Читать книгу: «The Billionaire's Marriage Bargain», страница 2

And only his emotional distance from Kenzie, she remembered achingly.

‘Why on earth would I do that?’ she prompted incredulously. ‘You never showed any interest in my family when we were married, so why would you want to be bothered now that we’re divorced?’

‘Separated,’ Dominick corrected harshly. ‘I haven’t signed the divorce papers yet,’ he reminded her.

No, he hadn’t, although Kenzie didn’t understand why not. She had thought he would be glad to get rid of her and the marriage he wished had never happened. But weeks after they had been sent, as far as she knew the papers remained unsigned as well as unreturned.

In the circumstances, perhaps that was as well…

It certainly made it a little easier to come here and talk to him this evening. A little…

‘A technicality,’ she accepted heavily. ‘I—’ She broke off as a waiter put a plate of hors d’oeuvres in the centre of the table before making a discreet exit.

Dominick turned to give the waiter a rueful smile, appreciative of the fact that the other man had realized the tension bouncing off this table meant there would be no meal ordered here this evening. Or perhaps he was just another person who found Kenzie’s ethereal beauty enthralling…

Kenzie seemed to have been momentarily knocked off balance too. ‘How are your own parents?’ she prompted awkwardly.

He gave a rueful shake of his head. Kenzie had met both his parents only once, separately of course, in which meetings his father had been leeringly flirtatious and his mother had been interested in learning what beauty products Kenzie used to maintain her natural loveliness.

Kenzie had dealt with those meetings with teasing laughter for his father, and warm interest for his mother.

She had impressed Dominick at the time, he grudgingly acknowledged, particularly considering that neither of his parents had been overly interested in his marriage, even when he had told them he and Kenzie had separated.

‘The same,’ he answered dismissively. ‘And stop trying to change the subject, Kenzie. Tell me about your father.’

She absently picked up a prawn confection from the plate and popped it into her mouth before answering him.

Dominick found his attention caught by the fullness of her lips, lips that he had kissed, lips that had kissed him and pleasured him to new heights.

God, how he still wanted her!

And how dearly he wished that he didn’t…!

Her tongue moved to moisten those lips now, her gaze once again shadowed. ‘He had a heart attack,’ she repeated evenly.

Dominick knew what a blow that must have been for the Miller women, for Nancy, his wife of thirty years, for the youngest daughter Kathy, for Carly and Suzie, and for the eldest daughter, Kenzie. Donald was adored by all of them.

The eldest daughter Kenzie…Who had once been Dominick’s wife. Who had come to him now to ask for his help in some way, albeit reluctantly. But what help could he possibly be to her? Kenzie was extremely rich in her own right, and could afford to give her father the best medical care available, so what could Dominick possibly give her that she didn’t already have?

Kenzie knew it was time to stop prevaricating, that Dominick would either help her or he wouldn’t. It was better to know sooner rather than later.

She drew in a deep breath. ‘My sister Kathy is going to be married on Saturday. Kathy wanted to cancel the wedding until my father is feeling better, but he’s adamant that those arrangements not be changed.’

Dominick frowned. ‘And you want me to send her a wedding gift…?’

‘No, of course not,’ she sighed impatiently; if only it were that simple!

‘You surely don’t want me to give Kathy away in your father’s stead?’ he taunted.

‘You’re being ridiculous now!’ Kenzie said, exasperated. ‘What I want, what I need from you—This isn’t easy for me, Dominick!’ She groaned, her eyes, those incredible green eyes, filled with tears now.

He gave a shake of his head, his brown gaze guarded. ‘I’m afraid I can’t help you there,’ he rasped.

No, he couldn’t, could he?

During the months they had been apart Kenzie had had plenty of time to realize that it wasn’t completely Dominick’s fault that their marriage had been such a disaster.

