Lifting her chin, she said firmly, ‘Which is why I’d like you to change your mind.’
Malachi leaned back in his seat, a predatory smile curling his lip. It was a reasonable request. But it was still a request. One that he had the power to approve.
Or not.
‘As I explained,’ he said smoothly, ‘I receive many requests for financial support. You yourself know of many deserving charities in Miami.’
‘I do,’ she agreed hurriedly. ‘But the work we do with the children is enormously valuable and unique to the city.’
Standing up, Malachi stretched slowly and stifled a yawn. Could he be bothered to drag this conversation out any longer? The amount under discussion would barely make a dent in his billions. He could have a new agreement written up in minutes, sign it and say goodbye to Addie for ever. Or he could simply refuse to renew the funding and hand it over to his lawyers. Either way, in a matter of minutes she would be off the phone and out of his life for good.
His chest ached. Except now that she’d finally made contact with him saying goodbye was the last thing on his mind.
‘True enough,’ he said finally. ‘But, be that as it may, there would have to be exceptional circumstances for me to renew your funding.’
The phone twitched in her hand and holding it suddenly felt dangerous, as though it had morphed into a snake. There was a long, pulsing silence and Addie licked her lips again. His words were innocuous enough, but she could feel the danger shimmering behind them. Only, having come this far, what choice did she have?
She took a deep breath. ‘What kind of exceptional circumstances?’
Her voice sounded taut and high—too high. To her strained nerves it sounded desperate, needy—hardly the image she was striving to convey. As far as Malachi was concerned she wanted him to think that she was doing just fine. Better than fine, in fact. She wanted him to imagine her as gorgeous and successful—and utterly out of his reach.
Breathing in sharply, she glanced down at the letter on her desk and scowled. ‘What kind of circumstances?’ she repeated more steadily.
Malachi stared in silence out of the window. The sun was turning the sky a pale gold. It was going to be another beautiful day. A small smile curled his lips.
‘I don’t know,’ he said truthfully. ‘But I imagine I would have to look into the case closely...’ He paused, relishing the tension quivering down the phone line. ‘Very closely. In fact I would definitely have to meet with the applicant. In person.’
Addie held her breath. Her body seemed to have turned to liquid.
‘N-No!’ she stammered. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘But I do. I don’t just hand out money to anyone, you know.’
‘I’m not anyone!’ she snapped. ‘I’m your wife.’
Too late, she saw that she had fallen into his trap.
‘Which is another good reason for us to meet,’ he said slowly. ‘We can talk about our marriage.’
Her office suddenly felt airless. Her nerves were shrieking like a car alarm. Suddenly he wanted to talk about their marriage? Was he mad? Or deluded?
‘No, we can’t! I won’t. Dragging up the past isn’t going to change anything,’ she said shakily. ‘We just have to accept it was a mistake—’
‘Was it?’
Addie blinked. It had been a disaster. And Malachi knew that as well as she did.
‘Yes. It was.’ She spoke too quickly, the words keeping pace with her heartbeat. ‘I can’t imagine what I was thinking!’
‘Can’t you?’
She took a quick breath, almost like a gasp. His voice was slow and glowing with a heat that she could feel down the phone. A heat that crept under her skin and coiled around her heart so that suddenly she couldn’t seem to breathe properly.
‘That’s probably because what we shared had very little to do with thought, sweetheart.’
He paused and she felt the heat spike inside her.
‘Mostly it had to do with tearing each other’s clothes off.’