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Chapter Twenty Four
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MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter 25Zuri’s wide, innocent eyes didn’t fool Maya, and she felt the beginnings of a headache drumming in her temples. She pulled her hand from Alex’sand merely walked away, having no desire to listen to the mewings of his assistant any longer.“You are welcome to stay, Zuri. I do hope you will have dinner with us tonight,” Alex said politely as Maya mounted the stairs.She really had no idea where she was going, but upstairs seemed as good a place as any, and it would put her solidly away from the source of her irritation. She was nearly to the top when Alex overtook her.“You should have waited for me,” he reproached. “I don’t like you navigating the stairs by yourself. What if you were to fall? In the future, someone will escort you up or down.”Her mouth fell open. “You are not serious!”He frowned, clearly not liking her tone of disbelief. “I’m very serious when it comes to your well being and that of our child.”She blew out her breath in frustration as Alex escorted her fr
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Twenty six
Chapter 26MayaSomehow, between the visit with the physician and a very long, relaxing bath, Maya had managed to forget all about Zuri’s presence at the house. When Alex walked into their bedroom to escort her down the stairs, she smiledwelcomingly.He stopped in front of her and studied her for a moment. Then he brushed his lips across hers and folded her hand in his. “You look beautiful. Your color is much better, and you look rested.”“The good doctor has proclaimed me fit as a fiddle. So there’s no cause for concern.”“That is good. Your health is important to me.”He tucked her arm underneath his, and they headed out of the bedroom and down the stairs. As they neared the bottom, Maya looked up and saw Zuri standing in the entrance to the formal dining room.Maya stiffened. The woman was immaculately turned out in a designer dress that molded to every single one of her curves. She looked down self-consciously at her own very casual slacks and maternity blouse. She felt a sudden
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Twenty seven
Chapter 27Warmth enveloped her and bled into her body. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.He pulled her away and tilted her chin up with one finger. “Promise me you won’t go off like this again. I cannot protect you and our child if you won’t heed my precautions.”She stared up at him, watched slow desire burn its way through his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat, and all she could do was nod. She wanted him to kiss her again, touch her.“I have spoken with Dr. Karounis,” he said huskily. His finger trailed up her jaw and then over her cheek and back to her lips.“What did he say?” she asked breathlessly.He reached down and swept her into his arms. She let out a startled gasp as she landed against his hard chest.“He saw no reason I could not make love to you.”“You asked him that?” she squeaked.Mortification tightened her cheeks, and she buried her face in his neck.His low chuckle vibrated against her mouth. “I would not endanger you or our child, so I had to be sure I would not hurt
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Twenty eight
Chapter. 28MayaMorning sun streamed into the bedroom and cast a warm glow on the bed where Maya lay. She opened her eyes and promptly burrowed more deeply underneath the covers. Her hand sought Alex, but she found only an empty spot.She frowned and sat up, looking around the bedroom, but he was nowhere to be found. The unmistakable whir of the helicopter caught her attention, and she got out of bed and walked to the window.Alex stood with Zuri a short distance from the helicopter, his hand on her arm. She nodded and ducked down to hurry into the helicopter. A fewseconds later, it lifted and headed toward the mainland. Maya couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.She stood watching a moment longer before she turned and hurried toward the bathroom. After a quick shower, she pulled on her robe and walked back into the bedroom to dress. Alex was waiting for her.She eyed him nervously and pulled her robe tighter around her.“I will leave you to dress,” he said shortly. “I’ll send
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Twenty nine
Chapter 29Alex“Sit, sit,” he encouraged as he walked around the desk to grasp Maya’s hand.He raised it to his lips and brushed a polite kiss over her skin.When Alex had settled her into a chair, he took the one beside her, and the jeweler hastened around the desk.Maya took in the stunning rings, the dazzling array of diamonds, in front of her, and gasped. She turned a questioning gaze to Alex.“He is here so we can choose your ring,” Alex said matter of factly. As if having a jeweler personally come out was an everyday occurrence.“I don’t understand,” she began lamely.Alex picked up her left hand and raised her fingers to his lips. “It is important to me that you wear my ring. We had not gotten around to choosing one when you had your...accident. I want to rectify that matter now.”“Oh.” As responses went, hers wasn’t terribly brilliant, but it was all she could manage.Alex urged her to turn her attention to the rings, and she did so a little nervously. They were so huge. And
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Thirty
Chapter 30Maya. When Maya regained consciousness, the first thing she heard was a furious voice rapidly firing in Greek. As her eyes opened and her gaze flickered around her surroundings, she realized she was on an exam table in what appeared to be a clinic.Alex’s back was to her, and he was interrogating the doctor standing in front of him.“Alex,” she murmured weakly.He spun around immediately and hurried over to where she lay. “Are you all right?” His hands swept over her body even as his eyes bored intensely into hers.“Are you in pain?”She tried to smile, but she felt shaky. The doctor moved in front of Alex and held a cup toward her.“Drink this, Miss Maya . Your blood sugar is too low, but I think some juice will set you to rights.”Alex took the juice then curled an arm underneath her neck to help her sit up. He held the cup to her lips as she cautiously sipped at the sweet liquid.“When was the last time you ate, Miss Jameson?”The doctor pinned her with an inquiring sta
