The words rushed out of him, sudden and forceful. They hung in the warm air of the study like a thunderclap.
"I love you, Marissa."
Marissa froze. Her body went completely still, as if she had been turned to stone. Her mouth opened slightly, her breath catching in her throat. Her fingers, which had been clutching the silver locket so tightly, suddenly lost their strength.
The locket slipped. It dangled from her fingers by its chain for a split second, spinning in the lamplight, before she caught it against her palm again.
"What?" she whispered. Her voice was barely a sound. It was a breath of pure disbelief.
She stared at him. She looked for the joke. She looked for the trick. She looked for the political angle. In her life—in both her lives—men did not say those words without wanting something. Her father wanted status. Carlos wanted money and the title.
But Derek... Derek just looked at her.
