Behind The Proposal novel Chapter 51

"Because I can't do this anymore," Sophie all but whispered as she stood in the doorway, looking everywhere but at him. Her voice sounded as fragile as she appeared at that moment. She looked like she'd lost weight in the two weeks he'd been gone. It made him wish he'd have been able to come back a week earlier like he'd originally planned, but there'd been too much to do.

He let his eyes roam over her, taking stock of the woman he knew better than he'd ever known anyone. Her face was slimmer, her shoulders were thinner, and her jumper was hanging loosely from her body. Was she sick? She hadn't mentioned it in their brief phone calls, the ones where he'd actually managed to speak to her.

Swallowing hard, he finally got his voice to work. "Can't do what?"

"Stay married to you." She finally lifted her face and looked at him - once - and then looked away again.

He stilled as his briefcase dropped from his fingers and landed with a thump on the floor. He wasn't even sure he'd heard her correctly. Everything had been great before he'd left. He'd been sure of it. They'd made love, she'd kissed him goodbye - passionately. Now she wasn't even looking at him. What had changed in the two weeks he'd been gone?

"I know why you married me," she whispered, turning her back to him and walking towards the window.

"What do you mean?" he asked warily, dreading what she was about to say.

She cleared her throat and turned to him, her blue eyes fixing him with a no-nonsense glare despite her tear-stained cheeks. "You needed to get married so that you'd have complete control over this new resort."

He swore under his breath and closed his eyes momentarily. "I'll kill Gabe." He wrestled his temper under control even though he wanted nothing more than to smack some sense into his brother, but he needed to explain it all to Sophie first. He never thought his brother would say something to her. He thought he'd denied it convincingly enough. What exactly did Gabe want now? What could he possibly gain from this?

"It's true, isn't it?" she asked quietly, her gaze never leaving him and he knew she'd see the truth in his eyes. He couldn't deny it, not to her. "It really is true," she whispered, clearly shocked as tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"It's not like that, Soph. Not anymore." He tried to grab her shoulder as she turned for the door. He had to explain.

She spun on her heel and glared at him. "Don't you dare touch me."

It ripped him apart seeing her like this. She'd definitely lost weight. All because he'd hurt her without meaning to. He wanted to gather her in his arms and hold her and make love to her until she believed how much she meant to him. "It's not like that."

"Oh, but it is," she sighed and looked away. "What's worse is that you keep telling me how poorly my family treat me. But you... what you did is far worse. You made me trust you. I thought you loved me," she all but whispered.

He got angry, with himself. "I never said I loved you." He should've, but then he'd only just figured out that's how he felt.

"So that makes it okay?" she stared at him, her mouth hanging open.

He hadn't even meant to say that out loud. "No. I don't know." He shook his head and closed his eyes, his words were getting mixed up with all the emotions clouding his brain. There was only one thing that rang true in his head. "I wanted to tell you I loved you, that last night, Soph. I just didn't know how," he said, hoping she'd believe him. She huffed in disbelief, but he continued anyway, needing to convince her. "I promised you forever and I meant it."

"I won't hold you to it."