The Greek's Forgotten Wife (Boarding School #1) (6 page)

Damon closed the window between the back area and the driver.  “Their future is in your hands my love.  And we will discuss this when we are back in the privacy of our home. Not in the car where others might overhear.”

She sat silently beside him, looking out the window but not seeing the countryside.  All she saw were the warm, welcoming smiles of the villagers when she’d first moved into the village.  They were the ones that had shown her affection and kindness.  When she’d gotten sick, they were the ones that brought her soup and home remedies and read by her bedside until she felt better.  They’d taught her the language and shown her how to gain strength from her own resources.  It was because of them that she’d found the courage to finally stand up to Damon.

Where was that courage now?  And what was she going to do?  Damon seemed to have all of the power at this moment and it terrified her. 

Silently, she walked in ahead of him, heading towards the living room, the only place where she’d ever really had any sort of discussions with him.  But he took her hand and led her up the stairs.  She pulled back, knowing where he was taking her and she didn’t want to go up to that bedroom. 

At her resistance, he only looked down at her with a dark, raised eyebrow.  “This way, Sasha.  We have a mystery to solve and I’m eager to figure it out.”

She glanced up the stairs, wary of that path.  “What’s wrong with the living room?” she asked, stumbling over the words and trying to wiggle her hand out of his grasp.

“The bedroom is more appropriate,” he replied and slipped a hand to the small of her back, nudging her in the direction of the master bedroom. 

She preceded him, wishing there was some other way, some other place to hold this discussion.  But he had the control now.  She might have thought she’d been in control last night before dinner, might have thought that this would be a simple visit, but she’d somehow lost all the threads and was now being led around like a puppet. Good grief, she should be getting onto a flight in a few hours, ready to start her new life in London as a free woman.  She should be anticipating dating, learning about other men and wondering where she was going to live! 

Looking up at Damon, she now knew that all of her plans, all of the wonderful things she’d dreamed about, were not going to happen.  She was trapped!  Trapped by her own ignorance of the law!  She’d thought she’d been so careful, so detailed but she’d slipped and now she was going to pay the price. 

Standing in the middle of the enormous room where she’d spent so many nights alone, she whipped her hand out of his and backed up several steps.  “Okay, so I’m here.  What do you want?”  She crossed her arms over her stomach defensively, walking over to the window as if the light could somehow protect her. 

One dark eyebrow lifted with her question and she blushed at the amusement she saw on his handsome face.  “That’s an interesting question.  You would be at the top of my list.  In my bed, every night, making love with me just like we did last night.”

Sasha shivered at the memories. Well, and the possibilities.  “You’d be exhausted,” she said quickly and turned away, hoping he hadn’t caught any changes in her body language that might have revealed how those memories affected her.

“I don’t feel exhausted today.”  His eyes watched her.  “But we’ll test your theory.”

Sasha cringed, not sure what to say so she turned to look out the window.  She didn’t really see anything but it was better than looking at him. 

“But I also want answers.”

She spun around, her eyes staring at him warily.  “What answers?” she asked.

He walked into her closet and pulled out the drawer, bringing it back.  He turned the drawer upside down, dumping all of the presents onto the bed.  “Explain.”

Sasha stared at the dozens of hated presents.  She wished now that she’d just sold them or burned them, thrown them out with the trash.  That’s how valuable they were to her.  “What’s there to explain?” she asked defiantly. 

His hands were fisted on his hips as he glared down at his defiant wife.  He noticed the change in her posture immediately and was confounded.  How could mere gifts of jewelry increase her ire so dramatically?  “Some of these gifts weren’t even opened, Sasha.”

She looked up at him, her heart breaking all over again as she remembered seeing the same trinkets on the arms of his mistresses.  “Why would you be upset about these unopened gifts, Damon?”  She was on firmer ground now.  And the sight of all of those gifts actually strengthened her, gave her the small bit of courage she needed to confront him about his numerous betrayals. 

