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“What do you take me for?” she said in a low voice
“As my wife To have—” his eyes raked over her “—and to hold”
She sed His dark eyes were undressing her, right there in the restaurant As if he were considering the very real possibility of pulling her to hi love to her on there on the table, with the entire restaurant watching
He still intended to coldly seduce her He still meant to take his pound of flesh for what she’d done And if he were her husband, his power over her would increase tenfold
Just give in, her thought whispered Give in to her desire Give in to his power Then he couldn’t send her away froain She would be his wife She would be above Lindsey and the other woh Nikos hated her now, perhaps someday…
No She had to get a hold of herself Even if soive him He didn’t love her And it orse than that He didn’t even trust her enough to work or to make any decisions about her own life
He said he wanted to protect her, but he really wanted to lock her away, like a parakeet in a tiny gold cage
Could she put aside every ounce of pride and self-preservation and marry a man who hated her? Allow herself to be bound to him forever?
“No,” she whispered
His dark eyebrows pushed together like a storm-cloud “What did you say?”
She treer even as she braced herself for more She wouldn’t bend She wouldn’t submit She wouldn’t sell herself for the hopeless, destructive illusion that he ht someday trust her, respect her, love her
“I said no” Snapping the box shut, she held it out to him “Sorry, Nikos I’m not for sale”
CHAPTER FIVE
NIKOS stared at her, hardly able to believe his ears
“Don’t you understand?” he said “I’ you my wife”
“How very generous But I only wanted that when I was in love with you Not anymore” When he didn’t take the box, she tossed it on the table between the, but it separated them like a stone wall two feet thick “Now I just want to be free”
She shifted in her chair, brushing her dark hair off her bare shoulders He looked around the restaurant that they’d conceived together To his fevered i Anna Her lovely pale skin, the dark hair cascading in riotous waves down her back, those ale halter top barely covered her full breasts, and her dark low-rise jeans revealed her flat belly
God, she was gorgeous He’d never wanted her more
“You will marry me, Anna,” he said “We both knoill happen”
“Death and taxes are inevitable But ave him a humorless smile “No”
“I don’t particularly want to marry you, either But my son’s happiness means more to me than my own”
He saw her lips tighten at that Good, so she understood how much he cared for Michael
But there was more to it than that
Fro with Victor Sinistyn in the club, soed in hied to him and no other man He had to stamp his possession on her for all the world to see
The idea had haunted him In the club, on his h the casino He’d kept thinking it would be sias And once she wore his ring he knew she would be utterly loyal to those vows There would be no uments or fear of betrayal No custody battle splashed in the papers It was the perfect solution
He’d just never thought she would refuse him
“You will marry me for the sake of our son”
“Never”
Nikos raked a hand through his dark hair in frustration This wasn’t hoas supposed to go He was accusto to fulfill his orders, and his mistresses had always done the same
“You will be rich—richer than your wildest drea”
She snorted incredulously “You think I care about that? If I’d wanted to o”
“Meaning you’d have married Victor Sinistyn?”
“Yes I could have” She paused “I could still”
Nikos tightened his hands into fists, cracking his knuckles A flood of unwelcoh him