Married Again to the Millionaire

In the end he did neither. He released her and, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, pushed it into her hand. Then he turned away, contemplating the London skyline instead. Not that he saw anything. His eyes were blinded by fury, by disappointment, by the knowledge that his son, his own flesh and blood, had lain at death’s door and he had been left in ignorance.

Adam felt a lump in his throat and an odd feeling he could not put a name to. He was not usually an emotional man, keeping an iron control over his feelings. He had a ruthless work ethic and it often crept into his home life as well. And yet Sienna had found a chink in his armour. She had hit him hard with this fresh piece of information.

Accepting the fact that he had a son had been bad enough, but to hear that he had almost died knocked him for six. How long he stood there staring into space he didn’t know. It was not until he heard Sienna’s tentative voice behind him that he snapped himself back to the present and turned to look at her.

Her eyes, which were sometimes more turquoise than blue, were incredibly pale at this moment. ‘I’m sorry.’ And her voice was so low as to be almost inaudible.

‘Pray tell me,’ he growled, breathing hard and looking fiercely into her face. ‘Would you have ever told me if—if my son—’ he wanted to say the name Ethan but he couldn’t get his head round it yet ‘—hadn’t fallen ill?’

‘I don’t know,’ answered Sienna quietly, still not taking her eyes away from his. ‘I honestly don’t know. But your reaction tells me that I did the right thing. You still don’t want children, do you? You still put your work first.’

Adam didn’t answer. She was so damned right that he felt guilty.

‘Ethan would have had no father figure to look up to if we had stayed and lived with you. He’d be in bed when you got home and you’d have left for your office before he rose each morning. Not an ideal life for a child.’

She paused but he still didn’t answer, he couldn’t answer. Every word she spoke was the absolute truth.

‘But,’ she continued, ‘I think he should know who his father is. Just as I think you should meet Ethan. We can still carry on living our separate lives.’

‘In other words,’ he growled, hating the scenario she had described, even though it was probably true, ‘you will now be well within your rights to claim money from me. Just as I thought.’

‘Damn you, Adam Bannerman! I want nothing from you except a father’s love for his child. I might have known it was too much to expect.’ Her eyes glittered as she swung around on her dangerously high heels.

The next second he heard a sharp crack and Sienna stumbled as one of her heels snapped off. He moved like lightning and caught her before she hit the floor, wrapping his arms around her and jerking her hard against him.

He had forgotten what she felt like. And what she smelled like. A summer’s evening after rain. A delicate fragrance that briefly drugged his senses. She had grown into a beautiful, sensual woman.

He felt himself grow hard and quickly thrust her away from him. Damn! Sienna had just devastated him with her news. He should be hating her, not feeling raw hunger.

Neither did he want her to know that she still had the power to arouse him in case she used it to her advantage. He still wasn’t entirely sure that her sole reason for coming there was to tell him about Ethan’s illness. Why do something like that after the event? There had to be more to it.

Sienna felt stupid. If she hadn’t moved so quickly she wouldn’t have broken her heel. What was she to do now? Walk home barefoot? Hobble? Call a taxi—which she could ill afford?

She had borrowed the shoes from a friend, now she would have to pay for a new pair. But not only had she ruined a shoe, it was her dignity as well. She should have known it was a bad idea. Adam had reacted in exactly the way she had expected him to.

She glared at him as she slipped off her other shoe and marched indoors. She did not want to spend another minute in his suffocating presence.

‘Where do you think you are going?’ Adam’s harsh voice sounded over her shoulder.

‘Home.’ That one single word was as much as she could muster.

‘And how far are you going to get without shoes on your feet?’ he wanted to know. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Sienna.’

‘So what am I supposed to do?’ she asked angrily, turning to face him. ‘Perhaps you’d like to pay for a taxi?’

‘I could do that,’ he said slowly. ‘Or I could take you myself. And meet this boy I am supposed to have fathered.’

His eyes met and held hers but Sienna saw red. ‘Supposed?’ she queried, her eyes flashing hot sparks. ‘Thanks for your offer, but no thanks. If and when you two ever meet, I want to prepare Ethan first. He doesn’t know about you yet.’

