And life had rewarded her.
So Ines had come to the conclusion that enjoying her duties was not enough. She deserved more.
She would have loved to believe she could get thatmorefrom Alex. She knew what a good man he was. Underneath all his layers of cold control was a man who desperately wanted to put his country to rights, to undo his father’s evil. Ines loved being at his side for that.
But Ines knew she could not get under that control. If he cared about her at all, he saw her as a tool. Not a wife in the true sense of the word. Not even a friend.
So if he would not give her a child, she could not stay.
Her hands shook, so she tightened her grip on them. She did not let herself look away from Alexandre’s handsome face, though the grim line of his mouth and the fire of fury danced in his dark eyes.
She had seen him furious before, mostly when his father had been alive, but he always kept it under control. And he did so now.
Perhaps that was why something that was nothing like fear fluttered low in her stomach. Because she didn’tfearAlexandre. Sometimes she was terribly afraid she was so in love with him that, even if she did leave, she’d never get over it.
Alexandre inhaled deeply, and she braced herself because she knew he would speak once he carefully exhaled.
“Ines, I will not pretend to know what has gotten into you. I suggest you leave at once, and we will simply…forget about this conversation.”
Ines squeezed her hands tight enough for her nails to dig into her flesh. She wanted to jump to her feet andyell, but she would not. She wouldnot. She would be like him. So cool and detached andcertain.
For once, she would demand whatshewanted. Whatshedeserved.
“I do not want to do that, Alexandre.”
“You married into asystem,” he said viciously. “Your wants and desires ceased to matter when you pledged yourself to Alis.”
A system. A pawn. Yes, she’d known her role, but in the past year, outside of her father’s house and rigid rules and demands, Ines had slowly unfurled. Maybe not outwardly, but inside herself.
Her role no longer felt like some fixed, external cage. It was somethingshegot to have some say in. Alexandre could really only blame himself for such a change. He’d let her determine which charities she wanted a role in. He’d given her carte blanche to plan events. He had solicited her opinions on certain matters.
Yes, he was still in charge. Yes, because of years of training she almost always let him have his way, but he’d opened up a new world. He’d given her a small say, and now she understood the phraseGive them an inch and they’ll take a mile.
Because she wanted so much more than his measly inch.
She stood and let her hands relax at her sides instead of clench into fists. Because she had stood, and because his manners were so ingrained, he stood as well. He was taller than her, but he’d placed his palms on his desk and leaned forward so they were nearly eye to eye, only the desk between them.
“I pledged myself to Alis, yes,” she agreed, keeping her voice quiet enough to feel like she was in control. Because she would not raise her voice to bluster. It didn’t work with him. He’d survived too many years of his father. “But I also pledged myself toyou, Alexandre.”
He looked at her like she’d taken to speaking Greek. “This has nothing to do withme. Your wish to be a mother is…your own.”
She sighed. “It is. But it was part of our agreement, was it not?”
He was stubbornly silent in response.
Ines did not consider herself someone with a temper. She had never beenallowedtemper. Perhaps that’s why when it sparked to life now, she let it. “I want a child.”
“Well then, by all means. Let us simply get after it right now.”
He said it with such savage distaste, she felt the need to meet his disgusted tone with a challenge of her own, to take his snide comment and flip it on its head.
“You know what? Let’s. We’ve the time blocked off, after all.” She jerked off her jacket and tossed it aside, watching the muscle in his jaw tic. A strange feeling swept through her. Perhaps it was freedom? She wouldn’t know. She’d never had that. And since she hadn’t, she chased it.
She began to unbutton her blouse.
“Ines. Enough.”
But it wasn’t. Not nearly enough. She shrugged out of her shirt, quickly unzipped her skirt and stepped out of it and her shoes. She was in nothing but her underwear. In hisoffice. And she felt…