“They are gifts I gave to you.”

She didn’t laugh even though a bubble of hysteria surged up inside of her.  “Really?  Or are they gifts that your assistant purchased in your name and sent to me?” she challenged. 

His lips compressed because she had him there.  “Is there a difference?  I still paid for them.”

Sasha’s heart clenched because he didn’t understand the difference.  She walked over to the pile of prettily wrapped boxes, knowing that all of them were pieces of extremely expensive jewelry.  “This one was this year’s birthday present so it is relatively recent,” she said, lifting one of the boxes and twirling it slightly in her hand.  “What was it?”

Damon’s hands rested on his hips.  “It is jewelry, Sasha.  Something that I would think all women want.”

Her lips curled in disgust at his response.  “Yes, I’m sure you’ve made that assumption several times over the years.  Regardless of all the arrogant issues your comment reveals, saying that whatever is in this box is jewelry is too easy.  A present should be thoughtful, considerate of the receiver’s likes and dislikes.  What kind of jewelry did you think I’d like, Damon?  Was it a ring?  A bracelet?  Or maybe it was a necklace?” He started to answer but she held up her hand.  “No, obviously, the box contains a bracelet, but what kind of bracelet?  What types of stones?”

Damon glared at her, not sure what her game was.  Unfortunately, the truth was, he had no idea.  His executive assistant purchased all of the gifts for both Sasha and his mistresses.  He just told her to send something for a specific occasion and she arranged it.  “Diamonds,” he said, assuming that was a good enough guess.  All women liked diamonds and, since the box was unopened, Sasha had no idea what was inside either. 

Sasha’s eyebrows went up, mimicking his earlier expression.  “Are you sure?”

He had no clue.  “Yes,” he said with absolute authority, going with the law of probabilities. 

She tossed the box to the side.  “Wrong.  They are emeralds.  Green to match Georgina Lafayette’s green eyes.”  She picked up another one, grabbing it at random from the pile on the bed.  “How about this one?  Again, most likely a bracelet.  What type of stone?”

Damon had no idea how she knew that the other box contained emeralds, nor did he know how she’d discovered that he’d been seeing Georgina.  But he’d broken things off with her several months ago.  Looking at the new box, he went again with the old standard.  “Diamonds.”

Sasha shook her head.  Looking at the date on the card, she said, “This arrived around January of last year.”  She tapped her finger.  “I think that was Debra something or other, the actress who stayed with you while she was doing some Broadway show.  She didn’t last long so I received opals.  What did she do wrong, Damon?  Get too close?”

Damon kept his mouth closed, crossing his arms over his chest.  “What’s your point, Sasha?  Are you saying you don’t like jewelry?  All women like jewelry.”

She tossed the box back onto the bed, picking up another.  “This one was a very pretty sapphire necklace, just like the one Justine Murphy sported at the Bernstein Ball that year, a scant week after you broke up with her.”

Damon was disgusted.  “I ask again, what is your point?” he repeated, furious that she was right on all the dates and most likely, the contents of the packages.  He was also livid that his public relations manager hadn’t done something to keep all of these women out of the press. 

Sasha pushed her hair back off of her forehead, wishing that he hadn’t pulled the pins out of it earlier.  “My point, Damon, is that I don’t enjoy jewelry.  I live here at the villa, for goodness sake!  Where am I going to go that would require a sapphire necklace or emerald bracelets?  And I really don’t like identical jewelry that you bought to get rid of one of your mistresses.  As your wife, I find that receiving the same trinket you send to your mistress as a sendoff to be in extremely poor taste.”

He hadn’t realized that his assistant was doing that.  He grabbed the first box Sasha had held and ripped off the wrapping paper.  Sure enough, there was a sparkling emerald bracelet.  The second contained an opal bracelet with excellent gold filigree working.  And the third box was an expensive sapphire necklace.  He cursed under his breath, thinking that he was going to have to have a long talk with his assistant.  The woman was an idiot for selecting the same gifts for his wife and mistress. 

