‘Does Ethan have a bike?’
‘No.’ She shook her head, her eyes vaguely sad. ‘There was never anywhere for him to ride safely. He can ride a bike, of course, they have them at nursery, but Ethan’s never actually had one.’
‘So we’ll have to see about getting him one, won’t we?’
It was the way he said ‘we’ that got to her. She had expected him to state that he would buy Ethan a bike. That he would do it without consulting her. This was turning into a day that she would always remember. A surprisingly happy day.
After another energetic game of football Ethan grew tired and Sienna suggested they go home. He was asleep almost before they set off and she sat quietly too.
Inside her, hope began to grow that their relationship could be turned around. She was forced to admit that she was still very much in love with Adam, that she had actually never truly fallen out of love, despite everything. And Adam—well, he needed to learn that just because his father had gone to pieces after his mother’s death, it didn’t mean that every man was the same. Besides, she didn’t intend leaving this mortal earth for many years yet. She wanted to live into blissful old age with Adam at her side.
That night their love-making was better than ever, as though the day they had spent together had somehow intensified their feelings. And in the days that followed she let him see in every way possible that she loved him.
And yet no words of love ever passed his lips. He wanted her, he enjoyed her, and he adored his son. He played with Ethan endlessly. He never worked late, he honoured her wishes, but she was forced to the sad realisation that everything he did was for Ethan’s sake.
His grandfather remained in hospital but Adam rarely visited him, which Sienna found sad. ‘Perhaps I should go to see him?’ she suggested. They were sitting outside after dinner. The air was still, it was one of those warm, balmy summer evenings when the scent of roses filled the air and the birds sang their evensong. ‘It can’t be any fun lying in a hospital bed with no visitors to relieve the monotony.’ Although Sienna had never had anything to do with Adam’s grandparent, she did feel sorry for him.
But Adam shook his head. ‘He wouldn’t appreciate it.’
‘Why not?’ Her fine brows drew together in a frown. ‘How do you know?’
Adam sucked in a lungful of air and seemed to be having difficulty in finding the right words. Eventually, though, he spoke. ‘Because—because he’s never liked you, Sienna. He never approved of you. It’s the reason why he and I fell out.’
Sienna felt her heart stop and then race. ‘He doesn’t like me? What have I ever done to him?’ It didn’t make sense. All these years he and Adam hadn’t spoken and she was the reason! She racked her brains, trying to recall whether she had ever said anything to cause offence. And came up with nothing.
Adam did not answer her question. ‘It’s all water under the bridge, Sienna,’ he said instead. ‘Grandfather and I will never see eye to eye. We’re too much alike.’
Too pig-headed. Too proud. Too busy making money. His grandfather was a rich man. He’d made his money in advertising. Sienna had often wondered why Adam had not followed him into the business, the same as his father had done, why he had started up for himself in developing properties.
‘Nevertheless, I don’t like being the reason you and he fell out,’ she declared strongly. ‘I think I should go to see him after all and try to put matters right.’
‘The hell you will, Sienna. It’s too late, I tell you.’ Adam’s eyes grew starkly cold, filled with a sudden anger that she didn’t understand.
That night they did not make love. Adam lay with his back to her, still and silent, and although Sienna wanted to put her arms around him and tell him that she understood and was sorry for him, sorry for his grandfather, too, she did not dare.
He had erected a barrier around himself and she knew that only he could take it down. It was a pity because they had been getting on so well. Adam had shown a warmth towards her that had been absent even in the early years of their marriage. It was as though being a father had made a world of difference to him.
Now all that had gone again. Simply because she had suggested going to see his grandfather. Why on earth hadn’t he told her all those years ago that the old man didn’t like her? Surely they could have sorted it out.
Adam slept little, knowing that he ought to try to make amends with his grandfather. When Ethan grew up and hopefully had children of his own he would be heart-broken if they hated him as much as he had hated his grandfather all these years. Admittedly the old man had brought it all on himself. But Adam felt differently now that he was a father and he actually did not want his grandfather going to his grave believing that no one loved him.
