Page 63 of Signed, Sealed, Married

She watched his broad chest rise and fall as if he battled powerful emotions.

Whereas she merely felt as if the earth had fallen away beneath her feet, leaving her tumbling in nothingness.

‘It’s all about whatyouwant, isn’t it Adam? What about me?’

His voice was sharp, his words quick and disbelieving. ‘You’re saying you don’t want me?’

Her breath was a sigh. ‘Marriage is about more than simple want,’ she said finally. ‘You didn’t give me a choice.’

Adam’s words when they came were a low burr that caressed her shivery skin. ‘Really? You went through today’s ceremony because I held a gun to your head? That’s not the woman I know. The strong woman who isn’t scared to stand up to me. You could have stood there today before my family and accused me of forcing your hand. Nothing easier. You could have told them what was in that contract you signed. You’ve met my mother and sister. Do you really think they’d let me get away with forcing you into anything?’ He paused. ‘Do you truthfully think I want that?’

It hurt to breathe, her emotions a tumult in her breast. Because it was true. Escape would have been so easy.

If she’d been desperate enough.

Within seconds of meeting Adam’s mother and sister she’d liked them, known them to be genuine, decent people who loved and thought the world of him.

But she’d discovered he wasn’t an unregenerate bully. How often already had she seen his caring side? Seen him change his stance, swayed by others’ arguments or needs? He’d been there for her when she needed support.

Yet she couldn’t ignore what he’d done. ‘What about the penalty clause in the contract you made me sign?’

Even in the gloom she saw his face tighten, his head jerk back. ‘You really believe I’d hold you to thatnow, after what we shared?’

‘It’s a legal contract.’

‘One that served its purpose and stopped you running from me in the beginning. But if you really think...’

He shoved open his door, shooting out of the car before she had time to guess his intention. One second he was there, an electrifying presence beside her, the next he was a shadow stalking off into the gloom.

Gisèle ripped her seatbelt undone and stumbled out so fast her heel turned in the gravel. It didn’t stop her stomping after him.

‘Don’t you dare walk away from me, Adam Wilde!’

That wide-shouldered figure stopped then slowly turned, his face a pale blur in the shadows behind the floodlights.

Limping a little, she reached him. ‘You can’t say something like that then walk away. You should havetoldme where I stood, spoken to me. Not assumed I’m a mind reader.’

Though she exulted in the fact he wanted her for himself. Not because of the company, but forher, Gisèle.

The man she’d come to know, who’d been so considerate and passionate, made her want to take the sort of personal risks she’d avoided all her life.

‘Why? So you could argue? Run away because you’re scared of what we share?’

She frowned, hearing an unfamiliar note in that rich voice.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and straightened to his full, impressive height. ‘If that’s what you really want, tell me and this ends now.’

‘Ends?’

‘We’ll find a way to end the marriage if you really can’t abide me.’ There it was again, that curiously flat, almost deflated note. ‘Because I’m not the sort of man a woman like you wants.’

‘A woman like me? What do you mean?’

‘Isn’t it obvious? A man who dragged himself up by his bootstraps.’

Gisèle couldn’t believe what she heard, yet there was no mistaking the honesty in that gravelly tone.

The shock of it, that he’d truly end the marriage, and that he believed she found him less than desirable because of his history, made her stumble backwards, her heel sinking into the gravel again.

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