Marriage Reunited

Chapter Five

Despite claiming that she had no appetite Lilly managed to do justice to the sandwiches that were laid before her. They conducted their lunch in silence and only when she was full did Lilly glance up to find Connor watching her. A shiver worked its way down her spine and she forced herself to remain still when she really wanted to fidget nervously beneath that steady gaze of his.

“Tell me what you’ve been up to in the last five years,” Connor said and the sound of his deep voice made her jump.

“Why don’t you ask the men you hired to spy on me?” she countered not sure why she was being so rude to him but knowing that she had to keep him at a distance if she wanted to stay in control.

“They weren’t there to spy on you. I simply hired protection to ensure that you were safe,” he explained to her. It didn’t make a difference. Either way he had sent people to watch her every move and had taken away her right to privacy.

“I didn’t need your protection,” she informed him coldly.

“Tough,” he replied and she glared at him.

Lilly wondered if they would ever again find that easy harmony that used to exist between them. She had never felt uncomfortable in his presence and he had always been the only person she could completely relax with. Now though she felt like she was walking on eggshells and that anything she said was being analysed as he looked for any weaknesses.

“Why are you insisting on keeping me here like a prisoner when we both know that our marriage is over?” Lilly suddenly said as she leaned forward and pleaded with her eyes for him to let her go. If they couldn’t even get through a few days together without there being tension and arguments then how could they hope to get through a whole year?

“Our marriage was merely put on hold,” Connor told her firmly and she nearly laughed at that.

“You only want me because you think that a stupid marriage license means I belong to you,” she responded and his mouth tightened with displeasure.

“I have never treated you like I owned you,” he denied furiously and she had to confess that he was right. He hadn’t acted like many of his business associates who thought their wife was their possession to do with as they liked.

“But you have forced me to return to your side,” she reminded him and he sighed while he scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Why must you turn everything in to an argument Lilly? You were the one that came to me for help and you were the one that accepted the terms that I laid out,” he reminded her and she knew that what he was saying was true but she wasn’t willing to give in that easily. She had seen what happened to the corporate wives who didn’t stand up for themselves. They became a shadow of their former selves and ended up being just another of their husbands possessions. Lilly didn’t want that for herself. She wanted to remain independent and she didn’t want Connor to have any hold over her. She had given him everything she had before and look where it had got her. She never wanted to go through that pain again which meant that she couldn’t afford to let her guard down where he was concerned.

“Because I didn’t have a choice,” she said hotly and he shrugged.

“I didn’t force you in to accepting. I gave you the choice of refusing me,” he reminded and she stiffened even further at that.

“You knew that I had to accept,” she said and again he shrugged. Of course he had known that she would accept but that didn’t make him the bad guy here. He didn’t understand how she could always make him out to be the villain when all he wanted was what they once shared together.