safe place deep in her body. Hopefully they would never be restored. She was prepared to be civil with Adam, for their son’s sake, but as for anything else—she would fight it every inch of the way. He had hurt her once, and she had no intention of letting him do so again.
Chapter Three
ADAM had half expected Sienna not to turn up that evening. He had thought she would despatch his driver, telling him that she had changed her mind. Her revelation that he had a four-year-old son had stunned him, sent his whole world out of kilter, made a mockery of every thought he’d ever had about not wanting children to interfere with his lifestyle.
After a night lying awake, thinking about its implications, he had not even gone in to work today—which was unheard of. His PA had had the shock of her life when he’d phoned to tell her. Without a doubt his life was going to be disrupted, changed for ever, and it would take a hell of a lot of getting used to.
After Sienna had walked out on their marriage he had buried himself ever more deeply into his work. He had been fiercely angry that she couldn’t accept his need to create a good life for them. In a fit of rage after she had left him, he’d taken out other women to try to get over her.
It hadn’t worked.
Despite what he saw as her failings, and despite the reason he had married her in the first place, he had missed Sienna more than he had ever thought possible, and he’d eventually felt guilty because he’d known that he hadn’t given her the attention that she deserved. In equal parts he had experienced relief. Nevertheless, it had allowed him the space and time to build up his business without Sienna constantly complaining that she never saw him.
Now, though, he found it hard to believe that she had kept something of such monumental importance from him. A son! It did not make sense. It was a nightmare. How could she have done that?
His fingers curled and he wanted to wring her pretty neck.
Being a father would make a marked difference to his life. In the years since Sienna had walked out his business affairs had grown beyond even his own wildest dreams. Success had come to him and he’d embraced it with open arms. He needed no one. He was master of his own universe.
Or at least he had been.
Looking at her now, seeing how nervous she was, he realised that it must have taken a lot of courage to approach him yesterday. He had not thought of that at the time, he’d been too intensely angry to feel anything else. In fact, he was still angry, but he knew that he must hide those feelings if he was to come to any sort of an agreement with her.
‘Would you like a drink before dinner?’ he asked. Sienna not only looked gorgeous in black, she smelled divine too, and Adam felt a swift surge of hunger. The skinny straps of her top revealed velvety smooth, lightly tanned shoulders and the rapidly beating pulse in the long line of her throat gave away the fact that she was incredibly nervous. The swell of her breasts peeping over the top of her camisole made his fingers itch to touch, to feel their weight in his palms, to tease her nipples into tight, hard buds. As hard as he was feeling!
The crazy thing was that she was still his wife. He would be perfectly within his rights making love to her, and yet he knew that she was forbidden fruit. The sweetest fruit, the most tempting fruit.
Damn! It had been a mistake inviting her here tonight. They should have met somewhere far more austere, like in a solicitor’s office, and let a third party work out the best way forward.
‘No, thank you.’
Adam had almost forgotten his question. Sienna’s fragrance was exciting him, her nearness drugging him. He was in danger of making a fool of himself. Instantly he channelled his thoughts away from Sienna’s appearance, reminding himself that she had done the unforgivable. She had wronged him big time and he would find it difficult to forgive her—if he ever did!
They were led to their table and Sienna sat on the very edge of her chair, her back ramrod straight, her eyes wary on his, as though she was expecting him to declare that he was going to take Ethan from her.
Menus were handed to them and for a few moments they both pretended to be studying them. Twice Adam caught Sienna looking at him, her eyes quickly averted each time, and he gave a grim smile. She too was clearly wishing that she was anywhere but there.
Their food and wine orders given, Adam sat back in his seat and looked at her. ‘Are you ready to talk?’
‘About Ethan?’ Sienna knew that the huskiness in her voice gave away her inner tension. All day long she had been dreading this meeting, and with good reason. The stern look in Adam’s eyes, the mutinous set of his chin told her that he was still furiously angry with her.
Adam nodded. ‘What did he say when you told him that you’d been to see his father? Is he anxious to meet me?’
Sienna swallowed hard. ‘As a matter of fact, I haven’t told him yet.’ She had been waiting for the right moment but had begun to have her doubts that there ever would be one. Ethan wouldn’t understand her predicament. He would want to meet his father, he would be ecstatically happy, he would expect them to all live together like one big loving family. And if he discovered that Adam was wealthy enough to buy him anything he wanted, he would instantly become his best friend.
Adam’s reaction was exactly as she had known it would be. He roared with rage. His eyes grew even harder, shooting swift bullets of anger across the table, making a mockery of its fine linen tablecloth and elegant silver cutlery. ‘You have not told him? Why not? Why did you come to see me if it was not to acquaint me with my son?’
Sienna closed her eyes. ‘I made a mistake. I—’
‘No! I will not let you change your mind. You cannot hide him away from me any longer. I have a right to see him.’
Adam’s voice roared into her consciousness, overpowering her, stunning her. She snapped her lids open and stared straight into the harsh blue depths of cold-as-ice eyes. A shiver slid down her spine, reaching out icy tentacles to every part of her body.
‘And so you shall,’ she said, horrified to hear the tremor in her voice. This was not the way to react. She needed to be strong. Drawing in a deep steadying breath, she stared at him unflinchingly. ‘Once I have told him about you.’
‘And when will that be?’ came the caustic reply. ‘Today? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? It’s not good enough, Sienna. You cannot drop a bolt from the blue like that and then expect me to sit back and wait patiently. I demand to see him. In fact, I don’t see why we shouldn’t walk out of here right now and—’
‘No!’ Sienna’s voice rose. ‘I will tell him, but in my own good time. And he’ll need to get used to the idea that he has a father before I introduce you. It will be a big thing for him.’
‘No bigger than it was for me.’ Adam’s face contorted into a scowl that scored deep lines on his forehead and narrowed his eyes until they were no more than two silvery-blue slits. ‘I’m still finding it hard to believe that you waited so long to tell me. You shouldn’t have had to go through Ethan’s illness alone. For pity’s sake, Sienna, I’m his father. I deserved to be told.’
He was right, of course. And she would have felt so much better during Ethan’s illness if she’d had Adam to lean on. It had been a terrible time, not knowing whether her son was going to live or
