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"Did we seem affectionate?"
"You are a very private person, Aristide, even more so than your older brother. I have always found it difficult to read your emotions."
"In other words, there was no evidence of affection between the two of us."
"I did not say that. You men…you are always so literal and jump to conclusions all too easily. Your father was the same way."
Vincent arrived with a cup of tea for Phillippa and Aristide left off his questions. As she'd pointed out, he was private, too much so to discuss his marriage in front of the other man.
Eden waited for Aristide's plane to land, her nerves stretched so tight that she felt like a rubber band ready to snap. It had only lasted a few days, but this separation had been the worst one of her marriage—maybe because she had never felt less sure of what to expect upon her husband's return. Had he remembered anything of her at all? Surely he would have called to tell her if he had.
Beyond her uncertainty was a feeling of missing him that went bone deep. Unlike every other trip he'd taken away from her, Aristide had not called several times a day simply to connect and see how she and Theo were doing. She'd missed those calls terribly.
And it was as she realized just how aching her loneliness without him was that she asked herself how she could ever have contemplated divorce. How could she live the rest of her life without him when a mere three days without him had been such misery?
Would she have a choice?
The fear that she wouldn't was paramount.
He had not called at all except to say he would be flying in this evening. Apparently, he'd managed to wrap his meetings up with the help of his super-efficient assistant. She could only be grateful he had not delegated the telephone call to Kassandra.
Eden still smarted from the fact that he had sent her away and kept Kassandra by his side.
She thought maybe she understood his decision better after spending several sleepless hours analyzing the latest development in her marriage and coming to seriously regret her rejection of his sexual advances.
For Aristide, sex was as necessary as breathing, but he also had a strong sense of personal honor, not to mention a lion's dose of pride. Once she refused to make love to him, she should have realized he would see no recourse but to send her away. His desire for her was as strong as ever and he would have considered her too much of a temptation if she stayed. With the moratorium she had placed on sex, her presence in his bed would constitute a risk to both his pride and sense of self-control.
Eden wished she'd taken that into account before leaving the playing field wide open to her rival, but she hadn't been thinking all that clearly at the time. She'd been reacting.
Even more important than the fact that her denial had probably been what incited him to send her back to Greece ahead of time, she now wondered if he would regain his memory if she allowed him to make love to her. It was the one aspect of their marriage they always got right and, if they made love, it would have to prove to him that she was not the monster wife he suspected.
In addition, they communicated more between the sheets than anywhere else and she would have done well to remember that salient fact. It was the one place he never stinted on showing her affection or telling her how much he needed her. They'd been in bed together when he asked her to marry him. He'd told her about the effect of his father's death on him, how his uncle's painful marriage had impacted Aristide and the rest of the family and his pleasure in Phillippa's newfound happiness all during discussions post-coitus.
She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before, but by refusing to make love with him, she was denying the biggest catalyst she could give him for remembering her.
She'd decided to pick him up from the airport personally and planned to tell him she wanted to be a proper wife to him again on the drive home. Phillippa and Vincent were staying at the villa, Eden's best opportunity for a private, uninterrupted conversation with Aristide was now. Between Theo's needs, the servants who were ever present and a very concerned mother-in-law, her chances of being alone with Aristide were extremely slim.
Phillippa had told Eden that Aristide had asked his mother about their marriage. That showed more than anything that her husband was full of confusion and doubt. Acknowledging his own ignorance of their relationship would have been hard for the proud man she had married.
Interestingly, Phillippa had told her son that she thought he'd been blindly complacent in his marriage. Eden appreciated the sentiment. Aristide had assumed her love meant she would put up with anything.
He had never realized how much his lack of commitment to spending significant time with her had hurt her or taken stock of the damage it was doing to their marriage. Nor had he ever stopped to wonder why Eden frequently refused to attend social functions when she knew Kassandra would be present.
While they couldn't discuss any of these things until he remembered her, she was determined to do so as soon after he regained his memory as possible. Not only that, but she'd spoken to Adam on the phone just that day and the doctor had once again reiterated that it would be better to wait to tell Aristide of her current pregnancy.
In one respect, she had no problem with that. She wanted her husband's honest reaction to her and didn't think she'd get it if he knew she was pregnant again. Just as he had hidden his lack of any real desire to marry in the first place because of Theo. But in another respect, she desperately wanted to share news of the child growing inside her.
Sharing her first pregnancy with Aristide had been really special and there was a craven part of her that just wanted to go back to a time when he treated her so tenderly.
No matter what way she looked at it, his selective amnesia had effectively put their marriage on hold and the situation was intolerable. If it meant making love to a man who saw her as little more than a stranger so her husband could regain his memory and they could move forward, then she was prepared to do it.
"Eden. What are you doing here? Where is Aldo?" Aristide's tone was no more welcoming than his words, but she'd been expecting that reaction and forced herself not to take offence.
"I cancelled the car and came instead. You used to say you'd like it very much if I met you at the airport."
He'd implied he wouldn't mind making love in the limo on the way home because he was so hungry for her. She wasn't ready for that and she hadn't brought the limo, but she was hoping neither fact would matter since he would have no way of remembering his teasing.
"Did I?"
"Uh…huh. Anyway, I thought we could talk while I drove you home."
"I will do the driving," he said arrogantly.
"I hope you brought the Mercedes," Kassandra inserted from where she stood behind him. "After two weeks in New York, I have extra luggage."
Eden bit back a grimace, realizing her tactical blunder only at that moment. What an idiot she'd been. She'd been so wrapped up in thoughts of her marriage she'd actually managed to forget all about the other woman. Only Kassandra would of course have expected to ride home in the car chauffeured by Aldo as well.
"I'm surprised you didn't have your purchases shipped," Eden said by way of hiding her chagrin.
"There was no time." Kassandra smiled sweetly at her boss. "Aristide took me shopping and we didn't get done until a short time before takeoff."
Eden couldn't help flinching at the words, even knowing any sign of upset would give the Greek woman a great deal of satisfaction. She'd wanted to do her final Christmas shopping in New York with Aristide, but he'd turned her down, even though he clearly had found shopping with Kassandra no hardship.
"I brought the Jaguar." She bit her lip and looked at Aristide, mentally pleading for his understanding. "I thought you might insist on driving and you have always preferred it."
His frown said he wasn't impressed by her reasoning. "That's a small car to transport three people."
He was right. The car's backseat wasn't designed for luggage, it was miniscule, especially to a woman of Kassandra's height. The trunk wasn't much better. "Maybe Kassandra would be more comfortable taking a taxi to her apartment where there will be plenty of room for her bags."
The Greek woman made a moue of distaste. "If I had known you were going to change the transport arrangements I made, I would have had a car waiting to pick me up, but I suppose there's nothing for it than to wait in a taxi queue."
"Nonsense. Since Eden made the change, I am sure she will not mind waiting here while I run you home."
Eden opened her mouth to tell them both what they could do with their assumption that her needs always came last, but then snapped it shut. Kassandra was obviously hoping for just such a reaction and then she would undoubtedly offer to take a taxi again and Aristide would think Eden was acting the bitch.
Once again, she hadn't considered all the angles before acting. She had wanted to please Aristide by bringing his favorite car, but she had also wanted the increased intimacy in the atmosphere of the Jaguar over the Mercedes. She had completely forgotten about the need to see Kassandra home and thereby shot herself in the foot.
