Tempted by Her Innocent Kiss(103)

                 “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 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 is all about, isn’t it?”





                                      Eleven

                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 times 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.”