Married Again to the Millionaire

by Margaret Mayo

  ‘He’s fine, Sienna, you worry too much.’

  She worried! What did he think mothers did? ‘How dare you tell me whether I worry or not, Adam, when you know nothing about children? When I’ve spent the last four years caring for Ethan, worrying about him. When I sat by his hospital bed for days and nights, not knowing whether he was going to live or die. They were the worst days of my life. If Ethan had died, I would have wanted to die too. So don’t tell me not to worry.’

  Adam’s face became harshly angular, his skin stretched so tightly across his cheekbones that it looked as though it had been carved out of stone. And she had no idea what was going through his mind.

  ‘You didn’t have to be alone,’ he said, his voice coldly damning now. ‘You could have told me. I could have shared your fear. I would have been there beside you. Dammit! You should have contacted me.’

  Words were easy, she thought. It would have taken an earthquake to drag Adam away from his business affairs. She certainly couldn’t imagine him sitting for hours in hospital. His eyes, which were sometimes incandescently blue and dangerous, were now dark and accusing. His hand on her arm like a band of steel.

  He didn’t care about her, thought Sienna. It was only Ethan. She could walk out of here right now and he’d be perfectly happy—so long as she left her son behind. Fuming, she twisted herself free.

  She went into Ethan’s bedroom, pulling up short when she saw him safely curled in the middle of the bed. He looked such an angel when he was asleep, one hand outstretched on the pillow, his dark hair tousled. Adam had pulled a sheet over him and he hadn’t stirred. Her little man! How she loved him.

  ‘Are your fears allayed?’ Adam’s voice came softly over her shoulder, all the harshness suddenly gone out of it.

  Sienna spun around and almost cannoned into him. She nodded, not trusting her voice.

  When she walked from the room Adam followed. ‘We’ve created a unique little boy.’

  ‘Yes.’ It was all she could manage.

  ‘But he needs both parents.’

  Shock waves rippled through her. Her words rattled into the air between them when she spoke. ‘We need to do this gradually, Adam. Ethan’s all over you at the moment, but it’s new. Wait until he finds you’re always at work whenever he wants to tell you something or do something exciting with you. The novelty will wear off.’

  ‘You’re not even giving me a chance.’ The disapproval in his voice did nothing to calm her down.

  Sienna felt her hackles rise. ‘If you think I’m going to repeat this weekend, think again, Adam. It’s turning into a nightmare.’

  ‘Not from my point of view.’ There was still a hard glint in his eyes. And his lips pulled into a straight grim line, his whole demeanour one of superb confidence.

  Sienna felt like taking a swipe at him. ‘You should be where I’m standing.’

  Cold eyes condemned her, telling her clearly that if he had to he would fight for Ethan, and Sienna felt ice trickle down her spine, spreading its fingers until her whole body was frozen. He did have rights, she was aware of that, but even so…

  She was the first to turn away, to walk stiffly out of the room, to turn her back on this man who had broken her heart once and looked set to do it again.

  If only there was somewhere to run! She was effectively his prisoner here in this chillingly perfect apartment. And she had another day to go before they went home.

  Sunday followed a similar pattern. Sienna had slept in Ethan’s room again and now they were on the London Eye. She pointed out St Paul’s Cathedral to Ethan. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. But he was more interested in the Thames itself.

  ‘Look, Daddy, boats!’ he exclaimed excitedly, pointing into the distance. ‘Which one is yours?’

  ‘It’s the furthest away,’ answered Adam, winking at Sienna. ‘Can you see it?’

  ‘I think so,’ said Ethan, screwing his eyes up and concentrating hard.

  Sienna knew that she was not going to hear the end of Adam’s boat. Ethan would go on and on about it and wouldn’t be satisfied until he had actually seen it close up and been on board. But it was not going to happen today. Once they had finished their ride and had had lunch, they were going home. She would insist on it.

  But things did not work out the way she wanted. They had lunch at the riverside restaurant near Adam’s apartment and afterwards he insisted on taking them both to see where he worked.

