Husband By Request

His sudden intake of breath sounded like ripping silk.

“Even if that was what I wanted, I have no idea if I’m fertile. A twenty-five pound weight gain doesn’t necessarily ensure results—not after my bout with cancer.”

He raked a hand through his black hair, disheveling it. “The trust is gone on both sides, Dominique.”

Her eyes stung with unshed tears. “That’s why I want to try again. We could pretend we have no history and it’s the first time for both of us.”

“You mean wash the slate clean?” he insinuated, with a raw cynicism that tore up her insides.

“Yes.”

“That’s not possible.”

She raised her chin defiantly. “I admit it would be a challenge, but I’ve never known you to back down from one.”

There was an ominous gleam in his eyes. “When the water got too rough you ran away from our marriage,” he accused. “It’ll get rough again.”

“You’re talking about Olympia?”

The shutters flew down across his face. He didn’t bother to deny it. Another devastating blow. But she refused to let him know how deeply the knowledge affected her.

“I’ve always been aware of your feelings for her, and hers for you. She’s a permanent fixture in your life. The only thing I require is that you stay out of her bed for the next thirty days to see if we can rekindle the spark. But if that’s asking too much, then tell me now. I can’t clap with only one hand.”

“Neither can I.”

The implication jolted her. “What do you mean?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, we had other issues during our brief marriage,” he informed her gravely. “I’m in the middle of some important negotiations that mean I have to do a lot of entertaining in Athens this month.”

“In other words I would be an embarrassment to you, like I was before.”

“Did I ever say that?”

“You didn’t have to. Your late nights at the office, your long silences—they did it for you.”

Andreas shot her a withering glance. “As I recall, you didn’t like living in Athens and preferred to stay on Zakynthos, out of sight, which made it more difficult for us to be together.”

“That’s true. I didn’t want to be in the city, where I had to share my husband with a lot of other people. I was too madly in love to remember that you had an empire to run and money to earn in order to keep my fantasy alive. It was naïve of me, I know. The truth is, our honeymoon was so wonderful, I hoped it would go on forever.”

“You think I didn’t?” he thundered emotionally.

That was the question Dominique had come back to Gree

ce to ask. She took a fortifying breath.

“You married a blushing, young, needy bride who selfishly thought only of her own pleasure. In that regard I’m afraid I followed the path of most twenty-two-year-old newlyweds.”

His features hardened. “And now you’re at the ripe old age of twenty-three, which is entirely different?”

The angry sarcasm pouring out of him would destroy her if she let it.

“That’s for both of us to find out…if you’re willing. Do you need twenty-four hours to think about it?”

A strange smile broke out on his lips, totally at odds with the glacial look in his eyes. “Giving yourself a loophole already?”

With that question she realized she hadn’t made a dent in his armor. The damage had been too great. A year ago she’d left him to face his accuser alone. No doubt the media had pounced all over him like wolves, tearing him to pieces.

“I don’t need one. Otherwise I would never have left Sarajevo to come and find you.”