Married Again to the Millionaire

by Margaret Mayo

  The rest of the evening passed in relative harmony. They had both chosen turbot for their main course, which was cooked to perfection, as were the accompanying vegetables. Sienna had never eaten such delicious food and she felt slightly sad that she didn’t have room for dessert.

  By the time Adam suggested they leave Sienna felt more relaxed than she had expected. He had regaled her with stories about his work life, some amusing, some deadly serious, and she had finished the whole bottle of wine.

  Consequently she felt mellow and sleepy and when they left the restaurant she didn’t even flinch when he put his arm about her waist.

  ‘Have I told you how stunning you look tonight, Sienna?’

  His voice rumbled from somewhere low in his throat, vibrating along her nerves, making her pull suddenly out of his embrace. What had she been thinking, letting him touch her like this?

  Without warning his head bent down towards hers and eyes that were the colour of a sun-kissed ocean took her prisoner. And lips that she had sworn would never touch hers again captured her mouth in a kiss that revealed with devastating thoroughness that none of her feelings had gone away.

  They had simply lain dormant, waiting like Sleeping Beauty for her prince to kiss her and bring her back to life. Her body felt on fire, electric sensations fizzing through veins and arteries. Emotions she had thought dead rose up and embraced the kiss, responded to it, filling her body with a hunger she had not felt for a very long time.

  But it was madness. Allowing these feelings to surface was sheer madness. Adam would gain the impression that she was willing to enter into a sexual relationship and that was most definitely not the case. He had caught her unawares; it was not going to happen again. Not ever! That part of their life was over. They would be civil with each other for their son’s sake, but that was all. She was not going to share his life or his bed ever again.

  She jerked away, her eyes wide and fiercely angry. ‘What did you do that for?’

  Adam’s smile was smug. ‘How could I help myself? You’re more beautiful than ever, Sienna. How could any man resist you? I bet they queue at your door. Is there someone special in your life at the moment?’

  Sienna thought about lying and saying that there was. Except this was Adam, and no matter what had happened between them she found it impossible to lie to him. ‘There is no one,’ she said quietly.

  ‘Has there been?’

  ‘I hardly think it’s any of your business. We’ve both been free agents these last few years.’

  ‘We are still married,’ he reminded her.

  ‘And has that stopped you going out with other women?’ she riposted, her blue eyes hard and challenging.

  ‘Touché,’ came the unblinking answer.

  ‘So I suggest we stop asking each other invasive questions and go home.’ Actually, she would have liked to know how many other women there had been in his life but since she didn’t want him questioning her about her own love life, finding out that it had been non-existent, it was best they kept quiet on the subject.

  ‘And home is?’

  ‘If you’re thinking it’s back to your place, you’d better think again.’

  ‘So I’m coming back to yours, is that it?’

  Sienna shook her head, her eyes very blue and wide with horror. ‘You know that’s not going to happen. Where’s your driver? He can take me.’

  Adam grinned. ‘I’ve given him the rest of the night off. I’ll be driving you home myself.’

  Sienna closed her eyes and gave an inward groan. ‘That will not be necessary. I don’t want you turning up at my house until I’ve told Ethan about you.’ The very thought sent a chill through her veins. It was her worst nightmare come true. She could just imagine what would happen if Adam followed her in.

  He would insist on seeing his son. And even though Ethan would probably be able to cope with finding out that he had a father after all these years, she certainly would not.

  ‘I won’t come in if you don’t want me to.’

  Sienna glared at Adam as he led the way towards his waiting car. Not the one she had been chauffeured in. Something small and snazzy, intimate. Not her idea of an easy ride. She would be sitting close and personal and her heart would inevitably play a tune of its own, maybe even loud enough for Adam to hear, make him aware of her plight.

  When he opened the door for her and stood back, she slid silently and reluctantly into the seat. The fact that he was smiling made her even angrier, which in turn made his smile wider. It became a self-satisfied grin and she wanted to slap his face. Only good manners prevented her.

