“My answer is no!”
The humor fled from his face. He said tersely, “Might I ask why?”
“For starters—you just said you don’t love me!”
“Love only brings pain.”
Hana thought of her parents’ passionate love, their constant drama, and had to admit he maybe had a point. Then she raised her chin. “How would you even know?”
“I tried it once,” Antonio said quietly. “A waitress. When I was eighteen and broke and stupid.”
Hana’s jaw dropped.
“You—loved someone?” she gasped. “You?”
“I was a virgin,” he said ironically. “I thought I loved her because she took me to her bed. She told me it was hilarious and dumped me a few months later.” He tilted his head. “And you, Hana? What experience have you had with love that makes you think it’s necessary, or even good, for a marriage?”
She thought again about how excluded she’d felt, as her parents had focused solely on each other, on fighting and kisses, dragging their daughter around the world almost like an afterthought.
Biting her lip, she looked away.
“So,” Antonio said softly. “You do have some experience with love after all.”
“Not me,” she said unwillingly. “But my parents. They were so in love, they—they sometimes forgot about me.”
He took her hand. She felt the comfort of his touch, the heat of his palm against hers, and her whole body shivered.
She heard herself ask, “What happened to her?”
“Who?” His fingers tightened around hers.
Her cheeks burned. “The waitress.”
“Ah.” His lips curved. “She left me for a rich, elderly Frenchman. But she came crawling back when she heard I’d made my fortune.”
“And?”
He shrugged. “I was no longer interested.”
“Of course not.” She looked up at his handsome, implacable face. “But marriage is a commitment for a lifetime.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Your longest love affair lasted six weeks.”
His dark eyes flashed with amusement, his shoulders suddenly relaxing beneath his sleekly tailored coat. “You were paying attention?”
She bit her lip, hating that she’d revealed so much. She said defiantly, “It was my job to pay attention. To clean up your messes when you ghosted a girl and she came sobbing to me, wondering why you’d suddenly stopped calling when she’d thought she was on the fast track to earning your heart!”
“So that’s why you brought Madison the camera for Christmas? You wanted her to think I was a good boyfriend?”
“For all the good it did.” She scowled. “I can’t believe you’d break up with someone on Christmas morning. Not even you.”
“It seemed the only decent thing to do.”
S
he choked a laugh. “Decent?”