Taken the Spaniard's Virgin

“Is it?”

“Yes. A man likes to know he has a singular effect on his woman.”

She grinned. “You do that. A very singular effect. As I’m sure you know.”

Then she went suddenly shy, dropping her gaze. He could not stop himself from leaning down to press a brief kiss to her lips even though they were in a crowded public venue and he had seen a photographer earlier. It just didn’t seem to matter. Besides, he wasn’t worried about their privacy being invaded too much. Pictures were one thing…names were another and he’d done what he could to protect hers from getting out.

She ended up staying with the cards she’d been dealt and winning the pot. “Oh, this is fun, Miguel.”

“Yes, it is.” Watching her was truly pleasurable.

“I can’t believe I’ve never gambled before.”

“Well, it’s not quite as fun when you’re losing consistently.”

“Oh, no, I suppose not. I suppose that’s the primary reason I’ve never gambled. I’m not a big fan of trying things it’s so easy to lose at.”

“You are adept at stacking the deck in your favor.”

“Don’t talk like that here. They’ll think I’m a card shark.”

“No one is going to believe such a lovely woman could be anything but honest.”

She snorted inelegantly and he laughed out loud. “Throughout history beauty has been used to hide deception. I don’t think anyone looks at my photogenic face and automatically thinks,there goes an honest woman .”

“Ah, but not only are you a stunningly lovely woman, but you glow with innocence.”

“Not anymore,” she quipped.

And he almost choked on his own breath. The little minx. “Still very innocent, I think.”

“I suppose you’ll have to fix that, won’t you?” She flirted up at him through her eyelashes.

“It will be my pleasure.”

“And mine.”

“Count on it.”

“Wow…this is just so strange, Miguel.”

“What?”

Vulnerability and something like awe shimmered in her sea-green depths. “Being together…being with you.”

“Funny.” He squeezed her waist. “It does not feel odd to me at all.”

“Truly?” She was looking at him, all serious and questioning.

He clamped his jaw on his initial flip reply and thought about it. “Well, perhaps a bit.”

She smiled as if he’d given her a gift and he was very glad he’d taken the moment for honesty. He only wished they had more than two weeks for the sense of strangeness to wear off. They were both going to feel like something was left undone when he had to leave for Prague.

But it could not be helped.

As they had agreed earlier, sometimes you simply had to seize the moment.

He was thinking about the time limitation to their affair late that night as he lay in bed beside her sleeping form. They had retrieved her things from her hotel on the way home from the casino and he’d convinced her to go to sleep without making love again. Gratifyingly she had balked, but he had been adamant. He wanted to give her body time to heal.