you would stick to the letter of the contract.”
“Why should I do anything else?”
No reason. Certainly not because he loved her and needed her in his life, or anything. She swallowed back any reply she might want to make and turned her face toward the window.
He sighed from the other side of the car. “I had the papers drawn in a fit of rage, but I would not have served you with them without clarifying matters between us first.”
That got her attention back on him. “What?”
“Unlike you, I had no intention of throwing away our marriage without first finding out why you’d been using the birth control.”
“When I left, that must have made it look like I’d never had any intention of fulfilling the contract.”
“Yes.”
She swallowed, accepting her responsibility for that. “You wanted to stay married?”
“As I said, we were compatible.”
“But you were very angry I’d circumvented the contract, weren’t you?”
“Beyond angry. I went to Hong Kong to establish some distance.”
“I had no idea.”
“That was intentional.”
“But why? If you were going to talk to me, why not do it right away?”
“I was too furious. You did not merely betray me, you betrayed my grandfather as well.”
“I didn’t intend to betray either of you.”
He made a noncommittal sound.
“Why me … I mean, this time around? There are lots of women who would be glad to give you a child.”
He shrugged as if all those other women didn’t matter. “You have something I want and I have something you need.”
“My family’s company needs, you mean.” She laughed, the sound nothing like humorous. “If all you want is a womb, more than half the planet’s population has one.”
“Pappous.”
His grandfather? What did Takis Spiridakou have to do with anything?
“You cannot tell me Takis will be happy for you to marry the mother of your child after its birth.” The old man was a traditional Greek in the best sense of the words.
“My grandfather does not recognize the American divorce decree, despite the fact we were legally married here in New York.”
Ah. So, it had to be her. Because Takis Spiridakou was not a man who considered the laws of a nation supreme to those of his church.
“We married in the Orthodox church.” They’d had a second, far more elaborate ceremony in Greece. Both their families had been in attendance for it, unlike their civil ceremony in New York for legalities’ sake.
And in the eyes of the Spiridakou family patriarch, that made her and Ariston’s marriage sacred and permanent.
The old man’s stubbornness almost brought a real smile to her lips. She loved the old Greek as much as if he’d been her own grandfather.
“He considers our vows sacred.” Ariston said, echoing her thoughts. “According to Pappous, you are still my wife.”
“What does he think of the bed partners you’ve had since I left Greece?” she wondered aloud.
Takis would not have approved of infidelity.
Ariston’s lips quirked with amusement. “I assure you, I do not discuss my sex life with my grandfather.”
Which was not an answer to what she was really asking, but then that was fair, she told herself. After all, Ariston had never claimed that he believed them still married despite the divorce decree.
“Has it been a very active one since I left?” she heard herself asking without having given her mouth permission to speak.
“To quote a woman I know, none of your business.”
“Bastard.” Her hand flew to cover her mouth.
She never used language like that, and honestly, she hadn’t even called him that in her own mind. But having him throw her own words back at her right now sent her irritation levels right through the roof of the limo.
Ariston didn’t take offense. In fact, he laughed. “You wouldn’t be the first to think so.”
Her ex-husband in business mode was dangerous enough, but when he reverted to charming and approachable? Perfectly fatal to her heart.
“Let me get this straight,” she said, needing to get the topic of the conversation back on track. “You’ll refrain from selling your shares in Dioletis Industries and provide the infusion of capital necessary as well as the savvy business direction to keep it solvent if I play the part of your mistress for an indefinite period of time until I fall pregnant?”
Saying it aloud made it sound a lot more worrisome than the concept had in her mind. Not to mention, unbelievable.
Even considering his grandfather’s stubborn attitude about their dissolved marriage, Ariston didn’t need to negotiate to have her in his bed. He’d already proven that this afternoon.
Yes, there