At the Tycoon's Service. Maya Banks
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around the desk to stand beside her.
Hurt and confusion settled over her. “I was just surfing the Internet. I didn’t think you’d object to me using your laptop.”
“I prefer if you leave the things in my office alone,” he said curtly, even as he reached out and closed the computer.
She slid out of the chair and stood staring at him in shock. Tears burned the corners of her eyes. He looked at her with such…loathing. A shiver took over her body, and she desired nothing more than to be as far away from him as possible.
“I’m sorry,” she managed to choke out. “I was just trying to discover something about me…you…this horrid memory loss. I won’t bother you or your things again.”
She turned and fled the room before she embarrassed herself and broke into sobs.
Chrysander watched her go and cursed under his breath. He dragged a hand through his hair before he sat down and reopened the laptop. A quick check of the browsing history showed she’d done nothing more than research memory loss and a few articles about his company. Another check of his files indicated none of his business documents had been accessed.
He cursed again. He’d reacted badly, but seeing her using his computer had immediately put him on guard. In that moment, he’d wondered if her memory loss was all a ruse and she was plotting again to betray him.
He propped his elbows on the desk and held his head in his hands. His meeting with the detective in charge of the investigation into Marley’s abduction had been an exercise in frustration. They had little to no information to go on, and the one person who could supply it couldn’t remember.
Marley hadn’t been rescued as the news had led viewers to believe; rather, she’d been abandoned by her kidnappers, and an anonymous caller had alerted police to her presence in the rundown apartment building. When they’d arrived, they’d found a frightened pregnant woman obviously in shock. When she’d awoken in the hospital, she’d remembered nothing. Her life, in essence, began on that day.
So many questions, so much unknown.
What had been made clear to him, though, was that he couldn’t take chances with her safety. Whatever threat there was to her was still out there, and he’d be damned if he let anyone get close enough to hurt Marley or his child again. He’d expected the authorities to balk when he said he was taking Marley out of the country, not that he cared, because her well-being was his top priority and he would do whatever it took to ensure it.
Instead, they’d agreed that it was the best choice and advised him to step up his security. They wanted to be notified the moment her memory returned, so they could question her. Chrysander supplied them with his contact information and told them he would be leaving with her the next day.
There was much to do to prepare for their departure. He’d already alerted his security team both here and on the island. Preparations were under way, but he still had many phone calls to make. Yet the sight of Marley’s tears and the hurt in her voice gave him pause. He should shove it aside and continue with his plans. Her safety was important. Whether she was upset was not.
Even as he thought it, he was on his feet and going after her.
Marley stood in the closet of the bedroom Chrysander had given her, staring blindly at the row of clothing hanging in front of her. She wiped the tears with the back of her hand and concentrated on what to wear.
She rummaged through the many outfits, but none of them felt like her. With an unhappy frown she turned to the row of shelves that lined the right side of her closet and saw a stack of faded jeans next to several neatly folded T-shirts.
She reached for the jeans, knowing that this was what she felt comfortable in. But when she unfolded the first pair, she saw that they weren’t maternity pants. A quick search of the rest yielded the same results.
She turned back around and flipped through outfit after outfit on the hangers and saw that they, too, were not suitable clothing for a woman in the more advanced stages of pregnancy. Why did she have nothing to wear? She glanced down at the bulge of her stomach. While she wasn’t huge, the waistlines of the clothing in her closet were too confining for a woman five months along.
She felt his presence before he ever made a sound. Slowly, she turned to see Chrysander standing in the doorway of her closet. His expression softened when she swiped at her face and turned quickly away.
He stepped forward and captured her wrist in his hand. “Marley, I’m sorry.”
She stiffened and raised her chin until she met his gaze. “I shouldn’t have meddled in your belongings.” She raised her hand to gesture at the closet full of clothes. “We obviously keep a very separate lifestyle. You’ll pardon me while I relearn the ropes.”
He frowned darkly and stared at her in confusion. “What are you talking about? There will be no separation of our lifestyles.”
She shrugged indifferently. “The evidence is here. It doesn’t take an idiot to figure it out. You’ve put me in my own room. My clothes are separate. Our things are separate. Our beds are separate. It’s a wonder I ever got pregnant,” she added wryly. She swallowed and then pressed on with the question burning uppermost in her mind. “Why are you marrying me, Chrysander? Was my pregnancy an accident? Was I some lascivious bitch who trapped you into a relationship?”
She knew she sounded hysterical even as the words tumbled out, but the hurt was eating away at her insides. She needed reassurance, some sign that the life he claimed was hers was a happy place and not one filled with dark gaps like the holes in her memory.
“Theos! Come with me.”
Before she could protest, he was dragging her from the closet. He ushered her over to the bed and sat her down before settling beside her.
She glanced uncomfortably around. “Where is Patrice?” She had no wish to have a disagreement in front of anyone else.
“I dismissed her when I arrived,” he said impatiently. “She is only here when I cannot be until we leave for Greece. She’ll remain on the island with us for as long as you have need of her.”
Marley couldn’t keep the disappointment from her expression. “But Chrysander, I don’t need her at all, and I thought we would be alone once we reached the island.”
His look told her that he wanted anything but, and hurt crashed in again at his seeming rejection.
“You may think she isn’t needed, but I won’t take chances with your recovery. Your health is too important to me.” His voice became softer, and his eyes lost some of their hardness. “You’re pregnant, and you’ve undergone a great deal of stress. It’s only natural that I would want the best care possible for you.”
She swallowed and slowly nodded.
He stared intently at her. “Now, as for my earlier rudeness…I apologize. I had no right to speak to you that way.”
She snorted, which caused his eyebrows to rise. “I don’t think rude adequately covers it. You were a first-class jerk.”
Color rose in his cheeks, and he swallowed. “Yes, I was, and for that I apologize. I have no excuse. I’ve been busy making arrangements for our travel, and I took my frustrations out on you. It’s unforgivable, but I ask for your forgiveness nonetheless.”
“I accept your apology,” she said coolly.
“And as for your other assertions.” He took one of his hands away from hers and dragged it carelessly through his dark hair. “We do not lead separate lives. Nor will we. You did not trap me into a proposal, and I won’t have you say it again.” He paused and sighed. “I put you in this room out of deference to your condition. I didn’t think it fair of me to expect you to share a room and a bed with a man who is a stranger to you. I had no wish to put such pressure on you.”
In that light, her worry seemed silly. What she’d perceived as a slight had in