by Lucy Monroe
“If you want to visit your mom, you can. I should never have made that a condition of—” Polly paused, trying to think how to put it “—whatever this is between us.”
“You are very tenderhearted.”
“I just know how much it would hurt me not to talk to my mom or siblings for the next few months. And you have always adored your family. It isn’t fair of me to make you choose between me and them.” Even temporarily.
“Like they tried so very hard to do?”
He was admitting it? “I thought you’d convinced yourself your mom’s machinations were unintentional?”
“I realize now my mother was utterly convinced our marriage could not work and that ultimately I would not be happy in it, but I do believe some of the hurt she dealt you was not on purpose. Only the result of her natural arrogance.”
“Like mother like son,” Polly teased.
“No doubt. You should have met my father, but I think if he had lived you would have had a very different welcome from my family.”
“You think he would have liked me?” Petros liked her. He always had. Maybe their father would have too.
“He would have loved you and the way I became a better person with you in my life.”
“What an incredible thing to say. You believe that?”
“I know it,” Alexandros said with full sincerity. “Thousands of employees have kept their jobs over the years of our marriage because when I took over their companies, you were my conscience.”
“Really?” He thought about her at work? That in itself was a revelation.
“Absolutely. Ask Petros if you do not believe me. My policy for dealing with mergers and takeovers took a sharp turn after our marriage.”
“Why?”
“You don’t remember your lectures on the importance of the individual?”
How could she forget? She’d found his willingness to listen to her take on philosophy and human interaction as heady as their sexual combustibility. “I thought you were indulging me. I didn’t think you were listening!”
“Didn’t you?”
“Maybe at first,” she admitted. And she’d liked it, the possibility that she could influence someone so powerful because of his affection for her.
“I did listen and I did change.” He looked at her like he wanted her to hear the unspoken message behind those words.
He was listening to her now, and he was trying to change.
Polly didn’t stifle her urge to touch him as she might have done recently, but reached across the table and brushed her fingers over the back of his hand. “Noted.”
Alexandros’s smile was brilliant. “Good.”
“I should have realized you were building walls around your heart.” The lines of his face moved into a serious cast. “At first, though, I was just relieved you had stopped arguing about every little thing.”
He sounded ashamed of that fact.
“You don’t like being in conflict with me.” Recent willingness to the contrary.
He grimaced, looking a little ashamed. “It makes me feel powerless.”
How could this man ever feel powerless? “I would have said that you had all the power to bring peace between us.”
“Not when I was just waiting for you to settle into our life.” His wry expression acknowledged that might have been a shortsighted attitude.
But suddenly she wasn’t feeling as much bonhomie as before. “You thought I’d get used to being dictated to by your mother and mocked by your sister?”
He grimaced, his shrug almost self-effacing. “That was not quite how I saw it, but yes.”
“In a way, you were right. I did make my peace with our marriage,” she acknowledged.
“By relegating me to a place outside your heart, I would have said even outside your intimate circle, but—”
“There was still the sex.” And that sex had made him think things were fine and allowed her to pretend they were too.
He winked, a bit of his usual arrogance flashing. “Very good sex.”
“Terrific sex,” she teased back and then sighed as the brief flash of humor faded. It was time for more honesty. “Emotionally, you were outside that intimate circle.”
He nodded. “You stopped trusting me with anything but your body.”
Polly had no reply. They both knew it was true, but hearing the words hurt.
Both of them, if his expression was anything to go by.
“I’m not going to see my mother, or my sister, until you are ready to see them too,” he announced, like he was making a major concession.
Anger gripped her and she gasped. “That’s not fair.”
“How?” he asked, looking genuinely confused.
Could he be that dense?
“Because I’ll feel pressured to see them, so you don’t suffer the loss of them in your life.”
“I do not want you feeling pressured, but surely you realize my family has to mend bridges with you as well.” He sounded so rational, so pragmatic.
But he was once again ignoring every need Polly expressed and putting the needs of his family ahead of her. Or at least, that’s what it felt like.
Filled with unexpected fury, Polly surged to her feet and tossed her napkin on the table. “How about we see if we can even mend the broken bits between us before you start pressuring me into making happy families with the Kristalakis Harpies?”
Instead of being offended, or even miffed at the unflattering distinction, Alexandros threw his head back and laughed. “Harpies they might be, but they are still your family, yineka mou.”
But Polly wasn’t feeling the humor and shook her head firmly, her frown severe. “Oh, no, they are not. I married you, not your family and if I never want to see either your mother or your sister again, then that is my prerogative. And I’d believe you were really changing in your attitude toward me if you had come to that conclusion on your own.”
She turned and headed toward the street, knowing the car would be called, if not by her husband then by security. No one wanted her wandering off.
