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Distance that had not been there in the beginning.
He understood it even less now than he had before. Why keep part of herself back from him when he wanted it all? When at one point, she’d willingly given him everything? Though he did not believe in love, he did believe she’d thought herself in love with him in the beginning.
Something had changed though. He just did not know what.
He would have considered that it might have been another man, but she showed not even the slightest signs in that direction.
Chloe might have cheated their contract, but she was not an adulterer. Of that he was absolutely certain.
He was not the sort of man to compromise and had realized early in his marriage that he was far more possessive than he’d ever suspected. His need to be with her and know she preferred his company over any other had bothered him, made him feel weak.
Chloe didn’t flirt with other men though. She didn’t ask to spend weeks on shopping excursions in Europe as many wives in their set did, but she held something indefinable back.
And it raised that sense of possession, disturbing his equilibrium.
Until he knew why she felt that need … strike that, knowing why was not good enough. Until she gave him everything, held nothing back and did not seek to create distance between them, he would not be content.
She had developed more interests outside their time together in the last year of their marriage. She’d been less available to him and he had discovered he did not like that at all either.
Again, her desire to spend more time away from him had made it all the easier to believe Chloe didn’t want to be married to him in the first place, and had plotted to keep the relationship short-lived when he discovered the birth control.
His grandfather had told him to learn to live with it when Ariston had complained how much time Chloe’s outside interests seem to take from her. Pappous had said that she deserved to have her own life.
Ariston was busy enough with his work—she needed her own pursuits so she would not resent the time he spent with Spiridakou & Sons Enterprises.
Remembering that conversation, Ariston had taken steps to give Chloe what she needed, but now he wondered if he’d made a mistake buying her a New York art gallery. Would she use it as an excuse to spend more time away from him, maintaining the distance he hated and she seemed to want?
At least for the next ten days, he had no such worries. He’d arranged for them to sail on one of his cruise ships, a ten-day excursion in the Mediterranean.
Chloe had expressed interest in exploring the other, less populated islands of Greece, when they were married before. He knew she would enjoy this cruise.
He would just have to worry about whether to fess up to buying the gallery when they returned to New York—once they’d returned from their second honeymoon. Not that she would not learn the truth eventually.
The gallery was already in her name.
Until then, he would do his best to break down the wall she seemed intent on erecting between them.
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHLOE stood on the balcony of Ariston’s personal suite on his ship, the Colossus.
How appropriate that they were docking in Rhodes tomorrow.
She’d been shocked when he’d informed her that he’d arranged for them to take a cruise to celebrate their remarriage. They would fly to Piraeus and sail from that port. For a guy who insisted this was purely a business arrangement and better for being so, the man had a hugely romantic streak.
He’d said no romance, but two dozen peach roses, her favorite, filled their suite with delectable fragrance and a bottle of celebratory champagne—her favorite vintage—had greeted them on arrival.
He was pulling out all the stops, but she didn’t know why. What more did he hope to gain?
He already had her agreement to give him the children Takis was so keen on spoiling. It was Ariston who insisted they use condoms until she’d gained a minimum of ten pounds.
Maybe that was what this cruise was about? The way they were fed, she was going to gain at least five pounds in the next ten days.
And she wasn’t doing it with the healthiest alternatives either. Ariston had left both their personal trainers behind.
He never traveled without his, but when she’d asked him about it, he’d said it was their honeymoon. As if that was an answer.
When their marriage was about anything but romance.
The skirt of her green dress fluttered around her legs from the wind coming off the Mediterranean. She’d loved the dress when they’d seen it in the boutique, but didn’t think she’d wear it as often in the longer length.
So, Ariston had had it altered to mid-calf and she loved the way it made her feel. Both his attention and the gorgeous cut of the dress that disguised her deficiencies and played up her figure’s positives.
