’d turned the tables on him.
Pacing the perimeter of his office two days after their sojourn at the waterfall, he felt caged. As if somehow he had wandered into a trap of his own making and now there was no way out.
“It was telling her that I wouldn’t let her leave if she was pregnant,” he muttered, scraping one hand across the back of his neck.
But he didn’t know how he could have handled that any differently. Yes, he wanted her. Yes, he loved her still. But he couldn’t tell her that without handing her all of the power in the negotiation that was sure to follow. So instead he got a wife who had once again become a hostage for her family.
She had traded her freedom for theirs and now he would never know if she would have chosen to stay simply because she loved him.
“Idiot.” He kicked his desk for good measure as he made another pass around the room and the resulting pain was only what he deserved.
When his secretary buzzed through, he answered angrily, “I don’t wish to be disturbed.”
“I know, sir, but there’s a man here to see you. He says it’s urgent.”
Scowling, Rico demanded, “Who is he?”
“He says his name is Gianni Coretti and that you’re expecting him.”
Twelve
Rico felt a surge of both anger and satisfaction. At last there was a target for the fury writhing inside him. “Send him in.”
Gianni Coretti was tall, with short black hair, sharp brown eyes and the look of a man who didn’t have much patience. Good, Rico thought. Then they were well matched. Gianni was wearing a well-cut suit and looked more like the head of a corporation than an infamous thief.
He crossed the room in several long strides and offered his hand. Rico merely looked from the outstretched hand and back up to the man’s eyes. He gave nothing away, though mentally he was shouting, Why are you early? I still have four days with Teresa!
Which was ridiculous, of course. The whole point of this bargain he’d begun what felt like a lifetime ago was to have the Aztec dagger returned. That piece of family history that had been entrusted to him by his father. That’s what he should be interested in. Instead all he could think was, if Gianni was here with the dagger, then Teresa would go.
But no, a voice in his mind whispered. She wouldn’t. She’d bargained herself away for his assurance that he wouldn’t see the Corettis jailed. Teresa was going to stay.
For all the wrong reasons.
Damn it.
“I’ve heard quite a bit about you from my father and brother,” Gianni was saying as he let his hand drop to his side.
One eyebrow lifted. “Not flattering, I imagine.”
“Not in the slightest,” Gianni agreed with a grin. “But that’s not important now, is it? I have what you asked for.” He reached into his suit jacket and from the inner pocket pulled a cloth-wrapped item. “You can have it as soon as I have the evidence you gathered against my family.”
Rico only crossed his arms over his chest and braced his feet wide apart. “Let me see the dagger first.”
Gianni chuckled and shook his head. “This is what is wrong with the world today. No one trusts anymore.”
Amused, Rico pointed out, “Says the thief.”