That had been drilled into her from the beginning. And maybe just this minute she was acknowledging a certain level of resentment because of it.
When she’d first come to realize just how much her life and personal freedom had changed, Polly had told herself she had to just deal with it. She had fallen in love with a billionaire and married him. Her choice. So, she had to accept the good with the bad.
And if there seemed to be more bad than good, well, it had still been her choice.
Only it hadn’t been an informed one.
How could it be? Polly had never had any experience with the kind of life the truly wealthy lived.
And Alexandros had made no effort to warn her in advance. Not of any of it. He’d expected his mother and sister to help Polly navigate her new life, but they resented the heck out of his new bride and just wanted her gone.
Polly had been so focused on him and what Alexandros made her feel, she’d never considered how much her life was going to change. That she would never again be able to wander the streets of a downtown, or go to a mall alone to shop, walk and think.
Never be able to take her children for a walk in the park without security, would have to look for hidden motives in overtures of friendship.
Wouldn’t even be able to cook in her own kitchen anytime she wanted.
Once her children were old enough, they still wouldn’t be able to stay with her parents for a week in the summer. Polly’s mom and dad’s humble home didn’t have the security measures to keep her children safe.
Who was Alexandros to tell her that, on top of everything else she’d had to give up in her life as his wife, she had to claim his mean-spirited and manipulative sister and mother as her family?
Not in this lifetime.
> Suddenly he was there, right beside her, his arm offered. “Come, let us finish our shopping.”
She jerked a nod but made no move to take his arm.
The silence that reigned in the car was not the companionable silence they’d shared so often the past week. Tension thrummed between them. Polly had no desire to dispel it and ignored any efforts her husband made to do so.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ALEXANDROS’S SURPRISE FOR Polly turned out to be a shop for a master carpenter who specialized in baby furniture.
Pushing away negative thoughts and feelings, as she’d learned to do, Polly ignored the presence of her husband and allowed herself to enjoy the beautiful handmade pieces.
She found a crib in dark wood and matching dresser with a changing mat on top. The old-world style charmed her, and she started asking the sales associate about the construction and adherence to safety guidelines.
“All my furniture meets the strictest safety guidelines because I ship internationally.” The deep, pleasant masculine voice had Polly turning.
“You made all this?” she asked, with a little awe, indicating all the beautiful pieces in the showroom.
His smile was warm, and understandably proud. “I did.”
“How? I mean…”
“My grandfather was a master carpenter. He had me in his shop when I was a small boy, learning to sand and oil wood.”
“And you followed in his footsteps?”
The man nodded.
“That’s so neat. I started baking with my grandmother and became a pastry chef.”
“I am sure your grandmother was very happy to see her skills living on in you.”
“As your grandfather must be.”
The man’s smile slipped a little. “We lost him in my teens but when I am in my shop, making furniture for the next generation, I feel his presence and know he lives through my memories.”
Polly blinked back tears. “That is beautiful.” She wiped at her eyes. “Sorry, I’m that typically emotional pregnant woman.”
“I think perhaps you are a sensitive soul, pregnant, or not.” He went to offer her a handkerchief from his pocket.
But her husband’s hand was there first, his crisp cotton square shaken out for her.
She grabbed it and dabbed at the moisture. “Thank you, Alexandros.”
“You are Kyria Kristalakis?”
“Yes, she is my wife.” Alexandros inserted himself between them, forcing the carpenter to take a step back.
Looking far from intimidated, the man winked at Polly. “Your husband is feeling protective.”
Polly looked up at Alexandros, not really understanding where all this testosterone posturing was coming from. “I guess.” She shrugged and looked back at the carpenter. “I would really like this nursery suite. Is it available?”
“For you, I will have it delivered this week.”
Alexandros growled, the sound primal. “We can find our furniture elsewhere.”
“No, we cannot,” Polly informed him, enunciating each word so there could be no misunderstanding. Then she smiled at the master carpenter. “I would love if you could have it delivered this week. We’re getting a little close for comfort.”
“And you did not even want to go shopping today.” Alexandros sounded almost petulant.
But billionaire tycoons didn’t get petulant, did they?
She rolled her eyes at him. “I never said I didn’t want to go shopping, I said I was surprised you did.”
The shop owner laughed and, showing he had some self-preservation, asked Alexandros for the details for delivery. But then he smiled at Polly. “Do you have a bassinet?”
They’d bought one earlier that morning and she said so.
He shrugged. “Okay.”
“But you have one you think my wife would like?” Alexandros asked, as if the words were being pulled from him.
“It is in the same style as the crib and dresser changing table.”
