Scorched - Book Four - The Surrender Series by Melody Anne Page B

meant to be. She will be strong when the rest of the world has abandoned you. She will know you better than anyone else. She will embrace you when the weighted decisions of this country hang heavy upon your shoulders. You need to cherish her, love her, and give her a reason to hold you tight even through the strongest of storms.”
    “How do I do that?” Adriane could figure out his country’s problems, but he didn’t know how to open his heart to Rachel. Hell, he didn’t feel a need to.
    “How did you win Rachel’s affections in the first place? You must have done something right if she carries your child.”
    Adriane stood silent for a moment as he thought back to his time on the beach. “I didn’t do anything different from what I normally do. She was swimming. I thought she was drowning and I ‘rescued’ her, though when she stopped laughing at my valiant attempt to save her life, which irked me just a bit, there was an obvious connection. I invited her for dinner. She didn’t leave for a week.”
    “What did you do that made her want to stay with you for the week?”
    Why all these questions? He didn’t want to think about the past. It was time to move forward, think of their future. But he knew his mother wouldn’t stop interrogating him until he gave her something.
    “We just got along well. I spoke to her more than any other woman I’ve taken for the night. I wasn’t expecting to be with her all week. It was just that one day melted into the next.” Adriane threw up his arms.
    “Then be that man again — the man who made her choose to stick around for a while,” she said, as if speaking to a young child.
    “I don’t know how to do that. At that point in our relationship, we were both just looking for a good time; neither of us was worried about the future. Now, I need to persuade her to marry me willingly,” he said. “Besides, if she would fall back into bed with me, maybe I could persuade her more easily,” he mumbled under his breath, grateful when his mother didn’t hear.
    Everything had been easier, though, so much easier. When they’d spent their week together in Florida, they hadn’t fought. That must have been because they’d been in bed half the time.
    “You will have to give her something, Adriane, or she won’t stay, no matter what threats you issue.”
    “What do I give her? What will make her stay?”
    Why did his mother need to talk in riddles? This was important. She needed to guide him, not sidetrack him with silly talk of love. This wasn’t about love — this was about a child the two of them had created together, a child who deserved a mother and father in his life. A child he desperately wanted.
    “That, my son, you will have to figure out on your own. And, I fear, until you do, you won’t ever earn her heart. You will never truly hold her. Yes, you can refuse to let her go, but at the first opportunity, she will be gone, taking your child with her. It is a privilege to hold a woman’s heart, and you had better figure out how to take care of it properly, or it’s never going to be yours, no matter how much you demand it of her.”
    Women . His mother couldn’t be right. There were other, better ways to make a marriage work besides this love so many spoke of. He and Rachel had laughed together, spent passionate nights together, gotten along swimmingly. Love was simply an emotion that people professed to feel in order to get something from someone else. He’d never been in love. He never would be. They had something far better than love — they had companionship.
    Many couples married with less in common. If Rachel would just open her eyes, she would see that they would be good for each other. They would never be miserable, not with the attraction burning so strong between the two of them.
    Women were to be appreciated. He could understand that. They were pleasurable to hold in your arms, pleasurable to sink deep inside, and they filled an ache that had to be