Breathe by Donna Alward Page A

sense his shock. Divorce wasn’t something taken lightly and she couldn’t escape the feeling that her answer disappointed him as well. He was going to think even less of her, if that were possible. She blinked, determined to get through to the end so she could get it over with once and for all.
    â€œI know,” Anna continued weakly. “He laughed at me. He came right out and asked what I thought my father would say to that. Papa clings pretty tightly to what he calls ‘the old ways’. But Stefano took it too lightly. It made me mad. I swore to him I’d end our marriage if it was the last thing I did.”
    â€œAnd Roberto? What did he say?”
    The hurts piled on top of one another, weighing Anna down. “He expressly forbade it. No daughter of his would disgrace the family with divorce.” Finally, she put down vegetable and peeler. She stared out the window. This was what her charmed life had become. Away from the home she’d known and loved, away from the people and places that were familiar just to escape her own guilt. “I couldn’t stay at Morelli, so I stayed in our house and contacted a lawyer.”
    Jace cursed. “Damn your father and his narrow mindedness. What kind of man would turn his daughter away?”
    Anna couldn’t help but smile a little as her heart warmed. This was why she’d come to Jace. Despite their past, she knew deep down he’d be on her side. “I really didn’t expect anything else, Jace. Anyway when Stefano found out I’d hired a lawyer, he took his mistress—the nanny who had rocked my children to sleep, supposedly loved them—on a trip on the sailboat. He was arrogant and complacent. And wooing her with Morelli’s finest, it would seem.”
    She tried to keep the loathing out of her voice, flattening it to calm the awful emotions churning inside her. “There was an accident, and he died. We just kept the mistress part quiet, and everyone considered it a horrible tragedy. If people knew, they said nothing to me about it. Only me, Papa and Alex knew the marriage was already ending. But it is hard to keep it a secret that she was there with him. She went into hysterics with the coast guard.”
    â€œBastard.” Jace spit out the word and spun her around, his hands firm on her shoulders. “And now what, you feel guilty?” His gaze burrowed into hers. “You feel responsible?”
    â€œYes, yes, I do,” she answered quietly. She eyed the pot of potatoes, most of which were unrinsed. She reached over, took it off the counter and ran it under the water. Anything to keep her hands busy. They wanted to reach over and grip his, to find strength in his fingers, but she knew she couldn’t rely on that too much. “I didn’t create the storm, but when it comes right down to it, I was the one who provoked him. I was the one who hadn’t been attentive enough, hadn’t seen the signs. And yet I couldn’t stand the sight of him, knowing what he’d done. You must understand, never would I have wished him dead. Never . But playing the sorrowful widow, knowing what I knew, was impossible. I couldn’t take it another minute. And that’s why I’m here. I’m not here to recover from some broken heart. I’m here because I have to find a way to face up to all the mistakes I made.”

    Jace was gutted. Of all the things he’d imagined, this wasn’t it. He’d resented her perfect life for so long it was a shock to realize it hadn’t been perfect at all. Tension rippled through him. He wasn’t sure what he felt at this moment.
    Responsible? Yes. He’d felt responsible all these years, feeling like he’d pushed Anna into Stefano’s arms. If only he’d handled things differently. If he hadn’t taken the coward’s route out. It didn’t matter that he’d been young. Or that he’d loved her more than he