She read the look in his eyes accurately and shook her head.  “Don’t get mad at your assistant, Damon.  This isn’t her fault.”

“How the hell do you even know that my assistant is a woman?  Aren’t you being a bit sexist to assume that?”

She sighed and rubbed her forehead, trying to ease the headache that was starting to throb due to all of the stress that had come into her life with Damon’s return.  This was supposed to be easy!  He was supposed to be relieved to be getting rid of his useless, pointless wife!  Not that she was useless or pointless!

Glaring up at him, she shook her head.  “Really?  Who do you think calls me to let me know when you are coming?  Who do you think arranges for all of the little luxuries that you demand when you stop by here on one of your flyby visits?  She’s extremely efficient, Damon.  She doesn’t let anything fall through the cracks.”

The woman just had no idea how technologically savvy his wife was with Internet searches.  “I’m going to destroy your computer,” he grumbled. 

She rolled her eyes.  “That will only save me the effort of finding out specifics.  I’ll still know that you are having affairs with any beautiful woman who crosses your path.”

He watched her and realized that he wanted her.  And it was time to regain control of this conversation.  “I’m not having an affair with anyone right at the moment, Sasha.”

That hurt.  “Not at the moment, being the operative phrase, right?”  She didn’t want to think about him making love to another woman like he’d done to her last night.  “How long until you get tired of me?” she asked. “Will my departure rate a diamond necklace, Damon?  Or will our affair be short and sweet, maybe opals or, maybe even more sad, jade?” 

He refrained from rolling his eyes.  “That’s a ridiculous question.  You’re my wife.”

“No,” she snapped back at him.  “I’m the woman that has been tucked away here in your villa for the past six years, forgotten and ignored.”

“I never ignored you.  Nor did I ever forget you.”

She glared at him, not letting him get away with anything this time around.  She’d waited and loved him but he’d killed her feelings for him by his callous treatment of her for so many years.  “You forgot about me unless your assistant reminded you about my birthday or you realized it was time to come home and show up at church for a special occasion.  Admit it, Damon.  Other than three times a year, I wasn’t even a blip on your radar.”

“Not true,” he told her and that was the truth.  “For the past several months, you’ve been very much on my mind.  Which is why I’m here now.”

She hadn’t thought he could be more insulting but that statement proved her wrong.  “No.  I’m not going to be your wife.  I’m going to start fresh, find a husband and…”

“You already have a husband,” he ground out.  “We are not getting a divorce, Sasha.  Leave me and I’ll make sure that your entire investment account is wiped out.  Your precious villagers will be destroyed.”

She stood there in stunned silence for a long moment before she found her voice.  “You wouldn’t do that!” she yelled back at him, praying that she was right.

He leaned in closer.  “Don’t challenge me Sasha.  After last night, we’re going to start over.”  He pulled back.  “I’ll admit, I’ve made some mistakes.  But we can start now.  You’ll be my wife and we’ll start a family.”

She shook her head, astounded by his arrogance.  “And live happily ever after, right?” she mocked.  “You leave me here for six years, go off and have affairs with…” she paused, then shrugged, “I don’t even know the number of women.  Then come back here simply because you’ve decided that you want a family?  And I’m your convenient, tucked safely away in the country wife.  I can’t do that.  I won’t do that!”

He moved closer to her, watching the way her body reacted.  He was an expert at understanding women.  Well, at least in the bedroom.  He obviously had a great deal to learn about his wife but he was more than willing to explore her, observe her and figure out what made her…explode around him. 

“We will be a married couple, Sasha.”  He stated that unequivocally. 

Sasha sighed and rubbed the pulse that was still throbbing, threatening to blow up into a full-out headache.  “Damon, I appreciate that you want to start a family.  You’re getting older, you think it is time to settle down and produce an heir.  I’m just a convenient person to fulfill that role.  But I’m sure there are lots of women out there who would love to apply for the position.”