He had never lied to her, having always been completely honest about his feelings for her, and had never once, either before or after they were married, said that he was in love with her, or that it was ever more than her body that held him in thrall. It had only been her own deep love for him, she had come to realize, her romantic ideal of what marriage should be, that had convinced her otherwise.

Until faced, irrevocably, with the painful truth…

She swallowed hard. ‘The thing is—Dominick, what I do need is for you—for you to come to Kathy’s wedding with me on Saturday!’ She looked up at him now, needing to see his reaction.

To say he was stunned was an understatement, although he quickly masked the emotion, his gaze once again narrowing, questioningly now. And all the time his razor-sharp brain was working behind his guarded appearance, evaluating, assessing.

But this time not reaching a logical conclusion…

Dominick gave a shake of his head. ‘Why?’ he prompted economically.

This was so like Dominick. Blunt. To the point.

And it would be better if Kenzie answered him in the same way. ‘Because they all expect you to be there!’

‘Why?’ he repeated tautly.

‘Because—because I’ve never told my family that we’re separated!’ The words came out in a rush, her face once again pale as she looked at Dominick.

Dominick frowned. Kenzie’s family didn’t know their marriage was over, that it had been so for four months?

The newspapers, thankfully, didn’t seem to have picked up on the rift in the marriage yet. The fact that both of them often travelled abroad, necessitating lengthy partings, probably accounted for that. But why hadn’t Kenzie told her family at least?

What possible reason could she have for not telling them?

Considering Kenzie had left him to go to another man this oversight didn’t make a lot of sense to him.

Her father had had his heart attack a month ago, Kenzie had said, which was before or after she’d had the divorce papers sent to Dominick?

After, he would hazard a guess, otherwise she would surely have told her family the truth by now.

Kenzie couldn’t meet the intensity of Dominick’s gaze now, knowing that not telling her family of their estrangement was stupid, and that her hope that their separation wouldn’t last had been even sillier.

But for weeks she had hoped. She had simply refused to believe that Dominick couldn’t return at least some of the love she felt for him, and that once they were apart he would come to realize how much he really did love her. She also hoped he would acknowledge that his accusations concerning her sexual involvement with Jerome Carlton were completely untrue.

It was because she had longed for a reconciliation, that she had decided there was no reason to tell her family of the estrangement yet.

It hadn’t been all that difficult to keep it from them either. She had been away in America for almost a month after she and Dominick had parted, and redirecting her mail, using her mobile whenever she called them, had been an easy way of concealing her change of address. None of her family had questioned why Dominick wasn’t with her when she’d visited, her family knowing how busy he was and how much he travelled on business. Her explanation that he was in Australia when her father had become ill had been easily accepted by all of them.

But she had waited in vain for Dominick to realize he cared for her after all, even the serving of the divorce papers eliciting no response from him, at which point she had had no choice but to accept that he really had never loved her, and that their marriage really was over.

Which was when she had known she had no choice but to tell her family the truth.

But before she had been able to do so her father had had his heart attack, and for the last month she had forgotten everything but willing him to get better.

Which he had. And the doctors were hopeful that, with time, and no undue stress, he would make a full recovery.

In the meantime, her sister’s wedding was on Saturday, and her family still had no idea that she and Dominick were no longer together.

No undue stress, the doctors had said her father needed.

It was definitely not the time for him to learn that the marriage of his eldest daughter was going to end in divorce!

Which was why she had no choice but to ask Dominick if, for one day only, he would agree to pose as her husband.

The real question was, would he agree to do it…?

CHAPTER THREE

‘WHY didn’t you tell them, Kenzie?’ Dominick demanded. He hadn’t exactly gone around shouting about the failure of their marriage either, but he would have thought Kenzie would have at least told her own family…

She glared at him, tears still in her eyes, precariously balanced on those long, dark lashes. ‘And admit what an idiot I had been ever to have thought—Tell them that our marriage had lasted only nine months?’ she amended with a self-derisive shake of her head. ‘I was going to tell them—I had every intention of telling them—but everyone was so wrapped up in the plans for Kathy’s wedding! And then Carly announced that she’s expecting a baby, closely followed by Suzie announcing she was too. And I couldn’t—I just couldn’t—’

‘Kenzie—’

‘Don’t!’ She glared across the table at him, her face very pale. ‘You made your feelings about “bringing children into this world” perfectly clear five months ago!’

