Married Again to the Millionaire (14 page)

Like he loved her!

‘Yes, and the world’s going to end tomorrow.’ Her eyes flared magnificently. ‘I’m not a fool, Adam, I know what your game is.’ Love wasn’t even a part of his vocabulary.

‘I mean it, Sienna.’

His eyes met and held hers and a faint shudder ran down her spine. If only!

‘I’ve not always loved you, I freely admit it. Though I was damned attracted to you.’

Yes, he had certainly proved that. He had invited her into his bed with the swiftness of a sparrowhawk catching its prey. And she had enjoyed every minute! But marriage wasn’t totally about sex, it was about love and trust and honesty. They had been dismally absent.

‘Asking you to marry me was an irresponsible thing to do. I wanted to get back at my grandfather and I’ve regretted it ever since. I’ve lived with that guilt. Every day of my life I’ve lived with it. Inevitably I pushed myself hard to become a success. I needed to prove to the old bastard that I could do it. And you took the brunt, I’m afraid. I’m sorry, Sienna. From the bottom of my heart I’m sorry.’

To give him his due he did look repentant, but Sienna wasn’t fooled. ‘It’s not enough, Adam. Anyone can say they’re sorry. I was in love with you. Really in love. Have you any idea how it makes me feel, knowing that I’ve been used?’

‘Rock bottom, I guess.’

‘To put it mildly.’ Her eyes flashed into his. ‘And when I found out that I was having your child, I wanted to kill myself.’

Adam groaned and she saw pain in his eyes but she did not care. He deserved it.

‘Thank God you didn’t,’ he said hoarsely.

‘I would never have gone through with it, I didn’t have the courage,’ she confessed, ‘but it was how I felt at the time. Now Ethan is the biggest joy in my life. I
love him to bits and when he was so poorly I nearly went out of my mind.’

‘You shouldn’t have had to suffer alone.’

‘But I did, didn’t I, Adam?’ Her blue eyes blazed into his much darker ones. ‘I’ve had years alone. And God knows why I ever thought I was doing the right thing in introducing you to your son. Because it’s him you want now, isn’t it? It’s not me. You’re saying you love me but—’

‘Sienna!’

He spoke with such force that her words dried up in her mouth.

‘Sienna, I do love you.’

Her eyes flashed strong disbelief. ‘So what’s happened to this afraid-to-love thing that you told me about?’

‘I
was
afraid, because of my father, the way he reacted to my mother’s death.’ His voice was fierce and urgent, wanting her to believe in what he had to say. ‘But I realise now that if you love someone, you love them no matter what.’

‘You didn’t love me when you married me.’

‘No, that’s true.’ He winced as he said it. ‘But I do now. I can’t face the future without you, Sienna.’

Sienna saw the plea in his eyes, but still something held her back. How could she be sure? He could be saying all this just to get Ethan. His son had made such a difference to him. It had turned him into a different man. And that man she loved. But was he the true Adam? How would she ever know?

‘I know I’ll have to change. I know I need to regulate my working hours in order to spend time with my family. Actually,’ he admitted with a wry grimace, ‘my
business can run perfectly well without me. I’m just a figurehead these days. My directors even tell me I put too much time in. But I enjoyed doing what I did. I had nothing else to do. But now I do have something, Sienna. I have a whole beautiful new life in front of me, with a son I adore and a wife I’m deeply in love with.’

There was such pain and honesty in his eyes that she finally accepted that he was speaking the truth. New life breathed into her body, she felt it creep up from her toes and fill every bone, every sinew, every vein, every artery. It heated her blood and threatened to engulf her.

‘You really mean that?’ Even her voice had grown stronger and she could not take her eyes away from his.

‘More than you’ll ever know.’

She heard sincerity, she saw clear truth in his eyes, and her heart felt like bursting.

Adam loved her!

He truly loved her!

A miracle had happened today, here in this beautiful corner of Ireland where the air was soft and the desolate beauty blew your mind away.

‘I know that you don’t love me any more, but—’

‘Adam, I
do
love you.’ She leaned forward and pressed the tips of her fingers to his lips. ‘I’ve never stopped loving you.’ Maybe she had told herself that she had but in truth her love for Adam had never gone away. There had always been a part of him in Ethan. And she loved her boy. ‘ You’ve made me laugh and you’ve made me cry, but I love you still.’

The look in his eyes, the incredulous look, made her smile.

‘I don’t deserve you,’ he groaned.

His arms slid around her, pulling her gently against him where she could feel the frantic beat of his heart echoing the thud inside her own body.

‘Tell me I’m not dreaming this.’

‘You’re not dreaming it.’ Neither was she. There was fierce honesty in Adam’s eyes, humility too, which was something she had never expected to see. Adam had been brought to his knees by love. She too was bowled over. It was as if a fairy godmother had waved her magic wand over them. The past was swiftly forgotten, all the pain and heartache. Their future was rosy.

Together, the three of them—and the new little life that was already forming inside her…

All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

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First published in Great Britain 2009
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

© Margaret Mayo 2010

ISBN: 978-1-4089-1875-3