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Chapter Ninety One
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2024-10-29 19:42:56It was true. He hadn’t wanted to, but maybe that had changed. “It’s all right.” She said.
“Hell no, it’s not, but now maybe that will change. I’m damn happy things are working out for you and Dash. He’s a good man. Proud and stubborn, but smart and understands the value of family." he sounded so happy for her.
“Yes, he does.” Tess agreed.
“I trussed him up like a Thanksgiving turkey for you and I’m glad I did.”
More blatant satisfaction.
The comparison was unfortunate. She couldn’t imagine Dash in such a scenario at all, nor was she sure that a bit of matchmaking could be likened to trussing someone up, but she didn’t argue with her father. His matchmaking efforts had brought her and Dash together. For that, she could swallow a lot of male self-aggrandizement.
“I guess you did, dad. Thank you,” she said warmly.
“I’m just glad you’re happy, girl.”
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SILENT DESIRES Chapter Ninety Two
Dash stood under the hot water and cursed until his throat was raw with it. She had been in on it all along.This woman he had trusted and believed would make the perfect mother for his children was in reality a scheming witch who did not care how she got what she wanted so long as she got it. Where he had seen innocence, there had been deviousness.He now saw the initial reticence she had shown to his advances as the ruthlessly manipulative tactic that it was. The classic game of playing hard to get refined to the point of deviousness. She had known he had no choice but to pursue her. Yet, she had made the pursuit difficult, knowing his male instincts to hunt would be aroused.She had done her own part to make sure he was caught in her father’s trap. He had been right to suspect such duplicity and a fool to dismiss the possibility so easily. The knowledge he had been so used filled him with a desire to do violence.
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Ninety Three
Carefully, Matt stood, not wanting to risk waking Savannah up. He motioned for Dash to follow him outside the hospital room. When they walked out, Matt saw Stefan shove off the wall, his eyebrow arched in question.“What are you two doing here?” Matt asked with a frown.“That other night was really tense,” Dash said. “We tried to call you but couldn’t get you. You haven't been picking up so we went by your apartment today. Your maid told us that you said Savannah had been taken to the hospital by ambulance so we came over to see if she’s okay.”Matt closed his eyes as his throat knotted all over again.“Whoa, man, you need to sit down,” Stefan said.“Have you eaten?” Dash asked.Matt shook his head.“Want to tell us about it?” Dash prompted.
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Ninety Four
An uneasy expression crawled across Enzo's face. His lips drooped and his eyes went dull. At least he wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t know what Matt was talking about.Enzo dragged a hand across his mouth again, his hand coming away smeared with blood. “I know it won’t mean much, but I’m sorry.” he said.Matt exploded at him. Enzo didn’t even try to defend himself. He went down on the floor and this time he didn’t get up.“Sorry? You’re sorry?" Matt yelled. "You tried to rape her. You lied to me about her. What the hell is wrong with you? She was the woman I was going to marry. Why would you do something like that?”“Mom,” Enzo said in a weary voice.Matt took a step back, stunned. “Mom? Mom put you up to this?” he asked.Enzo dragged himself only up enough to lean against the living room wall and he put a hand through his hair, his expression weary and defeated.
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Ninety Five
His mother’s eyes burned with outrage. “You’re a typical man. Thinking with the lower portion of your anatomy. You’re completely blinded by lust, but in a few years you won’t look at her with the same lovesick puppy eyes. Then you’ll thank me for trying to protect you. You can do better than her, Matt. Why can’t I make you see that?”Matt shook his head, sadness and grief so thick in his chest he could barely breathe.“I’ll never thank you for this. You’re nothing to me anymore. I’ll never subject my wife or children to your poison.”Her face whitened with shock. “You don’t mean that!”“I mean it. You aren’t my mother. I have no mother. I have no family save Savannah. I’ll never forgive you for this. Stay away from me. Stay away from Savannah. If you ever come within a hundred yards of my
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Ninety Six
Tess cuddled around the pillow in her lonely bed for the third night in a row.Dash had gone from attentive and loverlike to cold and dismissive in a devastatingly quick and thorough transformation. And all because he was furious her father had played matchmaker.She’d tried to talk to him about it, but he had refused to listen.He’d spent the past days working long hours and although he returned to the house before dinner, he did not come to bed until after Tess fell asleep.Tonight, she was determined to wait up for him, to have it out. She wanted her marriage back. Things had been so good before. She could not accept that something so unimportant could destroy it all.She threw herself on her back and kicked the covers off. A minute later, she rolled onto her stomach. Thirty agonizing minutes later he had still not come up.Unable to wait another second in the silence of their huge bedroom,
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Ninety Seven
The doctor went silent as he seemed to mull over Matt's suggestion. “Perhaps that’s the best idea. It’s cold and a bit gloomy right now. Maybe the better weather will lift her spirits and she’ll regain her strength. It’s not good for her verging on depression.”It made Matt's heart ache to think of Savannah being sad and depressed. He’d do anything at all to make her smile again.“Give me your okay and I’ll make immediate arrangements for us to leave the city,” Matt said quietly. “I want only the best for her and I’ll do whatever it takes to make her well again.”The doctor stared hard at him and then lowered his clipboard to his waist. “I believe you, Mr. Bradford. Tell you what. You give me the name of the physician you hire as well as the name of the hospital that will be overseeing her care and I’ll have her medical records transferred. I’ll want to talk to her physician personally and make sure he’s aware of her situation.”
