by Maya Banks
“I don’t like being stranded, but since I am, I’m glad it’s with you.”
For a moment she couldn’t say anything, then she cleared her throat while backing up a couple of steps. “Ah, yeah right, same here.” She backed up some more then said, “I’ll go set out the food now.” And then she turned and quickly left the room.
Ten
Sienna glanced up and smiled when she heard Dane walk into the kitchen. “Your feast awaits you.”
“Whoopee.”
She laughed. “Hey, I know the feeling. I’m glad I had a nice lunch today in celebration. I took on a new client.”
Dane came and joined her at the table. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
She took a bite of her scrambled egg sandwich and a sip of her tea and then said, “It’s been a long time since you seemed genuinely pleased with my accomplishments.”
He glanced up after taking a sip of his own tea and stared at her for a moment. “I know and I’m sorry about that. It was hard being replaced by your work, Sienna.”
She lifted her head and stared at him, met his gaze. She saw the tightness of his jaw and the firm set of his mouth. He actually believed that something could replace him with her, and knowing that hit a raw and sensitive nerve. “My work never replaced you, Dane. Why did you begin feeling that way?”
Dane leaned back in his chair, tilted his head slightly. He was more than mildly surprised with her question. It was then he realized that she really didn’t know. Hadn’t a clue. This was the opportunity that he wanted, what he was hoping they would have. Now was the time to put aside anger, bitterness, foolish pride and whatever else was working at destroying their marriage. Now was the time for complete honesty. “You started missing dinner. Not once but twice, sometimes three times a week. Eventually, you stopped making excuses and didn’t show up.”
What he’d said was the truth. “But I was working and taking on new clients,” she defended. “You said you would understand.”
“And I did for a while and up to a point. But there is such a thing as common courtesy and mutual respect, Sienna. In the end, I felt like I’d been thrown by the wayside, that you didn’t care anymore about us, our love or our marriage.”
She narrowed her eyes. “And why didn’t you say something?”
“When? I was usually asleep when you got home and when I got up in the morning you were too sleepy to discuss anything. I invited you to lunch several times, but you couldn’t fit me into your schedule.”
“I had appointments.”
“Yes, and I always felt because of it that your clients were more important.”
“Still, I wished you would have let me know how you felt,” she said, after taking another sip of tea.
“I did, several times. But you weren’t listening.”
She sighed deeply. “We used to know how to communicate.”
“Yes, at one time we did, didn’t we?” Dane said quietly. “But I’m also to blame for the failure of our marriage, our lack of communication. And then there were the problems you were having with my parents. When it came to you, I never hesitated letting my parents know when they were out of line and that I wouldn’t put up with their treatment of you. But then I felt that at some point you needed to start believing that what they thought didn’t matter and stand up to them.
“I honestly thought I was doing the right thing when I decided to just stay out of it and give you the chance to deal with them, to finally put them in their place. Instead, you let them erode your security and confidence to the point where you felt you had to prove you were worthy of them…and of me. That’s what drove you to be so successful, wasn’t it, Sienna? Feeling the need to prove something is what working all those long hours is all about, isn’t it?”
Eleven
Sienna quickly got up from the table and walked to the window. It was turning dark but she could clearly see that things hadn’t let up. It was still snowing outside, worse than an hour before. She tried to concentrate on what was beyond that window and not on the question Dane had asked her.
“Sienna?”
Moments later she turned back around to face Dane, knowing he was waiting on her response. “What do you want me to say, Dane? Trust me, you don’t want to get me started since you’ve always known how your family felt about me.”
His brow furrowed sharply as he moved from the table to join her at the window, coming to stand directly in front of her. “And you’ve known it didn’t matter one damn iota. Why would you let it continue to matter to you?”
She shook her head, tempted to bare her soul but fighting not to. “But you don’t understand how important it was for your family to accept me, to love me.”
Dane stepped closer, looked into eyes that were fighting to keep tears at bay. “Wasn’t my love enough, Sienna? I’d told you countless times that you didn’t marry my family, you married me. I’m not proud of the fact that my parents think too highly of themselves and our family name at times, but I’ve constantly told you it didn’t matter. Why can’t you believe me?”
