Chapter 3
Chapter Three
The last thing that Gui wanted to deal with at this moment was Juan. He no longer could tolerate his cousin by marriage. The man had been a friend when they’d been children. But as an adult he’d turned into Elvira’s lapdog.
He knew that she’d married Juan in part because Gui and Juan had at one time been friends. That was the kind of woman Elvira was. Preying on a man’s weakness.
“Excuse me, Count. I really should be returning to the reception,” Kara said, ducking under his arm.
He snagged her wrist and held her in place by his side. “We both should. Juan, whatever you need will have to wait.”
“I’m not—”
“I’m afraid you are,” Gui said, talking over Juan’s protest. “Call my assistant and schedule an appointment if we need to meet.”
Juan narrowed his eyes and for a moment Gui wondered if his old friend was finally finding his backbone. He drew Kara back to his side and positioned himself slightly in front of her body in case Juan decided to do something stupid.
“I will do that. We really need to talk.”
Juan stalked away and Kara tugged on her hand. He lifted it to his mouth and kissed the back of it gently. “I’m sorry, mi dulce.”
“Sorry? Sorry doesn’t work in this case, Guillermo. You can’t keep me by your side when I want to leave.”
He lifted her shackled wrist and arched one eyebrow at her. He knew he was being arrogant, but no one told him what to do. And when it came to women he’d always gotten his way. Why should Kara be any different?
She tugged again on her wrist. And he held her in a loose but secure grip.
“A man who has to resort to this type of action to keep a woman by his side isn’t much of a man.”
He pulled her off balance and into his arms, dropping her wrist as his mouth came down on hers, a hard slash that established his dominance over her.
Immediately he lessened the intensity of the kiss, wanting to show her that he didn’t need to use force to keep a woman by his side. As soon as he did she softened against him. Her arms went around his waist and she tipped her head to the side, giving him greater access to her mouth.
She sighed when he pulled back and Gui looked down at her.
She was different from any other woman he’d kissed.
As all women essentially were, but this time with Kara—she was really different.
Her tongue moistened her lips. She opened her eyes, her gaze meeting his, and he forgot that he’d been proving a point.
All he wanted to do was taste her again.
Tease them both into forgetting that they were essentially strangers.
He lowered his head and touched the tip of her tongue with his. She drew his lower lip between her tongue and teeth and suckled on him.
He groaned deep in his throat. She clung to him, and he felt the passion rising in her body. He tamped down on his own urges, reaching deep to control the need to savage her mouth and then take her against the wall.
“Gui?” she asked, her voice low and dreamy.
“Hmm?” How easily he could claim this woman as his.
There was a vulnerability in her eyes that he could exploit, and with another woman he might not hesitate to do it, to use her in his private war with Elvira.
Although that’s what he’d done earlier, when he’d announced their engagement, now his intentions were changing.
He saw beyond a pawn in the game that had gone on too long to the woman here in his arms. A woman that he knew he didn’t want to hurt. He rubbed his thumb over her full lower lip, tracing it lightly until she shivered delicately in his arms and smiled at him.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
And it was there in her eyes and in her voice. That vulnerability that made him want to tell her to protect herself. To never allow him or any other man to see how easily her barriers could be swept aside. But saying that would—what?
Would it be crueler to pretend to be a gentleman as he usually did or to just show her the bastard he really was? Because despite his royal pedigree and his much lauded charm, he was at heart a man who lived for his own pleasure.
“Proving that I don’t have to use brute force to keep you by my side.”
“Oh, was that what you were doing?” she asked, a smile flirting around her lips.
“Mmm hmm. What did you think it was?”
“I thought it was an act to distract Juan.”
He inhaled sharply. “I’m not following.”
“Yes, you are,” she said, neatly stepping away from him. “You just didn’t think that I’d figure out what this attention of yours was all about.”
“It’s about attraction, of course. You are muy hermoso.”
She tipped her head to the side. “But that’s not why you danced with me earlier or kissed me now.”
He didn’t like that she thought she knew what made him tick. “Why do you believe I did those things?”
“To make another woman jealous.”
He started to speak but she shook her head.
“I’m not sure I want to be used, especially when you are not being up front about it.”
“I apologize.”
