Daniel's Gift Read Free

married."
    "It's not just our anniversary, it's our homecoming. All of our friends will be here tonight to help us celebrate. Please don't ruin it for me."
    "What exactly are we celebrating, Denise?" Luke asked as he walked over to her. "Happiness? Joy? Passionate love? I don't think so."
    Denise stared at the man who in recent months had become a stranger to her. "You're not talking about children again, are you?"
    "Of course, I am." Fury drew his brows into sharp, angry lines. "When the hell were you going to tell me you got your tubes tied? Did you think I wouldn't find out? Scott Danielson is a very good friend of mine."
    Denise sucked in a breath, then let it out. "He's also my doctor. What happened to confidentiality?"
    "What happened to truth? How could you do such a thing without talking to me first? This was not your decision to make alone."
    "It's my body."
    "It's our future, our family."
    "We're a family, Luke. You and me, and your parents. We're adults, free to travel, to play, to enjoy our lives." She reached out to touch his cheek in a consoling gesture. He flinched and stepped away. Denise tried not to panic. "Maybe I should have told you first, but when we married, you said you didn't want children. I believed you."
    "That was eight years ago. I was in the midst of starting my career. We were newlyweds, for God's sake." Luke ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
    "How was I to know you'd changed your mind?"
    "You could have asked."
    "When, Luke?" Denise looked at him and shook her head. "I hardly see you. At breakfast, your face is buried in the newspaper. When I call your office, your secretary says you're unavailable. At night, you take papers into your den and don't come out until after midnight."
    "I've been busy taking over my father's company. Don't try to sidetrack me, Denise. We've been together. We've made love. The last time, I asked you not to use your diaphragm, you said you wouldn't. What a joke. Obviously, you didn't have to use a diaphragm at all."
    Denise swallowed hard, hating when the truth caught up with her. But she could talk her way out of this. She had always been able to convince Luke that her way was the best way. She tried one last time.
    "You don't want a child, Luke. You're going through an identity crisis, taking over your father's business, moving into your parents' house. That's the problem. Having a child, however, is not the answer."
    Luke placed his hands on her shoulders and spun her around. With rough fingers, he yanked the zipper into place.
    Denise sighed and walked back to the mirror. She carefully applied her lipstick while Luke finished dressing. Although she pretended not to look at him, she was aware of his every movement, and she wished she could say something to ease the tension between them.
    Luke would not give an inch. He was a hard man, tough, unyielding, closed off. He had a brilliant mind, a gorgeous body, honed by miles of running every morning in the cold, dark dawn -- without her. But then he did so many things without her. As they grew older, they grew further apart.
    They weren't on the same wavelength anymore. Her workaholic, ambitious, money-making husband was turning soft. Although Luke was a rising star in the world of biotech, he seemed to be questioning his decision to take over Sheri-Tech. It was that kind of wavering that would destroy him. She had tried to tell him that he had to stay focused, that he couldn't quit -- not now, not until he was a proven success story.
    Sometimes, Denise didn't think Luke cared about his career as much as she did. And it wasn't just business that came between them. It was their social life, too. Luke avoided parties she desperately wanted to attend, parties where he could make valuable contacts. He turned down opportunities to travel to Paris and London. Now, he wanted children, of all things.
    What in the hell did she want with a child?
    There was no way she was going to change dirty diapers and burp a baby