It still wasn’t enough. He yanked her dress up to her waist, needing to feel her against him.
‘Rico...’ His name was a soft protest and he stilled, shocked by his own urgent actions.
‘Do you want me?’ he demanded, unable to keep from saying the words. Voicing his fear. ‘Do you want me as much as I want you?’
‘You know I do.’
The doors to his apartment opened and with a sound nearing a growl Rico swept Halina up into his arms and strode to his bedroom. ‘Then show me.’
‘I already have,’ she protested breathlessly as he peeled her dress off her and laid her on the bed. ‘How could you doubt it, Rico? I’ve been putty in your hands since the moment I first laid eyes on you.’
‘Good.’ He pulled off his tie and tuxedo shirt, studs flying everywhere and clattering to the floor. ‘That’s how I want it to be.’
The self-control he’d been so determined, so desperate to hold onto was in shreds. All he could think of, all he could feel, was his need for her. Shucking off the rest of his clothes, Rico pulled Halina into his arms. The feel of her golden, silken skin against his was an exquisite torture.
‘I’ve been dreaming of this,’ he muttered against her skin, wanting to touch and taste her all at once. ‘Dreaming of this ever since you walked out of my hotel suite all those weeks ago.’
‘So have I,’ Halina whispered, her body arching under his touch. ‘Even if I tried to keep myself from it.’
Just as he had, because such need was weakness. But now he didn’t care. Now he simply wanted—and took.
When he slid inside her velvety depths he felt a crashing sense of relief, almost as if a burden had been lifted. This felt right and true, the home he’d never had. Then she arched up to meet him, matching his thrusts, and he stopped thinking at all.
Later, when his heart rate had started to slow and he felt himself come back to his senses, Rico reviewed his actions as dispassionately as he could. Yes, he’d lost control. Completely. But so had Halina. The fact was they shared an incredible chemistry, and that was no bad thing. So as long as he kept the loss of control in the realm of the bedroom, he would be satisfied. He wouldn’t be in danger of losing anything to Halina...such as the heart he’d always acted as if he didn’t have.
Next to him Halina stirred sleepily. ‘That was a nice way to end the evening.’
‘Perhaps the evening is just beginning.’ Rico rolled over to face her. ‘But we never finished our conversation. What did those women say?’
‘It really doesn’t matter...’
He hated the thought of her being hurt. ‘I think it does.’
With a sigh Halina rolled onto her back. ‘They just said they couldn’t believe you’d finally been snared—that was the word I think they used. And the fact that I was pregnant and a princess could be the only reason you’d ever marry me, because you were obviously way out of my league.’
Rico stiffened, a new fury starting to boil through him. How dared those i
nsipid, catty women say such things about his chosen bride?
‘I don’t know why you seem angry,’ Halina remarked lightly as she rolled back to face him. ‘It’s all true.’
‘What? No, it isn’t.’
‘Come on, Rico.’ Despite her light tone, pain flashed in her eyes. ‘Let’s be honest. I know there are a lot of things we can’t have in our marriage, but surely truth isn’t one of them?’
‘It’s not true,’ he insisted stubbornly.
‘It is,’ Halina returned, her tone just as stubborn. ‘You know it is. You never would have married me if I hadn’t been pregnant, and the fact that I’m royal no doubt has something to do with it too.’
‘What are you saying? That if you’d been a nobody I wouldn’t have married you?’
‘Would you have?’
‘I would always,’ Rico said flatly, fighting back a tidal wave of fury, ‘marry the mother of my child.’
‘So I guess you didn’t get a woman pregnant before.’
‘No, I always took precautions, for a reason.’