A Vow to Secure His Legacy

He didn’t do emotion. Not with women.

He should have followed through that night she’d kissed him in his bedroom. She wouldn’t be tying him in knots if he had. But telling himself his frustration levels were his own fault didn’t help. He’d needed that mental and physical distance to keep himself sane and ensure he looked after her as she deserved.

Mouth setting in a crooked line, she snatched the towel from him. He had one last glimpse of tip-tilted breasts jiggling deliciously before she wrapped the massive bath sheet around her, even covering her shoulders, as if knowing how her bare skin inflamed him.

She stared straight back, her look all hauteur, as if he’d crawled out of a Marseilles sewer.

Instead of freezing him, that stare ignited something dangerous. Thierry felt it like a whoosh of flame, razing his carefully nurtured restraint.

No woman looked at him like that. Ever. Especially not the woman for whom he’d done so much!

Thierry’s hands were hard and brown against the white towel as he grabbed her shoulders. He felt her fine bones, heard the flurry of her quickened breathing, and that sent fiery heat spilling through his veins.

‘What did you think you were doing, drawing up that...that...?’ Indignation stole his vocabulary.

‘That post-nuptial agreement?’ Her chin notched.

‘Were you deliberately trying to insult me?’

Her eyes widened. ‘Of course not. I don’t see the problem.’

‘You go to my staff and ask them to draw up a contract specifying you renounce any claim to my assets, weeks after we marry. You sign in front of witnesses, and you don’t see a problem?’ His voice rose and beneath his hold she flinched.

Good! How dared she make him an object of ridicule?

Yet if anything her mouth set tighter. Green fire sparked in her eyes.

‘I was doing you a favour. Your lawyers thought so. You should have seen their relief when I explained what I wanted.’

‘You think I live my life to please lawyers?’ His fingers clamped harder.

‘I was doing the right thing.’ Her chin jutted and her brilliant eyes met his unerringly. ‘You didn’t want a permanent wife. If you had, I’m sure you’d have expected a pre-nup. Circumstances have changed and I wanted you to know I’m not hanging around, aiming for a share of your wealth.’

Not hanging around? Was that why her passport was out? Warning jangled, and Thierry yanked her body full against his, soft to his rigid frame. He let go of her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her, pinioning her.

Memory assaulted him. Of that woman last night, her body pressed to his, her lips against his mouth. And all he felt was disgust. Because she hadn’t been Imogen.

It was his wife he wanted. No one else.

That truth had hammered at him all day. There’d been no evading it, no matter how he’d tried.

Imogen had burrowed under his skin, destroying his interest in other women. That was bad enough. Worse was the fact she now acted as if she didn’t want him! She deliberately provoked.

‘What did I ever do to suggest I believed you were after my money?’ His words were sharp as a lash, and he felt her tense. He breathed deep, nostrils flaring as he dragged in the scent of damp, sweet woman. ‘When have I ever insulted you as you’ve insulted me? You make me look like a mercenary, gullible fool, scared you’re going to fleece me. A man who needs saving from his own decisions!’

‘That wasn’t my intention.’ Her eyes widened. This close, he caught the shock in those sherry-brown depths.

‘You think I’m so incompetent I need protecting from my actions?’

‘I think you’re overreacting.’ Her finger jabbed his chest. ‘I saw your expression after the doctor said I wasn’t ill. I saw your doubts.’ She tried to stare him down. ‘You were wondering if I’d deliberately misled you, weren’t you? You suspected I was some gold-digger who’d set up an elaborate scam.’

Fury spiked in Thierry’s gut, because for a split second the question had surfaced. That was what his lawyer had warned. But Thierry had dismissed the idea. Instead, he’d trusted her, ignoring any such doubt as unworthy.

How many men would have done that?

Besides, Imogen’s reaction at the doctor’s news had been absolutely genuine.

‘What you saw was shock,’ he ground out between clenched teeth. ‘You’ll pardon me for that, given everything that went before. Or are you the only one allowed to be taken by surprise?’