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He tilted his pelvis up, sending shivers of sensation through her. "No. You want me. Your body betrays just how much with every tiny movement."
She couldn't deny it. Her nipples were hard and aching for his attention all over again and her most secret flesh was clinging to him with pulsing strength.
She said the only thing she could say…the only thing he might understand. "But you don't want me."
"Wrong."
"You don't. Not me," she said earnestly. "I could be any woman to you."
"But you are not any woman. You are my wife."
"You don't know me," she cried, frustration and hurt filling her.
"How well did I know you the first time we made love?"
She stopped trying to get away, her face heating with an instant blush. "We made love the first time on our second date."
His smile was triumphant. "Then I could not have known you any better then than I do now."
His logic left her speechless for several seconds. "It is not the same," she finally responded lamely.
"How is it different?"
"You wanted to know me then. You pursued me."
"Not very hard, if it was only our second date."
"I was an easy mark for you."
"You were and are the woman I want." He proved it by surging up into her, fully aroused and ready to make love again.
She averted her face. "I never intended to make love with a man who was not my husband."
"And yet you were my lover for over a year before we married."
"Yes," she whispered, the lingering disappointment in herself in her voice.
He tilted her chin toward her. "You knew that was the longest relationship I had ever had with a woman?"
"I wasn't even sure we had a relationship. You never introduced me to your family."
"I wanted to keep you to myself."
"How do you know?" she asked deridingly. "You don't remember."
"But as I have told you, I know myself. I know what would have motivated me in the situation you describe."
"I believed it was because I was not important to you."
"The fact you are now my wife proves that was not the case."
She refused to remind him again that he had married her for the sake of their unborn son. He seemed to forget it and she only wished she could.
Despite the physical response of her body to their continued intimacy, she felt numb inside as she realized the one hope she had to reclaim her marriage was gone.
"We have talked enough."
"Yes, I suppose we have."
Ignoring her melancholy, he began the seduction all over again. She had no defense against him and didn't want any. At least if they made love she would not feel this awful inner frozenness that seemed to be spreading from her heart outward.
CHAPTER TEN
« ^ »
Eden was sitting on the floor, her back to him and playing with Theo the next afternoon when Aristide walked into the large living room. She'd pulled her silky brown hair up into a casual ponytail that revealed the delicate column of her neck. The snug-fitting cotton top and jeans she wore only served to remind him of the night before and how much pleasure he had found in her delicious body.
His own tightened with need at the memory.
But, damn it, it had been more than a slaking of lust…she'd been right. They had not made love like strangers, so why did he feel more like one with her today than he had before returning to her bed?
"So you are back from shopping," he said.
She'd left that morning, refusing his offer to accompany her on the pretext she needed to buy his Christmas gift.
"Yes," she replied without turning.
"You have been home long?"
"Not really." Long enough to change her clothes and collect their son from the nursery.
She had not sought out Aristide upon her return, but there was no surprise there. She'd been like this since they got up that morning—even more distant from him than she had been since his return from New York. It was as if she had completely cut herself off emotionally from him and after their lovemaking, that was not an attitude he could live with.
"I have made dinner reservations for tonight." He had called the restaurant, figuring she must like the place if they had planned to eat there originally.
It had been a long time since he had done something so mundane, but he doubted she would appreciate that fact.
She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled vacantly, then turned back their son, her smile for Theo much more natural. She tickled his tummy, talking in baby talk to him.
"Did you hear me?"
She stiffened, but then seemed to force herself to relax. "Yes, but it's not necessary. As you said the other day, we hardly have a normal relationship. A date would be superfluous."
"I do not agree."
She shrugged and he saw red. She hadn't even spoken and he was ready to blow his top. No woman got to him like this…hell, no person got to him like this.
He took a firm grip on his unreasonable temper. "I think we need to get to know each other."
"I already know you."
"Then I need to get to know you," he said from between gritted teeth. When she did not respond, he said, "We must accept that my memory may never come back and plan accordingly."
Her body jerked in reaction to his words, but that was the only response he got.
"I know it must hurt you to hear I may never remember you," he said, feeling more hesitant than he ever had, "but it has to be acknowledged."
Gurgled laughter erupted from his son's throat, startling Aristide. The baby had grabbed one of his toys scattered on the floor and begun playing with it. It was a jack-in-the-box and Theo had mastered turning the handle until the clown popped out. The childish music filled the silence that felt like an oppressive weight around them.
Finally, Eden turned to face Aristide, her expression stoic. "So you want to get to know me and decide if I'm worthy of being your wife."
"I did not say that."
'Then, what is the purpose?"
"Is it so hard for you to understand me wishing to get to know my wife?"
"We don't need to go out on dates for you to do that. You can do so just as well here… when you are home."
"I want to take you out," he ground out, annoyed by the reminder of his many absences.
He intended to change that, but didn't make the mistake of telling her so. She was in no mood to take anything he said at face value.
She sighed. "You don't have to court me all over again. I'm already your wife."
"It does not sound like there was much of a courtship the first time around."
She flinched and he cursed his quick tongue.
"Whatever you call our relationship before, it's done and we're married. To coin one of your own phrases, dating now would be nonproductive."
"I do not agree."
She rolled her eyes. "Why is it such a big deal to you?"
"Why are you fighting it so hard?"
"Maybe I've finally decided to accept the status quo of our marriage."
For some reason, that sent a cold chill up his spine. "And maybe I have not."
"Why not?" she asked, the ice finally cracking to give him a glimpse of the hurting woman beneath the brittle façade. "You've got everything a man like you wants out of marriage. A faithful wife who will provide you with children and warm your bed when you want it. It's all you ever wanted from me and I've finally accepted that, all right?"
Her voice was choked with tears, but she didn't let them fall. "You can keep right on working your terrible hours, traveling half the time and spending more after-office hours with your personal assistant than your wife."
He didn't know how to rebut her words without memories to back up his claims, so he said the one thing she could not deny. "As of Monday morning, I will no longer have a personal assistant."
Eden went paper-white and swayed.
He dropped to his knee beside her and grabbed her shoulders. "Are you all right?"
"Did you just say that Kassandra quit?" she asked in a frail and disbelieving voice.
"No."
Her eyes closed as if in pain. "I didn't think it could be—"
"I plan to fire her," he said before she could go on.
Eden's eyes flew open and she stared at him with a hope that hurt him to see. "Say that again."
"I will be firing Kassandra the first thing Monday morning."
"But you can't," she whispered, her voice thready.
Her reaction categorically told him his decision had been the right one. "I assure you, I can."
