Page 19 of A Nine-Month Deal With Her Husband

But he was also bemused by her deep desire to have a child.

Unlike her, he’d never given a lot of thought, if any, to procreation and the urge to do so wasn’t innate. It was easy to find excuses—there were enough kids in the world as it was, he had no time, his career was his primary focus.

Nothing, as far as he was concerned, was missing in his life, he didn’t see how kids would fit in with his schedule, the little free time he had or the life he’d worked his tail off to attain.

Millie wanted children, but he didn’t. He was attracted to her, she was a gorgeous woman, and he was a man with normal sexual desires. He liked women and liked to sleep with them. It was a fun, completely normal urge.

And if she was anyone other than his wife, and his business partner, if he wasn’t involved with making the financial decisions about her vast investments, he wouldn’t think twice about spending the next two days in bed with her, naked.

But she was his wife, the wife who wanted a divorce so she could have a baby. They co-owned a company and he’d offered to continue to handle her trust’s huge investment portfolio. They were already dealing with a lot and sleeping together would be a flame inserted into a gas line.

He’d worked exceptionally hard to get where he was, to have the career and business he enjoyed, to find the ninety/ten balance between work and play. He liked his life, sometimes he even loved it. He couldn’t allow his no-longer-convenient wife to upset it. He had to be sensible, he should avoid complications...

But he really hoped she would ask.

CHAPTER FIVE

AFTERSPENDINGTWOnights in Ben’s wonderful house, Millie was starting to climb the walls. Despite using the state-of-the-art gym in his basement she wanted to breathe fresh air, go for a walk and to put some space between them.

Living with someone she was so desperately attracted to wasn’t, in any way, fun and staying in a hotel’s broom closet might’ve been a better idea. Being housebound was a lot easier for Ben, he had work to do, and he spent hours in his downstairs study doing whatever the CEO of PR Reliance International did. He didn’t have time to sit around wondering how it would feel to have his hands on her body, the scrape of her leg against his, his big hands lifting her up as he slid into her...

Aargh! Honestly?

Millie picked the magazine she’d been reading and frisbee’d it across the room in a fit of pique. Ben chose that moment to walk into the smaller of his two reception rooms and the magazine slammed into his thigh. His only reaction was to lift his eyebrows. He picked up the magazine and placed it on the nearest side table. ‘Problem?’ he asked.

Millie blushed, swung her sock-covered feet off the couch, leaned forward and placed her forearms on her knees. She hoped her hair dropping on either side of her face would hide her flaming cheeks. She was acting like a stroppy child.

After tossing another log in the fireplace, Ben sat next to her and pulled back a hank of hair and tucked it behind her ear. A soft, sky-blue cashmere blanket fell to the floor. ‘Have you got cabin fever?’ he asked.

She shrugged, not willing to admit she was suffering from I-want-to-sleep-with-him fever more than any other ailment. ‘Yes,’ she admitted.

‘This is the worst storm we’ve had this decade,’ Ben told her, leaning back. He smothered a yawn and rested his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes. His thick eyelashes rested against the faint blue stripes beneath his eyes—he was more tired than she’d realised. Wasn’t he sleeping?

Why?

‘Tough day?’ she asked, shuffling back and lifting her feet on to the couch, then wrapping her arms around her bent knees.

‘No more than usual,’ he told her, rolling his head in her direction before opening his eyes. ‘Why?’

‘You look tired. And stressed,’ she stated, allowing herself the pleasure of tracing the darkness under his eyes with the tip of her index finger. Touching him was a compulsion and she was tired of holding herself back.

His eyes didn’t drop from hers, holding her gaze.

‘I’m not sleeping because I spend most of the night talking myself out of walking down the hallway and slipping into your bed.’

Icelandic people were generally blunt—it was a trait she had taken to London with her when she left. She liked knowing where she stood. After her mum’s lies about her father and Magnús’s cold deceit—if she hadn’t pushed his buttons so hard and so often, she probably would still thinkhewas her father—honesty was a refreshing and welcome change. And Millie recalled his promise to her. He would never lie to her. As far as she knew, he hadn’t.

If he did, she’d find his deceit devastating. In a world full of shifting opinions and fake news, she’d relied on him to tell her the truth about the business, her investments and the trust’s business.

‘I’ve been doing the same,’ she admitted and managed a small smile. ‘It would’ve been kind of funny if we met in the hallway rushing to each other’s rooms, wouldn’t it?’

Ben’s intensity didn’t waver and wasn’t distracted by her weak joke. ‘Since you arrived, I’ve been trying to talk myself out of taking you to bed, praying you’d cave and ask me again. We’re both single and we want each other. Why are we denying ourselves something we both know we’re going to enjoy?’

She swallowed. ‘Because we’re married? Because if we sleep together, it will change things. It will affect our arrangement,’ she said, the heat in his eyes raising the temperature of the already warm room.

‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ he mused. ‘How would it affect anything? We’ve never allowed other lovers to affect our marriage deal—what difference would it make if we are each other’s lovers?’

‘I don’t know!’ Millie rubbed her hands over her face. ‘Ben, this isn’t helping!’

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