Chapter 40AlexAlex’s jet touched down in New York in the late afternoon, and a limousine was waiting for them when they stepped off the plane. A tall formidable looking man stood by the car, and as they drew closer, Maya could see a strong resemblance between him and Alex.“Theron,” Alex called out. “I did not expect you to meet us. This is a surprise.”Theron gave a half smile. “Can I not greet my brother?”Alex put an arm around Maya’s waist and drew her forward. “Theron, this is Maya. Maya, this is my younger brother Theron.”She smiled. “I’m very glad to meet you.”His gaze flickered impassively over her, and he didn’t return her smile. Slowly hers faded as she read the unwelcoming look on his face. Instinctively, she shrank into Alex.Then Theron’s gaze dropped to the hand on which she wore the engagement ring, and he outright frowned. He stared back up at Alex, his jaw tight.“You will be courteous,” Alex said in a very low tone. Even so, she could hear the bite in his voice.
Chapter 41Maya When she did wake up, she was in a different bed. She blinked the sleep induced fog away and realized that she was in Alex’s bedroom. She stretched and was glad not to feel the pressure in her head any longer.She sat up and saw Alex standing across the room looking at her. For some reason, she felt unsure of herself in that moment.“I must have been more tired than I realized,” she said lightly. “I didn’t even wake when you moved me.”“You will sleep in our room, in our bed.”She blinked. “Well, okay. I just didn’t think. That was the room I had before.”He closed the distance between them and sat down on the bed next to her.“Your place is here. With me.”She cocked her head. She had the distinct impression he wasn’t just speaking to the fact that she had gone to bed in another room. It was almost as though he was convincing himself, and others, that she belonged with him.“Your brothers don’t approve of me,” she said quietly.His face became a stone. “My brothers h
Chapter 42AlexThe next morning, Alex left their bed early. He kissed her softly on the brow and told her he would come for her at noon. Maya yawned sleepily, murmured her goodbye and turned over to go back to sleep. His soft chuckle echoed in her ears as she drifted off.When she woke again, she squinted against the sunlight and glanced over at the clock. She still had hours until her lunch date with Alex, and she had no desire to spend them sitting around the apartment.With so many of Alex’s security men milling about, surely one of them would have access to transportation. She could commandeer one of them and go out on her own a bit, though she had no idea where she would go exactly.And then another thought occurred to her. With Alex being such a stickler for tight security, she doubted she’d gone anywhere without it in thetime they were together. If that was the case, then surely one of them would have an idea of the places she had visited and the things she liked to do.Consi
Chapter 43Maya As it turned out, he did indeed have a skill for choosing the perfect dress. He nailed it with the second one she tried on. White silk in a very simple design. It had spaghetti straps with a conservative bodice, and the material hugged herbelly, drawing attention to the soft mound.“It makes me look...well, very pregnant,” she said as she turned to allow Alex to look.“You look absolutely exquisite,” he murmured. “I think every pregnant woman should like to look as you do right now.”The appreciation in his eyes sold her on the dress. She had no desire to look any further. It was carefully wrapped and set aside along with the low-heeled shoes that she had chosen.“Tell me my love, do you want a traditional wedding dress?”She pursed her lips then shook her head. “No, I would prefer something simpler, I think.”The saleslady set several really gorgeous selections in front of them, and Maya watched Alex closely for his reaction.She fell in love with a peach colored go
Chapter 44Maya Maya fidgeted and tugged at her dress as she surveyed her appearance in the mirror. Sapphires glinted from both ears, and the matching necklace lay against the skin of her neck.“You look beautiful, my love.”She turned to see Alex behind her. She sucked in her breath as she took in his appearance. The excellently tailored black suit fit him to perfection,drawing attention to his muscular build. The white shirt contrasted with his bronze skin, dark hair and golden eyes, and quite frankly, she felt like drooling.“So do you,” she finally managed.He chuckled and walked toward her. “Beautiful? Surely you can do better than that.”“Gorgeous? Devastatingly handsome? So good-looking that I’m tempted to fall on you and tear your clothes off?”“I like the way you think.”“I wasn’t joking,” she muttered.“Are you ready? The car is waiting for us below.”She took a deep breath and twisted her engagement ring around her finger with the pad of her thumb. “As ready as I will eve
Chapter 45She swayed and gripped the door frame tighter. Nausea boiled in her stomach as each and every moment flashed like a movie in fast-forward.Alex’s angry accusation of thievery. His ordering her from their apartment, his life. Her abduction and the months she had spent in hopeless fear,waiting for Alex to answer the ransom demands. Demands he had ignored.Oh God, she was going to be sick.He had left her. Discarded her like a piece of rubbish. The half million dollars, a paltry sum to a man of Alex’s means, was an amount he had been unwilling to part with to ensure her return.Everything had been a lie. He had lied to her nonstop since she had awoken in the hospital. He didn’t love her or want her. He despised her.She hadn’t been worth half a million dollars to him.Pain splintered through her chest as she shattered. As everything she had known as true suddenly turned black. Her heart withered and cracked, falling in pieces around her.He hadn’t tried to save her. The tortu
Chapter 46AlexAlex paced back and forth at the foot of Maya’s bed while the hotel physician administered the sedative. She was beyond distraught, and the doctor had moved immediately to prevent further upset.As the doctor stood and backed away from the bed, he looked at Alex, a grim expression on his face.Fear tightened Alex’s chest. “Is she all right? Is the baby all right?”The doctor motioned him across the room and away from where Maya now quietly lay. “Her injuries are not physical. If they were, perhaps I would be of use. Her distress is mental. If it is as you said, and she has regained her memory,it is that which has caused her immeasurable pain.”Alex stirred impatiently. “What can be done? She cannot be left as she is. There must be something we can do.” The sight of her pale face and her eyes, so huge with devastation, twisted his gut painfully.“You should return her to your home, to a place that is more familiar. She needs a doctor, not for her physical well-being, b
Chapter 47Maya.Maya was only vaguely aware of the things going on around her. After that first pass into oblivion, she registered being carried into a car. She heardAlex’s worried voice as he murmured to her, but she closed herself off from him, folding inward.When she next awoke, she knew she was in a bed. As she looked around the room, recognition sparked, and with it, a surge of fresh agony, hot and raw, seared through her body and robbed her of breath.He wouldn’t do this. Surely even he could not be so cruel as to bring her back to the place they’d shared and the place he’d brutally shoved her from.She reached for the tears, expecting them to come, but curiously all she felt was an odd detachment, a void of nothingness coupled with the need to get out of this place.When she sat up, her gaze flickered to a chair by the window occupied by Alex’s sleeping form. He was slouched against the arm, his clothingrumpled and the stubble of over a day’s beard shadowing his jaw.She wa