  He leaned too close for comfort before he closed the door. ‘Have you any idea how beautiful you look when you’re angry? It makes me want to kiss you again, Sienna, feel some of that fire.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ she slammed back. ‘The fire I feel is of a very different kind to how it used to be.’

  ‘Really?’ His brows lifted and he made no attempt to move out of her space. In fact, he was so close that Sienna could clearly see the outer dark ring around the incredible blue of his eyes, feel the heat emanating from him, but more poignant still was the citrus scent of his cologne, the musk of his skin. It wafted over her like a drug and she knew that if he did not move soon she would weaken.

  ‘You know what I mean. I’m angry with you, Adam. You engineered this whole evening so that you could take me home and hopefully meet Ethan. Well, you’re not going to set foot inside my house. Ethan will be in bed and I refuse to disturb him.’

  ‘Sienna, you might be angry with me right now, but I won’t go back on my word.’

  Still the smile remained in place and Sienna was sorely tempted. But somehow she controlled her impulse. ‘I’m glad to hear it. Let’s go.’

  It was with excruciating slowness that he lifted himself away from her and closed the door. For a few seconds she was allowed breathing space until he slid in beside her and the whole car was filled with his essence even more powerfully than before. Sienna closed her eyes, asking herself for the thousandth time whether she had made the biggest mistake of her life in seeking Adam out.

  Never in her wildest dreams had she envisaged that she would still be attracted to him. She had thought only that he needed to know about Ethan. It had blinded her to everything else, in the same way that her love had blinded her all those years ago. But now, with her blinkers lifted, she was in grave danger. Adam still had the power to stir her innermost emotions. How cruel was destiny to inflict this on her?

  The journey was accomplished in total silence, Adam seeming to know instinctively where she lived. She guessed that his chauffeur must have told him but it didn’t please her. The contrast between his sumptuous penthouse suite and her modest little flat could not be ignored.

  She held her breath as he pulled up outside, waiting for his comment, but none was forthcoming. Instead, he looked at her long and hard, giving nothing away now of the raw feelings she had seen earlier. ‘Two days, Sienna. That is all you have. Two days. And if I do not hear from you I shall come to take my boy away.’

  Chapter Four

  ADAM knew that it had been the wrong thing to say. He had seen the flash in Sienna’s eyes, that over-my-dead-body look. And she had every right. If he was honest with himself, he would not be able to cope with a lively four-year-old on his own. It would mean employing a nanny, which would be stupid when Ethan already had a mother who doted on him and looked after his every need.

  He could, though, give him a much better lifestyle. He had been horrified when he had seen where Sienna lived and he wanted to move both her and Ethan into his own place straight away. But he knew that she would need time to get used to the idea; she wouldn’t just up sticks and come. Persuasion had to be the name of the game. Persuasion and the promise of a better lifestyle.

  He wondered how she had coped when Ethan had been in hospital. He couldn’t bear the thought of her coming back to her miserable little flat every day after visiting him. It didn�
��t even look a particularly safe area and it was certainly not somewhere where he wanted his son to be brought up.

  Why the hell Sienna had chosen not to tell him about Ethan he did not know. What if she had never told him? What if he had never found out? It didn’t bear thinking about.

  He would have to make some pretty dramatic changes to his lifestyle once he had convinced her to move in with him, but he could do that. All men with families had to adjust—except they did it more gradually! They didn’t have active four-year-olds suddenly thrust on them.

  And he was taking things for granted! What if Sienna flatly refused to move? What would he do then? He could imagine the stubborn look on her face, the way her lovely lips would compress and her blue eyes narrow.

  ‘Over my dead body.’ He could hear her words in his head now.

  Sienna was a force to be reckoned with. There was no way on this earth he could make her move in with him if she did not want to. He would have access to Ethan, she would not deny him his parental rights, but he wanted more. He wanted his son—and he wanted Sienna!

