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Lucinda stood there, letting him do that, but when he went to reach behind her and clasp the bra in place, she took advantage of his closeness and angled her face, kissing the base of his jaw, flicking the flesh there with her tongue. She felt his harsh intake of air.
‘Lucinda.’ Her name was both a command and a desperate, agonising plea. ‘Stop.’
She could stand strong in the face of some rejection, but not much, and the strength of that word had her withdrawing immediately. Not just physically, but with all of herself.
‘Why?’ A plaintive whisper. She needed to understand—she deserved that, didn’t she? ‘I’m not made of glass. You won’t break me.’
‘No,’ he agreed, lifting a hand and cupping her face, the kindness of the gesture somehow hateful. ‘But I’ll be breaking something else. Something important to me.’
‘What? A vow of celibacy or something?’ she joked, the words infused with angry spite.
But he tilted his face away, looking towards the lights dancing in the distance. ‘Something like that.’
Her lips parted, confusion swamping her. ‘But—are you serious?’
He looked down at her, his lips a grim line on his face. Mockery tinged his expression. ‘Unfortunately, yes. And it means more to me than I can explain.’ He stepped backwards, pulling away from her in every way now. ‘Come inside when you’re ready. We will discuss the wedding.’
Desire was not so easy to tame. She wished, more than anything, that she could simply switch off her feelings and focus on the plans she’d come to discuss. But where Thirio was completely himself again, looking as focused and calm as ever, Lucinda’s nerves were still skittling around inside her, so she had to clasp her hands behind her back to stop them from visibly shaking.
‘We will need more security than you’ve allowed for.’ He turned the page, running the pen through the section pertaining to guest protection. ‘Nalvania will send a contingent of guards for the royal family, but the other guests are also high profile. I will station checkpoints here—’ he marked a cross on the aerial photograph she’d included in her proposal ‘—here and here, as well as drones in the valley, and obviously at all the entrances.’
‘Are you really worried that the guests will be...attacked? It’s a wedding,’ she pointed out, shivering a little at the need for such defence.
‘I am worried about press intrusions, primarily,’ he said with a lift of his shoulders. ‘But yes, there is also the concern of kidnapping.’
‘Kidnapping!’ she repeated, aghast.
‘It never hurts to play it safe.’
Was that why he’d backed away from her? Was it some kind of safety concern? But she’d told him she wasn’t made of glass. No, it had to be this vow of celibacy.
Unless that was just a particularly heavy-handed way to put her off. After all, it was almost impossible to imagine a man as virile as Thirio Skartos avoiding sex. And since when? She’d seen enough evidence of his hectic love life on the Internet.
But the accident. The fire. Her eyes lifted to his face, appraisingly, and her heart skidded to a stop. Was it possible that beneath this big, strong billionaire there was the broken heart of a young man who’d buried both his parents? She knew that he’d hidden himself away in the castle ever since, but had he locked himself away in every possible way, too?
‘My sister is hopeful of keeping the guest list small. At this stage, she has said there will be around one hundred and fifty people in attendance. The ballroom can more than cope with this number.’
‘I was hoping you’d say that,’ she replied, her voice hoarse, and concentration scattered.
‘Did you see it, when you were at the castle?’
She shook her head slowly. ‘No.’
‘Not when you were waiting for me to return?’
Her cheeks flushed pink. ‘No. Contrary to what you might have imagined, I didn’t go prowling through your private space. I came inside because my car was freezing and no one was answering the door.’
‘Did it occur to you that I might not return home that night at all?’
She frowned. ‘No, actually. It didn’t. I think I was just so intent on presenting my plan to you that I didn’t think about anything else.’
‘Why did it matter so much to you?’ He placed the pen down on the tabletop, stretching back in his chair and fixing her with a level stare. She wished she could channel some of his casual attitude, but she could still feel the ghost of his touch on her body, his kisses, and both memories were weakening her. ‘It can’t be just that you wanted to help out a fellow orphan.’
His perceptiveness no longer surprised her. ‘When I read about your sister’s engagement, and your parents’ tragic deaths, I wanted to do what I could to give her the perfect, perfect wedding. That was my first thought. But...’ She hesitated, wondering if the admission she was about to make would lessen her in some way. Nonetheless, she felt compelled to be completely upfront with him. ‘I did have a more personal motive, as well.’
Silence crackled around them, and he waited for several beats before lifting a single dark brow and prompting, ‘Which was?’
She sipped her water to buy time, then chose her words carefully. ‘For years I have helped my stepmother and stepsisters from behind the scenes. I’ve dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s to make sure our events went off smoothly. When there were problems, I smoothed them over with our clients. But I have never had my own event to manage.’ She toyed with her necklace thoughtfully. ‘Frankly, I want the fee from this, all for myself.’