  Actually, she was curious. Even when they had been together, she had never been to his offices. He had never invited her and she had never asked. So why he wanted her to see it now she had no idea. To impress, she guessed. Though Ethan was too young and she already knew that it would be state of the art.

  She wasn’t mistaken.

  It was a different address from the one he had used when they had first married. He had gone up in the world, of course. His offices were on the top floor—yet again—with views over London equally as impressive as those from the London Eye.

  Everything was operated by the touch of a button and Ethan was in his element. Mirrors on the walls turned into screens for video conferencing. Monitors popped up out of desks. All the sort of stuff she had seen in futuristic movies.

  ‘It’s very nice,’ she managed.

  ‘Is that all you can say?’

  Sienna shrugged. ‘What do you want me to say? Your wealth doesn’t impress me, Adam, and it never has. I wanted a man who cared for me, who thought more of me than he did his work. If you want my opinion, I think you’re happier married to your work than you ever were to me.’

  ‘So why didn’t you divorce me?’

  Sienna shrugged. It was a fair question, something she had occasionally asked herself. ‘I didn’t need a divorce. I had no other man in my life.’

  Adam’s brows rose. ‘So if anyone asked where your husband was, what did you say?’

  She would have liked to declare that she had told everyone she had walked out on him because he was more in love with his job than with her, but she didn’t. She would have liked to say that she had told everyone that the love had gone out of their marriage, but she didn’t. She would have even liked to say that she’d told everyone he was the lousiest husband in the world, but she didn’t.

  ‘I simply said that it didn’t work out.’

  A frown furrowed the space between his eyes, as if he had expected, wanted even, a better explanation than that.

  ‘I don’t believe in airing my dirty linen in public. What did you tell people? That I didn’t understand you, that I didn’t approve of your need to work so hard?’

  ‘Something like that,’ he agreed easily. ‘Ethan!’

  They had both been so busy niggling at each other that they hadn’t seen Ethan climb on a chair. They knew nothing until he fell over backwards and his head hit the floor.

  Sienna screamed.

  Adam bounded towards him.

  She saw blood—and almost fainted herself.

  It was during the next frantic few moments that Adam became her strength. She did not remember him phoning for an ambulance, she remembered nothing except cradling Ethan in her arms, trying to stem the flow of blood with the handkerchief Adam had swiftly pushed into her hand, soothing him when he cried that his head hurt.

  In the ambulance he was sick, twice, and when they got to the hospital they were immediately taken into an examination room where he was sick again. She continued to hold the pad to Ethan’s head and talked to him constantly because she was afraid of concussion. ‘Where is everyone?’ she kept asking, almost out of her mind with worry.

  ‘They’re very busy,’ answered Adam, trying to look reassuring when she knew that he was as concerned as she was. In fact, he probably blamed himself for letting Ethan play on the chair, for even taking them to his office.

  A nurse came to check on Ethan and confirmed that they were doing the right thing in keeping him awake. ‘A doctor will be with you shortly.’

  ‘Can’t you do anything?’
Sienna asked Adam crossly when several more minutes went by and there was no sign of anyone.

  ‘Relax, Sienna,’ he answered calmly. ‘He is in the best place and if they thought there was anything seriously wrong they’d be examining him by now. We just have to be patient.’

  ‘Patient?’ she cried. ‘When my son’s split his head open? I thought head injuries were always treated seriously.’

  ‘I’m sure it’s not as bad as it looks,’ said Adam, trying to soothe her. ‘I remember doing a similar thing when I was Ethan’s age. Boys will be boys.’

  But then a doctor appeared and after examining Ethan thoroughly he said that no serious damage had been done. ‘He’ll need stitches, of course, but you’ll be able to take him home. Keep waking him every two hours throughout the night in case of concussion but otherwise you have very little to worry about.’

  When they left hospital Adam’s car was waiting outside. Sienna didn’t bat an eyelid, she was too worried about Ethan to even think about how it had got there.