  Both of them!

  It hadn’t struck him until this moment how much he wanted Sienna. Those few hours they had spent together this evening had made him realise exactly how much he had missed having her in his life. She had always been hot in bed, no other woman had matched up to her. But he hadn’t analysed their love life until now, he’d always been too taken up with his work to think whether anyone else was a better lover.

  His whole body began to ache for her. And Ethan was the one who could bring them back together! What he needed to do was tread carefully, not push her but let her think that she was doing what she wanted to do.

  Adam went to bed that night and dreamt that Sienna was beside him, that they were making love, that he had never felt so physically aroused, so dynamically charged, so completely satisfied. It was hellishly disappointing, therefore, when he awoke to find the space beside him empty.

  ‘I’m going to meet my daddy?’ Ethan’s eyes were as wide as saucers. ‘Where is he? Did he come looking for me?’

  Sienna had just fetched him from nursery and he jigged up and down with excitement. ‘Not exactly, sweetheart. I went to see him. I thought it was about time you two met.’

  She needed to be honest with Ethan, even if she didn’t fill him in on all the details.

  Adam had scared her when he had threatened to take Ethan away. She had lain awake all night thinking about it, and during the morning while Ethan was at school she ran the scenario through her head so many times that she felt dizzy.

  Now there was no going back. She had set the ball rolling. Ethan was beside himself, he couldn’t keep a limb still. He wanted to go and see his father now, this very minute.

  Every pulse in her body throbbed, her heart beat so loudly she could almost hear it. All she had to do was arrange a meeting but what if Ethan didn’t like Adam? What if Adam didn’t like Ethan? What if they didn’t get on? Had it been wrong of her to tell Adam after all these years? Ought she to have left things as they were?

  ‘Can we go and see Daddy now?’

  Sienna winced as she heard the easy way Ethan referred to his father. He was so matter-of-fact about it. Almost as though he had known it would take place one day. On the odd occasions she had thought about them meeting she had expected Ethan to be shy and slow to accept.

  It clearly didn’t look as though that was going to happen.

  She could almost picture Ethan running towards Adam and throwing himself into his arms. Of course it wouldn’t be like that. They would stand off and size each other up first. Their coming together would be slow and calculated.

  ‘Mummy! Can we?’

  Ethan tugged her hand and looked up imploringly, his dark blue eyes so very much like his father’s that her heart missed a beat.

  ‘Your daddy’s at work. I’ll ring him tonight and arrange something. Don’t forget he’s a very busy man.’

  But when she phoned Adam later and told him that Ethan was ready to see him, she was shocked when he suggested they come straight away.

  ‘You’re not at work?’ Not for one second had she thought that he would be home.

  ‘I finished early,’ he announced abruptly. ‘Just in case. How did Ethan take it?’

  Sienna drew in a deep unsteady breath and was glad Adam couldn’t see the pained expression on her face. ‘He’s excited. But I didn’t mean tonight. It’s still too soon.’

  ‘Sienna,’ he growled, ‘if my son is ready to meet me, let’s do it straight away. I’ll send a car.’

  ‘No!’ Sienna winced when she heard the screech in her voice. ‘I mean, I’d prefer it if you came here. I don’t want Ethan being overwhelmed. Meeting you is a big enough deal without him seeing how rich you are.’

  ‘You find my wealth obscene?’

  His words were sharp and she could imagine the fire in his eyes. ‘Since you put it into so many words, yes. Ethan’s world is very different, and I want him to be impressed by you, not your money. You’d be his hero if he knew you could buy him anything in the world that he wanted. We have to count our pennies, Adam. I want him to grow up knowing that money has to be earned. Do you understand?’

  ‘And you think that I haven’t had to earn my money? Dammit, Sienna, I’ve had to work very hard to get where I am today. Nothing came easily. I admire your principles, you’re clearly instilling into Ethan the value of money and that is good, but—’

  Sienna did not wait for him to finish. ‘Actually, I think it would be best if—’

  ‘I’ll be there in half an hour.’

