Married Again to the Millionaire (9 page)

‘Of course it appeals,’ she cut in speedily. ‘It’s lovely. It’s the nicest house I’ve ever seen. But I…’ Sienna stopped her thoughts. She was looking a gift horse in the mouth. She really would be crazy to turn him down flat. Maybe they could make it work.

But on her terms!

‘But what, Sienna?’ prompted Adam, a faint smile flickering at the corners of his mouth.

She met his eyes with her head high and a similar smile on her own lips. ‘Actually, I’ve changed my mind. I
will
move in with you.’

She saw the triumph on his face and took pleasure in
knowing that it would be immediately wiped off when he learned what her conditions were. ‘I’m willing to give our marriage another go.’

‘I knew you’d see sense, Sienna.’ Her made a move towards her but Sienna backed away.

‘Provided that you take our marriage and your role as a father seriously.’

He nodded. ‘You have my word on that.’

Sienna seriously doubted it. Words were easy. Actions were harder. ‘In return, I shall expect you to leave your office at five o’clock every night. No working late. And every weekend we’ll spend together as a family.’ She watched his smile fade, though it didn’t go altogether. Perhaps he thought she wasn’t deadly serious. Perhaps her next request would tell him exactly how determined she was.

‘And if you break your promise just once—I shall leave and take Ethan with me.’

The pause that followed told her that she had read him correctly. He would never agree to this. He could not possibly give up so many of his working hours. She may as well call Ethan and leave now. It was a nice dream, thinking they might live here, but it would never happen.

Goodness knows what Adam would do with the house. Sell it again? Move in himself and get rid of—

‘I’ll do it.’

Sienna stopped breathing.

Adam smiled.

Her heart thudded. Had she heard him correctly? Never in her wildest imaginings had she thought to hear those words.

‘Have you nothing to say?’ he prompted now, still with an irritating smile on his lips.

‘I…’ Sienna swallowed hard. ‘I wasn’t sure that—’

‘That I would agree?’

She nodded.

‘I’ll do anything to keep my family together.’

The proprietorial way he said ‘my family’ stunned Sienna. He sounded like a proper family man and yet…

‘It will be much safer for Ethan, for one thing,’ he continued, cutting into her thoughts. ‘But it also means I’ll have my wife back. And I won’t let you down this time.’

Sienna struggled to come to terms with the fact that she was now going to be trapped in a house with a man who did not love her. He might say he wouldn’t let her down but that wasn’t the point. He had already done that. He had already proved that she didn’t really mean anything to him. It was Ethan he wanted now, and since they came as a package…

Fate was cruel. She had thought that she was doing the right thing on the day when she told Adam he had a son. And now she was going to be locked back into a loveless marriage simply so that he could have access to him. She had somehow walked right into his trap.

Half expecting Adam to take her into his arms, Sienna was relieved when he did nothing more than smile complacently, as though he had known all along that she would agree to move in. It would have made him look pretty silly if she hadn’t.

In truth, she was grateful to him, not that she would ever admit it. There had been times when she was a little bit scared living where she did. This was going to be an exciting new future for both her and Ethan.

The speed with which Adam moved her out of her flat and into the house left her breathless. She took few possessions with her—clothes, photographs, Ethan’s favourite toys. Nothing else was of any value. The only person she told that she was moving out was Jo upstairs, who wished her the best of luck and said she had known, from the second she had seen Adam, that it would happen.

Adam did not know why he wasn’t feeling as happy as he should that Sienna had left her dreadful flat and moved into the house he had bought for her. Was it because she wasn’t as thrilled as he’d hoped? Had she thought that he wouldn’t agree to her request that he make time for them? Or was it because he had a sneaky feeling at the back of his mind that he had somehow bullied her into it?

Their love-making had always been amazing. Even when he had been tired and brain-dead from a hard day at work she had always managed to entice his libido into life. And he was looking forward to a future with her back in his bed every night.

She had crept beneath his skin in a way he had not expected. He was still damned angry that she hadn’t told him about his son, but Sienna herself was sexier than ever, even in those dreadful jeans she insisted on wearing. He wanted to see her in something more feminine, something alluring. He wanted to take her shopping and buy her rich splendid clothes that showed off to perfection her spectacular figure.