“You helped me out earlier. I suppose it’s the least I can do for you now.”
“What is?”
“Well, making that woman jealous…though to be honest, you probably should have picked someone more on par with her. She really is a world-class beauty.”
Kara knew she’d been right about why Gui had come on to her. Despite the fact that the man could make her forget her name when he kissed her, she was determined not to be stupid where he was concerned.
“Kara.” He said her name in that smooth Spanish accent of his and she wanted to pretend that whatever he said was the truth. But men like Guillermo de Cuaron didn’t fall instantly for women like her.
“Si, Gui?”
“You do yourself a disservice,” he said.
She tried to smile, but her face felt too tight and she knew she had to look like she was faking it. Which she totally was. “Well, you did it first. I’m just following you.”
He cursed under his breath. “We need to talk. Somewhere that we won’t be interrupted or overheard.”
“Yes, I think we do. But there is a reception going on and, as you pointed out, you are one of the groom’s best friends. We should get back.”
She had learned at an early age that if she took command of a situation, people would automatically follow her.
There was something about a forceful tone of voice that made even the most determined man back down.
She smiled as winningly as she could and decided that she wasn’t going to attend any more weddings.
This had to be the worst one yet, and she was tired of torturing herself by going. No one would remark if she started skipping them. Rina always attended; she could represent their family and Kara could stay away.
“I’m not a lapdog.”
“I never thought you were.”
“Then stop trying to lead me around,” she said.
“I don’t understand you.”
He shook his head and she caught a glimpse of something in his eyes. Maybe he didn’t understand himself, either, but she was tired of guessing what was in his head. “Just tell me what’s really going on.”
He arched one eyebrow and glanced up and down the hallway. “Now?”
Kara followed his gaze. A few groups of people were drifting nearer, perhaps looking for the restroom or a little privacy. She refused to feel silly. “If it’s okay to announce I’m your fiancée in the middle of the dance floor I think this hallway is okay for a serious chat.”
“You’re engaged, Gui?” Christos said, appearing suddenly behind Gui. How had she missed his approach?
Kara bit her lip and wanted to stomp her foot. Every time she tried to throw that bit back at him, someone overheard her. She needed to stop mentioning their “engagement” before the entire world thought it was the truth.
To Gui’s credit, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and turned so that she was tucked up next to his side.
She tried not to let the way he felt pressed against her go to her head, tried not to acknowledge even to herself that there was a rightness to the way her shoulder nestled under his arm.
To the way his hand felt on her back and his body heat warmed her.
“That’s what we were discussing. Do you know Kara deMontaine?”
Christos nodded toward her. “Yes, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Kara. Two years ago, wasn’t it? At Rina’s thirty-fifth?”
“Yes. Rina said that she wanted the world to know she wasn’t afraid of aging.”
“No one should be afraid,” Christos said. “Especially a woman as beautiful as your sister.”
Kara flinched and knew that Gui felt it, because he glanced down at her. She smiled, but it was forced. She hated comments like that one. Comments that inevitably made her compare herself to Rina and come up lacking.
How could she do anything but?
“I’m out here because of another beautiful woman. Sheri is looking for us—it is time for you and me to toast our best friend and his bride. So we are all needed inside.”
“Of course. I better go find my friends. I’ll talk to you later, Gui.”
“I’ll escort you,” he said, refusing to let her leave his side.
As soon as they were alone she was going to talk to him about that. She had the impression that he liked to always be in control of everyone around him.
“Why thank you, I’m not sure I could walk all the way back to the reception on my own,” she muttered under her breath.
Christos chuckled and shook his head as he walked away. He called back to Gui. “I’ll meet you at the bridal party table.”
Gui cupped her elbow and started walking back to the ballroom where the reception was being held. “Gentlemanly behavior shouldn’t elicit sarcasm.”
“Bossy behavior is a different story.”
“I’m hardly bossy.”
“You’re hardly ever not bossy. Ever since we met you’ve been telling me what to do and what to think.”
“Never what to think, Kara. You are too smart to let a man do that.”
She smiled up at him. “Yes, I am.”
He shook his head. “You’re very stubborn.”
“So are you. And you’re arrogant to boot. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”
His finger rubbed against her inner arm where he held her. “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t notice.”