Page 21 of His Forgotten Wife
“Then there’s the fact,” Arabella said, bringing Dolly back to the present again, “that you’re smart, beautiful and genuine, Dahlia.”
This time, Dolly’s laugh rang out loud. “Ahh…is there a reason you’re sweet-talking me?”
“What? No,” Arabella said, a blush dusting her cheeks. “When Mama asked him about the engagement after he woke up, Ares said he’s never known anyone else like you. Those were all his words for you, Dahlia. I think I left outgenerousandkindtoo.”
Dolly stilled, even as a maelstrom spun through her insides.
She felt like parched earth suddenly facing a deluge of pouring rain. It shouldn’t affect her so much that he thought those things about her, but it did. Little filaments of joy seemed to come alive through her body, lighting her up from the inside.
“When he woke up?” she asked, despite knowing not to indulge herself.
Arabella nodded.
She sighed, her head pounding with a renewed ache. These days, she was forever standing at that crossroads of beliefs—one that said Ares saw her as she was, as she wished to be seen and one that said he was ruthless enough to give her whatever she wanted only to keep her close.
Dolly gave herself a mental shake. Going in circles about Ares’s motivation would get her nowhere.
She was committed to help him through his hard period of transition after the accident just as she was committed to leaving him. In the meantime, she would enjoy the luxury setting, being looked after morning to night. While keeping a strict, professional distance from him in her head.
Her gaze caught on Arabella’s pretty floral sundress. “Can you tell me what the occasion is today?”
“We’re going to celebrate Ares’s birthday. Don’t tell me you forgot?”
“Of course I didn’t,” Dolly said with a pang. It was the first thing she’d remembered when she’d looked at her smartwatch this morning.All I wanted to do was to find him and tease him out of a grumpy mood like I did most festive days.Instead, she had reminded herself that there were others here who had a claim to him more than her. That the little claim she did have to him was fake. “But he thoroughly hates celebrating it. Usually, I’d drag him to my favorite restaurant after threatening him with a lawsuit about employee neglect.”
Arabella’s pink mouth fell open. “I didn’t know that he hates it. I don’t think Mama does either.”
The girl looked so upset that Dolly said, “Between you and me, we’ll manage his grumpiness.”
Smiling, Arabella hooked her arm through Dolly’s and shuffled her along.
CHAPTER FIVE
Ares stood onthe starboard side, his gaze fixed on the rolling waves as they parted around the hull. Away from the loud music and dancing on the main deck. Much as he hated the noisy celebration, he loved being on the water.
It reminded him of the rare occasions he had spent time with his father without Stefano or Sergio around. Something about its blue depths had always calmed him.
That afternoon, with the sunlight hitting it just right, the Aegean glittered like turquoise jewels.
He tried to look interested for Arabella and Mama. The latter, he knew, was aggressively trying to make up for whatever she had overlooked when he had been a boy.
And Dahlia, of course.
Short of ordering her to chain herself to him, the only way he could draw her out was by partaking in as many of the family activities as possible. Plus, there was the fact that he wanted to spoil her. Once, he would have been horrified by the idea of her gaze on him constantly, but now he craved it. Maybe it was the whole nearly-losing-his-life thing but his perspective had shifted on life.
Dahlia had been right about one thing: they had worked far too hard for far too long without enjoying the fruits of that hard work.
Per his plan, he was also supposed to approach his older brothers and begin a conversation about the lawsuit. But every time he laid eyes on them, strutting about like arrogant peacocks, hot fury filled his throat.
He backed off, telling himself that he couldn’t ruin the day by starting an argument with them. Plus there was the tiny, infinitesimal chance that his half brothers might back away from the lawsuit, since his accident had turned all their lives upside down. And if they did, Ares would have no reason to keep Dahlia by his side. No reason to keep their fake engagement going.
That he would tolerate Sergio and Stefano’s vile claims just to keep Dahlia close for a little longer mildly alarmed himself. For the first time in his life, Ares wished for a friend he could talk to about all the new developments his recovery was bringing.
Christina was a good friend but she cared about Dahlia and would spill his own doubts to her in a second. The only other “friend” he had was Dr. Isiah King who was currently somewhere in the South Pole running a clinic and completely incommunicado. Another university mate.
A dark shadow cut off the direct glare from the sun. He bit back a sigh as he realized it was his parents. Instantly he opened his phone and realized he’d missed a text from Dahlia. Laughter burst up through his belly and chest as he skimmed her list.
Learn to swim. Take a dance class. Climb a mountain. Go for a ride in a hot-air balloon. Act in a movie. Get kissed upside down like MJ. Have an orgasm under water. Go back to school and finish my business degree. Indulge in a red-hot affair with a hot stud. Make a man fall hopelessly in love with me. Marry said man in a grand, beautiful ceremony. Have four babies by thirty-two—two boys and two girls. Live a romance-novel-worthy HEA.