And what had that damned T-shirt with the broken heart on it meant? Was she trying to tell him that her heart would never mend? That she would never truly be his again?

The thought crossed his mind that now she had found
out that he didn’t have it in him to love someone unconditionally, she might try to back off. She might not keep her promise to share his bed.

It had taken a great deal of courage to admit the truth to her, but he had felt that if she was to become a major part of his life again then she deserved to know. Otherwise she would expect more from him, she would expect declarations of love, and that was never going to happen.

After his mother had died he had been grief-stricken. They had had a very close bond and having to put up with his father’s anguish as well as his own had shown him how dangerous it was to love someone so completely that they became your whole life. That you could not function without them.

Neither did it sit easily on his shoulders that he had shown his vulnerability to Sienna. He had thought it would help, but actually it looked as though the whole thing had spectacularly backfired.

She knew now that he had never loved her, that he
couldn’t
love her!

Sienna had been shocked by his confession but there had been no time for questions. Ethan had interrupted their conversation and he had actually felt relief. It had been a hard enough thing for him to do without an inquisition following.

He felt fortunate now that Sienna had agreed to move into the house—even with her conditions. For a while he had thought she was going to refuse altogether.

‘Do you have everything you need?’

Sienna nodded. ‘You’ve been very kind. I cannot believe you’ve done all this for me.’

‘And Ethan,’ he added curtly.

Of course! Sienna’s thoughts were suddenly bitter. It was for his son, not her, that he had provided this magnificent house. He would have left her to rot in her flat if she hadn’t borne his child. In point of fact they would never have met again because she certainly would not have gone to see him. They might even have been divorced by now.

‘Then I’ll leave you to settle in. I need to call in at the office as well as packing a few things for myself.’ He gave Ethan a hug and a kiss. Seemed to contemplate doing the same to her, but changed his mind, striding to the door instead. The next moment he had gone.

‘So, Ethan, what do we do now?’ It was more a rhetorical question than anything else because there was nothing to actually do. The house was beautifully furnished, the fridge and freezer well stocked. She was going to rattle round in it like a dried pea in a pod, and more especially when Ethan went back to school.

‘I’m going to ride the rocking horse,’ he declared loudly. One of the rooms had clearly been a children’s room and a huge rocking horse had been left behind—unless, of course, Adam had bought it! That was something she hadn’t thought of. Nevertheless, Ethan was totally impressed and happy to sit and rock.

Suddenly the front door opened and Adam appeared again. ‘I meant to give you this.’

It was a store card. A major, expensive department store. Sienna’s eyes widened. ‘Why? What for?’

His brows rose as if it was a stupid question. ‘For whatever you need. Clothes, toys, anything you like. Go shopping, Sienna. Have fun.’

She hadn’t even thought about clothes but clearly
Adam had. She was his wife and he would want to show her off. Trying to bring Ethan up on a shoestring had left little or no money to spend on herself.

Living here, she would seriously need to update her image—was that what he was saying? He wanted a wife to be proud of, not someone who walked around in jeans and T-shirts.

‘You don’t approve?’ His voice cut into her thoughts, his tone hardening. ‘Have I made a mistake?’

‘It’s not that,’ she cut in swiftly. ‘It’s just I’m used to my own money. I—’

‘You don’t feel you can take anything from me? That’s ridiculous, Sienna. You are my wife. In a few days you will have a bank account in your own name. Meanwhile, I want you to use this card. Treat yourself.’

‘And what else do you plan doing for me, Adam?’ she enquired sharply. Everything was moving too quickly. How many days ago had it been since she had gone to see him? Eight! Eight short days. And look what had happened in that short space of time.

‘What else do you want?’

It was the impossible tone in his voice. The way his blue eyes looked as though they were made of ice. The way he held his body stiff and formidable, looking nothing like the lover who had shared her bed. And whose bed she was going to have to share again!

‘I want nothing.’ He thought she was being ungrateful. Which in a way she supposed she was. But she did not like the fact that she been uprooted from her comfortable flat into this monster of a house that looked like a show home. A beautiful home admittedly, but a lifeless one. She would make it hers eventually, she would
stamp it with her own personality, but at this moment she felt as though she had been lifted up and dropped into a soulless building.

