Page 48 of Consequence of One Reckless Night

When she fell asleep, she didn’t know but her eyes fluttered open when she was laid down in bed.

In the dark, she could barely make out Alexandre’s face, but she clutched his arm when he made to leave. “Alexandre.”

“Go to sleep.” His sleep laced voice moistened her feminine flesh, instantly arousing her.

“Stay with me. Sleep with me,” she pleaded shamelessly, her body flooding with need as her senses filled with his scent.

“I won’t force you to endure my company. Not when you don’t want a husband like me.”

Chapter Twenty

Alexandre remainedin the pool looking out at the sea laid out like a carpet under the full moon. The rippling water was mesmerizing—a sight which soothed his troubled mind.

And his mind was troubled. It had been since the day he’d heard Raquel confess that she didn’t want him.

As a grown man, Alexandre had never let anything or anyone make him feel inferior and yet, he’d not only felt inferior but unwanted too, when his wife admitted to her sister that she didn’t want him. Her words had sliced through what was left of his heart, and the wound had bled since.

He, who had never wanted affection, found himself desperately craving it. Finding the perfect lover in Raquel, he had thought marrying her would make his otherwise dull life, infinitesimally better. But he’d been so wrong.

Last night, he’d almost slid into her bed when she had asked him to stay. But he couldn’t bring himself to lose control, not again, when it was his loss of control that had resulted in the accidental pregnancy and the hurried wedding. He couldn’t bring himself to lie with her and feed his lust, not when he knew she disliked him.

So he had walked away—a painful decision that had his body screaming with frustration.

They’d married so his child could have the protection of his name. And now that they were wed, he didn’t need to impose himself on Raquel. That decided, he made plans to slowly extricate himself from Raquel’s life, not because he didn’t want her, but he feared he wanted her too much.

This morning when he took her to see a specialist, Raquel had been quietly withdrawn. She’d looked dull and lifeless, and he wondered if it was life with him that was draining the life out of her. The thought stayed with him through the endless wait at the doctor’s clinic. When they finally met the doctor, he was assured that morning sickness was an indication of a good pregnancy which made no sense to him. How could Raquel being sick be good for her or the child?

But when he saw his child for the first time on ultrasound scan, pride like he’d never known before filled him. Tears blurred his vision as he hungrily latched onto the tiny image that was his child.

His child! His flesh and blood! Someone to finally call his own!

His chest had expanded with emotion as he struggled to contain his tears but when he looked over at Raquel, he found her head turned away, as though she couldn’t bear to see his child.

Did she hate his child so much that she couldn’t even bring herself to look at it?

The thought hurt so badly that Alexandre barely remembered stalking out of the tiny room. When she joined him in the car where he’d chosen to wait for her, he drove her home before leaving again, only to drive around listlessly, hoping it would, at least temporarily, cure his troubled mind.

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