The CEO Takes a Wife(31)

Bloody hell. This was worse than worse.

A couple of hours later, Alex returned to their hotel room, not drunk but wishing he was. It would be such a welcome state to be in right now.

All was quiet as he slipped quietly into the darkened bedroom and started to strip off his clothes. He could see Olivia’s shape beneath the blankets and didn’t want to wake her. Perhaps the jetlag had caught up with her. He wanted her to get as much sleep as she could.

“You don’t have to sleep with me, Alex,” she said in the hushed stillness. “I’ll understand if you want to go to the other room.”

He swore softly and slid into bed naked. “I’m your husband. I intend to sleep beside my wife.”

“Temporary wife,” she pointed out, but he could hear an odd catch of pleasure in her throat.

He pulled her up close against him and let his lips brush her temple. “I’ll arrange for you to see a specialist. We need a second opinion.”

“But, Alex, what’s the use?”

His arms tightened around her. “We need to do this. Just to be sure, okay?”

“I guess so.”

“Now shh,” he murmured, then kissed her cheek before hovering over her mouth. He wanted to ease her pain and the only way he knew how was for them to find release in each other.

He began to make long, slow love to her. She was soft and warm, and her welcoming body certainly made him forget everything but the moment.

But when he reached for a condom, she put her hand out and stopped him. “No need for that, Alex,” she murmured. “Not anymore.”

He swallowed hard. “No?”

She shook her head and a lump rose in his throat. She was showing him that even though they might see a specialist for a second opinion, she would have been willing to have his child if it had been at all possible.

He brought her to orgasm, letting himself fall into the same climax with her, joining with her. It was the most incredible experience. And the most moving.



Olivia was glad when a couple of public relations staff members joined them on their private jet to New York the next day. It gave her the chance to avoid any further intimate conversations with Alex.

Heaven knows, they’d been intimate enough last night. It had been wonderful to feel Alex inside her without the use of a condom. Up until now she hadn’t been able to suggest he not use one or he’d have had to ask why.

Now he knew.

But today there was just something in his eyes that made her anxious. She didn’t want him getting his hopes up about having a baby. It had taken her quite a while to come to terms with it herself. The last thing she wanted was to see him going through the same thing.

He probably just wanted to make sure for his father’s sake. Oh, she knew Alex would see the game through now that he had made a commitment to her. He wouldn’t go back on his word, not until the year was over anyway. But once her time was up, he’d have to ditch her and find another wife. It was the way it had to be, she told herself, her chest tightening at the thought of him with another woman.#p#分页标题#e#

Of another woman having his baby.

Oh God. Somehow she had to refuse to get upset over that. This had been a business deal and it wasn’t as if she had really meant anything to him, despite them sharing these weeks together. It was just the way it was. Yes, it was personal but it wasn’t as though they were in love with each other and needed a baby to seal their love.

No, they were lovers.

And sometimes friends, that’s all.

The plane landed and the next week went blessedly fast in such a whirlwind of functions and appearances that neither of them had time to think.

The launch of Valente’s Woman was a huge success. In some stores the crowds were lined up out the doors to be able to buy their bottle of the expensive perfume. It helped that her mother—bless her—had asked her celebrity friends to drop in at some of the stores and that in turn created a buzz that set the customers clamoring for more.

Everyone was pleased.

Of the specialist appointment, Alex said nothing.

On their last day in New York, one of her ex-stepfathers suddenly appeared at a cocktail party.

“Olivia, darling,” Randall Markham said, coming up to give her a kiss on the cheek.

Olivia looked at the man in stunned surprise. Randall had been her favorite of her two stepfathers. And he was the only one who’d remained good friends with her mother.

“Randall! What are you doing here?” she said, giving him a hug.

“Spying on you, of course, darling,” he joked, keeping an old joke between them alive.

Olivia smiled genuinely for the first time in days. “You’ll never convince me that my mother didn’t pay you to come to my first fashion show.” Olivia had been so nervous she’d banned her mother from attending. But Randall had come. Nothing had dissuaded him.