Strangely, she had not felt this way before Adam had left. Which meant, she supposed, that he had such a big physical presence that it filled every room.

It had felt as though something was missing when he had walked out. Her whole life had changed in a matter of hours and she wasn’t sure that it was for the better.

‘D
ADDY
.’ Ethan heard Adam’s voice and came running down the stairs, launching himself into his arms. ‘Come and see me on the rocking horse.’

Instantly Adam picked Ethan up, glancing at Sienna over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs. ‘Are you joining us?’

It was Ethan’s ‘Please, Mummy’ that persuaded her. She had been relieved by Ethan’s interruption and would have preferred some breathing space, but she didn’t want Adam acceding to any more of his son’s requests. Whatever he asked for he would get, she knew that, and it wouldn’t be good for him.

After a few minutes’ rocking, encouraged by his father shouting, ‘Ride ‘em, cowboy,’ Ethan grew tired of the horse and took them into his new bedroom. ‘Which is your room, Daddy? Is it next to mine?’

‘If that’s where you’d like me and Mummy to sleep.’

Sienna drew in a shocked breath. It made the whole moving-in process sound so final.

‘I do, I do. I want you near me in case I wake up in the night. It’s a big house, Daddy. I might be frightened in the dark.’

‘You have nothing to fear, Ethan. I shall be here to look after you.’

Sienna still struggled with the fact that she would be sharing Adam’s bed. She wanted him and yet she didn’t. She wanted to be free of him and yet their lives were inextricably woven together. Could she really spend the rest of her days with a man who did not love her? The fact that he was a spectacular lover was a point in his favour—but would it be enough?

When Ethan had settled down to play with his toys they went back downstairs and Adam declared that he really was going this time. ‘Don’t miss me while I’m away,’ he said, his mocking expression making her grit her teeth.

Miss him? She wanted to lock and bolt the doors. It was hard finding out that her life was no longer her own.

‘And when you’re ready to go shopping call my driver—he will take you. Here’s his number.’

Sienna glared as the door closed behind him. He really did think money was the be all and end all of everything. He had no idea that it was just as easy to be happy without store cards and big houses and posh cars and chauffeurs.

She did not go out. She hung her clothes instead in the built-in wardrobe in the room she was being forced to share with Adam. ‘Forced’ felt like an appropriate word, even though she had agreed to this arrangement.

Then she and Ethan toured the gardens. The pool was set into raised decking with inset lights and easy chairs for relaxing. There were even lights in the pool. Sienna was glad that she had taught Ethan to swim at a very early age. He was like a water baby, he loved the water, so she had no fear for him living here.

He wanted to jump in right now but she persuaded him against it and instead they explored the rest of the garden with its massive lawns and a shrubbery and a small wooded area where Ethan could hide. It was paradise as far as he was concerned.

It seemed like only minutes before Adam returned, although it was actually about three hours, she realised when she glanced at her watch.

‘I don’t know about you but I’m starving,’ Adam declared. ‘Do we eat in or out? The choice is yours.’

‘In,’ she answered swiftly. She’d given Ethan a sandwich for his lunch but she’d had nothing for herself and she was hungry now too. ‘There’s enough food in the house to feed an army.’

Ethan became the buffer between her and Adam as she prepared their meal. He never stopped talking to his father and she was able to laugh and even enjoy herself.

‘So what did you buy?’ Adam asked when they finally sat down to eat.

‘Nothing. Ethan and I explored outside instead. The garden’s amazing. The pool’s amazing. Ethan wanted to swim. I told him that—’

‘But I wanted you to get new clothes.’

Sienna’s chin set in a mutinous line. She had changed into a clean pair of jeans and a plain pink T-shirt and had thought she looked OK. ‘Are you ashamed of me?’

‘I’d never be that,’ he answered softly, his eyes resting for a few seconds on the soft swell of her breasts.

Annoyingly she felt a faint response, a faint hardening. Her nipples tingled and she glared.

‘Every woman likes new clothes. I thought you’d be off like a shot. I thought you’d have a mad spending spree.’

