Page 12 of The Return of Her Billionaire Husband

Juliette glanced up at him with a frown. ‘Was it so obvious?’

‘Only to me.’ He led her further away from the other guests who had joined them on the dance floor. ‘Do you know Lucy’s parents well?’

‘Pretty well. I spent a fair bit of time at their house when Lucy and I were teenagers.’ She gave a little sigh and added, ‘I was really envious of her. Her parents were so different from mine.’

‘In what way?’

She didn’t respond for so long, he wondered if she hadn’t heard him. But then she aimed her gaze at his shirt front and spoke in a low tone. ‘They were so...so uncritical. I don’t think I’ve ever heard them say anything negative about her or the choices she made.’

Joe eased back to look down at her. ‘And your parents were critical and negative?’

She gave a little eye-roll and lowered her gaze back to his shirt front. ‘Not so much when there’s an audience. They’re way too polite and subtle for that. But I know how much I’ve disappointed them by not being as academically gifted as them and my two older brothers.’

Joe couldn’t say he was all that surprised by her confession. But it niggled him that he hadn’t drawn her out a little more on her family while they were living together. What did that say about him? What sort of husband didn’t show an interest in his wife’s background?

A husband with a troubled background of his own who wanted no questions asked, that was who.

Joe had only met her parents and brothers twice—at the wedding and then Emilia’s funeral. The funeral was a bit of a blur to him and they hadn’t been particularly warm towards him at the wedding—but he hadn’t been expecting them to welcome him with open arms. They’d been polite in a stiff upper lip kind of way, but then his courtship of their only daughter hadn’t exactly been ideal. A one-night stand pregnancy was hardly the way to impress and win over in-laws but he hadn’t wanted his child to grow up without knowing him. Marriage had been the best option in his opinion.

Their child had to come first—the baby had been his top priority.

Her parents hadn’t come to the hospital when they’d lost the baby as they were on a long-haul international flight. Juliette had flown to England to visit her parents before they’d left for a three-month tour abroad. She had been booked on a flight back to Italy the next day when she’d gone into labour. He’d flown back as soon as he heard but he got there too late.

‘But you’re so talented, Juliette. Your illustrations are amazing. Aren’t they proud of your work?’

Her gaze was downcast, her mouth downturned. ‘I’m the only person in my family without a PhD. I barely scraped through my GCSEs. A children’s book illustrator isn’t what they consider a worthwhile career, especially as I don’t even have an art degree. They’re proud I’ve had stuff published, sure, but they still see it as a kind of hobby.’ She gave another sigh that made her slim shoulders go down. ‘I haven’t done a sketch in months so maybe they’re right. It’s time to find something else. I don’t know how Lucy has put up with me this long. It’s not just my career on hold, but hers too.’

Joe placed one of his hands along the curve of her creamy cheek, meshing his gaze with her troubled one. ‘You don’t need to think about a career until you’re ready, cara. I’ve been depositing funds in your bank account to more than cover any loss of income.’

A tinge of pink spread across her cheeks but a determined light came into her eyes. ‘I don’t want or need your money. I haven’t touched a penny of it.’

Joe brushed his thumb pad across the small round circle of her chin. ‘You hate me that much?’

Something flickered in her gaze until her lashes came down over her eyes to lock him out. ‘I never wanted your money. That wasn’t why I married you.’ She stepped out of his hold and crossed her arms over her body as if she were cold but the night air was balmy and warm.

‘Yes, well, we both know why you married me.’ Joe couldn’t remove the cynicism from his tone in time. ‘You wanted to show your cheating ex you’d moved on.’

She pressed her lips into a flat line, the colour in her cheeks darkening. ‘That’s not true. It had nothing to do with him. I can barely remember what he looks like now. I thought I was doing the best thing by the baby by marrying you. Anyway, you were the one who insisted on marriage. I would’ve been just as happy with a co-parenting arrangement.’

‘Have you heard from your ex? Do you ever see him?’ Joe wasn’t sure why he was asking because he didn’t want to know. He could do without the punishment, the torture, the despair of imagining her with someone else. He had never considered himself the jealous type. But the thought of her being intimate with someone else made his gut churn. The thought of her having another child with someone else sent a tight band of pain across his chest until he could hardly draw a breath.

Juliette flashed him an irritated look. ‘I hardly see how it’s any of your business who I see or don’t see.’

Joe led her by the elbow away from the other dancers to a quieter part further along the terrace. ‘It’s my business because we’re still legally married.’

He lowered his hand from her elbow but he had to summon up every bit of willpower he possessed to stop from pulling her back into his arms and crashing his mouth down on hers. To remind her of the passion that sparked between them. The passion that was charging the atmosphere even now.

Which brought him to a perplexing question—what the hell was he going to do about it? He had already made mistakes with Juliette. Big mistakes. Mistakes that couldn’t be undone. Would it be asking for trouble to revisit their relationship? To see if it was worth salvaging?

Her gaze glittered with defiance. ‘I find it highly amusing how you’re suddenly so interested in my private life after all these months.’ She glanced at his mouth as if she was expecting him to do what he was tempted to do. ‘And why do you keep wearing your wedding ring? It seems rather pointless.’

Joe reached for her left hand, running his thumb over her empty ring finger. He was expecting her to pull away but, surprisingly, she didn’t. Instead her gaze meshed with his and her tongue darted out to sweep across her lower lip, her throat rising and falling over a swallow.

‘It’s not entirely pointless. It keeps me free of unwanted female attention.’ He waited a beat before continuing. ‘I still have your wedding and engagement rings.’ Joe wasn’t sure why he was telling her that snippet of useless information. Did it make him sound like a sentimental fool who hadn’t got over the walk-out of his wife? Should he tell her he hadn’t removed one article of her clothing from his wardrobe? That he couldn’t even use the same bedroom they had shared as it caused him too much gut-wrenching pain? And don’t get him started on the nursery. He hadn’t opened that door once. Not once. Opening that door would be tearing open a deep and devastating wound.

Juliette glanced down at their joined hands before returning her gaze to his. ‘I’m surprised you haven’t pawned them by now or found someone else to give them to.’

Joe stroked the soft flesh of her palm, watching as her pupils flared and her breath quickened. ‘They belong to you.’

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