The Temporary Mrs. Marchetti

He smiled a crooked smile. ‘You know what I mean, Alice.’

Aleece.

Oh, dear Lord, how was she supposed to stay sane when he said her name like that?

She gave a little shrug. ‘Just because I do a lot of bridal make-up doesn’t mean I want to be one myself. You own and operate hotels, does that mean you want to live in one?’

His eyes didn’t once leave hers. ‘Not all marriages are slave camps. When a good marriage works it can be a wonderful thing.’

Alice gave him a pointed look. ‘If you think it’s so wonderful then why aren’t you married by now?’

His thumb traced over the diamond on her left hand, his eyes still locked on hers. ‘If all goes to plan I soon will be.’

Alice concealed a little swallow. ‘But it’s not like ours is going to be a normal one.’

‘It could be if that’s what you want.’

She frowned. ‘You mean...last for ever?’

‘No.’

Did he have to sound so damned emphatic?

‘I meant we could have our fun while it lasts.’

Not for ever? Just ‘fun’ for now. Alice shifted her lips from side to side. ‘If I agreed to...to having fun with you, does that mean you’ll be having fun with other people at the same time?’

His mouth tilted in another smile. ‘From what I remember of the fun we had together, I don’t think I’d have the energy for anyone else.’

Alice held his gaze for a long moment. Was this wise? Offering to have an affair with him for the short duration of their engagement and marriage? What kind of arrangement was that? And could she trust him to remain faithful?

Funny, but she felt she could. He might have changed in other ways but she couldn’t see him cheating on a partner. He wasn’t that sort of man. ‘Thing is... I haven’t had a lot of fun just lately so you might be disappointed in what I bring to the...erm...game.’ It seemed the right choice of word, all things considered.

Cristiano brought her hand up to his mouth, pressing his lips to the tops of her fingers, all the while holding her gaze with the steadiness of his. ‘I can bring you up to speed in one session.’

I can well believe it. Alice tried but failed to suppress a frisson-like shiver. ‘So...when would you want to...to start having fun?’

He slid a warm hand around the nape of her neck and drew her inexorably closer, only stopping once her mouth was within a breath of his. ‘I’d do you now but I wouldn’t want to disturb the other passengers with your screams of pleasure.’

Alice kept her eyes trained on his smiling mouth, her heart leaping in excitement, her whole body trembling with feverish anticipation. Only he could make her sob with pleasure. Sob and scream and shudder from head to foot. How had she resisted him this long? It was crazy to keep denying herself the sensual thrill of his touch. So what if it only lasted a few months? A few months were better than no months. She’d spent the last seven years missing the magic of his lovemaking. Why not enjoy it while it lasted? ‘You’re not thinking of using one of the bathrooms?’

‘No. I’m going to make you wait until we get home.’

Cruel. Cruel. Cruel.

Alice stroked a fingertip over his top lip, following the contours of his vermilion border, his stubble catching on her skin like a thorn on silk. ‘I could take things into my own hands...’ she said with a suggestive glance.

His eyes glinted and his hand on the back of her neck slid under the curtain of her hair, the slight drag on the roots sending a bolt of fizzing electricity down her spine. ‘Hold that thought.’

Alice closed the distance between their mouths, touching hers down on his as softly as a butterfly landing on a petal. She eased back but because his lips were dryer than hers they clung to her softer skin as if they didn’t want to let her go. He made a rough sound deep in his throat and brought his lips back to hers in a slow, drugging kiss that made her insides coil and twist and tighten with longing. His tongue entered her mouth in a smooth, deep glide that had a deliciously erotic element to it. It called hers into a sensual dance that made her feminine core contract with need. The kiss went deeper and deeper, drawing from her a response she had never given to anyone else. Shivers coursed through her body—her skin prickling, tingling, and aching for the touch of his hands. Her breasts suddenly felt too small for her bra—they were straining against their lace barrier, desperate to feel the warm, firm possession of his hands. To feel the stroke of his tongue, the hungry suckle of his lips, the sexy scrape of his teeth.

He shifted position, tilting her head to one side as he explored every secret corner of her mouth, the dark shadow of

stubble around his mouth and on his chin abrading her softer skin like a fine-grade rasp.

Somehow the thought they were on a crowded plane and couldn’t take the kiss any further only heightened the intensity of it. She couldn’t remember kissing him in the past without it ending with them making love. Their first kiss had ended in bed. Every kiss of their affair had been the same. It was as if their lips couldn’t touch without their bodies being engulfed by raging desire. They hadn’t kissed in public other than a quick brush of the lips because she hadn’t been comfortable about public displays of affection. Still wasn’t, which made it all the more surprising—if not a little shocking—that she was doing it now, within sight and hearing of three hundred fellow passengers.

But every pulse-racing moment of it tantalised her senses until she completely forgot where they were. She spread her fingers through his thick black hair, greedily succouring his mouth as if without it she would die. She made a mewling sound in her throat, her need of him escalating. No one had ever kissed her like this. No one had ever made her feel this way. This madness, this ferocious need that clawed at her core and made every inch of her flesh scream and beg and plead for release.