“Oh…” Polly wanted to see it. She really did, but she’d already gotten one, and that would be silly. Wouldn’t it?
“Show it to us,” Alexandros instructed.
“Please,” Polly prompted his good manners.
Her husband frowned down at her, but said it.
“She has you wrapped around her finger, doesn’t she?” the master carpenter asked Alexandros as he led them across the shop and into the back room.
“She doesn’t think so.”
“Is she blind?”
“Sometimes.”
Polly ignored them both for the gorgeous bassinet in the center of the room. “Oh, it’s stunning.” It had wheels, so she could move it around the penthouse as needed.
In the same old-world design as the other pieces they were buying, the beautifully stained dark wood gleamed with the love and care that had gone into making it.
“Have it delivered along with the other pieces.” Alexandros took her arm to lead Polly away.
She balked at moving. “But we already have a bassinet.”
“I will have it returned.”
“But…”
“You want this one and I want you happy.”
“It’s just a bassinet.”
But it wasn’t. It was Alexandros telling her she didn’t have to settle. Not now. Not ever?
Or was she reading too much into a simple furniture purchase?
They were back in the car, moving slowly through the packed Athens traffic when Alexandros reached out to take Polly’s hand.
He squeezed it and then brought her hand to his lap, absently brushing his fingers over hers. “I am sorry, agape mou.”
His use of the endearment sounded very intentional.
Polly turned so she could see his expression. “Why sorry?”
He was looking at their hands together, like the sight held the answers of the universe.
“I was Cro-Magnon man in there. Isn’t that what you call me?”
“On occasion.”
“I don’t like other men flirting with you.”
“I never noticed that before.” It was an inevitable reality at so many of the functions they attended together. Polly had never been particularly comfortable with the social flirting but had noticed early on that it was common.
Thank goodness her husband had never indulged. She never would have been sanguine about it.
And Polly never flirted back, but she had always been cordial.
“I never doubted before.” It sounded like a hard-fought admission.
One she would not ignore. “What are you doubting now?”
“Your love. My right to it. Whether you will stay with me.” His shrug was more bleak than negligent.
“Have I ever once threatened to leave?”
“No, but you said earlier that what we are doing right now, all this honesty, it is risky.”
She nodded. “Okay, so that made you feel insecure?”
Polly expected him to deny it. He was too arrogant to feel insecure.
But Alexandros nodded. “Ne. Though, if I’m honest I haven’t been feeling all that secure with you since that dinner with my family.”
“The one where you decided I thought your brother was a better husband than you.”
“The one where you said as much.”
She was going to argue, but he’d taken her words to mean that so there was no point belaboring what she’d actually said.
“I would have thought that the knowledge I’d stayed with you despite it all would have given you more confidence. Not less.”
“What man wants to believe his wife stayed with him for the sake of their child? Not this man.” He spoke the last with a lot more force than she’d been expecting from his subdued demeanor.
“I didn’t just stay with you beca
use of Helena.” Yes, Polly’s first pregnancy had played a pivotal role in her decision to accept her life and stop beating against the walls of his indifference to her needs. But… “I loved you when I married you. I loved you when I got pregnant with Helena.” She took a deep breath and went for full disclosure. “I love you now.”
“Perhaps you do, but you are no longer in love with me. The stars…” He stopped, swallowed, then continued. “They are gone.”
His voice came out thick with emotion.
He’d said something like that before, but he was wrong. “Alexandros, when we are at Villa Liakada there are so many stars in the sky, it is like a blanket of twinkling lights.” She scooted as close as she could get to him with her seat belt. “Here in Athens, the stars are still beautiful, but there are a lot less of them.”
Polly brushed her hand over her husband’s bowed head. “Or are there?”
He stilled, but didn’t answer.
“Just because we can’t see them for the light pollution, doesn’t mean they aren’t there, Alexandros. Every star we can see in the country is still in the sky in the city.”
“What are you trying to say to me?” he asked in a thick voice.
“Alexandros, the stars are still there.”
Hot moisture splashed on the back of her hand.
Shock rendered her mute for several seconds but then another drop of moisture landed on her hand.
“Alexandros?”
“How can the stars be there?” his words came out choppy, tinged with emotion she had never heard from him before.
Even the day he’d proposed.
He’d been all arrogant certainty she’d say yes that day. And she had.
But right now? He was hurting. Hurting like she had never thought he could hurt because of her.
Polly said the only truth that mattered right then. “I love you, Andros.”
A sob snaked out of her powerful husband, then he was clinging to her while his loss of composure sparked her own. They held each other, a watershed of emotion pouring over them both.
“I love you, Polly, agape mou. You have to believe that. I need you to believe that.”
She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. She believed he loved her. She couldn’t not, but what did that mean?