Page 25 of The Return of Her Billionaire Husband

Joe rested his chin on the top of her head and stroked her hair with his hand. ‘We’ve both made mistakes.’ His voice was a low, deep rumble against her ear. ‘I guess the thing to do now is not make any more.’

Was this a mistake? Lying in his arms, wanting him with a need so strong it throbbed deep in her core. A need that made a mockery of the divorce papers she had brought with her. Joe hadn’t said anything about loving her. And nor had she to him. She still wasn’t sure how to describe her feelings for him. They had been under layers of bitterness and anger and grief and were only now rising to the surface. One thing she did know for sure—they didn’t feel anything like the ‘love’ she’d thought she’d felt for her ex. They felt strong and lasting, healing and hopeful.

How long Juliette wanted to stay with Joe was not so easy for her to acknowledge—even to herself. She’d only booked her hotel for one night, as she’d planned to fly back to England once the divorce papers were signed. But spending the night with Joe and finding out so much more about his background made her reluctant to rush off home without spending a bit more time with him. To answer some important questions that were niggling at her conscience.

She felt foolish and immature for being so intransigent in Corfu about going to Paris with him, but was it too soon to jump back into their relationship? Was it too soon to hope he would grow to love her as she was growing to love him? Or maybe she had always loved him. From the moment they’d met she had felt something shift inside her. The connection they’d formed had rocked her to the core and not just because of the pregnancy and its tragic outcome. Her misplaced anger towards him had covered up her true feelings. Feelings that had sprouted at that first meeting but had been poisoned and almost destroyed by the tragedy of losing their little baby.

‘I know you’re busy with work but I can hang out here and sketch and relax by the pool until we go to Paris. I’ll try not to get in your way.’

One side of his mouth lifted, his gaze gleaming with unmistakable desire. ‘You can get in my way all you like.’ He traced her mouth with a lazy finger. ‘The more the better.’

Juliette shivered at his tingling touch. ‘You don’t mind me being here?’

‘Not at all.’ And his mouth came down and confirmed it.

* * *

Juliette woke later that morning to find the bed empty beside her. She glanced at the clock beside the bed and was a little surprised she had slept in for so long. How could it be nine in the morning? She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept so soundly. Her nights were usually disturbed by restlessness and sleeplessness, rumination and regret.

She threw off the bedcovers and slipped on a bathrobe. Joe’s bathrobe. She breathed in the scent of him, her senses whirling, her belly fluttering, her heart swelling as she recalled his exquisite lovemaking during the night.

How could she regret last night? It was impossible. She felt close to Joe in a way she had never expected to feel. Knowing more about his heartbreaking background had softened her anger towards him and directed it more at herself. Her own grief had blinded her to the reality of his. Didn’t the untouched nursery demonstrate that? He hadn’t changed a thing in that beautiful room. Last night, he had shown her with his lips and hands and body how much he’d missed her.

Juliette walked out of the bedroom to head downstairs, where she could hear Joe moving about in the kitchen. But as she was passing the door to the master bedroom she had previously shared with him, she stopped and reached for the door knob. Why did he no longer sleep there? What had motivated him to occupy one of the spare bedrooms instead? She opened the door and, leaving the door open behind her, walked further into the room.

Memories floated towards her, stirring her emotions into a way she hadn’t expected. She walked past the king-sized bed where she had spent so many nights wrapped in his arms, when he’d come home from his work trips. She opened the door of the walk-in wardrobe and found her clothes still hanging there as if she had never left. She could even pick up a faint trace of her signature perfume. She came out of the wardrobe and entered the en suite bathroom. Some of the cosmetics and toiletries she hadn’t bothered to take with her were on the marble counter and in the cupboards under the twin basins.

Surely he could have got one of his housekeepers to remove her belongings? Why hadn’t he? Or had Joe been expecting her to return?

Juliette frowned and came out of the bathroom to find Joe standing in the open doorway of the bedroom, carrying a tray with tea and toast and preserves. His expression was hard to read. On the surface he looked relaxed and open but she could sense an inner tension.

‘I was just bringing you breakfast in bed.’

‘Why didn’t you get rid of my things?’

He came further into the room and placed the tray on the bedside table. He straightened to face her. ‘I figured if you wanted them you would’ve taken them with you when you left or asked me to send them to you.’

Juliette searched his unreadable gaze. ‘Were you always expecting me to come back?’

Something flickered at the back of his eyes and his mouth took on a rueful twist. ‘No. I had given up on that score.’ His tone contained a flat note of bleakness.

She sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at him. ‘Joe...why don’t you use this room any more?’

He ran a hand around his shirt collar as if the fabric was prickling him. ‘I told you last night—I sleep better in the other room.’

‘But why?’

Joe released a harsh-sounding breath. ‘For God’s sake, do I need to spell it out?’

Juliette kept her gaze trained on his. ‘Yes, I’m afraid you do.’

He drew in another breath but this time released it less forcefully. He sat down beside her and took one of her hands in his. His fingers wrapping around hers in a protective cloak. ‘Every time I came in here was another reminder of how I’d let you down. I couldn’t be in here without thinking about you. It was easier not to come in here at all.’

Juliette lifted her hand to his cleanly shaven jaw. ‘Is that why you left the nursery as I left it?’

A flash of pain went through his gaze. ‘I can’t even bear to say her name, much less go in there and be reminded of her.’ His voice was raw with suppressed emotion, his jaw tightening against the cup of her palm.

Tears sprouted in her eyes. ‘Oh, Joe, I can’t say her name either. Some days, I can’t even think it without falling to bits.’

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