‘Then you don’t know me very well at all, Adam.’ Blue eyes met blue. Sienna was the first to look away. ‘I will shop, but in my own good time.’

She remembered now that Adam liked his women feminine. He liked floaty dresses and low-cut tops. He didn’t approve of jeans. They had their place, he’d once said, but he preferred to see a woman’s legs. He was definitely a legs man. He had once complimented her on her legs, which were long, and when she wore high heels they seemed to go on for ever. Or so he had said. But that had been then and this was now. Jeans were more practical.

After dinner it was Ethan’s bedtime and Adam again read him a story. He seemed to enjoy doing this, it had become a ritual now, and Sienna sat quietly and listened and watched. It actually felt good to see him bonding with Ethan in this way.

Ethan’s eyes never left his father’s face and every now and then Adam looked at him and smiled, such a soft, gentle smile.

And it was not only Ethan he held in thrall. The deep tones of his voice were mesmerising. She had always found his voice sexy, especially when it went very low, and tonight was no exception. She didn’t listen to what he was saying, just the cadence. It reverberated through her nerve ends, heightening her tension until in the end she got up and walked out of the room.

How could she sit there and carry on listening when he was doing unmentionable things to her body? How could she hide the very real emotions that were careening through her veins? Fortunately Ethan had his eyes closed by this time, he was probably even asleep, so he had no idea that she’d gone.

What she couldn’t understand was why she felt like this when she had been forced into the situation. No—that was wrong. She hadn’t been forced. She had brought it all on herself by her ludicrous suggestion. How the hell had she been supposed to know that Adam would agree? She ought to hate the very sight of him. She ought to feel nothing. And yet, conversely, she felt everything. All her old feelings were tumbling back with indecent haste.

Which was good in one way as she’d talked herself into sharing his bed. If she had no feelings for him, if they remained dead, it would be hell. In fact, it would be impossible. There was no way on this earth that she could let any man make love to her who she didn’t have strong feelings for.

Adam finished the story, kissed his son, and then went in search of Sienna. The intervening years had done nothing to stem the hunger he had always felt for her. He had buried it somewhere deep down inside him, concentrating on building up his empire, and it hadn’t risen again until the day she had come to see him.

When he’d first seen her standing hesitantly outside his apartment, her face on his monitor a picture of unease and impatience, he had felt a swift surge of desire race through his body. There and then he had wanted her.

And now she was his!

Today was only the beginning. Today had actually been easier than he had thought it would be. He had been prepared for her to flatly refuse to leave her home. He had expected a challenge on his hands.

But it hadn’t happened, and she was here now, and
with Ethan fast asleep she would have to spend time in his company.

When Adam joined her out on the terrace Sienna’s heart began an erratic beat. He had a look in his eyes that worried her. He wanted her and, yes, she wanted him too, very much so, every bone in her body ached for him. And yet it didn’t feel right.

Their marriage had been a lie. Even now it was hard to believe that he had never loved her. He had been an attentive lover but that had been all, and she had been drawn into his web with the same unerring skill as a spider catching a fly.

And the question still remaining was why he had married her in the first place. Had it been for her body? Had she simply been a conquest?

It looked like it and she ought to despise him—yet her spark was still there, the hunger, the need. It didn’t please her but there was nothing she could do about it. Her body had a mind of its own.

‘Ethan’s fast asleep,’ he said softly.

‘He was very tired—he’s had an exciting day.’

‘And your day? Has that been exciting too? Do you like your new home?’

Adam’s eyes never left hers as he waited for her answer. But what could she say without hurting his feelings? She could hardly tell him that it wasn’t to her taste. That it was too big, too pretentious. Not when he had made this magnificent gesture for his son’s sake. She was not stupid. She knew that everything he did was for Ethan.

‘It’s a fine house,’ she managed at last. ‘You’ve been very generous, too generous. It’s going to take some getting used to.’

‘Ethan loves it.’

‘He can’t believe all the space he’s got,’ she said with a fond smile as she thought of her son’s pleasure. ‘It’s a little boy’s dream.’

‘But not your dream?’

Her dream was of a man who truly loved her, for herself, not because she happened to be the mother of his child and they came as a pair. Not simply because he wanted a woman in his bed, available to him whenever he felt like it. ‘I was happy in my flat.’

