Anthony captured her hands. “Wait here.” Then he rose and went to the dresser and searched for a moment. Finally finding what he was looking for amid the fobs and cravat pins, he returned to the bed and lay beside her.

A crease rested between her brows. “What is it?”

Anthony captured her hand. He kissed her ring finger and slid the talisman ring over it.

Anna held her hand to the light. “What’s this?”

“A family treasure. Legend has it that whoever has the ring in his possession will meet the love of his life.”

She made a movement as if to take it off. “Then it’s not for me—”

“Anna, the ring has nothing to do with marriage. It’s for finding the love of my life, and that is you.” He bent and kissed her finger once more, this time teasing the palm of her hand as well. “Keep it. For me.”

Anna closed her hand over the ring. She had his love. It was something—but it wasn’t enough. “I cannot accept this.”

“You already have.”

She pulled away. “No.” Had she any pride left, she would rise from this bed and walk away. But somehow her pride had disappeared, and with it all hope that she and Anthony could ever be happy. She couldn’t ask him to walk away from his honor—it would change him. And she loved him just the way he was.

“We are hopeless,” she said, managing a smile through her tears. “You can’t walk away from your commitments, and I cannot allow myself to be beguiled into an untenable situation.”

He enveloped her in a powerful hug, resting his head against hers, his breathing warm on her ear. “Please, Anna. I will take care of you. You and your grandfather will never want for anything.”

Each word he said drove a wedge between them. Anna felt as if they were staring at each other over the brink of a chasm, a chasm so deep and so wide that it could never be bridged. Her heart ached as if someone had squeezed it in a vise. “No.”

He brushed his lips over Anna’s, nipping at the delicate corners of her mouth. “Don’t think. Just stay with me. We’ll take this one day at a time. Something will happen. It has to.”

Anna closed her eyes. It was so tempting. The ring on her finger seemed to burn. It was a pity the legend was wrong. What she felt for Anthony couldn’t be love. Love didn’t feel so despairing. So hopeless.

Her fingers closed about the ring and she turned into his embrace, pressing her naked body to his. Without words, she showed him what she felt and he responded instinctively, worshipping her in a way that left her crying his name.

Later, much later, she lay curled in his arms. Anthony’s steady breathing stirred her hair, sending a shiver of repletion through her. She savored the feel of him, his scent, his warm arms about her. Outside, the moon shone, sending long tendrils of light across the bed, warming their naked limbs to silver.