The question of children had never arisen when they had been just seeing each other, and when they had been newly married—a constant source of amazement to the jaded Dominick!—he had given little thought to the subject, either. So it had come as a complete surprise to him after they had been married for eight months that Kenzie had brought up the idea of them having a baby together.

Kenzie had seemed to draw away from him after his refusal to even contemplate the thought, and soon she had been no longer the fiery lover and the laughing companion of their first months of marriage. Then she had come to him a month later and told him she had decided to take up Jerome Carlton’s offer to work exclusively for Carlton Cosmetics, and that she was leaving for America the following week.

At which point Dominick had probably made the biggest mistake of his life, by issuing the ultimatum that if Kenzie left she needn’t bother coming back…!

Not only had she left, but Jerome Carlton had been standing smugly at her side when she had!

Carlton Cosmetics, Dominick now knew, was a family run company, Jack Carlton having retired several years ago to leave the running of the business to his eldest son Jerome. There was also a younger brother and sister, Adrian and Caroline, who were significant shareholders.

Dominick knew this because over the course of the last four months he had made it his business to know!

‘I—you do see my problem, Dominick?’ Kenzie looked at him anxiously.

‘Oh, I see your problem, all right, Kenzie,’ he admitted coldly. ‘In the circumstances, it wouldn’t do at all to turn up at Kathy’s wedding with your lover in tow, now would it?’

Kenzie could feel herself trembling now. ‘That was never an option,’ she told him flatly. ‘I do intend telling my family the truth, Dominick, I—just not now. So…’ she breathed deeply, her gaze challenging ‘…will you come to the wedding with me on Saturday or not? For my father’s sake, if nothing else,’ she added persuasively.

‘That’s emotional blackmail, Kenzie, and you damn well know it!’ he replied harshly.

Was it? Probably. But it wasn’t for her own personal gain; it was only to help her father.

Although it was obvious Dominick didn’t see it that way!

‘I know it’s a lot to ask, and I really wouldn’t have bothered if I didn’t think it was important. I would be very grateful if you would do this for me, Dominick,’ she added quietly.

If anything his expression became even colder, his eyes so dark now the black of the iris wasn’t distinguishable from the brown. ‘Tell me if I’m mistaken, Kenzie,’ he murmured, scowling darkly, ‘but it sounds very much to me as if you’re offering yourself up to me as some sort of human sacrifice in order to coerce me into agreeing to be your husband again for a day?’

‘Of course I’m not!’ She gasped, staring at him incredulously. ‘I didn’t mean—That wasn’t what I meant at all—Oh, this is hopeless!’ She threw up her hands in frustrated anger. ‘Forget I asked! Forget I even told you any of this! I’ll find some other way of solving the problem!’ she added determinedly.

Dominick looked at her long, slender hands, the hands that used to touch and caress him…

Hands that he knew had been touching and caressing another man for the last five months!

It was obvious now why Kenzie hadn’t seen Jerome Carlton for several weeks—she could hardly drag her lover along to visit her father in hospital when her family weren’t even aware she had a lover!

‘What are you going to do, Kenzie, tell them that I’m too tied up on business to attend Kathy’s wedding?’ he scorned.

She had already tried that. Last weekend when she had gone home to visit, in fact. To which her father had assured her that of course Dominick would be back from his business trip to Australia in time for Kathy’s wedding, that he was probably going to surprise her by arriving back unexpectedly.

Something she knew there was no chance of Dominick doing. Ever.