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Thirty one
Chapter 31Maya.Warm lips kissed a line from her shoulder down her arm. Maya stirred and opened her eyes to see Alex’s dark head move sensuously down her body.“That’s a very nice way to wake up,” she murmured.His head came up, and she met the liquid gold of his eyes. “How are you feeling?”She rolled onto her back and lifted her hand to thread it through his short hair.“Much better. I’m full and had a nap. What more could a pregnant woman want?”“Our child did not sleep much,” Alex said as he slid his hand over her rippling abdomen.She smiled. “No, he has been very active lately. The obstetrician said they do the most moving in the second trimester.”He stared intently at her rounded belly, fascination lighting his eyes. “They don’t move in the last trimester?”“Yes, just not as much. There isn’t as much room. In the last month, they do very little as their environment gets even more cramped.”“I would think it would be easier for you to rest then.”She yawned then covered her mo
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Thirty Two
Chapter 32Alex.Alex sat in his office, staring out the window that overlooked the beach. Maya stood close to the water, her feet bare and the maternity dress she wore rippling in the breeze. He kept careful watch over her and had instructed his security team to do the same. He wouldn’t take any chances after her fainting spell of the day before.Just moments earlier, he had hung up after speaking to the lead investigator on Maya’s case. There had been no arrests made yet. No leads. The men who had abducted her were still out there. Still a danger to her and their child. It wasunacceptable.The detective had promised to stay in touch and to inform him the momentbthere was a break in the case, but Alex still wasn’t satisfied. He wanted results. He wanted to make the men who had dared to touch Maya pay.He focused his attention back on Maya, who was still staring out to sea.Every once in a while she raised her hand to shove the curls from her face, only for them to blow back. She lif
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MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Epilogue
“No.” Alex shook his head, his face contorting with agonized concentration as he recalled every detail of the last time he had seen his daughter. “At least, I don’t think so.”“You don’t think so?” the policeman pushed, and Emma could have slapped him for his insensitivity. But Alex was calmer, explaining Alex’s problem in ameasured voice, but his voice was loaded with pain.“My daughter has problems—behavioural problems.” Katrina opened her mouth to argue, but Alex stood firm, shaking his head at Katrina, clearly indicating that now wasn’t the time for futile denial. “She doesn’t react in theusual way—you never really know what she’s thinking. Look, you have to tell your colleagues that they could be just a metre away from her, could be callingher name, and she won’t answer them, she won’t call out...” His voice broke for about asecond and Emma watched as he attempted to recover, his eyes closing for an agonising second as he forced himself to continue. “You have to tell them that
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter sixty two
She gave tiny gasps in her throat as her fingers knotted together in his hair, as still he teased her more, histeeth grazing the silk, his tongue moistening her more, and even if it was everything she wanted, it still wasn’t enough. Realisation hit her that, despitewhat had taken place in the garden, she’d never seen him naked. Need propelling her, she pulled back a touch, saw the question in his eyes as slowly he stood up. Her fingers, nervous at first, but bolder as desire took over, wrestled with thebuttons of his shirt, pushing the sleeves down over his muscular arms. Closing her eyes in giddy want, her pale breasts pressed against his chest. She felt thenaked silk of his dark skin against her, skin on skin, as she opened his belt and unzipped his shorts. She held her breath in wonder as Alex now shed thegarments that stood between them, and if he’d been beautiful before, he was stunning now.Never had she seen a more delicious man, his body toned and muscular, his dark, oliv
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter sixty one
“It would have,” Emma said softly, watching his wince of regret at her refusal to accept it, actually grateful when Katrina and Hugh ducked inside theemerald canopy and broke the painful moment, because whatever Alex was trying to say it was too little, too late—even a garden full of flowers wasn’tgoing to fix this.“Join us for a drink,” Hugh offered. “Alex’s just about to put Alex to bed...”“I’ve got too much to do here.” Emma smiled as she shook her head. “But thank you for the offer.”“I think we might have to stay over.” Katrina pretended to grimace. “Hugh’s had a couple too many champagnes to drive.”“I’ve had one,” Hugh said, but Katrina had clearly already made up her mind.Emma was tempted to tell her that she needn’t bother, that Alex didn’t need to be guarded on her final night here, but instead she offered her goodnights andheaded to the mountain of tools that needed to be sorted.“You really ought to think about finishing up,” Alex called. “There’s a storm brewing and
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter sixty
