Behind Palace Doors (Hollywood 3)

And Fate had given her the chance to see just how a marriage, a love life should be. Now she just had to show Stefan.

Eleven

He was the only man for her?

Dear God, what a bombshell. When the hell had she decided that? If she were having any notions of love...he couldn’t even fathom where that would put them.

Stefan kicked the bedroom door closed, crossed the spacious room and gently laid Victoria on the chaise chair in front of the balcony doors. Sunshine streamed in through the windows, bathing their bedroom in bright rays.

“I’ll get you some water,” he told her, his voice rough.

“No.” Victoria wiped her damp cheeks and sat up straighter. “I’m fine. Sorry for the tears. I was caught off guard.”

Stefan stared down at Victoria, surprised that he was jealous over the ex, who was obviously out of her life for good, she was shedding tears over.

“I’m sorry it upset you to see him,” he told her, easing down on the edge of the chaise beside her hip. “I’ll advise my staff to keep him away if he returns.”

Victoria smiled. “I appreciate that, but I doubt he’ll come back. He hates having his pride hurt, and my refusal to accept his lame apology and rush back into his arms really damaged his ego.”

Her silky, golden blond hair lay over one shoulder, and his fingers itched to mess it up, to see it fanned out on her white, satin sheets as he made love to her again. She was always a stunning woman, but since they’d become intimate, her beauty had taken on a whole new level of sensuality.

But he couldn’t pick up where they’d left off in the car, not when she was so upset and certainly not with the revelation he’d just heard.

“I wish you wouldn’t cry,” he told her, trying not to think about what he’d overheard. “That’s one thing I cannot stand.”

“My emotions are harder to hide than yours,” she explained. “I can’t just close them off, Stefan. I have feelings and sometimes they come out when I don’t want them to.”

He rubbed his hands over his thighs in an attempt to keep from reaching out to her. Treading lightly during these next few minutes was a must.

“I’m okay,” she assured him, wiping her cheeks and pasting on a smile. “Really. Don’t let Alex ruin our day.”

Alex hadn’t ruined the day, but her verbal epiphany had sure as hell put an unexpected spin on where they stood with this marriage—and its open ending once the six months were over.

He hated to bring up what was such a humiliating time in her life, but since Alex showed up, that had to be playing through her mind. What type of bastard would purposely have pictures taken with his new girlfriend, a pregnant one at that, while still engaged to another woman?

He was quite convinced Victoria’s ex wasn’t a man, but the lowest form of life for treating her the way he had. Stefan felt he deserved a shiny gold medal to add to the collection on his royal coat because he hadn’t busted the guy in the face.

She turned her head, looking out the double glass doors that led to her balcony. As he watched her profile, he saw her eyes fill up again.

Well, hell. Now what had happened? This was precisely why he never got too involved with women. He just plain didn’t understand the emotional roller coasters they seemed to always be on.

“I just had a bit of an epiphany, and it hit me harder than I expected.”

A tight band formed around his chest and squeezed. Did that mean she truly felt what she’d told Alex about their marriage? Was she going to discuss it now? He sure as hell wasn’t going to bring it up. Yeah, he was being a coward, but there was a first time for everything.

“Since you’re so quiet, I’m assuming the mood is gone.”

He nodded and sighed. No way could they become intimate right now, not with her emotions so high.

“I think we need to take a breather for today.”

Hurt flashed in her eyes before her defiant chin lifted. “You’ve never been known for running away.”

“I’m not running.” He was sprinting. “You need some time to think.” Some time to come to grips with her emotions that scared the living hell out of him.

Before she could guilt him more with her expressive blue eyes, he came to his feet, walked out into the hall, closed the door and leaned back against it. His chest ached, like someone was squeezing the breath from his lungs.

They’d only been married over a month. How in the world would they make it to the six-month mark with their feelings so at odds? Something about seeing her ex made Victoria realize her emotions were deeper than he’d thought. He only hoped she was just shocked by seeing Alex and once she truly thought about what she’d said, how she was feeling and where they needed to go from here, she’d see that maybe what she thought was romantic love was just a deeper level of friendship.