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Ninety Eight
Matt's relief was palpable. He leaned forward to kiss her, but she turned her head so that his mouth glanced off her cheek instead.“I have to leave for just a little while,” he said when he pulled back. “I need to finalize all the arrangements for our departure and make sure your needs will be met for the entire trip. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Is there anything I can bring you?”She shook her head and he rose but before he walked away, he stroked a hand over her hair. “I’ll do anything to make you smile again, Savvie.”Before she could respond, he turned and walked quietly from the room, leaving her to stare out the window as it snowed.-------------------------Dash walked into the bedroom he shared with Tess without turning on a light. He had been gone for ten days and he’d missed his wife. He hated the knowledge
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Ninety Nine
She snuggled closer to him, reveling in the physical contact, needing the affirmation of her place in his life. He’d been desperate for her, but did that mean anything more than he hadn’t tired of her physically yet? She could not believe he could touch her so gently and take such care to insure her pleasure and still hate her.The absence of hatred did not guarantee love, however. And she needed his love, now more than ever. She took the masculine hand resting on her hip and pulled it over her to press against her flat stomach. Her menses had not come. She wanted to take a pregnancy test, but she was sure deep inside that she carried Dash's baby.Would he be happy? She wondered. His mother would be ecstatic, but it wasn’t her mother-in-law that Tess wanted to please. It was the man who had made such beautiful love to her, the man now holding her as if she meant something to him, as if he had missed having her in his bed as much as she had missed hi
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SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and Nine
His hold was almost bruising now. “I know you have stopped loving me. I deserve it, but I love you, baby. You are the air that I breathe. The only music my heart wants to hear. The other half of my soul. I will make you love me again. I can do it. You still want me,” he said as one hand cupped her breast with its already tight peak.She turned her head and cupped his face between her palms so she could see into his eyes. “You love me?” she asked.“For a long time. Since before that party I think, but to admit it would have been to admit the end of my independence. Fool that I was, I thought that mattered. Without you all the freedom in the world would be a tiny cell in a prison of loneliness.”Her jaw dropped open. She couldn’t help it. Not only had he said he loved her, but he’d gotten positively poetic about it. “Those are pretty mushy sentiments.” She said.He shrugged, his nature showing stronger in that m
SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and Eight
Neal Patchett didn’t even sound sorry.“Because he doesn’t love me,” she fairly shouted into the phone.“No reason to yell, missy. I may be getting old, but I hear just fine. The man wants you and for him, that’s probably as close to love as any woman will ever get.”She curled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. Could her father be right?“You should not have done it.” She said.“Tess, you wouldn’t take anything else from me.”“I didn’t want anything, just your love.” That was all she’d ever wanted from the two most important men in her life and the one thing she was destined not to get. “I’ve got to go.”“No, wait, child.”“What?” she asked with a lackluster voice.“I do love you.” he said.Four words she’d longed to hear since she was a child. They touched her now, healed some thin
SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and Seven
The rejection she felt was shattering.“I thought you cared about me. I knew it wasn’t love, but this thing between you and my father—it’s so demeaning. The knowledge that our marriage was the result of an arrangement between you and my father so you could get your company back…” Words failed her for several seconds as she struggled to keep the tears at bay.Finally, she swallowed. “I never would have suspected anything like that, but it explains so much.”He stepped toward her, his hand extended, “Tess, please, we can make this marriage of ours work.”She reared back, almost falling off the sofa. “Don’t come near me. I don’t want you touching me.” When she remembered how he had blackmailed her into marriage, using his body as the bait, she shuddered.His expression was that of a jaguar thwarted of its prey.“I want some time to think. Alone.” She said.He shook his head in sharp n
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She glared at him, anger and resentment boiling in a cauldron inside her that was ready to explode all over him. She jumped up and faced him, fury making her body rigid. “I don’t have to convince you of anything.” He was the one who’d been caught taking a shower while his former girlfriend lounged around answering his phone. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll call my father and ask him.”She turned to do just that, but his words stopped her.“Do not go. I will tell you.” Dash's complexion had gone gray. “You thought your father tried to get us together, but you did not realize the methods he used?”The methods had been pretty obvious, or at least she had thought so at the time. “He sent you to check on me in Athens.”“He sent me, yes, but not to check on you. I was under duress to convince you of marriage.” Dash said.That explained so much. Dash looked sick and she could imagine why. A proud m
SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and Five
She leaned forward and kissed him, still holding his face in her hands. She stroked her hands through his hair and then over his cheeks again, smiling a tender smile all the while.“We make quite a pair, don’t we? We’ve made mistakes. But I like to think that we haven’t given up. And that maybe we’re stronger for it all. It makes me hurt that you’ve given up so much for me. Your family. The place you grew up in. And you gave it up, bought a beautiful house you knew I’d love all because you loved me. If I don’t forgive you then I’m denying myself that love and I don’t want to live without you, Matt. Or your love. Not anymore. The last months have been the worst of my life. I don’t ever want to relive that kind of agony again.”He pulled her into his arms, leaning forward so they didn’t tumble into the sand. He held her so tightly she couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t care. They were together. Finally. Without all the hurt and pain of the past. Without
SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and Four
The flight and subsequent transportation to the villa on the beach was seamless. Matt had changed his mind about going back to the paradise villa as he didn't want his mom or Enzo showing up again and upsetting Savannah so they had gone to moon island instead,the place where David and Emily had gotten married.Matt had ensured that Savannah was given every consideration. She was endlessly pampered and waited on and when they arrived on the island, they were greeted not only by the physician who would be monitoring her care, but a personal nurse who would reside at the villa with her and Matt.When Savannah got her first look at the sprawling villa, it took her breath away. They drove through a gate and down a winding driveway that was lined with lush, gorgeous flowers. Just for a moment the driveway paralleled the beach before it ended in front of the main house.The house couldn’t be more than a few steps fr
SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and Three
The tacit agreement to her fears made Tess's knees give way and she sank onto the side of the bed. “Are you saying you spent the night with my husband?” she asked. Her voice trembled, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted to die.“Are you sure you want me to answer that question?” Olivia asked.“No,” Tess whispered, her vocal cords too constricted for normal conversation, “but I need you to.”Olivia hesitated. When she spoke, her voice had changed, become more tentative. “Perhaps you had better discuss this with Dash.”Tess didn’t answer. She just held the phone to her ear and stared at the far wall of the room she shared with Dash. Was this what death felt like? Your whole body going numb and your emotions imploding until there was nothing left?Another voice intruded on her blanked out mental state. “Tess? Is that you, honey?”And she realized she wasn’t numb. “Don’t call me
SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and Two
Dash called again at dinner that evening from Rome. She picked the call, feeling subdued and just plain not up to arguing with his mother or sister about taking the call. Then she stood up and left the table.“Hello, Dash. Was there something you wanted?” she asked in a voice that sounded dead to her own ears.“Yes, Tess, I want many things, but I called to apologize for my behavior when you told me about the baby.” He sounded tired. “I want our baby, honey. I am sorry I was less than enthusiastic when you told me.”She dismissed the apology as too little, too late. Perhaps if he hadn’t been treating her so hurtfully for days beforehand, it would have been enough. “Don’t call me honey. You don’t love me and I don't see any reason why you should. I don’t ever want you to use that word with me again.”“Tess, I…” He hesitated.Strange to hear her super-confident husband hesitant.
SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and One
Stepping out into the sunshine from the air-conditioned building, Tess asked herself where she could go. Looking up and down the busy street, she knew she wanted only to get away from the crush of people. An image of the grounds surrounding the Black villa rose in her mind like Valhalla to her ravaged state. She would take a taxi to the grounds and then when she was ready, she could walk home.Having a plan of action helped calm her churning emotions enough to wipe her tears away and wave down a cab.She had the driver drop her on the outskirts of the Black estate. Luckily, she remembered the code for the small gate in the far wall. She and Elena had used it once before on an afternoon walk.Once inside the estate’s walls, she walked only far enough to hide herself in the trees, then sank to the ground. Her back resting against the trunk of one of them, she let the tears fall freely. It hurt so much.
