Page 9 of Her Spanish Scandal

He leaned down and brushed his lips over her forehead and then dropped a few soft kisses on her lips. He pulled back and looked down at her.

“You are certainly not like anyone else. You are an Amazon goddess. Your skin is so smooth and soft, I can’t get enough of touching it.”

“Yeah, but I’m too tall,” she said.

“For other men, perhaps, but for me you are a perfect fit,” he said, drawing her into his arms. Her head rested comfortably on his shoulder.

He didn’t let himself dwell on the sweetness he felt toward her. It was unlike anything he’d felt for any woman. With Elvira, he felt passion and jealousy. And he doted on his sisters, but this affection—and passion—that he felt for Kara seemed so different.

He had no idea what it meant. He’d used her as a weapon in his private war with Elvira. To show the other woman that she no longer had the power to make him insanely jealous. Which had led to this current insanity.

“Gui?”

“Hmm?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

She shrugged. “Never mind. Are we going to talk here?”

“No. But we aren’t moving until you acknowledge that you are an attractive woman.”

Kara had never had any man watch her the way Gui did, as if he were starving and she was the only thing that looked good. A part of her—okay, all of her—wanted to believe him when he said she was beautiful. But the only man to ever really make her believe he thought she was more than a big girl was her father. And that was because she felt confident that he loved her.

Now she was standing in an open and public place and this very attractive man was leaning over her, wanting her to accept…that she was more than she knew she was.

She could lie and say whatever he wanted—but she would never do that.

“I can’t say something I don’t believe,” she said at last, knowing that much about herself.

Usually she had no trouble dismissing men’s insincere flattery. But with Gui…what would be the reason to lie to her? He didn’t need her fortune or her connections. From the rumors she’d heard about him, his fortune far exceeded her own. And he was the brother-in-law of the Enfanta—his older brother was married to the royal princess of Spain.

“Why don’t you believe me?” he asked, stroking a finger down the side of her face.

She shrugged. Surely he didn’t want her to point out in detail every thing that was wrong with her. She’d probably start crying, and she’d already cried once in front of him.

“Suffice it to say, I’m into truth in a big way.”

“Maybe it’s because I am not American, but I do not understand your meaning.”

She wasn’t going to explain. She did have some pride, and telling this man about the insecurities she’d always carried with her wasn’t something she wanted to do.

Figuring out this engagement problem was something else. Rina wasn’t going to settle for evasions or half-truths. And Kara couldn’t lie to Rina anyway.

“Guillermo?”

“Yes, querida?”

She still didn’t like hearing that endearment from him. It was one he used without thought. And true, they barely knew each other, but she didn’t want to be one of a crowd to him.

Oh no, she was already falling for him.

“You are frowning. Have I said something to offend you?”

She tried to move away from him but he had positioned his body in such a way that she was trapped. Caught between him and the wall, but to a larger extent caught between who she’d always been and who she wished she could be.

That was the real danger. Gui made her feel that she wasn’t the overweight heiress she’d always been. Instead, she felt like a woman. A feminine and attractive woman, wanted by a very sexy man.