Harlequin Presents January 2013 - Bundle 1 of 2: A Ring to Secure His Heir\At His Majesty's Request\Beneath the Veil of Paradise by Lynne Graham

Author:Lynne Graham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

IF POUNDING her head against a wall and repeating the “you are an idiot” mantra would have made any difference to the outcome of her morning conversation with Stavros, she would have done it. Unfortunately, no amount of self-recrimination would fix the fact that she’d vomited her emotional guts up for him to dissect whether he wanted to or not.

Yes, he’d asked. But he hadn’t known what he was asking.

I did some research on endometriosis.

Replaying those words in her mind made her eyes sting, made her skin feel tight. When had anyone in her life done that for her? Her mother, her husband, her friends? When had anyone cared enough? Or been brave enough? As far as everyone in her life was concerned her condition only mattered in terms of how it affected them.

Only Stavros had asked. Only he had made that extra effort. Why? Why did he care for her at all? It didn’t make sense.

The commanding knock on her door could only come from Stavros. She knew it by now.

“Come in,” she said. There was no point in avoiding him. He wouldn’t go away. He was like that.

The door opened and Stavros walked in, closing it behind him. “Why don’t you let me decide what’s too much work?”

She blinked. “What?”

“Can I be the one to decide if you’re too much work? Because you keep telling me you are, and that I don’t want to deal with you but...the thing is, I do.”

He looked so sincere, so deadly serious, and she couldn’t help but laugh. “Why? It doesn’t make sense. Go...have a fling if that’s what you need before you get married. There’s a whole lot of women in bikinis down on the public beaches. Or hurry up and marry Victoria, so you can get to your wedding night. But why would you want to waste your time with me?”

“I want you. And if you don’t want me, that’s fine, but I’m pretty sure your actions last night mean that you do. So if you want me, take some time with me.”

“I...I don’t think I understand.”

“Four weeks. Four weeks and I’ll ask Victoria to marry me, and until then, I want you.” He looked down. “I understand it’s not the world’s most romantic proposition, but it’s all I can offer.”

Her stomach seemed to be cold inside, and she knew that wasn’t possible. “Yes, I know. I’m over twenty-eight, I can’t have children, I probably have an annoying laugh. The reasons why I’m wrong for you are many and varied. Those are just the obvious ones.”

“Yes,” he said, the word flat, honest. “But that hasn’t stopped me from wanting you.”

“I...I don’t know whether I’m flattered or insulted. Actually, scratch that, I don’t know if I’m supposed to be flattered or insulted. I think I’m flattered, I’m just not certain I should be.”

“Because it’s a temporary offer?”

She lifted her thumb to her lips and gnawed the corner of her nail, nodding.

“I would never insult you by pretending I could offer something I couldn’t.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.