“No.” His single word hurt her even more, if that were possible, his refusal to soften it cheapening her more than she’d thought possible.“So what was that all about?” Emma asked, gesturing to where they had lain, where he’d found her, held her, made love to her, forcing the confrontation,steeling herself to hear the confirmation of her worst fears. “What just happened there, Alex?”“Sex.” Black eyes stung her, a warning note in his voice telling her she’d crossed the line. His lips set in a rigid line as she shook her head, refused histake on the history they’d so recently created.“It was more than that and you know it,” Emma rasped, shocked by his callousness, reeling from the ferociousness of his sparse summing-up, yet refusing to buy it, because she knew there was more to him, had witnessed the real Alex only moments before, and all she knew was that she wanted himback. “Alex, please, don’t do this...” Emma attempted, her hand reaching out for his arm, but he recoiled as if s
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Fifty nine
Only now did his lips release hers. Any sooner and she would have begged him to stop, would have halted things.But now she was putty in his skilled hands, pliable, warm, willing to move, to let him do with her what he wanted, and, oh, how he did—kissing the pulseleaping in her throat as she wriggled out of her top. The second her breasts were free, his tongue paid them the attention they deserved, tender attention, kissingthe swollen, needy tips in turn, his finger retracing his steps, working downwards now. Her stomach tightened in renewed tension as he slid down the zip of her shorts, but for the first time since contact he spoke, the liquid deep tones of his voice not breaking the spell but somehow deepening it.“Don’t hold onto those thoughts, bella, just let them come and go.” Repeating the words she had said to him, but with entirely different meaning this time. Andshe tried, really tried to just relax as his hand cupped her bottom and lifted her enough to slip off the shorts
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Fifty eight
What?” One eye peeped open.“Abdominal breathing,” she explained, but from the two vertical lines appearing over the bridge of his nose Emma knew she was talking to the hopelessly unconverted.“You don’t move your chest,” Emma explained. “Remember when Alex wasa baby and you watched her sleep?”The frown faded a touch, a small smile lifting one edge of his mouth.“Babies know how to relax,” Emma said. “They instinctively know how tobreathe properly.” “Like this?” Alex asked, dragging in air, and Emma watched as he struggled with the concept. His stomach was moving but so too was his chest.“Almost. Look, I’ll help you. Just push against my hand.” Sitting up slightly, she instinctively moved to correct him. She’d shown this to numerous friends,knew how to show him simply, but her movements were hesitant, her hand tentative as it reached out towards him, hovered over the flat plane of his stomach, knowing, knowing where this could lead, wanting to pull back, to endthis dangerous game,
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Fifty seven
***Six years laterI’m sorry to have disturbed you.”“It’s fine.” Emma attempted, struggling to sit up, slightly disorientated andextremely embarrassed that Alex had found her in the middle of the day, hot and filthy in nothing more than the skimpiest of shorts and a crop top, lying on a blanket with her eyes closed. Absolutely the last person she was expecting to see at this hour, he was dressed in his inevitable dark suit, but there was a slightlymore relaxed stance to him. He held a brown paper bag in one hand and he didn’t look in his usual rush—his usually perfectly knotted tie was loosened, the top button of his shirt undone. But his dark eyes were shielded with sunglasses making his closed expression even more unreadable if that were possible.“You’ve done a lot.”“It’s getting there.” Emma nodded. “And if I keep going at full speed, I could still be done by early next week.”He didn’t say a word, he didn’t have to. Just a tiny questioning lift of his eyebrow from behind his
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Fifty six
Ironically enough, Maya discovered she was in labor halfway down the stairs.Alone. She gripped the banister and doubled over as a contraction rippled acrossher abdomen. Wasn’t labor supposed to start out slow?She wanted to laugh at the fact that fate was obviously cursing her for trying to sneak down the stairs without Alexknowing. While he’d relented abouther taking the stairs in the earlier stages of her pregnancy, now that she was so close to her due date he’d once again insisted she not walk the stairs alone. He’d go insane now that she was nine months pregnant and, if the pain ripping out her insides was any clue, about to deliver.She stood on the step, holding on to the railing and taking deep breaths. She’d have called out if she weren’t so busy sucking air through her nose. Besides,Alexwas busy with endless calls as he and Theron worked out Theron’s relocation to the New York offices. Theron was taking over operations there soAlexcould remain in Europe. They had been ti
MY CONTRACT MARRIAGE Chapter Fifty five
Alex wasted no time in finalizing plans for their wedding and preparing for them to travel to the island. He single-handedly rearranged his business schedule, made sure everything Maya could possibly need was purchased, though they’d already shopped for her wedding gown. She stood in awe of all hecould accomplish in such a short time.The authorities questioned her now that she’d regained her memory, and she spent several exhausting hours providing them with the few details she couldremember. The kidnappers hadn’t harmed her and had actually shown her consideration when her pregnancy became obvious. They had watched her,knowing she was close to Alex , and had struck when the opportunity arose. They’d asked for a small ransom, certain they would get it with no fuss.When no ransom had been forthcoming, they abandoned the kidnapping andarranged for Maya to be found.It was the realization that Alex had ignored the ransom that had pushedMaya beyond her limits. It was that moment in