She shook her head impatiently. ‘I’ve already told them you’re away in Sydney on business, but my father is absolutely certain that you will make the effort to be back in time to attend your own sister-in-law’s wedding.’

‘It’s nice to know that one member of the family has a little faith in me!’ Dominick’s expression was bleak and unapproachable.

Kenzie opened her mouth to protest. And then shut it again. What could she possibly say that wouldn’t make this situation worse?

‘This isn’t the place for this conversation,’ Dominick told her grimly, picking up his wineglass and throwing the contents to the back of his throat before standing up. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ he muttered, taking her arm as she stood up to join him.

Kenzie forced herself not to tremble as he touched her, determined not to let him see how he still affected her.

Dominick kept his hand lightly under her elbow as they made their way through the crowded tables, nodding his thanks to the maître d’ as he passed. He had an account with the restaurant, and he would make sure he tipped the man very generously when he settled the bill at the end of the month.

‘Where are we going?’ Kenzie prompted stiffly once Dominick had flagged down a cab, very aware of the light brush of his hand against her spine now.

‘My apartment,’ he bit out dryly.

Kenzie held back from getting inside the cab. ‘Your—the apartment where you—where we—’

‘Lived after we were married?’ he finished coldly. ‘But of course that apartment, Kenzie. It’s been my English home for over five years; why would I have bothered to move?’

Why indeed? Kenzie accepted heavily as she got into the back of the taxi, shooting over to the far side of the seat so that not even their thighs could come into accidental contact.

Dominick, she had discovered during their nine months of marriage, didn’t particularly like change, and, for all that he had business dealings all over the world, he had homes in all those countries too, apartments that were always kept ready for his use, disliking intensely the need to stay in hotels. Even his own.

Kenzie had put this need down to the fact that his childhood had been so erratic, no one place ever really becoming home as he’d ping-ponged between his parents’ houses after their divorce. His mother had retained the family home, but had moved in a constant stream of husbands and lovers, while his father, after an unsuccessful second marriage, had entertained various women in his city apartment.

She didn’t relish the idea of going to Dominick’s apartment, the home she had shared with him as his wife, as she remembered all too clearly the intimacies they had shared there, as well as that last terrible scene before she had left him.

She might not like it, but, until Dominick had said a definite no about accompanying her to the wedding on Saturday, she was willing to continue this conversation wherever Dominick decided.

At least he was still listening to her.

‘Drink?’ he offered once they were in the apartment, holding up the brandy decanter before pouring a measure of the dark gold liquid into a glass.

Would brandy make any difference to the trepidation she felt? she wondered ruefully. Probably not, but it might help to calm her nerves a little. ‘Yes. Thank you,’ she accepted as he handed her the glass before pouring another one for himself.

Dominick watched the slender arch of her throat as she took a swallow of the brandy, the creamy softness of her skin, while at the same time inwardly acknowledging that he had missed her in his life this last few months, and not just in his bed. Sometimes he had ached with wanting her to talk to, to laugh with.

‘So—’ his voice was harsher than ever as he determinedly squashed down his thoughts ‘—I believe we were discussing what sacrifice you’re willing to make in order to persuade me to accompany you to Kathy’s wedding on Saturday…?’

Kenzie had been about to swallow another sip of brandy, but instead gasped at the outrageousness of Dominick’s remark, gulping too quickly in the process, and starting to cough as the fiery liquid took her breath away.

‘Careful!’ Dominick moved to pat her on the back.

A little too enthusiastically, as far as Kenzie was concerned; she was sure there was no need for him to be quite so heavy-handed!

‘You did that on purpose!’ she told him fiercely once she could speak, her cheeks red, and her eyes glowing deeply green with anger.

‘More brandy?’ he offered wryly as he took the empty glass from her unresisting fingers.

‘No, thank you,’ she snapped. ‘This was a mistake—’

‘How do you know that when I haven’t even given you my answer yet?’ he challenged huskily.