‘So who does he think his father is?’ asked Adam, a sudden fiercely quizzical look in his eyes.

Sienna shrugged. ‘He’s not old enough to ask questions like that.’ Actually, Ethan had more than once asked her why he didn’t have a daddy but she’d always managed to avoid a definite answer, thankful that there were other single mothers at the nursery he attended. She believed that it would be best to tell him when he was older, when he could understand better.

‘But he will have to know one day. So why not now?’ Adam insisted.

‘Because I need to prepare him,’ she answered sharply. ‘I can’t suddenly introduce his father to him. I need to talk to him first, make sure he understands why you haven’t been a part of his life.’

To her annoyance Adam’s lips pulled into a brief, dry smile. ‘And you will tell him—what? That his father’s been busy making money? Actually, it should impress him. It does most people.’

‘Most people don’t know the agony it causes,’ flared Sienna. ‘It’s no life living with someone who’s rarely home.’ She saw a pulse jerk in Adam’s jaw and knew she had hit a raw nerve. Good! He deserved it. ‘I’d be obliged if you’d phone for a taxi.’

Adam closed his eyes momentarily and Sienna knew that he was warring with himself as to whether to do as she asked or insist that he run her home himself. If only she hadn’t broken her stupid heel. She did not want him anywhere near where she lived. She had been protecting herself as well when she’d said that she needed to prepare Ethan.

Just as she had begun to think that Adam was ignoring her request he reached out for the phone and barked a request.

‘My driver is at your disposal.’

Sienna’s brows rose though she said nothing, privately wondering whether there was anything this man could not organise at a moment’s notice. Money spoke. And money ruined marriages! She compressed her lips and nodded her thanks.

‘Before you leave I propose we arrange another meeting. We need to talk about our son and his future.’

Sienna felt her heart drop. It had been hard coming there, it would be even harder seeing him a second time. She had dropped a bombshell, which he would pick up and dissect and come back at her with suggestions that she would not like. Even though it was to be expected, even though she was the one who had started the ball rolling, she felt her whole body grow icy cold at the thought of seeing Adam again, of talking about Ethan, arranging for them to meet.

It was something she had shied away from for the past four years. She had known that Adam wouldn’t want his life disrupted. But now she had done it, and she had to face the consequences. It was quite possible that he might insist she and Ethan move in with him. How disastrous would that be? On the other hand he might be happy to settle a sum of money on them. Wasn’t money his god? Wasn’t it all he wanted in life? His answer to everything?

Ethan would naturally be delighted to meet his father. He wouldn’t know that Adam would remain a distant figure, seen only occasionally. So it would be up to her to stand her ground, declare that they were happy living as they were. She would allow him access, but as for anything else…

‘What are you suggesting?’ she asked stiffly. She was missing the extra three inches her shoes had afforded her. She needed to look up now into his face and it put her at a definite disadvantage. Nevertheless, she kept her chin high and her eyes cold.

‘Dinner tomorrow night?’

‘I thought you always worked late?’ Her response came back with the speed of a bullet.

Even though Adam smiled, it did not reach his eyes. ‘I’m prepared to make an exception.’

So miracles did happen! Or would it be a one-off? She’d like to bet that he would rarely make such exceptions. In the beginning maybe, but soon he would be back to his old lifestyle and poor Ethan would be left wondering what had happened to the father he had only just met.

‘Very well,’ she agreed reluctantly. ‘I guess there are things we need to talk about.’

‘I’ll send a car for you.’

Sienna raised her brows. He would send a car! Not he would pick her up. Oh, no, he didn’t have time for that. He would send his driver. It would give him extra time at the office. Damn the man. She felt like slinging his suggestion back in his face, telling him that he didn’t deserve to meet his son, he would be a failure as a father and she wished that she had never set eyes on him in the first place. But, of course, she said none of these things.

‘Eight o’clock. You do have someone who can look after…Ethan?’

It was the way he said his son’s name, the awkward way he said it, that made Sienna realise that the shock she had given Adam went far deeper than she had at first thought. It had shifted the earth from beneath his feet and he was having great difficulty in getting used to the idea.

Had she made a mistake? A big mistake? Nevertheless, she nodded. ‘I have a friend who will look after him.’