Because however she might feel in his arms, Stefano was no knight in shining armor. Just hours before, he’d blackmailed her into speaking their vows at their wedding ceremony. What should have been the happiest moment of Tess’s life had instead been misery, an agony of hate and despair.
She couldn’t let herself truly trust him. She couldn’t let herself believe in the romance or give him her hear
t.
But as Stefano smiled down at her, his dark eyes gleaming wickedly, she felt breathless. Her heart pounded with emotion and desire.
She hated that he’d blackmailed her into marriage. But at least he’d done it for the right reason, she told herself. He wanted to protect her and Esme, and claimed that he would spend the rest of his life making them happy. Could Tess truly fault him for that?
Especially when he made her feel like this...
As the elevator reached their floor, the door opened with a ding. Still holding her hand, Stefano led her toward his suite. After unlocking the door, he pushed it open. When Tess started to walk inside, he stopped her with a chiding smile. “That’s not how it’s done.”
He picked her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing. Her long white veil and white skirts trailed behind them as he carried her over the threshold.
Inside, the suite, already so luxurious, had been utterly transformed. She gasped when she saw the lavish vases of long-stemmed red roses and soft glow of white candles.
“What have you done?” she breathed, looking up at him.
His eyes were dark, caressing her face. “For you,” he said in a low voice. “All for you.”
As the door closed behind them, he carried her past the main room, with its glittering view of the New York skyline at twilight, toward the bedroom.
Breathing in the scent of roses, Tess looked up at him as he carried her to bed. The flickering candles moved shadows across the chiseled planes of Stefano’s high cheekbones and jawline. Like a medieval knight, she thought dreamily.
The bedroom, too, was filled with candles and roses. He set her gently on her feet, and she stepped out of her expensive white high heels. Looking down at her hungrily, he gently pulled out the pins that attached the diamond tiara and veil to her hair. He set them on the nightstand. The diamonds gleamed in the candlelight, the translucent veil lingering like a ghost against the marble floor.
Never looking away from her, he slowly took off his tuxedo jacket. He removed his platinum cuff links, one by one, setting them beside the tiara. He kicked off his expensive shoes, dropping his black tie to the floor.
All the while, she stood shivering in front of him in her wedding dress, knowing what was about to happen. Wanting it to happen.
Coming forward, he reached his arms around her and slowly unzipped the back of her wedding dress, letting it fall softly to the floor. Her shivering intensified as she stepped out of the gown and stood before him in her wedding lingerie.
She wasn’t cold. His gaze was a blast of heat against her skin.
He’d picked out her lingerie. She’d blushed when she’d first tried it on. The structured bodice of her wedding gown had hidden a strapless bra that barely covered half of her breasts. And, more shocking still, there were slits in the white silk so her pink nipples peeked through the fabric.
Her panties were nearly as bad, just a little sliver of silk, loosely attached to white garters that held her shimmering stockings to her thighs.
Feeling his gaze in the flickering candlelight, she started to take off her bra.
“No,” he said hoarsely. “Leave it.”
Reaching up, Stefano loosened her chignon so that her red hair tumbled down around her shoulders in a cloud of scarlet.
“So beautiful,” he breathed. Lifting her gently in his arms, he set her down on the enormous bed.
“So are you,” she said shyly.
“You’re mine now. To do with as I please.”
She lifted her chin, and repeated, “So are you.”
With a jagged intake of breath, he ripped off his crisp white shirt so swiftly she heard buttons hit the floor. Climbing beside her on the bed, he pushed her back against the mattress, lowering his mouth hungrily to hers.
She braced herself, expecting his embrace to be savage, for him to demand, to ruthlessly take, as he had in the hallway outside the ballroom.
But this time was different.