When she didn’t say anything, he sighed deeply. “You’ve been around people with money before. Do all of them act like my parents?”
She thought of her best friend’s family. The Steeles. “No.”
“Then what should that tell you? They’re my parents. I know that they aren’t close to being perfect, but I love them.”
“And I never wanted to do anything to make you stop loving them.”
He reached up and touched her chin. “And that’s what this is about, isn’t it? Why you filed for a divorce. You thought that you could.”
Sienna angrily wiped at a tear she couldn’t contain any longer. “I didn’t ever want you to have to choose.”
Dane’s heart ached. Evidently she didn’t know just how much he loved her. “There wouldn’t have been a choice to make. You’re my wife. I love you. I will always love you. When we married, we became one.”
He leaned down and brushed a kiss on her cheek, then several. He wanted to devour her mouth, deepen the kiss and escalate it to the level he needed it to be, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. What they needed was to talk, to communicate, to try and fix whatever was wrong with their marriage. He pulled back. It was hard when he heard her soft sigh, her heated moan.
He gave in briefly to temptation and tipped her chin up and placed a kiss on her lips. “There’s plenty of hot water still left in the tank,” he said softly, stroking her chin. “Go ahead and take a shower before it gets completely dark, and then I’ll take one.”
He continued to stroke her chin when he added, “Then what I want is for us to do something we should have done months ago, Sienna. I want us to sit down and talk. And I mean to really talk, to regain that level of communication we once had. And what I need to know more than anything is whether my love will ever be enough for you.”
Twelve
You’re my wife. I love you. I will always love you. When we married, we became one.
Dane’s words flowed through Sienna’s mind as she stepped into the shower, causing a warm, fuzzy, glowing feeling to seep through her pores. Hope flared within her although she didn’t want it to. She hadn’t wanted to end her marriage, but when things had begun to get worse between her and Dane, she’d finally decided to take her in-laws’ suggestion and get out of their son’s life.
Even after three years of seeing how happy she and Dane were together, they still couldn’t look beyond her past. They saw her as a nobody, a person who had married their son for his money. She had offered to sign a prenuptial agreement before the wedding and Dane had scoffed at the suggestion, refusing to even draw one up. But still, his parents had made it known each time they saw her just how much they resented the marriage.
And no matter how many times Dane had stood up to them and had put them in their place regarding her, it would only be a matter of time before they resorted to their old ways agai
n, though never in the presence of their son. Maybe Dane was right, and all she’d had to do was tell his parents off once and for all and that would have been the end of it. But she never could find the courage to do it.
And what was so hilarious with the entire situation was that she had basically become a workaholic to become successful in her own right so they could see her as their son’s equal in every way, and in trying to impress them she had alienated Dane to the point that eventually he would have gotten fed up and asked her for a divorce if she hadn’t done so first.
After spending time under the spray of water, she stepped out of the shower, intent on making sure there was enough hot water left for Dane. She tried to put out of her mind the last time she had taken a shower in this stall, and how Dane had joined her in it.
Toweling off, she was grateful she still had some of her belongings at the cabin to sleep in. The last thing she needed was to parade around Dane half naked. Then they would never get any talking done.
She slipped into a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants she found in one of the drawers. Dane wanted to talk. How could they have honest communication without getting into a discussion about his parents again? She crossed her arms, trying to ignore the chill she was beginning to feel in the air. In order to stay warm they would both probably have to sleep in front of the fireplace tonight. She didn’t want to think about what the possibility of doing something like that meant.
While her cell phone still had life, she decided to let her best friend, Vanessa Steele, know that she wouldn’t be returning to Charlotte tonight. Dane was right. Not everyone with money acted like his parents. The Steeles, owners of a huge manufacturing company in Charlotte, were just as wealthy as the Bradfords. But they were as down-to-earth as people could get, which proved that not everyone with a lot of money were snobs.
“Hello?”
“Van, it’s Sienna.”
“Sienna, I was just thinking about you. Did you make it back before that snowstorm hit?”
“No, I’m stranded in the mountains.”
“What! Do you want me to send my cousins to rescue you?”
