Needed: One Convenient Husband(36)

He turned around and locked his eyes with hers. "I know what you mean,"  he said. "I wouldn't feel right going out with someone else."

Heat seeped through her every pore with his words. "So you haven't been dating, either?"

"No."

There were a number of questions she wanted to ask him-how he spent his  days, his nights, what his family thought of their pending divorce,  what he thought of it, was he ready for it to be over for them to go  their separate ways-but there was no way she could ask him any of those  things. "I guess I'll go put dinner on the table."

He chuckled. "An egg sandwich and tea?"

"Yes." She turned to leave.

"Sienna?"

She turned back around. "Yes?"

"I don't like being stranded, but since I am, I'm glad it's with you."

For a moment she couldn't say anything, then she cleared her throat  while backing up a couple of steps. "Ah, yeah right, same here." She  backed up some more then said, "I'll go set out the food now." And then  she turned and quickly left the room.





Chapter 10

Sienna glanced up when she heard Dane walk into the kitchen and smiled. "Your feast awaits you."

"Whoopee."

She laughed. "Hey, I know the feeling. I'm glad I had a nice lunch today in celebration. I took on a new client."

Dane came and joined her at the table. "Congratulations."

"Thank you."

She took a bite of her scrambled egg sandwich and a sip of her tea and  then said, "It's been a long time since you seemed genuinely pleased  with my accomplishments."

He glanced up after taking a sip of his own tea and stared at her for a  moment. "I know and I'm sorry about that. It was hard being replaced by  your work, Sienna."

She lifted her head and stared at him, met his gaze. She saw the  tightness of his jaw and the firm set of his mouth. He actually believed  that something could replace him with her and knowing that hit a raw  and sensitive nerve. "My work never replaced you, Dane. Why did you  begin feeling that way?"

Dane leaned back in his chair, tilted his head slightly. He was more  than mildly surprised with her question. It was then he realized that  she really didn't know. Hadn't a clue. This was the opportunity that he  wanted; what he was hoping they would have. Now was the time to put  aside anger, bitterness, foolish pride and whatever else was working at  destroying their marriage. Now was the time for complete honesty. "You  started missing dinner. Not once but twice, sometimes three times a  week. Eventually, you stopped making excuses and didn't show up."

What he'd said was the truth. "But I was working and taking on new clients," she defended. "You said you would understand."

"And I did for a while and up to a point. But there is such a thing as  common courtesy and mutual respect, Sienna. In the end I felt like I'd  been thrown by the wayside, that you didn't care anymore about us, our  love or our marriage."                       
       
           



       

She narrowed her eyes. "And why didn't you say something?"

"When? I was usually asleep when you got home and when I got up in the  morning you were too sleepy to discuss anything. I invited you to lunch  several times, but you couldn't fit me into your schedule."

"I had appointments."

"Yes, and I always felt because of it that your clients were more important."

"Still, I wished you would have let me know how you felt," she said, after taking another sip of tea.

"I did, several times. But you weren't listening."

She sighed deeply. "We used to know how to communicate."

"Yes, at one time we did, didn't we?" Dane said quietly. "But I'm also  to blame for the failure of our marriage, our lack of communication. And  then there were the problems you were having with my parents. When it  came to you, I never hesitated letting my parents know when they were  out of line and that I wouldn't put up with their treatment of you. But  then I felt that at some point you needed to start believing that what  they thought didn't matter and stand up to them.

"I honestly thought I was doing the right thing when I decided to just  stay out of it and give you the chance to deal with them, to finally put  them in their place. Instead, you let them erode away at your security  and confidence to the point where you felt you had to prove you were  worthy of them...and of me. That's what drove you to be so successful,  wasn't it, Sienna? Feeling the need to prove something is what working  all those long hours was all about, wasn't it?"





Chapter 11

Sienna quickly got up from the table and walked to the window. It was  turning dark but she could clearly see that things hadn't let up. It was  still snowing outside, worse than an hour before. She tried to  concentrate on what was beyond that window and not on the question Dane  had asked her.

"Sienna?"

Moments later she turned back around to face Dane, knowing he was  waiting on her response. "What do you want me to say, Dane? Trust me,  you don't want to get me started since you've always known how your  family felt about me."

His brow furrowed sharply as he moved from the table to join her at the  window, coming to stand directly in front of her. "And you've known it  didn't matter one damn iota. Why would you let it continue to matter to  you?"

She shook her head, tempted to bare her soul but fighting not to. "But  you don't understand how important it was for your family to accept me,  to love me."

Dane stepped closer, looked into eyes that were fighting to keep tears at bay.

"Wasn't my love enough, Sienna? I'd told you countless time that you  didn't marry my family, you married me. I'm not proud of the fact that  my parents think too highly of themselves and our family name at times,  but I've constantly told you it didn't matter. Why can't you believe  me?"

When she didn't say anything, he sighed deeply. "You've been around  people with money before. Do all of them act like my parents?"

She thought of her best friend's family. The Steeles. "No."

"Then what should that tell you? They're my parents. I know that they aren't close to being perfect, but I love them."

"And I never wanted to do anything to make you stop loving them."

He reached up and touched her chin. "And that's what this is about,  isn't it? Why you filed for a divorce. You thought that you could."

Sienna angrily wiped at a tear she couldn't contain any longer. "I didn't ever want you to have to choose."

Dane's heart ached. Evidently she didn't know just how much he loved  her. "There wouldn't have been a choice to make. You're my wife. I love  you. I will always love you. When we married, we became one."

He leaned down and brushed a kiss on her cheek, then several. He wanted  to devour her mouth, deepen the kiss and escalate it to a level he  needed it to be, but he couldn't. He wouldn't. What they needed was to  talk, to communicate to try and fix whatever was wrong with their  marriage. He pulled back. It was hard when he heard her soft sigh, her  heated moan.

He gave in briefly to temptation and tipped her chin up, and placed a  kiss on her lips. "There's plenty of hot water still left in the tank,"  he said softly, stroking her chin. "Go ahead and take a shower before it  gets completely dark, and then I'll take one."

He continued to stroke her chin when he added, "Then what I want is for  us to do something we should have done months ago, Sienna. I want us to  sit down and talk. And I mean to really talk. Regain that level of  communication we once had. And what I need to know more than anything is  whether my love will ever be just enough for you."                       
       
           



       





Chapter 12

You're my wife. I love you. I will always love you. When we married, we became one.

Dane's words flowed through Sienna's mind as she stepped into the  shower, causing a warm, fuzzy, glowing feeling to seep through her  pores. Hope flared within her although she didn't want it to. She hadn't  wanted to end her marriage, but when things had begun to get worse  between her and Dane, she'd finally decided to take her in-laws'  suggestion and get out of their son's life.

Even after three years of seeing how happy she and Dane were together,  they still couldn't look beyond her past. They saw her as a nobody, a  person who had married their son for his money. She had offered to sign a  prenuptial before the wedding and Dane had scoffed at the suggestion,  refusing to even draw one up. But still, his parents had made it known  each time they saw her just how much they resented the marriage.