Chapter Seven #3
She jerked in his arms, the words like a shot to the heart. But even as they spread through her body on a wave of desperate yearning, she scrambled back.
‘You…you can’t be serious.’
Surely this had to be about her virginity. But that would be nuts … They were living in the twenty-first century, not the nineteenth.
‘I am very serious,’ he said, his pragmatism finally starting to calm the tremors racking her body.
‘I require a wife, Cerys. Someone who can manage my home, bring some much-needed stability to my family and, most of all, someone who can be a good role model for Ana…’ An affectionate smile edged his lips.
‘Handling Ana is not an easy task, and yet you have proved remarkably adept at it in the last three weeks.’
‘Ana’s my friend,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t hard.’
‘And if we marry, she will be your sister-in-law. And this will be your home. Are these not things you want?’
She blinked. A family, a sister, a home?
The longing reverberated in her chest because somehow, she knew these were things she had wanted, wished for, for a very long time. Maybe forever.
The wave of gratitude, that he would even offer her something so precious, overwhelmed her.
She swallowed heavily, trying to stop the wave from washing away what was left of her common sense. How could she accept him, when she suspected he was offering her everything she had ever wanted for all the wrong reasons?
‘Yes…but… Why would you want me ?’
‘This is easy to explain, Cerys…’ he murmured. ‘Or better yet, let me show you…’
He pressed his hands to her cheeks. The rough calluses felt cool against her hot skin, but did nothing to chill the heat throbbing in her sex now, as well as her face. He was looking at her as if she mattered to him, the fierce approval in his gaze more potent than any aphrodisiac.
Lifting her chin, he pressed his lips to the pulse point in her neck. She shuddered, her response instant and forceful.
Her breathing accelerated and the heat swelled—her sex already softening, clenching, desperate to receive him again, when his lips found hers.
She was panting too heavily to find the words—or the will—to object when he unbuttoned the front of her shorts and slid his hand into her panties.
She sobbed as his thumb brushed the swollen nub. Already so needy.
‘You respond to me with such passion, Cerys. I find it irresistible.’
The words floated through her, as forceful and demanding as his touch on her yearning flesh. But when he circled her clitoris again, bringing her so close to another shattering orgasm, shame washed over her.
She lurched back, yanking herself out of his arms. Her gaze took in the prominent ridge in his suit trousers. Then shot back to his face. He didn’t look quite so pragmatic now, his expression fierce, the playfulness gone.
She fumbled, frantic to rebutton her shorts even as her clitoris still yearned for his expert touch. She’d almost gone completely to pieces again, the desire for him so intense it hurt…
She wanted the security he represented, the safety.
Was impossibly moved he would offer her something so wonderful, something so huge.
And she loved the thought of being a part of his family, of having a home.
But she had an awful feeling she was already halfway in love with him.
While he was talking about responsibilities, and practicalities, and chemistry.
The disparity was so stark—it scared her.
‘It’s… The sex, it’s not enough. Not for a marriage,’ she managed.
‘Why not?’ he replied, as if he really didn’t get it.
‘Because…’ She cleared her throat, annoyed her voice had come out on a high-pitched squeak. ‘We’re not even in a relationship.’
He thrust his fingers through his hair, looking frustrated.
‘I was your first lover, Cerys. You have spent nearly a month in my home. And you have no one. We spent the night together. I gave you your first orgasm. In fact, I gave you several. You are already wet for me again. And yet you think this is not a relationship.’ He swore in Catalan.
‘Okay, but…’
Bright flags of colour slashed across his features. And his eyes narrowed.
‘But what? What is the problem, and I will fix it,’ he said, as if her accepting his offer of marriage was a business deal he could negotiate.
It probably was to him… But how could it be to her, when he had already captivated her so completely?
‘I just… I realise that you want to be married, for lots of practical reasons. But even so…it seems… I don’t understand why you would choose me…
’ she tried again, feeling cornered now, and far too aware of the spurt of adrenaline, that foolish bubble of hope and exhilaration—that he would want to marry her—which left her feeling even more needy than the promise of another spectacular orgasm ‘…when we barely know each other…’
He stepped closer, close enough that she could see the shadow of beard growth already appearing on his jaw, and the flecks of gold in the rich chocolate of his irises. He cupped her cheek, making her shudder, and ran his thumb across her lips.
