Maya Banks - At the Tycoon's Service - The Tycoon's Pregnant Mistress / The Tycoon's Rebel Bride / The Tycoon’s Secret Affair

He frowned, not liking the corner she was backing him into. “You’re tired and overwrought. We should go back in and continue this conversation where it’s warm—”

She cut him off with a furious hand. “I am not tired. I am not overwrought, and I want you to stop with the overprotective hovering. I don’t even buy that you’re that concerned, only that it’s a convenient barrier you can hide behind when I start asking questions.”

He opened his mouth to refute her words but then paused. He couldn’t very well deny it when it was true. Still, he had no desire for her to become distraught. Surely that couldn’t be good for the baby.

“What in my past am I so afraid of?” she whispered. “Last night terrified me. I woke this morning with a feeling of such fear, and not because I can’t remember, but because I’m afraid to remember.”

She stared earnestly at him, her eyes pleading.

“Tell me, Chrysander. I need to know. What were we like before? How did we meet? Were we very in love?”

He turned toward the water and shoved his hands back into his pockets. “You worked for me,” he said gruffly.

She moved beside him, not touching him. But she was close enough that he could feel the soft hiccups of her breaths.

“I did? At your hotel?”

He shook his head. “In the corporate offices. You were my assistant.”

She looked at him in shock. “But Roslyn is your assistant, and she seems awfully comfortable in that role. Like she’s been there for years.”

He offered a small smile. “You weren’t my assistant for long. I was too intent on having you in my bed. I convinced you to quit and move in with me. You were too much of a distraction for me at work.”

She didn’t look pleased by his statement. A worried frown worked over her face, and her lips turned down into a dissatisfied moue.

“So you’ve made it a practice to put me where it’s most convenient for you,” she murmured.

He cursed softly under his breath, but again, he couldn’t very well deny that he’d been intent on having his way when it came to her.

“And I allowed this?” she asked. “I just quit my job and moved in with you?”

He shrugged. “You seemed as happy to be with me as I was with you.”

She frowned harder and curled her hands protectively over her waist. “Was our baby planned?”

He drew in his breath. Here was an area he had to tread lightly. “I wouldn’t say planned, but your pregnancy certainly wasn’t unwelcome.”

If possible, she looked more miserable. She hunched her shoulders forward and turned away, but not before he saw the reemergence of tears.

He sighed and reached for her, pulling her into his arms. “Why are you so sad this morning, pedhaki mou? What can I do or say to make you feel better?”

She glanced up at him, her eyes shining with moisture. “You can stop avoiding me. You can stop using concerns over my health and that of the baby as an excuse to treat me as an invalid. You can stop treating my past like it’s something I have no right to know.”

He pressed his lips tightly together. “I will try to be less conscientious of your…health, though I reserve the right to be concerned.”

She smiled then, and the relief that hit him almost caused him to stumble. He hadn’t realized just how much her happiness was important to him. Was he crazy to be so concerned when she’d had no regard for his happiness in the past?

She leaned up to kiss him, and he caught her against him, holding her possessively as he devoured her lips.

“Thank you,” she said as she pulled back. “I just want…” She stopped, and longing flooded her eyes before she look away.

“What do you want, pedhaki mou? ”

Her gaze flickered back to his. “I want us to be happy,” she said huskily. “I want to be sure of my place in your life. I want to remember, but more than that, I want to feel like I have more than just a small piece of you and your time.”

He regarded her thoughtfully. She’d never been so direct before her memory loss. She’d been shy and hesitant about voicing her wants and desires. But had she felt like this before? Had she resented his prolonged absences? The way he fit her into his life at his convenience? Was that why she’d lashed out? Had it been a bid to gain his attention?

“I want you to be happy, too, Marley. I want this very much. And while I can’t convince you of your place in my life with mere words, hopefully I can prove it to you over time.”

Her smile warmed him to his toes. It was like watching the sun break over the horizon. She reached for his hands and slid her palms into his grip.

“Come walk with me,” she invited.

Unable to deny her anything in that moment, he gathered her close and began walking down the beach.

Marley knelt in the cool soil of the garden and plucked the few weeds from around the flowers and greenery. With Chrysander’s morning ritual of working, she’d found other ways to occupy her time, much to the dismay of the gardener who flew out twice a week to tend the grounds.

Ever since her outburst on the beach, Chrysander had ceased to push Patrice and Dr. Karounis at her for every little health concern. Instead, they stayed firmly in the background on an as needed basis, and Chrysander had relented on her traveling the stairs alone.

Despite the fact that he continued to work in the mornings, he came out to have breakfast with her before returning to his office. Then the fun began for Marley. Each day she found a new method of driving him insane. He’d come looking for her when work was finished, and invariably she tried the restraint he’d promised to exercise when it came to demanding that she rest.

When Chrysander had found her in the garden on her hands and knees, she thought he was going to burst a blood vessel. He’d promptly carried her inside and up the stairs, stripped her down and put her into the bathtub.

She’d giggled at his ferocious scowl, listened with pretended solemnity to his decree that she not endanger herself in that manner anymore and promptly plotted to return as soon as he was caught up in work again.

It began a fun game between them, although the amusement was entirely hers because Chrysander failed to see the hilarity in her continued disobedience.

So here she sat, waiting with amused delight for his arrival.

She heard his sigh behind her and grinned even as she found herself lifted into the air. She tumbled against Chrysander’s hard chest and smiled serenely up at his dark expression.

He strode for the house, grumbling the entire way.

“I promised to ease up on my overprotective tendencies. I stopped insisting you rest and even allowed you to walk unaided up and down the stairs.”

Marley rolled her eyes.

“But you would try the patience of a saint,” he growled.

As he had done before, and as she was counting on, he stripped her down and deposited her into an already drawn bath. He glared balefully at her, and she giggled as she sank lower into the water. He watched intently as she slowly washed herself, hunger glittering in his eyes.

Relishing the fact that she had his full attention, she took advantage as she worked the cloth over every inch of her body. When she was finished, she glanced innocently up at him as he towered over her. She flashed him her best smile, but he continued to glower at her.

“Your cuteness is not going to get you out of trouble, pedhaki mou, ” he said.

“Well, at least I’m cute,” she said pertly.

“Why do you insist on provoking me? My hair is turning gray, and it is solely your fault.”

She glanced up at his dark hair, not marred by a single gray strand, and raised an eyebrow. “You poor baby. Are you too old to keep up with one little pregnant woman?”