Chapter 4 He detested her

"Elizabeth?" His charming voice became slightly husky as he repeated.

"My name is Anthony."

"Yes," she said, not checking out at that time, and he smiled. He was even more handsome with a charming, childlike smile.

"Can you repeat that?" He merely inquired.

"Repeat what"

"My name, I'd like to hear my name spoken by those beautiful lips." He followed a finger over her lips and she quit breathing totally and groaned.

" Anthony," she whispered, causing him to slightly groan.

"Perfect. So Beautiful , my dear Elizabeth."

She had never been viewed as perfection before. Never before had anyone shown her such appreciation and warmth with such a smile. For the first time in her life, Elizabeth felt wanted as she stared back at this attractive stranger. Between one heartbeat and the following, Elizabeth had gone completely gaga. She shook her head, refusing to dwell on unchangeable past events and instead attempting to concentrate on the present. The silence was broken only by the sound of his newspaper as he carefully perused the business section as breakfast passed painfully slowly. He was so unaffected by the tension that he could finish a substantial meal, and she barely ate. She went to the sink after picking up her dishes.

"You must eat more than one slice of toast," His voice suddenly growled in an unexpected manner.

"You are becoming far too thin."

The way that he had seen what she'd eaten even though he barely looked at her over his paper, frightened her.

"I'm not hungry," she answered delicately, and put her dishes in the sink.

"You barely consume enough food to feed a bird." He brought down his paper and met her eyes for a couple of moments prior to redirecting his concentration back to the cup of espresso on the table before him. The immediate eye to eye contact was uncommon to the point that Elizabeth held her breath at the contact.

"I eat enough," she answered apathetically.

She would normally have ignored it, but she wanted to see if she could get him to look at her again. Sadly, nothing; He just shrugged, folded his newspaper neatly, and set it down on the table next to his empty plate. Before getting up from the table, he finished his cup of coffee. He stretched, lifting his black T-shirt to reveal the toned and tanned band of flesh at his abdomen, and she watched as he did so. She was disgusted by her reaction to his physical presence once more when she saw that dark flesh and her mouth dried up. She had held the belief that Tony would fall in love with her for the first year of their marriage. She had bravely believed that if she loved him enough, he would return to the affectionate man she had known while they dated. She had a sneaking suspicion that her father's influence was to blame for the change, based on the snide remarks he made from time to time. She had been forced to face the truth after being married for nearly a year; he really detested her. He despised her to such an extent that he was unable to force himself to address her, kiss her, contact her beyond bed, or even glance at her. Elizabeth had at long last understood that there would be no defrost; She had to leave their marriage if she ever wanted to feel the sun's warmth on her face again because it was a perpetual winter wasteland. Sadly, escaping would be more difficult than she had anticipated. She would have to come up with a solution that didn't involve hurting her cousin. While Danielle and her husband Justin Scott were expecting their first child. Elizabeth was worried about agitating her and possibly hurting her or the child. Additionally, Danielle had always taken pride in the fact that she was financially independent throughout their relationship, despite the fact that Justin's advertising agency enjoyed some success. Elizabeth didn't want her conscience to be clouded by the possibility that removing her bookshop would put too much stress on their relationship. She moaned intensely and began to do the dishes. Despite the fact that her husband, who was 31 years old and had worked his way up from a mailroom clerk to the president of the bank his father owned, "had more money than God," as her father used to say, she liked to do small chores around the house.