‘Is that a fact?’
‘And you’re not going to think it’s remotely important either!’ Hilary completed.
‘Tell me just one thing,’ Roel fired at her. ‘Why did I marry you?’
Hilary stilled and finally muttered indistinctly, ‘You married me for all the usual reasons…’
‘Are you saying that I fell in love with you?’ Roel demanded.
‘I’m not saying anything…’ Colliding unwarily with his shimmering dark golden eyes, she decided that she might as well tell him what he expected to hear so that the issue could be laid to rest. ‘OK…you fell in love with me.’
Roel paced back a step towards her, his tension palpable. ‘So I bought into the whole fairy tale?’
‘Why not?’ Hilary asked, her voice rising a little with strain.
‘No reason.’ Roel bent down and scooped her off the mattress. ‘But if I went for the whole fairy tale, it means you’ll definitely be the kind of woman who wants to share the shower with me,’ he teased.
‘Is that blackmail?’ she dared unevenly.
Over breakfast in a charming sunlit courtyard ornamented with lush flowering climbers and pots overflowing with greenery, Hilary asked Roel about the history of the castle. That he loved every time-worn stone was obvious to her. She tried not to think about the lies she had told him earlier. He had stopped asking awkward questions and he was no longer concerned about their relationship. Since Dr Lerther had advised her to give Roel nothing to worry about, didn’t that mean that she had done the right thing? A couple of soothing little fibs was not going to cause any lasting damage, she reasoned.
‘I organised a surprise for you yesterday,’ Roel revealed as he walked through the grand hall.
‘What kind of a surprise?’
‘I thought it was time to take care of the clothing problem,’ he told her softly and cast open the door on a huge and crowded reception room.
Roel had issued invitations to several designer salons to visit the castello with a selection of garments. Hilary was whisked into the room next door to have her vital measurements taken and her attention fully claimed. She was in a panic. How could she allow Roel to go the expense of buying her an entire wardrobe? But how could she persuade him that she didn’t need anything new when he himself had seen how seriously short of clothing she seemed to be?
Only minutes later she was paraded back into Roel’s presence. She was wearing a skirt suit that was at the cutting edge of the latest fashion trends.
Roel studied her. The aqua shade flattered her fair skin and bright silvery blonde hair while the short fitted jacket and flirty skirt emphasised her stunning hourglass figure and shapely legs. His keen gaze glinted with masculine approval. ‘Delectable,’ he murmured huskily for her ears alone.
And for the first time in her life Hilary felt worthy of special attention. Her own imperfections seemed to vanish beneath the balm of Roel’s unashamed appreciation. She was blushing like mad and feeling hugely self-conscious but at the same time she held her head high and she felt proud. When Roel was admiring her, she could no longer lament her imperfect features, lack of height and too generous curves.
From that point on, Hilary was enjoying herself and existing in a realm in which Roel was her only focus. She tried on outfit after outfit. The expensive fabrics felt wonderfully luxurious against her skin. The tall gilded mirrors on the walls reflected her in a myriad unrecognisable guises. She saw herself twirl in a magnificent evening gown, a stunning trouser suit and a series of incredibly flattering little dresses, every one of which Roel seemed to signal a special liking for. Shoes and bags were produced to match. It was like a glorious dream in which everyone conspired to encourage her to play her favourite game of dressing-up just as she had when she was a little girl.
In the space of hours she acquired more clothes than she had ever owned in her whole life. She knew that she would never wear most of them and told herself that Roel would be able to return them once she had gone home again. She did, however, succumb to selecting several bra-and-pants sets as well as nightwear for she had packed nowhere near enough for her Swiss sojourn. Breathless and still on the crest of an excited wave, she kept on a cream skirt and a sleeveless draped top.
‘I’m never going to wear all this stuff,’ she warned Roel.
‘You’re my wife. You should have everything you want.’
Something twisted in the region of her heart and her eyes shone overbright because she was so painfully aware of the pretence she was maintaining.
‘Hilary?’ Roel queried.
‘You’re being too generous to me,’ she said tightly.
‘Don’t you know how to be generous in return?’ Dazzling golden eyes flicked hers with sensual provocation and a scorching smile of devilment slanted his beautiful mouth.
Her heart hammered like a road drill and her mouth ran dry. He was so gorgeous he made her tremble. His power over her was terrifyingly strong but for a young woman who all her life had followed only her own counsel there was something deeply, disturbingly thrilling about his innately forceful temperament.
‘And if you don’t know…I can certainly give you hints, bella mia,’ Roel purred with sensual huskiness.
She pressed her slender thighs together on the tingling responsive heat forming an ache of emptiness at the heart of her. Shocked at the strength of her own reactions, she lowered her eyes, fighting her own weakness as hard as she could.
But Roel drew her up against him. As she felt the taut power of his male arousal her face burned and yet she wanted to melt into him with every fibre of her being. Blazing golden eyes held hers. ‘You look incredible, but what I want more than anything else in this world is for you to take those new clothes off again,’ he confided raggedly.