Rising Stars. Maisey Yates

      She shook her head tearfully. “You got what you wanted. Our baby has your name. Now all your friends have seen me, they’ll know you did the right thing by our baby, and they’ll know why our marriage didn’t last.”

      “Which is?”

      “Just look at me!” Starting to feel dizzy from the alcohol and the heat of the ballroom, she looked down at her overflowing curves in the tight dress then gestured toward him. “And look at you!”

      Eduardo’s brow creased as he looked down at his tuxedo, then back at Callie in her silver gown—the gown that had made her feel so pretty at the house but that now only seemed to emphasize her overblown figure compared to the stick figures of the models. He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

      “Oh, forget it!” she choked out. “It doesn’t matter. Not anymore!”

      But as she started to leave, she felt his larger hand enfold her own. Taking the empty glass from her, he set it on the silver tray of a passing waiter and pulled her into his arms. His dark eyes searched hers. “I never betrayed you, Callie.”

      She licked her suddenly dry lips. “Why would you be faithful to me?”

      “If you have to ask, you don’t know me at all.” His hand tightened on hers. “Dance with me.”

      Callie stared up at him, her heart in her throat. She knew she should refuse. Her mind was reeling at the thought that he’d been faithful to her. Without her anger, she was vulnerable. She had nothing to defend her. The marriage would end tomorrow. She was so close to being free. She couldn’t let him any closer now. She should run, as fast and hard as she could.

      But as he led her to the dance floor, she couldn’t resist, any more than she could resist breathing.

      “All right,” she whispered. “Just once.” To say goodbye, she told herself.

      Turning to her, Eduardo pulled her against his body. All around them, pale purple shadows moved against soft lavender lights, and the white bare trees looked like lacy latticework beneath twinkling white stars. Surrounded by couples swaying to music, they began to dance. Eduardo held her tightly, nestling her against the white shirt of his tuxedo. She felt his warmth. His heat. She felt the strength of his arms around her.

      Callie closed her eyes, pressing her face against his chest. She felt strangely safe. Protected. She felt as if she’d gone back in time, to that one perfect night when she’d felt he cared.

      For the next two hours, they never left the dance floor, and Callie was lost in the haze of a perfect, romantic dream. As Eduardo held her, as she swayed in her silver gown, she looked up into his handsome, sensual face and everything else fell away. She barely heard the music. She and Eduardo were alone, in an enchanted winter forest.

      And she realized she loved him.

      She’d never stopped loving him.

      Callie froze, staring up at him as unseen couples whirled around them in the violet shadows.

      “What is it, querida?” Eduardo said softly, looking down at her.

      Callie licked her lips, feeling dizzy and hot all over. She couldn’t let herself love him again. She couldn’t be that stupid. She couldn’t.

      “What are you trying to do to me?” she said hoarsely. “What are you doing?”

      Eduardo stood still on the dance floor, looking down at her. A tremble went through her as a current of awareness sizzled down her veins. Her mouth felt suddenly dry as he stroked her cheek.

      “What am I doing?” His dark eyes searched hers, and he whispered, “I’m kissing you.”

      Callie couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, as he lowered his mouth to hers.

      She felt the heat of his sensual lips like satin and the warmth of his breath in an embrace that swirled around her body with breathless magic. She felt his hard, hungry lips against her own. Felt the scratchy roughness of his chin, as his hands ran softly through her hair, then down the bare skin of her back.

      His kiss was exactly how she remembered. Exactly how a kiss should be. His deeply passionate embrace didn’t just promise pleasure—it whispered of eternity. And against her will, words filled her soul that were an incantation in her heart.

      I love you, Eduardo.

      I never stopped loving you.

      Oh, God. Could he feel it on her lips as he kissed her? Had her own body betrayed her?

      “I want you, Callie,” he murmured against her skin.

      She saw the blatant desire in his dark eyes and suddenly felt like crying.

      “How can you torture me like this,” she whispered, “when we both know in the morning you’ll only toss me aside? I gave you my devotion. And you treated me like trash!”

      “Callie!”

      “No!” She ripped away, not wanting him to see the anguish in her eyes. She couldn’t bear that final humiliation. Turning, she ran off the dance floor. Pushing through the crowd, she rushed through the ballroom, running past the coat check without stopping for her wrap. She ran blindly through the lobby and out of the hotel, into the street, where she was nearly run over. A taxi driver honked and yelled at her angrily, but she barely heard him. She crossed the street to Central Park.

      The park looked almost eerie in its snowy whiteness beneath the black, bare trees, just like the illusion inside the ballroom, but dangerous and cold, the real thing.

      Moonlight filled the dark sky, illuminating the small clouds around it, making them glow like pearls in black velvet. As Callie ran, she wept, and it wasn’t soft, feminine weeping, but big gulping sobs. Wiping her eyes, she glanced behind her.

      And saw Eduardo following, an ominous figure in black.

      She gasped and started to run, tripping on her shoes as she ran deeper into the park. She raced headlong down the windswept path, knowing that if he caught up with her, he would see her shameful love for him and he’d see her pathetically broken heart.

      One of the high-heeled shoes fell off her feet. Turning around, she started to go back for it, but when she saw him right behind her, she kicked off her other shoe instead and turned back to run. The frozen, snow-kissed path felt like cold knives against her bare feet, the silver dress dragged against her legs and the winter air bit against her naked shoulders.

      Then Eduardo caught up with her. His powerful arms lifted her off the frozen ground.

      “Go away.” Crying, totally humiliated, she struggled against his hard chest. “Just leave me alone!”

      “You think you’re disposable to me?” he said grimly, looking down at her. The moonlight gave his black hair a silver halo, like a sensual, dark angel come to lure her to hell. “Is that what you think?”

      “I know it!”

      “You just had my baby,” he ground out, his dark eyes glinting. “I’m not a brute. I wasn’t going to force myself on you!”

      She tried to kick her way free. “Of course not, when you have half the supermodels of this city queued up outside our door. How can I ever compete with that? You said it yourself—you can’t wait to divorce me!”

      “Oh, my God.” His jaw clenched. “Do you know how much I’ve wanted you? How long? Do you?” he thundered.

      She stared at him, shocked at his fury.

      His voice dropped. “I’ve wanted you for a year, Callie. And I’ve waited for you. For a year.”

      “No,” she whispered. “It’s not true.”

      What she saw in his dark eyes made her shiver all over. “My God. How can you not know? How have you not seen it?”

      Her heart nearly stopped