AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘That all sounds rather archaic.’
Alex inclined his head. ‘Family ties are strong in this country.’
‘Yet it’s your stepfather,’ Milly pointed out. ‘This isn’t about flesh and blood.’
‘He was a father to me more than any other man was,’ Alex answered gruffly. Emotion clutched at his throat, made it hard to speak. ‘And the will is watertight. This is my only option.’
‘What about adoption? Surrogacy?’
‘As I said, time is of the essence. I’m thirty-six, and I want my child to be an adult when I pass the business on. Also, I believe a child should have a mother as well as a father. Family is important to me.’ The words ignited a blaze of pain inside him, and he snuffed it out quickly. Coldly. The only way he knew how, to keep on living.
‘What if I can’t get pregnant?’ Milly asked baldly. ‘There are no guarantees.’
‘You’d need to have a full medical check before we wed.’ He shrugged one shoulder. ‘The rest is up to God.’
‘Would you want other children?’
He almost laughed at that. He knew she certainly wouldn’t, not once she saw him. ‘No, one will suffice. After that I will leave you alone.’
‘Would I have to live on this island for the rest of my life?’
‘You wouldn’t be a prisoner, if that’s what you are implying.’
‘Would we have any kind of...relationship?’ She spoke the word hesitantly, as if probing a sore tooth.
‘We would treat each other with courteous respect, I should hope.’
‘But beyond that?’
He couldn’t keep from recoiling just a little, just as he knew she would once she saw him. ‘Is that something you want?’
‘I... I don’t know.’ She shook her head, her teeth worrying away at her lower lip. ‘This is all so unexpected. I can’t even think straight.’
‘Yet you are considering it?’
‘I shouldn’t.’ She shook her head, expelling her breath in a gusty sigh. ‘I don’t even know why I am, if just a little. The tiniest bit.’ It came out like a warning.
‘The five million, perhaps.’ He kept his voice light, inviting her to see the humour. To share it with him.
She shot him a look of wry amusement, and something small and warm bloomed inside him, something unexpected. When had he last shared a look with another person, even in the dark? ‘Yes, that might have something to do with it.’
‘I don’t hold it against you.’
‘And so you shouldn’t, since you’re the one who offered it. But perhaps I hold it against myself.’ Her words came out sharply; the moment was broken, that small bit of warmth snuffed out.
Alex watched as Milly rose from the chair, pacing the room, rubbing her hands together as if she were cold. ‘No, this can’t work,’ she muttered, mostly to herself. ‘I can’t let myself, not like—’ She broke off, shaking her head. ‘No, I’m sorry. I can’t. I won’t.’ She turned to him resolutely, her look one of both apology and determination. ‘The answer is no, Kyrie Santos,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m sorry. I hope this won’t affect our working relationship.’
Alex stared at her, refusing to betray his irritation and, yes, his disappointment, with so much as a flicker. And he did feel disappointed—more even than he’d expected. He could find someone else. He knew that. Yet her rejection stung, because that was what it was. It felt personal, even though he knew it shouldn’t. And the laughable part was, he hadn’t even turned the light on.
CHAPTER TWO
MILLY COULDN’T SLEEP. She lay tangled in her sheets, staring at the ceiling as moonlight slanted through the shutters of her window and silvered the tile floor of her bedroom. Since the abrupt ending of her conversation with Alexandro Santos this afternoon, when he’d more or less dismissed her from his study after she’d turned down his proposal, her mind had been reeling as she went over every surreal second of the bizarre interview.
I want you to marry me.
How could he have suggested such a thing? And how could she have been so treacherously tempted, even for a moment?
Milly turned over, thumping her pillow in a futile effort to find peace, or at least comfort. Her mind had not stopped zooming off in a dozen different directions since she’d left Alex; she’d kept herself busy, finishing the moussaka she’d been prepping for supper, sweeping the pool area, and paying a few bills, all the while wondering why he’d asked, what would happen now.
