GREEK HUSBAND

Chapter 57

'I'm looking at a guy who doesn't even wear a wedding ring!' Bella shot at him equally out of the blue and Edward looked down at his bare hand in bewilderment, wondering what wedding rings had to do with anything and whether simply leaving the room would be wiser than remaining.

'You never bothered to ask but I would've liked to get married in a church. But then you never really wanted to be properly married to me, so obviously you didn't bother to ask about my preferences. You didn't choose me,' Bella condemned heatedly. 'You married me because I was pregnant, so why would we stay together now?' she demanded emotively.

Edward lifted stunned dark golden eyes from the offending hand that lacked a wedding ring and thought how sneaky women could be. She had never mentioned his omission or the church thing. She had never by so much as a hint let him know how she felt about him not wearing a wedding ring and now he was being hung out to dry for a sin he hadn't known he had committed. How fair was that?

'I can buy a wedding ring,' Edward pointed out gruffly.

'That's not the point!' Bella exclaimed in seething frustration because he was not giving her the reaction she had expected: he was not looking guiltily relieved.

'Then why did you mention it? And could we have this conversation at some other time when you're not emotionally overwrought and we're both feeling calmer?' Edward pressed grittily. 'Because right now is not working for me.'

Bella lifted her chin. 'I thought it was better to say it and get it out in the open. I don't want you faking what you don't feel. You felt things for the baby, not for me.'

'That is untrue,' Edward grated, losing patience. 'You're my wife and I made a serious commitment to you.'

'But I don't want your cold sense of commitment...I want to love!' Bella flung back at him helplessly.

'I warned you that I couldn't put that on the table,' Edward breathed harshly.

'Oh, you could if you wanted to,' Bella fielded with unmistakable bitterness. 'But you don't want to. And do you know why? It's not because you had an unhappy childhood, it's because you're an emotional coward.'

His nostrils flared, his eyes kindling like flames. 'Let's not descend to that level.'

'But it's true. You don't get involved because you're scared of getting hurt. Nobody wants to get hurt, Edward, but most of us still try to make a relationship that goes further than practicality and convenient***. You're too busy protecting yourself to even give it a go.' Exhausted by telling him what was wrong with their marriage, Bella fell back against the pillows, drained by emotion. 'Go back to the castle.'

'To start planning our divorce?' Edward challenged darkly.

'It's inevitable now,' she whispered numbly, her heart heavy as lead-tight. 'There's nothing left to keep us together.'

'If you really want me to leave, I'll leave and come back first thing in the morning,' he bit out grimly, his darkly handsome features bleak with constraint.

'There's no point you coming back for the second scan.' Bella knew she would cry then because, no matter how hard she was striving to be realistic, a little spark of hope still flourished. She would be shattered when she received the confirmation that, yes, she had miscarried and lost their baby and she didn't want Edward to witness that emotional breakdown and start feeling sorry for her again. 'I could handle that better alone. I'll be able to leave the hospital straight after it.'

'To do what? Fly back to London?' Edward demanded bitterly. 'You're in no fit state for that. At the very least you need to spend a couple of weeks recuperating. If it makes you happier, I'll leave and you can have the castle all to yourself. At this moment I feel that getting fully back to work would be a welcome distraction.'

'I didn't want it to be like this, Edward,' Bella muttered wretchedly. 'I know you're upset as well.'