‘I know you well enough.’
But you don’t love me.
The pathetic thought echoed across her consciousness. But she stopped herself from voicing it—scared he would laugh at her, because she would sound so na?ve and sentimental, compared with his pragmatism…
She dragged his hand away from her face, because she really couldn’t think when he was touching her with that possessive gleam in his eye.
She took a breath, trying to calm her confusing reaction, and got a lungful of the woody scent which clung to him.
The rush of awareness became even more disconcerting.
How had she become addicted to that scent in a single night?
‘But I don’t understand why you would want to marry me ,’ she managed, already hideously exposed.
‘As I told you, I am in need of a bride. I have business interests which have been unfavourably impacted by…’ He paused, frowned.
Clearly, Santiago was not a man used to explaining himself.
‘I have always believed in marriage,’ he continued.
‘It is a steadying influence for any family. And my family has needed stability for a long time.’ It was a wholly unromantic statement, but also revealing.
A burst of sympathy made her ribs feel tight.
She already knew he had been responsible for his younger siblings for many years.
And Ana had told her two days ago what a burden that had been for him—becoming the head of the household and a Duke when he was little more than a child himself.
Was that why he was such a workaholic? So focused and intense and emotionally detached most of the time. Of course, it had to be.
But as much as she might sympathise with his desire to bring stability to his family, it didn’t really answer her question. Surely, there had to be so many more suitable candidates than her to be his wife.
‘But what if we never discover my identity?’ she asked.
‘This will not happen.’ The deep grooves on his brow lifted. ‘Senor Pérez is one of the best. But if it takes longer than expected, we will go through with the religious ceremony on the wedding date, and then arrange to legalise our union as soon as we have the necessary documentation.’
The wedding date?
‘You’ve already chosen a date ?’ she asked, stunned all over again.
He nodded. ‘Three weeks from now. I do not wish to wait, Cerys. Once we are a couple before God, we can travel to Isla de la Luna, a resort I own in the Balearics, for a honeymoon. Our marriage will be excellent publicity for the launch. But quite apart from that, you fulfil all my requirements in a wife.’ He touched her cheek again, apparently unable to keep his hands off her.
‘And I wish for everyone to know that you are mine.’
‘ What requirements?’ she asked, exasperated now as well as confused and so wary her stomach felt as if it had tied itself into a knot.
But what scared her most was the balloon of hope parked under her breastbone, which was expanding no matter how hard she tried to suppress it.
And was already big enough to have her questioning what exactly she was objecting to.
Santiago wanted to marry her. A man who fascinated and excited her beyond measure.
Who had so many qualities she adored too.
His determination to protect the innocent, his dedication to his family, to his duty, and his unbreakable code of honour, not to mention his insane work ethic.
Above all, though, he had always made her feel safe, even when she’d thought he disliked her…
And last night, he had made her feel cherished, feel important in a way she knew she never had.
If she married him, she could live at Castillo de las Vides for ever—a place she had come to adore.
She would be Ana’s sister for real. And while she knew she would want to work—because she had her pride—would it really be so terrible to have a home, to share in a heritage, a legacy?
Something she knew she had always yearned for too.
‘Cerys, I have wanted you since the moment I set eyes on you. There is something between us. Something that I cannot explain. A hunger which has turned me into a man ruled by his desires. A hunger which has only become more intense since last night. But I refuse to be a man like my father, who allowed his libido to consume and destroy everything he touched. I believed I was immune to such a weakness. But apparently, where you are concerned, I am not. I wish you to become my wife, so I do not risk destroying something I have sworn all my life to protect. As he did.’
His father?
She could hear the pain in his voice, and the anger. And see the conviction in his eyes. And for the first time since she had met him, she realised he had vulnerabilities too.
Suddenly she saw so clearly what she had not seen before.