Читать книгу Claiming His Wedding Night - Louise Fuller - Страница 9

CHAPTER THREE

THERE WAS A LONG, pulsing silence. Across the table, Addie stared at him in mute disbelief, unable to believe what she had just heard. Slowly she picked over his words inside her head, turning and twisting them like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, trying to make a different meaning. But each time the picture was the same.

His mistress!

The word sounded even harsher inside her head than when he’d spoken it out loud and her breath snarled in her throat. Maybe she had misunderstood him. Or maybe he was joking. But as she stole a glance at his cool, implacable face she realised with a jolt of fear that he was making a serious suggestion.

‘Are you out of your mind?’ she said shakily.

She stared down at the slip of paper, still lying on the table between them, clenching and unclenching her hands in her lap.

He shrugged, his cool gaze boring into her. ‘Everything in life has a price, sweetheart.’

‘A price! What are you talking about, Malachi? You just offered me money for sex!’

His gaze drifted lazily over her pale, stunned face. ‘How very unromantic of you. I thought I was offering you the honeymoon we never had.’

She was suddenly hot with rage. ‘Oh, please! You know exactly what you just said and it had nothing whatsoever to do with romance!’

Her words were tumbling from her lips so fast that she choked. As he gently pushed her glass of water towards her, she shoved his hand angrily away.

‘I don’t want any. I don’t want anything from you.’

Stretching one muscular arm along the back of the banquette, he shook his head slowly. ‘Now, we both know that’s not true. Or are you saying that you want me to cancel that transfer into your account?’

Addie hesitated. She badly wanted to throw the money back in his face, but how could she? Without it the charity would struggle to pay the rent, let alone support the children. And she would lose a part of herself—the part she was most afraid to lose because it absorbed so much of the energy and emotion she had once given to performing. Once given to Malachi. Only she wasn’t about to share that fact with him now.

Gritting her teeth, she lifted her eyes to his and he smiled slowly.

‘See? Everything does have a price, sweetheart.’

He paused. His grey eyes watched her face with a satisfaction that made her want to scream.

‘Besides, it’s nothing you haven’t done before.’ His mouth curved, his grey eyes glittering provocatively.

She glared at him, her own blue eyes snapping fire. ‘What? Sleep with a man for money?’

A muscle flickered in his cheek. ‘I’m simply asking you to resume our relationship.’

‘You are not! You’re taking advantage of me.’

‘No, I’m trying to negotiate a deal with you.’

‘A deal? This isn’t a deal. It’s blackmail. And it’s insulting—’ Shaking her head, she pushed the slip of paper jerkily across the table towards him. ‘I’m not some escort you pay by the day, Malachi! I’m your wife!’

‘So now you want to talk about our marriage?’

His eyes held hers, so dark and dispassionate that suddenly she was frantic to leave. His crude proposal was bad enough. But she couldn’t bear the thought of the two of them turning everything they’d once shared into something so twisted and ugly.

‘No, I don’t,’ she said flatly. ‘I don’t want to talk to you about anything. In fact I’ve got a new deal for you. How about you keep your money? And I’ll keep my pride.’ Rising to her feet, she jerked her bag from the seat and glowered at him. ‘Enjoy your honeymoon.’

‘Addie—’

He was on his feet, reaching out for her. But, slipping away from his outstretched arm, she ran lightly across the restaurant and past the bodyguards. Yanking open the door, she stepped out into the street, her brain registering the black overcast sky just as a strong flurry of wind slammed against her.

Gasping, she tugged her thin jacket more tightly around her body and began to hurry down the rapidly emptying road. Her stormy encounter with Malachi had completely distracted her from the tempest raging outside, but now she realised that, like their relationship, the weather seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. Much worse!

She would have to get a cab, she thought despairingly as she glanced up at the swirling dark clouds. If she waited for a bus she’d be soaked.

Holding out her hand, she began to walk as quickly as her heels would allow, glancing back over her shoulder with increasing urgency until finally, hearing a car slow behind her, she turned with relief.

Only it wasn’t a taxi. Her feet seemed to falter beneath her as a sleek black limousine complete with uniformed chauffeur drew up alongside her.

Her heart lurched and she took a hurried step backwards as one of the bodyguards from the restaurant leaped out from the passenger side. For a moment she thought he might grab her, but instead, turning swiftly, he opened the rear door and she felt her bones turn to ice as Malachi stepped out onto the pavement.

Turning cold blue eyes on him, she breathed out sharply as another gust of wind slapped into her. ‘Shouldn’t you be packing?’ she snapped.