  The line went dead before she could protest further and Sienna suddenly realised that her son had crept up behind her.

  ‘Does Daddy have lots of money?’

  ‘Ethan, you should not have been listening.’

  ‘But does he, Mummy?’

  ‘It’s not important.’

  ‘Is he coming to see me?’

  Slowly she nodded and wrapped her arms about her son. ‘But he won’t be staying long because it’s almost time for bed. Do you understand?’

  Ethan nodded, sucking his thumb, something he’d done as a baby but Sienna had thought he’d got out of it. Although he had claimed to want to meet his father, he was clearly as nervous as she was.

  Ethan was looking through the window when Adam’s car pulled up outside. ‘Wow!’he exclaimed. ‘Is this him, Mummy? Look at his car!’

  It was the same black sports car that Adam had brought her home in last night and Sienna sighed. So much for her telling him not to show off. The whole street would be out looking at it in a few minutes. And she wasn’t wrong. Even before he had reached her door a band of youths appeared.

  She saw Adam say something to them and then hand over a note. It reminded her of a film she had seen. Pay them well and they would look after his car. This wasn’t the impression she had wanted to create. Maybe it would have been better to go to Adam’s place after all.

  But too late now. The bell rang and she hurried to open the door, and even though she knew that all Adam was interested in was his son, she could not stop her heart from racing when they came face to face.

  He wore a casual cotton sweater and jeans, and she appreciated that he’d dressed down for his first meeting with Ethan. He’d clearly thought everything through and did not want to overwhelm his son in a Savile Row suit and tie, but had he realised how much it would impact on her own senses?

  It was all she could do to drag her eyes away from him. A whole range of feelings danced through her limbs as she moved back stiffly for him to enter. Why did he have to be the sexiest man on earth? Why hadn’t she got over him? All these years she had thought her feelings dead and yet all it had taken was a steady look from those deep blue eyes to bring everything back to life.

  Of course she must deny it, even to herself. She was doing this for Ethan’s sake. Her own feelings didn’t enter into it.

  ‘You’d best come in. You’re causing qu
ite a stir.’ She stood back for him to enter. The door led straight into her living room and Ethan had disappeared. For all his excitement he was suddenly shy.

  Adam brushed past her and the clean smell of him, the same musky aftershave that had aroused her senses last night, infiltrated her nostrils. Behind her back she clenched her fists.

  ‘You are all right with this?’ he enquired, pausing to look intently at her.

  Would it make any difference if I wasn’t? she asked beneath her breath. She hardly thought so. Adam was on a mission and nothing was stopping him.

  She nodded.

  ‘And Ethan?’

  ‘He’s anxious to meet you. I’m doing this for his sake, Adam, you do realise that?’

  The look in his eyes told her that he was very well aware of the fact that she had agreed to them meeting only because she thought it was right for their son. That if it had been left to her, she would not want anything to do with him ever again.

  ‘Where is he?’

  He looked around the room and Sienna could almost imagine him comparing it to his own sleek apartment. Too tiny, too cramped, the furniture too old. She jutted her chin without realising it, already on the defensive.

  Before she could answer Ethan’s head appeared around the door from his bedroom, and with excruciating slowness he walked into the room, his eyes never leaving Adam’s face. ‘Are you really my dad?’ he asked, a whole host of wonderment in his voice.

  ‘I surely am.’ Adam squatted so that his eyes were on a level with his son’s, and Sienna drew in a swift painful breath. They were so much alike it was unreal. Her little man would grow up to look exactly like Adam. He would have girls flocking around him like birds after crumbs.

  As she stood and watched Ethan edge slowly towards his father Sienna felt her throat close. It had been wrong not to confess to Adam that she was pregnant. He had missed all those precious first years of his son’s life.

  She was filled with dreadful guilt as she watched Ethan’s serious face suddenly break into a wide smile.