Sienna smiled. Vanessa was talking about her four single male cousins, Chance, Sebastian, Morgan and Donovan Steele. Sienna had to admit that besides being handsome as sin, they were dependable to a fault. And of all people, she, Vanessa and Vanessa’s two younger sisters, Taylor and Cheyenne, should know more than anyone since they had been notorious for getting into trouble while growing up, and the four brothers had always been there to bail them out.
“No, I don’t need your cousins to come and rescue me.”
“What about Dane? You know how I feel about you divorcing him, Sienna. He’s still legally your husband and I think I should let him know where you are and let him decide if he should—”
“Vanessa,” Sienna interrupted. “You don’t have to let Dane know anything. He’s here, stranded with me.”
Thirteen
“How was your shower?” Dane asked Sienna when she returned to the living room a short while later.
“Great. Now it’s your turn to indulge.”
“Okay.” Dane tried not to notice how the candlelight was flickering over Sienna’s features, giving them an ethereal glow. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and for a long moment he stood there staring at her.
She lifted a brow. “What’s wrong?”
“I was just thinking how incredibly beautiful you are.”
Sienna breathed in deeply, trying to ignore the rush of sensations she felt from his words. “Thank you.” Dane had always been a man who’d been free with his compliments. Being apart from him made her realize that was one of the things she missed, among many others.
“I’ll be back in a little while,” he said before leaving the room.
When he was gone, Sienna remembered the conversation she’d had with Vanessa earlier. Her best friend saw her and Dane being stranded together on the mountain as a twist of fate that Sienna should use to her advantage. Vanessa further thought that for once, Sienna should stand up to the elder Bradfords and not struggle to prove herself to them. Dane had accepted her as she was and now it was time for her to be satisfied and happy with that. After all, she wasn’t married to his parents.
A part of Sienna knew that Vanessa was right, but she had been seeking love from others for so long that she hadn’t been able to accept that Dane’s love was all the love she needed. Before her shower he had asked if his love was enough and now she knew that it was. It was past time for her to acknowledge that fact and to let him know it.
Dane stepped out of the shower and began toweling off. The bathroom carried Sienna’s scent and the honeysuckle fragrance of the shower gel she enjoyed using.
Given their situation, he really should be worried about what they would be faced with if the weather didn’t let up in a couple of days with the little bit of food they had. But for now, the thought of being stranded here with Sienna overrode all his concerns about that. In his heart he truly believed they would manage to get through any given situation. Now he had the task of convincing her of that.
He glanced down at his left hand and studied his wedding band. Two weeks ago when he had come here for his pity-party, he had taken it off in anger and thrown it in a drawer. It was only when he had returned to Charlotte that he realized he’d left it here in the cabin. At first he had shrugged it off as having no significant meaning since he would be a divorced man in a month’s time anyway, but every day he’d felt that a part of him was missing.
In addition to reminding him of Sienna’s absence from his life, to Dane, his ring signified their love and the vows that they had made, and a part of him refused to give that up. That’s what had driven him back here this weekend—to reclaim the one element of his marriage that he refused to part with yet. Something he felt was rightfully his.
It seemed his ring wasn’t the only thing he would get the chance to reclaim. More than anything, he wanted his wife back.
Fourteen
Dane walked into the living room and stopped in his tracks. Sienna sat in front of the fireplace, cross-legged, with a tray of cookies and two glasses of wine. He knew where the cookies had come from, but where the heck had she gotten the wine?
She must have heard him because she glanced over his way and smiled. At that moment he thought she was even more breathtaking than a rose in winter. She licked her lips and immediately he thought she was even more tempting than any decadent dessert.
He cleared his throat. “Where did the wine come from?”
She licked her lips again and his body responded in an unquestionable way. He hoped the candlelight was hiding the physical effect she was having on him. “I found it in one of the kitchen cabinets. I think it’s the bottle that was left when we came here to celebrate our first anniversary.”
He remembered that weekend. She had packed a selection of sexy lingerie and he had enjoyed removing each and every piece. She had also given him, among other things, a beautiful gold watch engraved with the inscription, The Great Dane. He, in turn, had given her a lover’s bracelet, which was similar to a diamond tennis bracelet except that each letter of her name was etched in six of the stones.
