Sale or Return Bride

Suddenly she was aware of him as a man. And for the first time in her life she was aware of herself as a woman.

Like a rabbit in a trap, she stared at him. He lounged with careless ease in the seat next to her, long legs stretched out in front of him, an air of almost bored indifference on his handsome face. It was the first time she’d seen him anything less than rigidly formal and her eyes were drawn first to his powerful shoulders, the strong line of his hard jaw, blue-black with stubble.

She realized with a sudden lurch of her stomach that the trappings of wealth and success disguised the essence of the man he was. Underneath his sophisticated exterior lay man at his most primitive and basic. Dark and dangerous. Raw and untamed. A hunter. She was just contemplating what that meant for her when she realized that they’d driven through electric gates and were approaching a large and very beautiful villa set in acres of grounds.

Momentarily distracted, she just gazed in silence. ‘It’s huge,’ she mumbled finally. ‘And there’s only one of you.’

He gave a short laugh. ‘And, as you’ve just discovered, I have an extremely large extended family,’ he said drily, ‘all of whom frequently decide to descend on me at once and need to be accommodated. I also do a great deal of business entertaining. I need the space.’

Alesia stared at him in disbelief and then back at the house. He needed this much space? She was used to living in a room where she could virtually touch all four walls from her bed.

‘I hope the house comes with a map,’ she muttered as she stepped out of the car. Immediately she realized her mistake as Sebastien stared at her with brooding concentration.

‘You are the granddaughter of a man who is richer than Midas. Your grandfather is well-known for keeping elaborate homes. Why would you be so surprised at mine?’

Alesia bit her tongue.

She’d slipped up again.

Stupid stupid stupid.

Warning herself that she had to concentrate, she tried to recover her mistake.

‘I’ve never been that great at finding my way around new places,’ she muttered vaguely as he took her arm and led her towards the door.

‘Fortunately there’s only one room that you need to find,’ he advised in cool tones, ‘and that’s the bedroom.’

Alesia flushed to the roots of her glossy blonde hair and would have stopped walking but he swept her up in his arms and carried her across a spacious marble hallway and up a beautifully curved staircase.

‘I can walk—’ she said through gritted teeth and he flashed her a grim smile.

‘This isn’t for your benefit, agape mou, but for the benefit of my staff who are at this moment peeping discreetly round corners hoping for a glimpse of my new bride. Unfortunately for us, they are as romantically inclined as my mother so I intend to give them the show they’re expecting.’

Staff?

Her mouth fell open and she closed it again quickly. Of course a man like him would have staff. How else could he run a house on this scale?

He strode into a room, kicked the door shut behind him and dropped her with little in the way of warning before striding over to the full-length windows and opening them.

His need for fresh air and distance caused a shaft of pain that she couldn’t decipher.

So the ‘show’ was over, she thought wryly, struggling to regain her balance and maintain some shred of dignity.

Now what?

Glancing at the tension in those broad shoulders, her heart sank. He certainly did not look lover-like.

‘Look—’ her voice was weary ‘—we both know that this whole situation is ridiculous. We don’t have to do this—’

‘This was part of our agreement.’

He turned, his dark eyes glittering with intent. ‘What’s the matter?’ He strolled towards her with all the grace of a jungle animal stalking its prey. ‘Having second thoughts? Suddenly realizing what it is you agreed to?’

His tone was clipped and hard and her heart leaped into her throat. Distant, cold and monumentally intimidating, Sebastien was totally out of her league and it was useless pretending otherwise.

‘What we agreed to,’ she corrected, taking a step backwards and then wishing she hadn’t as he registered the defensive movement on her part with a cool smile.

‘We agreed to a marriage,’ he reminded her softly, lifting his hands and unbuttoning the rest of his shirt with slow, deliberate flicks of his long fingers, each movement taunting her. ‘And that is what we’re going to have, Mrs Fiorukis.’

He peeled off his shirt and let it fall to the floor with casual disregard. But then he was probably never going to wear it again, Alesia thought hysterically as she took another step back and suddenly realized that there was nowhere else for her to go. Her back was against the wall. Literally.