A few weeks ago he would never have dreamed that his feelings would change so dramatically. And he had Sienna and Ethan to thank. Sienna was teaching him that relationships had to be worked at. Nothing came easily. Not love or hate. They were each born of communication and honesty. And when that was lacking…
For all these years he had worked towards one goal, he had let no one stand in his way. A selfish attitude and it had cost him his wife and the first years of his son’s life, but changing was hard, especially since his visit to his grandfather had dragged up old memories, old hatreds.
It really was not that simple to let go. Only in bed with Sienna could he lose himself. Then the world was a perfect place. He was never happier. Everything was forgotten except that moment in time.
Last night had felt like hell.
Chapter Eleven
I’D LIKE to come with you,’ said Sienna, her fine eyebrows lifted in hopeful anticipation. She didn’t care that Adam’s grandfather didn’t like her. She simply felt that he ought to have more visitors.
‘I don’t want you leaving Ethan,’ he told her firmly.
‘Marie will look after him.’ Marie was a woman who came in daily to do the jobs Sienna could easily have done for herself. It had been Adam’s idea but she hadn’t dared argue. And Marie had told Sienna that any evening she and Adam wanted to go out she would be more than willing to babysit.
‘You really think my grandfather would be pleased to see you?’ Adam’s eyes were much darker than normal, even his body language told her that it was a definite no-no. He stood rigidly in front of her, almost challenging her to argue with him.
‘Are you saying that he still hates me?’ Sienna began to find the whole conversation bizarre. ‘How can you be sure?’
‘He doesn’t know that we’re back together.’
It was a plain, matter-of-fact statement, but it shocked the hell out of her, made her heart pound. ‘You haven’t told him? He doesn’t even know about Ethan?’
She saw a flicker in Adam’s eyes, gone almost immediately, a blank expression taking its place. ‘I saw no need to. He’s very ill, Sienna, you seem to be forgetting that. I wouldn’t like to distress him further.’
‘Distress him?’ It was impossible not to raise her voice. ‘Why would telling him that he has a great-grandson distress him?’ Surely it would give him the will to live? Or did he still hate her that much that it would kill him off altogether? Was that what Adam thought?
‘You do not know my grandfather,’ he replied bitterly. ‘But if it will make you feel any happier, I will tell him tonight. Be prepared, though, to hear that he doesn’t want to see either of you.’
‘You are unbelievable,’ she said. ‘Your grandfather’s unbelievable. What kind of a family have I married into?’ She let her breath out on a long hiss of confusion and incredulity. In fact, she walked out of the house and into the garden, kicking at a blade of grass that had dared to grow on the immaculately mowed lawn.
They, of course, had a gardener, and a man to look after the pool. All of these things seethed in Sienna’s mind now. Adam could afford to do anything he wanted, buy anything he wanted, and yet he was afraid to tell his grandfather that his wife was back and they had a child.
It
made no sense. None of it made sense. Was the whole world going mad or was she the crazy one? She ought never to have walked back into Adam’s life. She and Ethan had been happy as they were.
Actually, Ethan was still happy. Even happier. He loved his dad. He didn’t see his faults, he was too young to understand. All he knew was that he had a father to play with him, to read to him, to buy him wonderful gifts. His world was rosy.
Adam knew that he owed it to Sienna to tell his grandfather but it was not that simple. Sienna did not know the whole truth. Neither did he ever want her to.
Not now that their marriage was beginning to mean something to him! He wanted nothing to ruin it. And the truth, if it came out, would spell the beginning of the end. He would lose her altogether. And possibly Ethan too, even though he would fight for him. But Sienna was a fighter too and she would not relinquish her son to anyone, not even to his father.
It would be a blood battle, and did he want that?
