The Reluctant Wife Read Free Page A

you.”
    “Past tense. I see. Did you really think I would sit around pining for you?”
    Her faced flushed with warmth. Of course not. Women flocked to him. It wasn’t difficult to see why. His striking masculinity was like a beacon. He had money, but more devastating were his charisma and his power of persuasion. Now his eyes held nothing but scorn. He looked precisely like the man he’d been back then, only she’d been too blind to see past his sensual persona. He was powerful, ruthless. Lethal. Not someone with whom to tangle.
    “No.” she sucked in her breath at the stabbing pain under her rib cage. “Knowing your appetites, I did not expect you to wait.”
    “You are wrong. I did wait.”
    She took a step back in surprise.
    “Since I have waited, waited for my wife to come to her senses and return to me, I think you owe me. You owe me my son.”
     

 
    Chapter Two
    Her hazel eyes rounded in shock. He saw her mouth tremble, and it was just like the first time he’d set eyes on the gorgeous, blond waif. The same bolt of lust racked his body. He’d never had such an instant reaction to a woman before. That had been his body’s warning, a warning he’d stupidly ignored.
    No. He was over her. She no longer haunted his nights. He’d miscalculated how much he’d miss her. The first year of their separation, he’d had to fight every primal instinct not to go after her and drag her home. He knew if he waited, she’d come home. He just hadn’t realized how long he’d have to wait.
    And worse, she had not come home for him, but for his money.
    Abby had completely deceived him. He’d thought her naïveté would make her easy to manage. He’d quickly learned that Abby had more backbone than any woman he’d ever met. Her readiness to challenge him seemed to add to her allure. Now, again, here she was asserting her wishes, taking command…
    Abby licked her lips. “I don’t owe you anything. And, as we’re divorcing, I’m the last woman you should have a child with. Besides, I don’t care what you do in your personal life.”
    She lied. Her arms were folded across her stomach as if she were warding off a blow.
    “You care. You know I could always read your body as well as a blind man reads braille.”
    Abby shook her head, the emphatic movement flinging her thick blond hair over one shoulder. Her eyes narrowed. “Can you read what I’m thinking now?”
    He searched Abby’s drawn face, recognizing the marks of strain in the bluish shadows beneath her eyes and the set of her delicate jaw. She had the strength of fine bone china, and the fragility.
    “I know exactly what you’re thinking.” He tilted his head and tapped his chin with a finger. After a theatrical pause he spoke deliberately. “You wish you’d waited until the morning to meet with me. You’re angry with yourself for still wanting me, and you’re wondering whether one kiss from my lips can still make you come.”
    He felt rather than saw her body tremble across the room, and heard her soft gasp.
    “Of all the arrogant, conceited…”
    “Most of all, you’re remembering the first night you were in this room, how you let me seduce you, how I made love to you into the small hours of the morning.”
    The hazel of her eyes glittered almost golden as he watched her fight tears. He tried to keep his heart unresponsive, but the beauty of her pale face, the dark circles under her eyes, and above all her stricken look of profound loss assailed his protective barrier.
    “You want a favor from me. I want a favor—or two—from you. I’d call it a mutually beneficial business proposition. I know you need money and I’m happy to help. For a price. You are my wife, this is where you belong.” A traitorous pulse flickered fast just below her collarbone, calling attention to the delicate skin of her throat. His body shuddered into life, with total recall of the addictive taste of her skin.
    She quivered as his eyes roamed her small frame.