Claiming His Wedding Night

She had the scars to prove it.

The watch on his wrist made two small beeping noises and, grateful for the chance to break free of the tension swelling between them, she took hold of his arm and turned it gently.

‘Is that the time?’ she said quickly. ‘No wonder I feel so hungry. Why don’t we go down and I’ll see if I can rustle up something to eat?’

Frowning, he pressed his hand against his forehead. ‘I completely forgot. Leonda told me she’d left us some lunch. Nothing fancy, but I’m sure it’ll be delicious.’

It was. A three-course cold buffet, all exquisitely presented. Leonda had also thoughtfully provided a handwritten menu, listing all the ingredients.

‘I can’t believe I offered to cook,’ Addie groaned, gazing down at her plate.

‘You didn’t.’ Biting into a barbecued rib with guava and tamarind, Malachi raised an eyebrow. ‘You offered to “rustle up something”.’

He was impossible to resist. She tried to frown, but ended up smiling. ‘You tricked me. You said she enjoyed cooking.’

His grey eyes gleamed. ‘And she does. She also happens to be a Cordon Bleu trained cook who enjoys “creating dishes which combine colonial and Caribbean influences”,’ he drawled. ‘Or so it said on her CV.’ Grinning, he leaned across and speared a small, golde

n parcel. ‘What is this?’

Addie glanced at the menu. ‘It’s coconut and shrimp tempura. It’s delicious.’ She sighed. ‘I think I’ve eaten about forty already.’

He glanced across the table. ‘Only another seventy to go, then.’ He grimaced. ‘I’m afraid Leonda seems to think I don’t eat between visits, so she always cooks enough for a small army.’

Putting her knife and fork together tidily on her plate, Addie gave him a small, careful smile. As if her feelings were as easy to arrange as her cutlery. In her head being alone with Malachi had seemed quite straightforward: there was the sex and then there was everything else. She wasn’t deluded enough to pretend that she wouldn’t enjoy the sex part, but she hadn’t expected the talking, the just being together to be anything other than extremely trying.

Only sitting opposite him now, it was hard to feel like that. Not just because he was stupidly good-looking, but because he was such effortless company. He was bright and well read and, mixing as he did with the rich and the famous, he had an endless supply of amusing and salacious stories.

But, while she might not hate him as much as she would or perhaps should, she needed to make sure their relationship had recognisable boundaries. Sex, by necessity, involved some amount of intimacy—maybe even a certain amount of tenderness. But this—the being together part—required her to be no more than civil. In fact, now might be a good time for her to introduce a more formal, less personal tone to their lunch.

Picking up her water glass, she took a breath and said quickly, ‘Thank you.’

There was a flicker of surprise in his eyes as they met hers. ‘For what?’

‘For bringing me here. It’s lovely. Truly.’ She glanced out across the lagoon. ‘So how did you find this place? I mean, it’s so hidden away.’

He shrugged. ‘It was an accident, really. I was actually looking to buy a yacht.’

She stared at him dazedly. He spoke about buying a yacht as though it was a carton of milk. And what kind of person chose whether to buy an island or a yacht? It was just another reminder of the differences between them.

She shook her head. ‘So what happened?’

His eyes gleamed. ‘I went for a swim.’

She stared at him, confused. Surely he couldn’t have swam that far out to sea?

Glancing at her face, Malachi shook his head. ‘Not here. In a hotel. In Vegas.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘How has that got anything to do with this island?’

He gave her a teasing smile. ‘I was playing poker and Teddy Chalmers—do you remember Teddy?’

Addie nodded. She had met him socially with Malachi. He was a lanky middle-aged Texan real estate billionaire, with a penchant for land and property and a passion for poker.

‘Teddy bet me this island that I couldn’t jump into a pool at the hotel and touch the bottom.’

She frowned. ‘That’s crazy. Anyone could do that.’ Her face stilled with suspicion. ‘So why did he think you couldn’t?’

Malachi grinned. ‘Probably because of the sharks!’