Page 15 of The Maid's Pregnancy Bombshell

‘Skye must’ve talked her head off to you.’ Alana sighed, colouring. ‘But I’m almost on my feet again, so you must be relieved about that—’

‘You can’t leave until your health is fully restored,’ Ares slotted in quietly.

‘I feel likeyourresponsibility now,’ Alana gathered. ‘And you take your responsibilities very seriously.’

‘That is a trait I am proud to possess.’

‘But I’m not your responsibility...well, at least only on paper,’ Alana reasoned, stiffening when Ares raised a dark brow of silent disagreement. ‘It’s not as though we are a genuine husband and wife,’ she added in a whisper, mindful of the risk of being overheard.

An older woman appeared with a tray.

Alana cradled her ornamental china cup of chocolate in one hand while nibbling at a tiny truffle cake. ‘Skye told you about my love of truffles as well,’ she groaned. ‘And you’re spoiling me.’ As if she were a sick child, she thought in powerful chagrin.

‘You deserve to be spoiled after the experience you have had.’

‘No, I don’t!’ Alana argued with sudden vehemence, green eyes wide. ‘I let you down. I caught the flu and forced you to change all your plans.’

Ares watched her stretch out on the sofa, little pink toes extended. She had tiny feet, tiny hands, dainty narrow wrists and ankles. The sash on the robe had loosened, parting the edges of the robe, treating him to a view of pointed nipples indenting her flimsy top. Ares tensed and addressed his attention to the sickly-sweet treats that had vanished from the plate at speed and again he tried hard not to smile, he who so rarely smiled. She amused him, that was all. There was something so essentially feminine about her. He couldn’t quite work out what it was or why she exuded incredible sex appeal without making the smallest effort. He only knew that he resolutely refused to succumb to that appeal.

‘Ares?’ Alana said. ‘You didn’t answer me—’

‘It’s not your fault that you fell ill,’ Ares slotted in drily. ‘But we won’t be revisiting my original terms in the contract until I believe that you have fully regained your health.’

‘Is that so?’ Even to her own ears, her tone sounded tart but he made her speak like that, she conceded wryly. He was such a know-it-all, really couldn’t help being like that because she reckoned he was accustomed to being the cleverest person in most rooms. And she could live with that, kind of understood it. What she couldn’t live with was the way he tried to act as though the attraction between them didn’t exist.

That drove her insane. For her, it wasn’t simply physical attraction and she knew that. Alana had never hidden from her own feelings. Ares Sarris mesmerised her as thoroughly as a snake charmer did a snake. When he was around, she couldn’t take her eyes off him and her heart pounded as though she were running. And the whole time in the background of her brain she was experiencing this wild edge-of-the-seat excitement she couldn’t quell just because he was with her. She supposed it was an infatuation, but she wasn’t a kid any longer and she suspected she was falling in love for the very first time and that scared and thrilled her in equal proportions.

A slanting grin slashed Ares’s lean bronzed features without warning, chasing the air of studious gravity he usually wore. ‘I think we both know how much I enjoy being what you call...er...bossy. But I do have a surprise for you—’

‘Everything you do is a surprise!’ Alana told him truthfully, still reeling from that sudden almost boyish grin and a level of charisma that blew every rational thought right out of her head.

‘I believe you’re strong enough to travel now. We’re flying to my property in Abu Dhabi tomorrow, where you will enjoy some winter sun and complete your recovery process,’ Ares informed her smoothly. ‘After that, we will return to fulfilling our contract as it was written.’

CHAPTER FIVE

ONLYTWENTY-FOURHOURSLATER, Alana chattered to her sister on her mobile phone while resting back on a lounger on a sun-drenched terrace lapped by the turquoise waters of the Persian Gulf. It was idyllic. From indoors, Ares was absently listening to that tone of bubbling energy and pleasure that he most enjoyed hearing in her voice. Delighting Alana gave him a kick and he didn’t know why.

‘It’s the most amazing house. It’s right on a private beach and it’s built of wood and stone,’ Alana was carolling. ‘And it has this bathroom with a circular bath that overlooks the beach. I can’t wait to get into it! Ares has such amazing, good taste. He designed it. Can you believe that? He designed it himself!’

Ares stopped listening and smiled as he worked. She was happy. When she had been ill, she had been miserable, that soft mouth down-curved, those bright eyes dull and lifeless. He had felt guilty about that. He had wanted to see her smile again and she hadn’t stopped smiling since his private jet had landed in the UAE. She had been leaning out of windows, pointing at stuff, talking him to death by asking constant questions, basically showing off how youthful she still was with her enthusiasm for everything, he conceded ruefully. It was cute,shewas cute, but basically only the way a puppy or kitten was cute, nothing more personal than that, he assured himself confidently.

‘Sometimes you’re very quiet,’ Alana complained over dinner after her fifth conversational sally had crashed and burned. She wanted to slap him because her temper was on a hair trigger. All day, Ares had tuned her out as though she were a television playing in the background. It drove her mad. How could hedothat? How could he ignore the chemical attraction that lit her up inside like a light installation when they were together? How could he behave as though it weren’t happening? And yet when he looked at her directly, every time sheknewthat he wasn’t indifferent to her. It was just there in his eyes, the curve of his lips, the tilt of his head. He couldn’t hideeverythingfrom her.

Alana didn’t understand what that stupid contract had to do with anything in therealworld. That contract was primarily to protect Ares’s wealth, that was what she had read in all those weighty paragraphs of legalese that she had ultimately only given a cursory read because it would genuinely have taken her hours to properly go through such a long document. At the heart of that contract, however, they were still two adult, single human beings, both of them surely free to do as they liked. Only Ares flatly refused in any field of his life to do as he liked if he believed that doing so would be unwise. Sadly, when it came to her, Ares had a will as strong as forged iron.

Ares contrived to smile across the table at the air of exasperation stamped on her lovely expressive face. ‘When I have a business problem, I tend to be very quiet while I consider it.’

Having finished eating, Alana sprang upright. ‘Well, you should have explained that sooner!’

‘It’s antisocial to be like that but I’vealwaysbeen like that,’ Ares admitted levelly, neither apologising nor soothing her ruffled feathers, because he was who he was.

‘Well, I’ve used upmyday’s allowance of sociability,’ Alana countered squarely. ‘You had your chance to be company and you blew it... I’m going for a bath!’

‘I’ll see you tomorrow, then.’ Ares’s dark golden eyes glittered with ferocious appreciation as he watched her stalk sassily out of the dining room. He liked her cheek. In the past ten and more years, nobody but her had ever dared to be cheeky with him. Possibly it would’ve surprised her to learn that he found her incredibly entertaining and stimulating company. After all, it had surprisedhim. She sizzled and boiled with emotions like a miniature volcano and displayed it all on her beautiful face. She was his polar opposite in personality.

In the bedroom next door to Alana’s, he peeled off his suit, resolving to put on shorts and a T-shirt the next day before Alana criticised him again for failing to relax his dress code. He froze. Why was he taking account ofherpreferences? Ares had always moved to his own beat, stubbornly opposed to meeting other people’s wishes and standards. He fell still and then dropped his shirt with a chuckle. Obviously, he washumouringher, the same way people indulged children and pets, he told himself.

The shriek that broke the silence cut through the wall between their bedrooms and acted like an enemy air-raid siren on Ares. In his boxers, he raced out of the room and into hers and straight into the bathroom...where she was bouncing around stark naked and sobbing and clutching at her foot.

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