Even as he thought it, he was on his feet and going after her.
Marley stood in the closet of the bedroom Chrysander had given her, staring blindly at the row of clothing hanging in front of her. She wiped the tears with the back of her hand and concentrated on what to wear.She rummaged through the many outfits, but none of them felt like her. With an unhappy frown she turned to the row of shelves that lined the right side of her closet and saw a stack of faded jeans next to several neatly folded T-shirts.
She reached for the jeans, knowing that this was what she felt comfortable in. But when she unfolded the first pair, she saw that they weren’t maternity pants. A quick search of the rest yielded the same results.
She turned back around and flipped through outfit after outfit on the hangers and saw that they, too, were not suitable clothing for a woman in the more advanced stages of pregnancy. Why did she have nothing to wear? She glanced down at the bulge of her stomach. While she wasn’t huge, the waistlines of the clothing in her closet were too confining for a woman five months along.
She felt his presence before he ever made a sound. Slowly, she turned to see Chrysander standing in the doorway of her closet. His expression softened when she swiped at her face and turned quickly away.
He stepped forward and captured her wrist in his hand. “Marley, I’m sorry.”
She stiffened and raised her chin until she met his gaze. “I shouldn’t have meddled in your belongings.” She raised her hand to gesture at the closet full of clothes. “We obviously keep a very separate lifestyle. You’ll pardon me while I relearn the ropes.”
He frowned darkly and stared at her in confusion. “What are you talking about? There will be no separation of our lifestyles.”
She shrugged indifferently. “The evidence is here. It doesn’t take an idiot to figure it out. You’ve put me in my own room. My clothes are separate. Our things are separate. Our beds are separate. It’s a wonder I ever got pregnant,” she added wryly. She swallowed and then pressed on with the question burning uppermost in her mind. “Why are you marrying me, Chrysander? Was my pregnancy an accident? Was I some lascivious bitch who trapped you into a relationship?”
She knew she sounded hysterical even as the words tumbled out, but the hurt was eating away at her insides. She needed reassurance, some sign that the life he claimed was hers was a happy place and not one filled with dark gaps like the holes in her memory.
“Theos! Come with me.”
Before she could protest, he was dragging her from the closet. He ushered her over to the bed and sat her down before settling beside her.
She glanced uncomfortably around. “Where is Patrice?” She had no wish to have a disagreement in front of anyone else.
“I dismissed her when I arrived,” he said impatiently. “She is only here when I cannot be until we leave for Greece. She’ll remain on the island with us for as long as you have need of her.”
Marley couldn’t keep the disappointment from her expression. “But Chrysander, I don’t need her at all, and I thought we would be alone once we reached the island.”
His look told her that he wanted anything but, and hurt crashed in again at his seeming rejection.
“You may think she isn’t needed, but I won’t take chances with your recovery. Your health is too important to me.” His voice became softer, and his eyes lost some of their hardness. “You’re pregnant, and you’ve undergone a great deal of stress. It’s only natural that I would want the best care possible for you.”
She swallowed and slowly nodded.
He stared intently at her. “Now, as for my earlier rudeness…I apologize. I had no right to speak to you that way.”
She snorted, which caused his eyebrows to rise. “I don’t think rude adequately covers it. You were a first-class jerk.”
Color rose in his cheeks, and he swallowed. “Yes, I was, and for that I apologize. I have no excuse. I’ve been busy making arrangements for our travel, and I took my frustrations out on you. It’s unforgivable, but I ask for your forgiveness nonetheless.”
“I accept your apology,” she said coolly.
“And as for your other assertions.” He took one of his hands away from hers and dragged it carelessly through his dark hair. “We do not lead separate lives. Nor will we. You did not trap me into a proposal, and I won’t have you say it again.” He paused and sighed. “I put you in this room out of deference to your condition. I didn’t think it fair of me to expect you to share a room and a bed with a man who is a stranger to you. I had no wish to put such pressure on you.”