The Secret Wife

‘Pity me, then,’ Constantine advised with silken unconcern, treating her to a long, lingering scrutiny that made her shift and tauten. ‘Every time you shout at me I want to slap you down so hard you’ll be scared to raise your head again. I can’t say that you bring out the best in me and you must have put on one hell of an act for Anton. Anton would have run a mile from that mouth of yours.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with my mouth—’

‘It’s an incredibly sexy mouth... until you open it.’ Night-dark eyes partially veiled by lush black lashes rested on the full pink lips in question.

Sharply disconcerted, Rosie flushed. ‘Don’t talk to me like that.’

‘Don’t tell me what I can and can’t say,’ Constantine drawled softly. ‘Nobody does that.’

Involuntarily, Rosie stiffened, feeling that sudden chill even in the warmth of the luxurious car. ‘I’m not prepared to stay at a hotel with you.’

‘But you will. It’s part of our little arrangement. I will not run the risk that at some future date this marriage could be set aside as null and void. I am merely ensuring that we abide by the law to the letter.’

Silence fell, thick with tension, between them.

‘Just how much did Anton tell you about me?’ Constantine demanded abruptly.

‘Much more than I wanted to hear, believe me!’

His sensual mouth hardened and twisted. ‘We were close but evidently not close enough,’ he mused grimly. ‘He was too ashamed to tell me about you—’

‘Anton was not ashamed of me.’

‘Anton was a very happily married man until you came along.’

Rosie bit her lip and made no response. Anton had spent several years and a lot of money striving to trace his illegitimate daughter. For the first nine years of her life he had received photographs of her on every birthday, but her mother, Beth, had included no return address. Rosie had often wondered why her mother had taken the trouble to secretly post those photos to Anton’s London office. Had the exercise simply been an annual embittered reminder of the brief affair which had messed up Beth’s life and cost Anton his only child?

Rosie didn’t know. By the time she had heard the full story of her parentage, her mother had been dead for many years. But she could still remember her mother struggling to handle the brooding bitterness of a husband who had never been able to forgive her for marrying him when she was pregnant by another man. Beth had been dead only a week when Rosie’s stepfather had called in the social services to tell them loudly and aggressively that he had no intention of keeping a child who wasn’t his. That had been his revenge.

The limousine drew up in front of a country-house hotel. Rosie climbed out and hovered. ‘This is ridiculous.’

‘It wouldn’t look quite so ridiculous if you weren’t dressed like some revolting teeny-bopper hitchhiker I happened to pick up on the road here!’

In the intimidatingly elegant foyer and from a distance of almost twenty feet Rosie watched him sign the register. The hotel receptionist was far too well trained to stare but she squinted surreptitiously at Rosie. Rosie went pink and turned her back.

On the first floor, they were shown into a beautifully furnished suite. Seeing the conn

ecting door, Rosie hastened through it to explore. Beyond lay only one bedroom complete with bathroom. He was out of his mind, she thought incredulously.

‘If you think I am spending the night in there with you, you are living in a world of fantasy!’

Constantine dealt her a sardonic glance. ‘I take the bedroom. You get the couch.’

Momentarily, Rosie couldn’t get oxygen into her lungs. Wild-eyed, she stared back at him.

‘I’ll ruffle the pillows in the morning. Taki also has instructions to collect a change of clothes for you. No doubt Maurice will rise nobly to the occasion,’ Constantine continued with smooth derision. ‘I think your muscle-bound boyfriend would sell you to cannibals for the right price.’

‘Maurice is a friend, not a lover!’

Constantine elevated an unimpressed brow, his expressive mouth curling.

‘You have such a dirty mind,’ Rosie told him fiercely.

Unexpectedly the beginnings of a smile tugged at the corners of his ruthless mouth. Brilliant black eyes rested intently on her furious face. ‘So much fire and spirit. That intrigues me. If you hadn’t been Anton’s woman first, I would be very tempted to take you to my bed.’

Rosie went from fury into deep shock. Her lips moved but no sound came out.

‘And I guarantee that within five minutes you would be eating out of my band like a tame dove trained to please,’ Constantine forecast with a feral flash of even white teeth.