‘So you’ve finally come to see me again?’ Adam’s grandfather was propped up with pillows, his face still pale and drawn but a surprisingly fierce light in his eyes. ‘About time, too.’
Adam groaned inwardly. He was glad to see the old man looking a little better, but he didn’t want a confrontation, not after he’d just walked away from one. ‘I’m glad you’re feeling better, Grandfather.’
‘No thanks to you,’ he growled. James Farley had wispy white hair and a pale complexion, with grey eyes not dissimilar in shape to his grandson’s. ‘What have you been doing instead of coming to see me?’
‘I didn’t think you were well enough for visitors.’ Which was only half a lie.
‘Poppycock! You’ll do whatever you want and to hell with everyone else.’
‘In that case, I take after you.’ It was always the same when they met. He had been prepared to talk quietly, to have the sort of comfortable conversation that grandfathers and grandsons should have, he’d been going to tell him that he had a great-grandson, but somehow in the space of a few seconds they had each managed to stir each other’s blood.
‘It’s a pity your father didn’t have the same backbone.’
Adam agreed with him. If his father hadn’t gone to pieces after his mother had died, he would never have fallen out with his grandfather over Sienna. It was a vicious circle and he could see no way out of it.
Neither did he dare now to tell the old man that he was back with her or all hell would break loose. It might possibly kill him off altogether. And he didn’t want that on his conscience.
Instead, he talked about the success of his business. ‘I’m doing better than I ever expected. I’m in Europe and America. I’m expanding all the time.’
Instead of being impressed, the old man snorted. ‘You wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t got rid of Sienna. She would have held you back, your vision would have been clouded. It would be history repeating itself. Your father loved my daughter too much. He was no good without her. It’s a case in point, Adam. You’re better off without a woman in your life. You’d best remember that.’
Long after he had left the hospital his grandfather’s words swam round and round in his mind. He had always believed that he had been better off without Sienna. He had got on with his life without her to hold him back, he had become the success that he was. But success hadn’t bought him the happiness he expected. It had brought him loneliness instead.
Which he hadn’t truly discovered until Sienna and Ethan had erupted into his life. He had thought he was happy but now he knew that it had all been a pretence. Nothing had prepared him for the joy he felt knowing he had a wonderful son like Ethan.
It gave life a whole new meaning. He loved lying on the floor with him, racing cars around a track, he loved swimming in the pool with him—he was a brave little swimmer already—and he truly loved hearing Ethan call him Daddy. It gave him a warm, comfortable feeling.
But even more than this he loved having Sienna back in his life.
He had never fully realised what he had been missing. She had brought a whole new meaning to the word marriage. She was sensational in bed but even better than that she kept his feet firmly grounded. She taught him that family life meant a whole lot more than making pots of money.
On that point alone he did not agree with his grandfather.
Sienna was waiting for Adam. She had spent her time imagining the conversation he would have with his grandfather. James Farley would be surprised to hear that they had got back together, maybe shocked even, but he would surely be pleased. She couldn’t imagine that he would still hold his grievance against her—whatever it was. And he would be astonished to hear that he had a great-grandson. And once he’d got used to the idea, he would want to see Ethan.
Ethan, too, would be tremendously excited to find out that he had a great-grandfather. It would be a one-up on all of his friends who had grandfathers. A great-grandfather would be so much more important than a mere grandfather.
Her own father had gone to live in New Zealand after his divorce and she never heard from him. Her mother was remarried and had moved to Ireland but much to Sienna’s disappointment they saw little of each other. She had never been able to afford to go over there, and her mother hadn’t visited. They kept in touch by phone but that was all. It wasn’t the same.
Adam looked tired, she thought, when he walked in. He had lines of strain on his face and didn’t quite meet her gaze. She knew instantly what had happened.
‘You haven’t told him, have you?’ she demanded fiercely and loudly, not even waiting for him to speak. ‘After everything I’ve said, and after promising, you still haven’t told him.’
