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Chapter Fifteen
Shelene couldn’t enjoy the generous supper laid out after dark. Tía Ana-María and Papa had talked nonstop. She watched with curiosity as Papa kept patting the back of her aunt’s hand. She didn’t like where her odd thoughts were going, instead glancing at her husband who stared back at her.
Shelene let those thoughts wonder to Roman’s promise to assert his husbandly privileges. Could she blame him? She had never known him to be unfaithful to her, but surely he must have been over the years. A beautiful woman who might tempt him on a lonely night. A courtesan he might hire to relieve a building need. Anotherespíawho could understand his requirement for secrecy and privacy.
“If you will excuse me, I want to see Tono before he is put to bed,” she said.
Both men jumped to their feet and wished her a good night. In his room, Antonio was already drowsy, so she fed him quickly and Durra took him off to bed.
Earlier, she’d ordered a bath to be prepared. She still smelled of horses and the light sweat that had beaded and dried during her exertions. And why was she going to the trouble? Was it so she could insist she did not care? That she did not want him as her husband? Or to prove that she was an honorable, dutiful Spanish wife?
Or something she was too cowardly to admit? I want him. I want him as I have always wanted him.
How long was she going to fight him? Until she forced him to leave over her perceived animosity and anger?
Would the thing she most feared, his leaving, be the reason he left? No, he would never leave Antonio. And where would he go? Return to England to see his family? Of course, someday. But Antonio would bind him in ways she never could. Why couldn’t she be more clever, and stop being ruled by her emotions? Oh, she pretended a certain iron will, when she had too. How could she have endured without it?
She disrobed and stepped into the warm water, sinking to her chin. She rubbed the bar of soap against a soft cloth and started scrubbing at her neck, working downward. She didn’t have time to wash and dry her hair.
He wanted her. He made no pretense about that. She could give him the victory a man such as he craved. She could succumb to his clever maneuverings and let him think it was all his idea. He would enjoy such a challenge, such a sweet conquest.
And wouldn’t she enjoy the thrill of being with him again? She hadn’t forgotten a single moment of their intimacies.
When would Roman arrive?
One of the household servants, probably Martina, had set a rail and robe out, the usual request when she bathed, but she was nowhere to be found. Shelene dried with a fluffy towel, sat down to apply a soothing lotion that Sakina’s daughter made, then pulled on her gown. Strolling toward the double doors that opened to a balcony overlooking the valley, she stepped out and breathed in the night air.
It was heavy with fragrant flowers, farm animal smells and the heat of the day.
She heard his voice then, coming from Antonio’s room. Muffled, but conversational. He was enthralled with Antonio, and for that she was thankful. She could envision him leaning over the crib to examine his sleeping son.
Roman wanted her to know he had arrived. She took a breath, and stepped back to the room, leaning against the jamb of the double door. When she heard the doorknob, she pulled her robe tighter. Her heart beat rapidly and her mouth had gone dry.
“Shelene,” he said, closing the door behind him. He leaned against it, staring at her. “You look beautiful,” he said. “More beautiful than any woman I’ve ever seen.”
“Even in all your travels?”
“Especially. I’ve met many women with whom I can compare you. They were all lacking. Not a night has gone by when I didn’t think of you.”
He strolled closer to her. A step away, he reached for her hand. “You know why I am here.”
“I know.” Was she giving in too easily? Were his charms so great and her desire for him so uncontrollable? She could justify her actions, couldn’t she? He had brought her father home, after all. He had given her the greatest joy in life with the birth of Antonio.
She could do this one thing, but had she truly forgiven him?
“You loved me once, Shelene.”
She glanced at him, so handsome, so noble. What woman in her right mind would turn him away? Surely he would have to do something worse than break his word when it involved searching the world for her father?
He wrapped his free hand around her waist and pulled her near. “We have a lifetime ahead of us. Let’s not allow another day go by where we are not together.”
The wind blew in through the door, stirring the robe against her legs and sending a sensual thrill through her body, made worse by Roman’s nearness.
She turned toward the bed; he pulled the doors closed behind her, then stared as she removed her outer robe and climbed into bed.
“I would appreciate it if you did not wake Antonio.”
He laughed. “I think you have forgotten who makes all the noise in this marriage,” he said. Roman stood at the bedside and licked his fingers before dousing two of the three candles.
