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‘I suspect you’ll have a fair few questions to answer next time you see people, though. She was rather shocked you’d never mentioned me before.’
She could well imagine it. Everyone had been so focused on the baby, Shangok, that there hadn’t been chance for anyone to ask her about her sudden change in marital status. But tonight, and tomorrow, Oti had no doubt there would be a veritable barrage of questions fired her way.
‘But we can’t share a hut, Lukas.’ Her voice shook and there wasn’t a darn thing she could do about it. Her eyes slid, almost against her will, to the king-size bed. ‘We can’t share...that.’
They hadn’t been intimate again since that one night, almost a week ago. Not that she hadn’t enjoyed it—more than enjoyed it—but after that bath, and her shocking revelation, Lukas had closed and bolted the door between their suites and practically moved out of their—his—home and into his city centre office, making it clear that he had no intention of a repeat performance.
She’d tried not to let it hurt her. Clearly he was the kind of man who liked the thrill of the chase more than he liked a sure thing—but hadn’t she known that about him already?
And he hadn’t been the one to instigate that night, had he?
Either that, or she’d been so appallingly bad in bed that he didn’t want a repeat performance. Just because she’d found their night together so wholly electrifying didn’t mean that Lukas had been equally enthused.
Oti felt a hot flush spread over her cheeks; how had she failed to recognise that at the time?
‘I agree—it isn’t ideal.’
‘Ideal?’ She tried for another laugh, but it sounded flat.
From the safety of the doorway, she once again eyed up the king-size mattress on the old pallet frame. There was also a battered old dresser desk, a rickety chair and a newly woven rug.
As tukuls went, it looked lovely. And that wouldn’t do at all.
She and Lukas might have pretended to the objecting board members of his various companies that they were going on a delayed honeymoon, but that didn’t actually mean it had to feel like one.
‘We should have a hut each,’ she muttered faintly, not daring to look at Lukas. ‘I didn’t plan this. You have to understand that.’
‘Obviously you didn’t plan it.’ He had crossed the tiny space before she had a chance to move, his hands going to her shoulders. ‘You don’t believe that I manipulated this situation?’
‘Of course not.’ Her gaze seemed to be locked with his, and she couldn’t have disconnected even if she’d wanted to. ‘You made it abundantly clear, even back at the house, that you wouldn’t be...inviting any further intimacy between us.’
‘Right.’ He nodded with evident relief, and she tried not to feel irrationally hurt. ‘I’m glad that was clear.’
‘But you didn’t insist on separate accommodation?’ She swallowed heavily.
Even though she tried, there was no suppressing the glimmer of hope that he just might admit it was because a part of him had wanted to share. And then he moved closer to her, so fast that she didn’t have time to think. But her heart had time to beat faster.
‘This isn’t a conversation for other ears,’ Lukas muttered tersely, his large hand circling her wrist gently as he tugged her inside.
‘No.’ He didn’t hesitate once the door was closed. ‘But only because I believe it would only raise suspicion. After all, we’re supposed to be a newly married couple.’
Yanking herself out of his grasp, Oti tried to push back the sense of disappointment that raced through her. It was shamefully telling that she didn’t open the door or try to leave. They were alone and, despite everything, her entire body was prickling with awareness.
She swallowed heavily. ‘Yet we can’t stay here and...share a bed.’
‘There’s no choice.’ His voice held a sort of grimness that made her feel perversely insulted. She wondered what was wrong with her. ‘We’re married. We’re sharing. It’s done.’
Oti stared at the bed, then at the floor. She felt like some gauche teenager again, and hated herself for it.
‘We’re grown adults, not unschooled adolescents,’ he pressed on, as if reading her thoughts. She hated the way he could
do that. ‘I’m sure we can sleep in the same bed without touching each other.’
A memory of their night together slid, unbidden, into her head. He had reached for her so many times that night, as though he could glut on her for ever and still never have enough. He’d made her feel so cherished, so incredible, and she’d never, ever, felt like that before.
She’d never thought she was capable of it, especially after the attack.
It was as if Lukas had made her come alive, and she’d suddenly realised what she’d been missing out on all those years. Yet now he was like a different man, keeping her at arm’s length and making it clear he didn’t remotely feel that same draw, that same desire, whilst she couldn’t imagine ever wanting to be with anyone else.