‘And you think that you won’t be happy here?’

Adam’s eyes narrowed and Sienna knew that she needed to be careful. It was not only herself she had to think about but Ethan as well. ‘I’ll get used to it.’

‘I want you to do more than get used to it, Sienna, I want you to enjoy it. I want you to feel relaxed and happy. I want us to be a family here.’

How could they ever be a proper family? He was asking the impossible.

‘Sienna?’

‘It will take time.’ She evaded his eyes, turning away instead, walking across the lawn towards a summer-house. As a child she had always wanted her own playhouse and she was thinking now that this might be somewhere where Ethan could play. Not that he needed any extra space, but children loved hiding and this would be a perfect den for him.

She heard Adam’s phone ring and looked back, expecting it to be something to do with work. His expression changed from anger to concern as he listened. ‘Yes. OK. I’ll be there immediately. Thank you.’

But it was not his office who had called. He looked
at Sienna. ‘My grandfather’s been taken ill. He’s in hospital. I need to be there. I haven’t spoken to him in years but I cannot ignore him now. I’ll try not to be long.’

‘Of course.’ Sienna felt compassion as well as relief. She had never had much to do with his grandfather, she had met him a few times but for some reason he had seemed to disapprove of her. And she actually hadn’t known whether he was still alive, but it was important that Adam go to him now.

Adam had mixed feelings as he drove to the hospital. There was no love lost between him and his grandfather and he couldn’t help wondering whether his visit would be appreciated.

What would the old man say, for instance, if he told him that Sienna had borne him a son? That he was now a father and he and Sienna were back together? It would probably finish him off altogether. His grandfather disliked Sienna intensely for the simple reason that she was too much like Adam’s mother, and in his own warped mind he actually blamed his daughter-in-law for dying and ruining his own son’s life.

It didn’t make sense that he hated Sienna for this reason, but when Adam saw his grandfather lying pale and lifeless in his bed he knew that he couldn’t open up old wounds. So he said nothing about her being back in his life. In fact, neither of them spoke very much at all. The old man kept his eyes closed, although Adam felt sure he wasn’t asleep. But he didn’t feel that he could just get up and go, he had to stay a decent length of time.

Sienna had been thinking of going to bed when Adam’s car pulled on the drive. There were taut, tired
lines on his face and she wondered whether she ought to suggest making him a drink of hot chocolate before he retired. Except that Adam probably wasn’t a hot-chocolate man. He never had been in the past, whereas it was her favourite bedtime drink.

And she was right. Adam wanted strong coffee. Any sort of coffee. Instant would do.

‘How is your grandfather?’ she asked tentatively, putting the kettle on to boil and spooning coffee granules into a mug. He did not look as though he welcomed questions and she guessed that even his grandfather’s illness had not bridged the gap between them. Which Sienna thought was sad.

‘He’s had a heart attack. A bad one. He may be in hospital for some considerable time.’ His tone was clipped, his words concise, and it was clear that he did not want to talk about him.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Even in his illness he did not welcome my presence. We barely spoke.’

Sienna felt even sorrier. ‘I didn’t actually realise he was still alive. He must be a great age.’

Adam shrugged. ‘Late eighties He’s made of tough stuff without a doubt. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t pull through.’

‘Does he live by himself?’

‘He has a housekeeper. She keeps him under control—or tries to,’ he added with a wintry smile. ‘He’s a cantankerous old devil. But enough about him. I appreciate you waiting up for me, Sienna.’

‘It was the least I could do.’

Without warning, without so much as a change of expression,
he slid his arms around her waist and urged her against him.

Sienna had no time to protest, no time to lift her arms in defence. She was effectively his prisoner. The throb of his heart against her breastbone echoed the sudden frantic beat inside her.

It was fairly clear where this was going to lead. Adam needed something, someone, to take his mind off his hospital visit—and losing himself in her body would be the perfect solution. Already she could feel him growing hard and every sane emotion in her body told her to push him away before it was too late.

And yet she was committed. There was no escape. Even if she wasn’t a magnet pulled and held her against the steel hardness of him. A magnet stronger than herself.