Needed: One Convenient Husband(38)

       
           



       

She handed him a glass of wine. "May I propose a toast?"

His smile widened. "To what?"

"The return of the Beast from the East."

He switched his gaze from her to glance out the window. Even in the  dark he could see the white flecks coming down in droves. He looked back  at her and cocked a brow. "We have a reason to celebrate this bad  weather?"

She stared at him for a long moment, then said quietly, "Yes. The Beast  is the reason we're stranded here together, and even with our low  rations of food, I can't think of any other place I'd rather be...than  here alone with you."





Chapter 15

Dane stared at Sienna and the intensity of that gaze made her entire  body tingle, her nerve endings steam. It was pretty much like the day  they'd met, when he'd walked into his father's study. She had looked up,  their gazes had connected and the seriousness in the dark irises that  had locked with hers had changed her life forever. She had fallen in  love with him then and there.

Dane didn't say anything for a long moment as he continued to look at  her, and then he lifted his wineglass and said huskily, "To the  Beast...who brought me Beauty."

His words were like a sensuous stroke down her spine, and the void  feeling she'd had during the past few months was slowly fading away.  After the toast was made and they had both taken sips of their wine,  Dane placed his glass aside and then relieved her of hers. He then  slowly leaned forward and captured her mouth, tasting the wine,  relishing her delectable flavor. How had she gone without this for six  months? How had she survived? she wondered as his tongue devoured hers,  battering deep in the heat of her mouth, licking and sucking as he wove  his tongue in and out between teeth, gum and whatever wanted to serve as  a barrier.

He suddenly pulled back and stared at her. A smile touched the corners  of his lips. "I could keep going and going, but before we go any further  we need to talk, determine what brought us to this point so it won't  ever be allowed to happen again. I don't want us to ever let anything or  anyone have power, more control over the vows we made three years ago."

Sienna nodded, thinking the way the firelight was dancing over his dark  skin was sending an erotic frisson up her spine. "All right."

He stood. "I'll be right back."

Sienna lifted a brow, wondering where he was going and watched as he  crossed the room to open the desk drawer. Like her, he had changed into a  T-shirt and a pair of sweats, and as she watched him she found it  difficult to breathe. He moved in such a manly way, each movement a  display of fine muscles and limbs and how they worked together in  graceful coordination, perfect precision. Watching him only knocked her  hormones out of whack.

He returned moments later with pens and paper in hand. There was a  serious expression on his face when he handed her a sheet of paper and a  pen and kept the same for himself. "I want us to write down all the  things we feel went wrong with our marriage, being honest to include  everything. And then we'll discuss them."

She looked down at the pen and paper and then back at him. "You want me to write them down?"

"Yes, and I'll do the same."

Sienna nodded and watched as he began writing on his paper, wondering  what he was jotting down. She leaned back and sighed, wondering if she  could air their dirty laundry on paper, but it seemed he had no such  qualms. Most couples sought the helpful guidance of marriage counselors  when they found themselves in similar situations, but she hadn't given  them that chance. But at this point, she would do anything to save her  marriage.

So she began writing, being honest with herself and with him.





Chapter 16

Dane finished writing and glanced over at Sienna. She was still at it  and had a serious expression on her features. He studied the contours of  her face and his gaze dropped to her neck, and he noticed the thin gold  chain. She was still wearing the heart pendant he'd given her as a  wedding gift.

Deep down, Dane believed this little assignment was what they needed as  the first step in repairing what had gone wrong in their marriage.  Having things written down would make it easier to stay focused and not  go off on a tangent. And it made one less likely to give in to the power  of the mind, the wills and emotions. He wanted them to concentrate on  those destructive elements and forces that had eroded away at what  should have been a strong relationship.

She glanced up and met his gaze as she put the pen aside. She gave him a wry smile. "Okay, that's it."

He reached out and took her hand in his, tightening his hold on it when  he saw a look of uncertainty on her face. "All right, what do you  have?"                       
       
           



       

She gave him a sheepish grimace. "How about you going first?"

He gently squeezed her hand. "How about if we go together? I'll start off and then we'll alternate."

She nodded. "What if we have the same ones?"

"That will be okay. We'll talk about all of them." He picked up his piece of paper.

"First on my list is communication."

Sienna smiled ruefully. "It's first on mine, too. And I agree that we  need to talk more, without arguing, not that you argued. I think you  would hold stuff in when I made you upset instead of getting it out and  speaking your mind."

Dane stared at her for a moment, then a smile touched his lips. "You're  right, you know. I always had to plug in the last word and I did it  because I knew it would piss you off."

"Well, stop doing it."

He grinned. "Okay. The next time I'll hang around for us to talk  through things. But then you're going to have to make sure that you're  available when we need to talk. You can't let anything, not even your  job, get in the way of us communicating."

"Okay, I agree."

"Now, what's next on your list?" he asked.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Patience. I know you said that I don't have patience, but neither do you. But you used to."

Dane shook his head. "Yeah, I lost my patience when you did. I thought  to myself, why should I be patient with you when you weren't doing the  same with me? Sometimes I think you thought I enjoyed knowing you had a  bad day or didn't make a sale, and that wasn't it at all. At some point  what was suddenly important to you wasn't important to me anymore."

"And because of it, we both became detached," Sienna said softly.

"Yes, we did." He reached out and lifted her chin. "I promise to do a better job of being patient, Sienna."

"So will I, Dane."

They alternated, going down the list. They had a number of the same  things on both lists and they discussed everything in detail,  acknowledging their faults and what they could have done to make things  better. They also discussed what they would do in the future to  strengthen their marriage.

"That's all I have on my list," Dane said a while later. "Do you have anything else?"

Sienna's finger glided over her list. For a short while she thought  about pretending she didn't have anything else, but they had agreed to  be completely honest. They had definitely done so when they had  discussed her spending more time at work than at home.

"So what's the last thing on your list, Sienna? What do you see as one of the things that went wrong with our marriage?"

She lifted her chin and met his gaze and said, "My inability to stand up to your parents."

He looked at her with deep, dark eyes. "Okay, then. Let's talk about that."





Chapter 17

Dane waited patiently for Sienna to begin talking and gently rubbed the  backside of her hand while doing so. He'd known the issue of his  parents had always been a challenge to her. Over the years, he had tried  to make her see that how the elder Bradfords felt didn't matter. What  he failed to realize, accept and understand was that it did matter...to  her.

She had grown up in a family without love for so long that when they  married, she not only sought his love, but that of his family. Being  accepted meant a lot to her, and her expectations of the Bradfords,  given how they operated and their family history, were too high.

They weren't a close-knit bunch, never had been and never would be. His  parents had allowed their own parents to decide their future, including  who they married. When they had come of age, arranged marriages were  the norm within the Bradfords' circle. His father had once confided to  him one night after indulging in too many drinks that his mother had not  been his choice for a wife. That hadn't surprised Dane, nor had it  bothered him, since he would bet that his father probably hadn't been  his mother's choice of a husband, either.