Bound by Their Christmas Baby by Clare Connelly

Author:Clare Connelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-01-16T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

GABE WATCHED THEM from his office, every cell held taut. They hadn’t spoken again since he’d left her room the day before. Her anger had been disproportionate to the perceived crime. No, not crime. It hadn’t been his fault. She’d knocked the decoration herself, and yet she’d blamed him. She’d been so cross with him—he hadn’t known her capable of that anger.

When they’d argued in New York, she’d been passive. She’d taken his remonstration, she’d accepted what he’d laid at her feet and she’d been sad, apologetic. She had known how wrong she’d been. Yes, he had seen shame in her eyes—remorse too—and she’d been reasonable enough not to argue in the face of his anger.

Yesterday, she’d been enraged.

And not about the decoration. Not really. It was more than that. The way he’d treated her, the things he’d said.

Regret perforated the lining of his gut.

He’d been shocked by his weakness—shocked by his very emotional response to seeing her with Hughie. It had been an innocent conversation and he’d acted as though he’d caught them in flagrante. He’d taken her into her bedroom, knowing that if they didn’t have sex he’d be driven almost insane by possessive need.

And then he’d done what he could to turn back time, to remind them both of why they were enemies more than lovers.

An unfamiliar sense of shame flooded him. He hadn’t enjoyed hurting her. He hadn’t liked seeing her shock, feeling her withdraw from him, physically needing to distance herself from him.

He closed his eyes, flashes of their time together running before him. Her passion—a passion that had been unmatched in his experience—the way she’d given herself to him completely. What cruel twist of fate was it that a woman he despised had turned out to be his perfect partner in bed? More than that, she was the mother of his child and he was committed to spending his life with her, to making their child happy.

He couldn’t do that if he spent the whole time berating her for the sins in her past, yet he couldn’t move beyond those sins until he understood her better. He had every reason to be careful with his trust—his childhood had been a baptism of fire and he’d developed the necessary defences. That included being careful who he admitted to his inner sanctum—which so far just included Noah.

Now, there was also Raf.

He opened his eyes and his gaze instantly pinpointed Abby, a bright shape against the white backdrop of snow. He studied her. She was smiling and despite the fact their child, so bundled up he was three times his usual size, couldn’t possibly comprehend her, she was talking as she built an enormous snowman. His cheeks were ruddy from where he sat propped in a stroller.

Gabe watched as Abby pinched a small amount of snow in her fingertips and pressed a tiny bit to Raf’s cheek. Their baby’s eyes flew wide and then the little boy smiled. She smiled back. Something within Gabe squeezed. What must it be like to have that kind of affection?

Maternal love was a foreign concept to him.

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