Jenna had harboured similar suspicions herself, but had berated herself for being over-imaginative. To hear Alex voice her worst fears made her feel ill. ‘In effect, she’s trying to buy my daughter,’ she whispered miserably.
‘Presumably it all hinges on Lee winning full custody of Maisie; I can’t think of any other reason why she’d want to marry him.’
‘Which is why Lee is so determined to prove that I’m an unsuitable mother,’ Jenna surmised. ‘I would never prevent Lee from seeing Maisie, but she’s my baby. I’ve brought her up virtually single-handed for the last three years. He can’t possibly win, can he?’
‘It seems unlikely,’ Alex agreed. ‘But I can’t give you a one hundred per cent guarantee that the courts won’t decide in his favour. I imagine Lee and Louise will promote themselves as a devoted, happy couple who can offer Maisie a stable home life.’
‘Are you suggesting that I don’t already do that?’ Jenna snapped, and he held up his hand placatingly.
‘You work full-time; Maisie spends most of her days in a nursery or being cared for by your elderly neighbours. I know the truth, that you’re an exemplary mother, but it’s not me you’ll have to convince. It’s the judge.’
‘Oh, God!’ Jenna twisted her fingers together in anguish and Alex pressed home his advantage.
‘I have a suggestion,’ he stated coolly as he scraped back his chair and walked back over to the window, so that his back was to her. ‘I think we should get married.’
For a moment the room seemed to sway alarmingly, and Jenna had to force air into her lungs. ‘Do you mean to each other?’ she managed, wondering if he was playing some sort of cruel joke.
‘Of course to each other,’ he snapped sarcastically. ‘Unless you’ve someone else lined up?’
‘I don’t have anyone lined up. Getting married isn’t high on my list of priorities—although I can see that for me it would certainly be beneficial to have a wealthy husband and a proper home for Maisie.’
‘Naturally you would be able to give up work and concentrate on being a full-time mother.’ Alex dangled the bait cleverly, and she had to bite her lip to prevent herself from throwing caution to the wind and accepting his incredible offer.
‘But what would you get out of it?’
‘You in my bed on a permanent basis,’ he stated bluntly, and the tiny flame of hope that had flickered in her chest since he’d first voiced his suggestion was quickly extinguished.
‘Sex isn’t a proper basis for marriage,’ she said huskily. ‘Even good sex.’
She recalled Selina’s statement that Alex was obsessed with her. Sexual desire was a potent force that overruled common sense, as she had found out when she married Lee. Alex might desire her now, she could even believe that he cared for her—and Maisie, in his way—but he had never mentioned love. It was tempting to accept his offer, if for no other reason than to secure Maisie’s future, but she couldn’t bear to watch as Alex’s passion for her faded, leaving nothing in its place.
‘You must see that it would never work,’ she murmured. ‘You need a wife who can share the demands of your career, who can host dinner parties and entertain your clients. If you married me you’d probably live on fish fingers,’ she quipped, trying to hide the fact that she was breaking up inside.
‘I don’t want you for your culinary expertise,’ Alex growled, so fiercely that she was forced to believe him. It was her expertise in the bedroom he was interested in, she conceded, although even that was debatable.
‘A marriage between us wouldn’t work because we don’t love each other,’ Jenna stated firmly. ‘I already have one disastrous attempt behind me, yet at the time I truly believed that I loved Lee and he loved me. I’m not sure I’ll ever trust my judgement enough to make such a commitment again, and I’m certainly not going to get married for the sake of convenience.’
Alex was silent for so long that she could only hazard a guess at his thoughts while he stood, his shoulders rigid, staring out over the city.
‘I can see I’ll have to find the thumbscrews,’ he said lightly, turning to face her at last, the expression in his dark eyes unfathomable, although the smile he gave seemed genuine enough.
Was there a hint of relief about him? she wondered painfully. Perhaps he had only asked her to marry him out of a sense of duty, a concern for Maisie? He had said he wanted her in his bed, but in all honesty there were any number of willing volunteers eager to fill the post of his lover, and she would bet that none of them had a child in tow.