She shook her head. ‘You’re just playing with me, Dominick. You’re taking some sort of perverted pleasure in making me squirm, when all the time you know you’re going to say no—’

‘I don’t know that,’ he cut in softly. ‘And neither do you,’ he added.

Kenzie sighed in frustration. ‘I don’t know why I ever thought appealing to your better nature would work—’

‘Considering we both know I don’t have a better nature?’

Dominick put in scornfully.

That wasn’t true. Dominick had his faults, but she could never have fallen in love with him if he didn’t have a softer, more charming side to him.

But being with him again now she realized what a fool she had been to ever hope that Dominick would want her back, and to believe that she was the one woman that Dominick could love, when it was obvious he had never been in love before. Yes, she had been a fool. A silly, romantic fool.

And she hadn’t seen that softer, more charming side to him since that day, four months ago, when she had told him she had decided to accept the offer from Carlton Cosmetics, an offer that would take her to America for a month.

They had been going through a difficult patch in their marriage, and she had thought that month apart would give them a breathing space away from each other, for them both to sit and reflect, and perhaps to come to some sort of compromise concerning their differences over the subject of having children.

Instead Dominick had accused her of being involved with Jerome Carlton personally rather than just his company, of having an affair with the other man, refusing to believe her denials.

‘You weren’t sarcastic and hurtful like this when we met, Dominick.’ She gave a pained frown.

‘Maybe I was just being charming then because I wanted to get you into bed?’ he derided. ‘Or maybe it’s just that having your wife leave you for the bed of another man has this effect on you! Tell me, Kenzie, is he a good lover?’ He studied her between narrowed lids. ‘A better lover than me?’

Just the thought of Kenzie in the arms of the charismatically handsome Jerome Carlton had driven Dominick to say things, do things, he might otherwise not have done. But having said them, there had been no going back.

The arrival of the divorce papers three months after their separation only confirmed her intention to marry the other man as far as Dominick was concerned.

‘I hope he found me a satisfactory teacher!’ Dominick bit out harshly at her continued silence at his taunt, determinedly ignoring the way her cheeks had paled at his words.

He still couldn’t bear the thought of any other man touching her and caressing her in the way he liked to.

Was he going insane? He groaned inwardly as he turned away abruptly. Had seeing Kenzie again driven him over the edge of some precipice he had been fighting against for the last four months as he had considered his plans of retribution?

That had to be it.

There could be no other explanation for the jealousy he felt.

‘Look, Dominick.’ She spoke woodenly. ‘Other than continuing to assure you that Jerome and I have never been lovers, not when the two of us were married, or since, I don’t have any other way of convincing you that you are completely wrong about my involvement with him!’

Assurances that were a complete waste of time when her lover had no such qualms about acknowledging their involvement!

Besides, it was too late for that. It had been too late the very first moment Kenzie had responded to Jerome Carlton’s seduction.

Dominick had believed that Kenzie’s lack of physical involvement with men before their marriage meant that the least he could expect from her was fidelity. Knowing of her affair with Jerome Carlton just made her as untrustworthy as every other woman, including his own mother, he had ever been close to.

‘I think perhaps I should leave now, Dominick,’ Kenzie said softly. ‘Before this conversation becomes any more insulting!’

They were deliberately hurting each other, he knew, and he forced the tension to leave his shoulders as he turned back to face her, coming to his decision. ‘What time is Kathy’s wedding on Saturday?’ he prompted abruptly.

Kenzie’s eyes widened. ‘Why do you want to know…?’ she asked warily.

Dominick’s mouth twisted derisively. ‘It’s hardly going to serve its purpose if I arrive too late for the wedding, now, is it?’

He was going to help her out, after all? He was going to help her protect her father from the truth, in this charade that she should have ended long ago and now couldn’t find the right words, or time, in which to do so?

