Marriage: To Claim His Twins by Penny Jordan Read Free Book Online

boarding school—much to her own relief. He had said that when the time came they would spend term time in England as a family, returning to the island when the boys were out of school.
    In addition to the younger brother, Sander had informed her, he also had a sister—the same sister Ruby had learned had taken the photograph of the twins that had alerted Sander to their existence. Like his brother, she too lived in Athens with her husband.
    â€˜So it will just be the two of us and the boys, then?’ she had pressed warily.
    â€˜That is the norm, isn’t it?’ he had countered. ‘The nuclear family, comprising a father, a mother and their children.’
    Stupidly, perhaps, she hadn’t thought as far as how they would live, but the way her thoughts had recoiled from the reality of their new life together had shown her howapprehensive she was. Because she feared him, or because she feared wanting him? Her face burned even now, remembering her inability to answer that inner question.
    It had been far easier to deal with the practicalities of what lay ahead rather than allow herself to be overwhelmed by the complex emotional issues it raised.
    Now, waiting for Sander to collect them, with letters for her sisters explaining what she was doing and why written and waiting for them on their return to the UK—the situation wasn’t something she felt she wanted to discuss with them over the phone—Ruby could feel the pain in her temple increasing, whilst her stomach churned with anxiety. Everything would have been so very different if only she hadn’t give in to that shameful physical desire Sander had somehow managed to arouse in her. In her handbag were the birth control pills Sander had demanded that she take. She had been tempted to defy him, to insist that she could rely on her own will-power to ensure that there was no further sexual intimacy between them. But she was still horrified by the memory of what had happened between them in her hallway, still struggling to take in the fact that it had happened. The speed of it, the intensity of it, had been like a fire erupting out of nowhere to blaze so fiercely that it was beyond control. It had left her feeling vulnerable and unable to trust herself.
    There must not be another child, Sander had told her. And wasn’t the truth that she herself did not want to create another new life with a man who had no respect for her, no feelings of kindness towards her, and certainly no love for her? Love? Hadn’t she grown out of the dangerous self-deceit of dressing up naked lust in the fantasy illusion of ‘love’? Clothing it in the kind of foolish dreams that belonged to naive adolescents? Before Sander had kissed her she would have sworn and believed that there was nothing he could do to her, no intimacy he could enforce on her, that would arouse her own desire. But the searing heat of the kiss he had subjected her to had burned away her defences.
    She hated having to admit to herself that she couldn’t rely on her own pride and self-control, but the only thing she could cling to was the knowledge that Sander had been as close to losing his control as she had been of losing hers. Of all the cruel tricks that nature could play on two human beings, surely that must be the worst? To create within them a desire for one another that could burn away every shred of protection, leaving them exposed to a need that neither of them wanted. If she could have ripped her own desire out of her body she would have done. It was an alien, unwanted presence, an enemy within her that she must find a way to destroy.
    â€˜He’s here!’
    Freddie’s excited announcement cut through her introspection. Both boys were racing to the door and pulling it open, jumping up and down with eager delight when the car door opened and Sander stepped out.
    He might be dressed casually, in a black polo shirt, beige chinos and a dark tan leather jacket,