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The next morning when Leonora woke she felt deeply sated and at peace. It took a long moment for her to figure out where she was and why she was feeling like this. Then it all rushed back.
The proposal.
Making love.
She shivered under the thin sheet. ‘Making love’ sounded so...so benign, when it had felt more like breaking her apart and putting her back together in a new configuration.
She was alone in the room. She looked around it in the early morning light. It was surprisingly bare—not unlike the bedroom in Gabriel’s apartment in the city. Like the man—no frills or flounces or flowery words. Just direct words like I want you, or A proposal of marriage.
Leonora got out of bed, afraid that Gabriel might appear at any moment and find her feeling so raw. She pulled on a robe that had been laid at the end of the bed—considerate—and went into the bathroom.
She looked at herself in the mirror, expecting to see a bedraggled mess. But her eyes were shining and her cheeks still had vestiges of pink in them. She cursed herself. Betrayed by her own body. She paced back and forth, knowing that Gabriel would be expecting an answer when she saw him again.
She sent up silent thanks that he hadn’t extracted an answer from her in the throes of passion last night. She would have said anything not to have him stop his particular brand of passionate sorcery.
He made her feel as alive as she’d ever felt and he also made her feel scared. Scared for herself. For her heart. The heart she’d hidden for so long and the heart that longed for more than she’d witnessed growing up.
A little voice popped into her head: Maybe a family can give you that if Gabriel can’t?
Before she could stop her wayward imagination she saw Gabriel in her mind’s eye, returning home from work and scooping a dark-haired child up into his arms, before tugging Leonora close so that he could kiss her.
Leonora caught a glimpse of her reflection again and this time she looked slightly wild-eyed. This was precisely why she should say no to Gabriel. He stirred up too many illicit dreams and fantasies. Fantasies that could never materialise. No matter what she felt when they made love-like the only woman in the world.
And yet...did she have a choice? She had to marry. That was her duty and her responsibility. If it wasn’t to Gabriel then it would have to be someone else. Because, no matter what she’d said to him the previous evening, the truth was that she was a bride for hire—whether she liked to admit it or not.
Was it so bad that she and Gabriel had this insane chemistry? Wouldn’t it help a marriage? At the start at least... It couldn’t last. He wouldn’t want her like this for ever. But maybe by then they’d have children...
There was a knock on the door and Leonora jumped like a scalded cat. ‘Yes?’
A woman’s voice. ‘Señorita de la Vega? Breakfast is being served downstairs in the dining room.’
Leonora’s heart was thumping.
Not Gabriel.
‘Thank you. I’ll be right down.’
Footsteps went away.
Leonora got herself together and washed, and then went back and dressed in her clothes from yesterday, feeling the sting of shame that everyone would know.
But no one looked at her strangely when she went downstairs. If she passed anyone they just smiled politely, clearly busy with the upkeep of the castillo. That reminded her of what Gabriel had said about helping with their castillo’s renovations. How could she deny her family that?
She entered the hall and Ernesto appeared.
‘Please, Señorita de la Vega, this way.’
Leonora forced a smile, even though inside she was cringing at what Ernesto must think of her. ‘Please, call me Leonora.’
He smiled benignly at her as he opened the door into the dining room. She walked in and Gabriel stood up from where he was sitting at the head of the table, dressed in a pristine white shirt, tie and waistcoat, which only emphasised his lean body.
‘Good morning.’
She avoided his eye, coming into the room, and wished she’d had more make-up to put on, or tied her hair back. She felt dishevelled. Undone.
‘Good morning.’