She swallowed hard. ‘If you’re serious—if you’re really willing to do this—my parents are expecting us both down for a family dinner on Friday evening,’ she told him, frowning.

‘Kenzie, you said you wanted me to accompany you to the wedding, and presumably you would expect me to stay on for the reception afterwards. Isn’t wanting me to go to your parents’ home on the Friday evening, as well, a little above and beyond…?’ he mocked scathingly.

She grimaced. ‘It’s worse than that, I’m afraid; we’re expected to stay overnight at my parents’ house on the Friday evening, too.’

Which, if Dominick agreed, she had already known was going to be something of a problem. Although not an insurmountable one. All three of her parents’ guest bedrooms had twin beds, so they wouldn’t actually be sharing a bed, just the room.

Although Dominick’s cool control, and her own quivering response just to the touch of his hand on her arm and back, said she was the one in more danger of finding their proximity overwhelming…

Dominick continued to look at her for several long seconds, his expression guarded as he took in her silken hair, before his gaze shifted slightly to her face, and then he wished it hadn’t as he felt almost as if he were drowning in the depths of her eyes, those incredible, emerald-coloured eyes.

Deceptively honest eyes, he reminded himself with cold determination, thinking of how she continued to lie about her involvement with Jerome.

But now Kenzie was here, however briefly, and was willingly, if unwittingly, putting herself back in his power…

‘I’m sure staying over won’t be a problem, Kenzie,’ he accepted dismissively.

She eyed him thoughtfully, at last seeming to realize something of what she was doing. ‘It won’t?’

‘Not at all,’ he drawled with satisfaction. ‘We shared a bed for nine months, I’m sure we can share a bedroom again for a single night only.’

Kenzie felt knocked slightly off balance by his sudden acquiescence, as she had been sure she would have to do some more quick talking once Dominick knew the full extent of the commitment she was asking him to make.

‘I—fine,’ she accepted awkwardly, too relieved right now that he had agreed to come to the wedding with her to want to stand and dissect his response. No doubt she would have plenty of time to reflect on that later! All that was important at the moment was her father’s continuing peace of mind. ‘We’re expected in Worcestershire for about seven o’clock…’

‘I’ll drive us there.’ He nodded. ‘Does a four o’clock departure suit you?’

‘Perfect.’ She nodded, still frowning, but unable to read any of Dominick’s own thoughts from his deliberately closed expression.

‘My address in London is—’

‘I know your address, Kenzie,’ he cut in disparagingly.

He knew where she lived…? He knew of the apartment she had bought and moved into when she’d returned from the States?

‘It was on the divorce papers,’ Dominick reminded her grimly, all teasing gone now. ‘Now, if you wouldn’t mind…?’ he added tersely. ‘I’ve already wasted enough time on this subject this evening. I have some work I need to do.’

Her creamy brow cleared of its frown as she gave a derisive smile. ‘Of course you do,’ she accepted ruefully, turning to leave.

‘Oh, and, Kenzie…?’ He stopped her before she had taken two steps.

She turned back slowly, warily. ‘Yes…?’

His mouth twisted mockingly. ‘I’ll let you know what I want in return for—helping you out, in this way.’

Kenzie felt the colour drain from her cheeks. ‘What you want in return…?’ she repeated carefully.

‘Of course,’ Dominick replied. ‘You didn’t seriously think I was going to inconvenience myself in this way for nothing?’

She hadn’t had any thoughts at all beyond getting him to agree to come to the wedding on Saturday!

He shook his head as he stared at her. ‘How naïve you still are, Kenzie,’ he taunted. ‘I’ll give it some thought in the next few days and let you know what I decide is an appropriate payment.’

And until then she would have to be satisfied, Kenzie accepted wearily as she collected her clutch bag from the table in the hallway and let herself into the lift. She didn’t doubt that the payment Dominick would extract from her would be something she didn’t want to give.

Or worse, it would be something she did want to give, but would be opening herself up to all sorts of pain if she did so!