He could still remember the single tear that had fallen from her eye when he had placed it on her wrist. That had been a special time for them, memories he would always cherish. That knowledge tightened the love that surrounded his heart. More than anything he was determined that they settle things this weekend. He needed to make her see that he was hers and she was his. For always.
His lips creased into a smile. “I see you’ve decided to share the cookies, after all,” he said, crossing the room to her.
She chuckled as he dropped down on the floor beside her. “Either that or run the risk of you getting up during the night and eating them all.” The firelight danced through the twists on her head, highlighting the medium brown coiled strands with golden flecks.
He absolutely loved the natural-looking hairstyle on her.
He lifted a dark brow. “Eating them all? Three boxes?”
Her smile grew soft. “Hey, you’ve been known to overindulge a few times.”
He paused as heated memories consumed him, reminding him of those times he had overindulged, especially when it came to making love to her. He recalled one weekend they had gone at it almost nonstop. If she hadn’t been on the pill there was no doubt in his mind that that single weekend would have made him a daddy. A very proud one at that.
She handed him a glass of wine. “May I propose a toast?”
His smile widened. “To what?”
“The return of the Beast from the East.”
He switched his gaze from her to glance out the window. Even in the dark he could see the white flecks coming down in droves. He looked back at her and cocked a brow. “We have a reason to celebrate this bad weather?”
She stared at him for a long moment, then said quietly, “Yes. The beast is the reason we’re stranded here together, and even with our low rations of food, I can’t think of any other place I’d rather be…than here alone with you.”
Fifteen
Dane stared at Sienna, and the intensity of that gaze made her entire body tingle, her nerve endings steam. It was pretty much like the day they’d met, when he’d walked into his father’s study. She had looked up, their gazes had connected and the seriousness in the dark irises that had locked with hers had changed her life forever. She had fallen in love with him then and there.
Dane didn’t say anything for a long moment as he continued to look at her, and then he lifted his wineglass and said huskily, “To the beast…who brought me Beauty.”
His words were like a sensuous stroke down her spine, and the void feeling she’d had during the past few months was slowly fading away. After the toast was made and they had both taken sips of their wine, Dane placed his glass aside and then relieved her of hers. He then slowly leaned forward and captured her mouth, tasting the wine, relishing her delectable flavor. How had she gone without this for six months? How had she survived? She wondered as his tongue devoured hers, battering deep in the heat of her mouth, licking and sucking as he wove his tongue in and out between teeth, gums and whatever wanted to serve as a barrier.
He suddenly pulled back and stared at her. A smile touched the corners of his lips. “I could keep going and going, but before we go any further we need to talk, determine what brought us to this point so it won’t ever be allowed to happen again. I don’t want us to ever let anything or anyone have power over the vows we made three years ago.”
Sienna nodded, thinking the way the firelight was dancing over his dark skin was sending an erotic frisson up her spine. “All right.”
He stood. “I’ll be right back.”
Sienna lifted a brow, wondering where he was going, and watched as he crossed the room to open the desk drawer. Like her, he had changed into a T-shirt and a pair of sweats, and as she watched him she found it difficult to breathe. He moved in such a manly way, each movement a display of fine muscles and limbs and how they worked together in graceful coordination, perfect precision. Watching him knocked her hormones out of whack.
He returned moments later with pens and paper in hand. There was a serious expression on his face when he handed her a sheet of paper and a pen and kept the same for himself. “I want us to write down all the things we feel went wrong with our marriage, being honest and including everything. And then we’ll discuss them.”
She looked down at the pen and paper and then back at him. “You want me to write them down?”
“Yes, and I’ll do the same.”
Sienna nodded and watched as he began writing on his paper, wondering what he was jotting down. She leaned back and sighed, wondering if she could air their dirty laundry on paper, but it seemed he had no such qualms. Most couples sought the helpful guidance of marriage counselors when they found themselves in similar situations, but she hadn’t given them that chance. But at this point, she would do anything to save her marriage.
So she began writing, being honest with herself and with him.
Sixteen
Dane finished writing and glanced over at Sienna. She was still at it and had a serious expression on her features. He studied the contours of her face. His gaze dropped to her neck, and he noticed the thin gold chain. She was still wearing the heart pendant he’d given her as a wedding gift.
Deep down, Dane believed this little assignment was what they needed as the