Her anger triggered anger. Adam scowled, his eyes navy and savage, his thick brows jutting ever more fiercely over them. ‘My grandfather’s a very ill man.’
‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’ She was fired up and ready to go. ‘That it would be too a big a shock? I would have thought that hearing he had a four-year-old great-grandson would cheer him up. Not the other way round.’
Adam towered over her like an avenging angel. His body was taut, looking ready to snap. Even his nostrils flared.
Sienna sensed danger and knew that she ought not to press the issue but something drove her on. Ethan deserved to know his great-grandfather. And the old man deserved to know Ethan as well. It was as simple as that.
Why couldn’t Adam see it? Why was he being so stubbornly obstinate? Why couldn’t he see the wider picture?
‘You can’t go on ignoring the bond between you.’ It was criminal that he was denying his grandfather the pleasure of young blood. ‘Ethan will light up his life. You’re being extremely unfair and negative about the whole thing.’
‘You do not know what you are talking about, Sienna.’ Adam rubbed the back of his neck and looked suddenly tired.
‘Then tell me.’
The look he gave her suggested that she was being irrational but Sienna did not think so. As far as she was concerned, she had made a perfectly normal request—and he had failed to carry it out. When he turned away she accepted that there was nothing more she could do tonight. Continuing to protest most certainly wouldn’t help matters.
In bed that night, when she had expected Adam to ignore her, he did nothing of the sort. He groaned and pulled her into his arms instead. ‘It’s been a hell of a day, Sienna. I need you like I’ve never needed you before.’
What she ought to have done was declare that she wouldn’t allow him to make love to her again until he had told his grandfather. Except that his nearness drove her crazy. Her body melted against him and the instant his knowing fingers touched and tortured, everything else was forgotten, she wanted nothing but Adam’s body beside her and inside her. She wanted everything he had to offer. And more importantly she wanted him to feel that way too. She wanted to help him forget his torment.
He made love without the usual preliminaries, driving himself into her like a man who was having his last wish granted. And
it was all the more exciting because of it. Sienna felt as though she had died and gone to heaven.
And later, when they had both regained their breath, he touched and stroked more gently, seeking out all her erogenous places. He knew precisely how to suck her nipples into his mouth and stroke them with his teeth until she bucked and wriggled and wanted him inside her again. He knew that to nibble behind her ears created a similar response. He knew that even her belly button was responsive to his touch.
So many places, so much mind-blowing pleasure.
When he wanted to enter her again she bucked away from him. ‘Oh, no, Adam, it’s your turn this time.’ And she teased his nipples in exactly the same way, enjoying his reaction, the deep groans, the way his face screwed up as if he was in agony. Then she kissed her way down to his navel, exploring it with her tongue, then lower and lower.
Before she could reach her goal he hauled her on top of him. ‘Take me inside you, Sienna. Do it now, do it quickly.’
With their positions reversed, Sienna guided him into her. It was the first time they had ever made love this way and it gave her a feeling of power. Until his groan rent the air and he quickly turned her over. Within the space of a heartbeat he lost control.
Sienna stretched languorously when she awoke the next morning. She felt good, she felt warm and happy and wanted Adam to make love to her again. But the bed beside her was empty, and a note on his pillow said that he had gone to work. She smiled at the thought of him writing the note, it was something he had never done before. Perhaps a turning point?
As she showered her thoughts turned to his grandfather. Maybe James Farley didn’t like her, but was that any ground to hide Ethan from him? Adam was being pathetically cautious. There and then she made the decision to go and see him as soon as she had taken Ethan to nursery. She would deal with Adam’s fury when the time came.
Her heart pounded as she entered the hospital, a private one naturally—would the old man go anywhere else? And when she announced who she had come to see she was taken to a pleasant room where she found him sitting in a chair near the window. A fountain played in the centre of a lawn and a dovecote was alive with white doves. It was a satisfyingly peaceful scene.
Married Again to the Millionaire Page 12