  ‘We’ll go back to my place,’ he said decisively. ‘I’m as worried about Ethan as you are. I feel totally responsible. And naturally you will stay until he is completely better. I’ll take some time off to help you look after him.’

  Was she really hearing this? wondered Sienna. Was this what it had taken to convince Adam that being a husband and parent was equally as important as earning a living? Wonders would never cease. But she wanted Ethan in his own bed.

  ‘Thanks for the offer, I appreciate it, really, but I’d prefer to go home,’ she told him firmly. ‘It will be better for Ethan. He’ll be more comfortable in familiar surroundings.’

  Much to her surprise, Adam agreed. ‘You’re right, of course.’

  But her comfort zone was shattered when they arrived at her flat and Adam calmly announced that he was going to stay the night. ‘You don’t think I’d leave you under the circumstances? I feel responsible, Sienna.’

  Sienna began to panic. ‘It wasn’t your fault. We’ll be all right. He’s had cuts and bruises before.’

  ‘But nothing like this, I’m sure. And he is my son. I want to be there for him.’ The controlled look on Adam’s face told her that there was no point in arguing.

  Fear skittered down her spine. Adam would take over. His presence would fill her tiny rooms. But more worrying still was where would he sleep. The couch wasn’t made for a six-foot-three hunk. And he certainly wasn’t sharing her bed. She did have a sleeping bag, though. He’d have to make do with that, on the floor if necessary. And maybe he might find it so uncomfortable that he’d go home.

  And pigs might fly. She knew Adam’s gritty determination only too well. It entered into every facet of his life. It was what had made him the success he was. It was what would determine Ethan’s future, and maybe even her own.

  A scary thought. When she had announced that he had a son she had somehow believed that he would be a part-time father, seeing Ethan only when it suited him. Not for one second had she expected that he would want, demand even, that he play a big part in his son’s life. And incidentally in her own.

  Ethan was in his element, being the centre of attention, and he insisted that his father put him to bed. Sienna hovered and supervised and then sat by Ethan’s side, holding his hand, while Adam read to him.

  Adam had never, in the whole of his life, imagined himself taking part in such a cosy domestic scene. Seeing Ethan in bed in his own apartment was entirely different. This was Ethan’s room, it was filled with well-loved toys, it had his own personality stamped on it.

  And what a little personality he was. Already Adam was proud of his son and he’d been devastated when he’d fallen and cut his head. It had been the worst moment in his entire life. He felt totally responsible.

  At the hospital it had reminded him of the occasion when he had been admitted with a suspected broken ankle—although it had turned out to be nothing more than a bad sprain. His anxious parents had never left his side, though, and he could now understand their extreme concern.

  ‘The end.’ He closed the book and looked at Ethan, but he was already asleep.

  They crept out of the room and Sienna went in to the kitchen to make coffee. Adam wanted to follow but space in there was at a premium, and he also guessed his presence wouldn’t be welcome. She still gave off very strong vibes that he wasn’t wanted there.

  He ended up sitting on the couch. A distinctly uncomfortable couch.

  It had been a turning point in his life when he had found out about Ethan. And this was yet another one. Who would ever have thought that he’d be spending the night in a cramped little flat? He’d worked for years to lift himself above the ordinary. He’d reached the pinnacle of his career. And yet he felt happier here than he had for a long time.

  It was the strangest feeling.

  But it was only because of Sienna and Ethan. He could never allow them to continue living here. For one thing this place wasn’t big enough, and he felt sure it wasn’t safe. He’d been entirely serious when he’d said that he would buy a house with a garden. He had even phoned an estate agent friend of his and set the ball rolling.

  Not that he had told Sienna. But if he presented her with a fait accompli, there was nothing she could do about it. She undoubtedly deserved better than this.

  ‘You look tired,’ he said, when she came in with their drinks, setting them down on a coffee table in front of him.

  Sienna nodded. She was tired, tired of this game that Adam was playing. He was beginning to act as though they had never been apart, and Ethan was unwittingly drawing them closer together.