‘Addie, please. Do you really want to be doing this now? Here?’ He flinched as a gust of wind sent a newspaper flapping past his head. ‘It’s been downgraded, but this is still a big storm. We need to get out of it.’

‘I know that. That’s why I’m getting a cab. And there is no “we”.’

She glanced away down the deserted street.

‘There are no cabs.’ Malachi stepped in front of her, his narrowed eyes at odds with the reasonable note in his voice. ‘And it’s getting pretty bad out here.’

As if to attest to the truth of his words, the first fat drops of water hit her face just as he reached out and touched her hand lightly.

‘Let me give you a lift home, okay?’

Despite the chill of the rain, she felt heat explode inside her. The noise of the wind felt suddenly muffled, drowned out by the heavy thud of her heartbeat. But jerking her hand away, she gripped her jacket more tightly. It would have to be a Category 5 hurricane before she’d even consider getting into that car with him.

‘I thought I made myself clear back at the restaurant.’ She was having to shout now, against the buffeting breeze. ‘I don’t need anything from you, Malachi. So if you don’t mind—’

‘But I do. What if something happens to you? Imagine how that would look—’

Addie stared at him in disbelief, trying to banish the sharp stab of pain as his words dug into her brain. ‘So this isn’t about me and my safety. It’s about you and your stupid image?’

For a moment she wanted to hurt him as he had hurt her. Was still hurting her. She clutched her bag against her chest, holding it in front of her like a shield as his eyes locked on to hers.

‘I am worried about your safety.’

‘So am I,’ she snapped. ‘Which is why I’m not getting in that car with you.’

All at once she was conscious of the calm surrounding him—as though his broad body was somehow absorbing the turbulence of the wind.

‘Your choice, sweetheart. The back seat.’ He smiled. ‘Or the boot.’

Her hand tightened on the fabric of her jacket. ‘Really! The boot? First you try and blackmail me—now you want to kidnap me!’

She watched the muscles in his arms swell against his beautifully tailored suit and instantly regretted her words. Knowing Malachi, he would have absolutely no qualms about tossing her into the boot of his car and, glancing down the street one last time, she made up her mind.

‘Fine,’ she said, through gritted teeth. ‘You can give me a lift.’

His eyes glittered with what looked to her horribly like triumph and, willing herself to hold her temper in check, she edged past him. ‘But just so you know—this doesn’t change anything.’

Fuming, she slid along the leather as far as possible until she was pressed against the frame of the door. Already she was regretting her acquiescence, for despite the warmth and sanctuary of the car her nerves were singing, her body painfully alert at the realisation that she was about to be alone and up close with Malachi. It was asking for trouble.

But it was also too late to change her mind.

As he got in beside her she breathed out slowly, her eyes narrowing as he calmly gave her address to the chauffeur.

‘Are you shivering or quivering?’

His voice broke into her thoughts and, turning, she scowled at him.

‘Why do you care?’

‘I was going to offer you my jacket.’

Her heart seemed to dissolve in her chest and a shivering heat crawled over her skin. ‘Well, I’m not cold,’ she said shortly. ‘So you don’t need to worry.’

‘In that case you must be quivering.’ He smiled. ‘Dare I hope that it has anything to do with me?’

She knew he was teasing her but that didn’t stop the sense of nervous unease she felt at his words. The sense that, despite her efforts to be poised and in control, she was making it transparently clear that her body still responded to him as it had always done.

Ignoring the burning in her cheeks, she lifted her chin. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, Malachi, but it’s been a long time since I was susceptible to your charms,’ she said bitingly.

He tilted his head, his eyes skimming over her skin, sending ripples of heat in overlapping circles so that she was suddenly struggling to swallow.

‘It’s okay to admit it, sweetheart,’ he said softly. ‘I know you want me as desperately as I want you.’

Shoulders stiffening, she glared at him. Had he already forgotten his despicable and offensive proposal that she be his mistress? Probably. But knowing Malachi, he thought it was a perfectly reasonable suggestion. She knew from painful personal experience that he was happy to exploit everything and everyone—even...especially...his own wife—for his own ends. Five years ago he’d used her image. Now he wanted to use her body.

The thought made her skin smart as though he’d slapped her.

‘Don’t flatter yourself. Right now I’m just desperate to get out of this car and away from you.’

Tipping his head back, Malachi laughed.

‘Sorry, sweetheart, but you’re stuck with me.’

‘Only for as long as it takes your driver to get me home,’ she snapped.

There was a short, pulsing silence, and through the rawness of her nerves she felt a drop of quicksilver shoot up her spine as he stared at her assessingly.

‘We’ll see.’

Her body was suddenly stiff and hollow and she felt a crack of fear open inside her.