  She sat in the chair and he watched every movement she made. The way she crossed her legs, the way she tossed her hair back from her face, the way she reached out and took her cup, holding it as though it was a barrier between them.

  Adam didn’t fit into this place. She had never for one moment thought that he would stay. And now there was no way she could get rid of him.

  ‘Ethan’s quite a little soldier, isn’t he?’

  Sienna nodded. ‘He’s always been a battler. He shrugs off wounds in the same way that we shake raindrops off our clothes.’ And how she wished she could shrug Adam out of her life the same way.

  In the confines of her living room the air had thickened until every breath she drew became painful. At least in his apartment there had been acres of breathing space. Here there was nothing. It was like being caught in a trap with him.

  ‘I don’t mind admitting that he scared the hell out of me when he fell. What if anything had happened to him, Sienna?’

  She looked at him with wide, pain-filled eyes. ‘It doesn’t bear thinking about. Ethan’s my whole life. I love him so much that it hurts.’

  ‘You do know that if I’d known you were pregnant I would never have let you go?’

  ‘Perhaps not,’ answered Sienna. His words were soft and all the more plausible because of it. ‘It happened, though, and we can’t put back the clock.’

  ‘You shouldn’t have had to bring him up on your own. Every child deserves both of its parents. And you certainly shouldn’t have had to cope with him being seriously ill. I wish you had told me, Sienna.’

  Sienna wasn’t sure that it would have helped matters, nevertheless she could see that Adam was seriously affected now by Ethan’s accident. It had given him a taste of what it had been like for her when he had been seriously ill. It was something she never wanted to go through again.

  ‘We’ve both grown up a lot since I left,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure bringing up a baby would have been a pleasure as far as you’re concerned. We’d have probably had more rows than before.’

  Adam groaned. He did not actually say that he agreed but she could see it in his eyes. ‘And now I need to make up. You’ve suffered enough on your own, Sienna. In future I’m going to take the weight off your shoulders.’

  Quite how it happened she didn’t know, but her cup was taken from her and she was hauled to her feet
and held in a powerful embrace. Unable to stop herself, Sienna buried her head in his chest, feeling the throb of his heart match her own. Tears filled her eyes, the events of the past few hours finally catching up with her.

  When Adam lifted her chin to look into her eyes he gave a groan and held her even more tightly. ‘It’s all right, Sienna. It’s all right to cry. You’ve been strong for Ethan but you can let go now.’

  He stroked her hair back from her face and kissed her brow—just as she did Ethan’s when he fell and bumped himself. Except that this didn’t feel like a mother’s kiss, or even a father’s. It felt like a lover’s…

  And she had run out of strength. There was nothing that she could do to stop him. It actually felt good to be held against someone as strong as Adam. For the past five years she had had no one to support her. She had been the strong one, the capable one. Now, though, it felt as though all her trials had come together and she was unable to bear up any longer.

  ‘I think I’d like to go to bed,’ she said quietly, adding, when she realised exactly what she had said, ‘By myself.’ If she stayed in Adam’s arms any longer, she would melt. She would give in to the urges that were already beginning to form. Dangerous urges that ought to have no place in her heart.

  ‘If that is your wish.’

  ‘You know it is, Adam.’

  ‘And I am to sleep—where?’

  ‘The couch, the floor, the choice is yours.’ She struggled out of his arms. ‘There are only two beds in this house. One is Ethan’s, the other is mine. I have a sleeping bag somewhere you can use.’

  ‘That should be fun!’

  It was his tone of voice that made her smile. ‘You knew the set-up before you invited yourself. You’ve no one else to blame.’

  ‘Have you no heart, Sienna? Are you sure that I cannot persuade you to share your bed? After everything we’ve gone through today, can’t you take pity on me?’

  His expression reminded her of Ethan’s when he was trying to wheedle something out of her. It made her laugh.

  And Adam jumped in.

  With one swift movement she was back in his arms and he was carrying her through to the bedroom. Their coffees sat congealing on the table. She thought of nothing except the heat of Adam’s body next to hers.