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Their gazes met again and held. This time it wasn’t the clash of their wills that held her still, but something else. Something aching and raw and painful.
The signs of humour in Rafael’s face vanished, leaving behind it a familiar heat that stole all the breath from her body. Three months ago, when she’d still been the sheltered girl he’d accused her of being, she hadn’t recognised that heat for what it was. But she did now. Oh, she did now.
Desire.
‘Your gown is wet.’ He didn’t look away, the harsh gravel of his voice becoming suddenly rough velvet. ‘Let me help you with it.’
Her mouth had gone dry, her heart beating hard and fast in her ears. He was looking at her as though he wanted to eat her alive and, God help her, she wanted him to.
If anything could make her change her mind about marrying him, it wasn’t money or power, or even warm clothes and good food.
It was him. It was his touch.
‘I’m fine.’ Her voice sounded almost as low as his.
‘But you can’t undo all those buttons yourself.’
Heat prickled everywhere, chasing away the cold, bringing with it a heady rush of excitement.
She couldn’t drag her gaze from his, every part of her consumed with the sudden, intense need to close the distance between them. To end the nagging hunger they both felt.
It had always been this way with him. Whenever he was near, she’d been almost overtaken by this fierce craving for him. It had been an unfamiliar and alien feeling that before their night together she hadn’t understood.
She did now, though. It was powerful sexual desire.
She wanted him to touch her, kiss her, be inside her.
She wanted him so badly she couldn’t breathe.
But sex had created this problem, which meant that more sex was hardly the solution. She had to control herself and not give in. Put more distance between them not less.
‘I’ll manage,’ she forced out.
The heat in his eyes nearly burned her alive, but he didn’t move. Then his gaze shifted. ‘Ah, Constanza. Please show the Crown Princess to the Mountain Suite. I assume you have found appropriate clothing for her to wear?’
Behind Lia, a woman said in low tones, ‘Yes, Excellency.’
‘Good.’ His hard mouth curved slightly as his gaze shifted back to her, but there was no amusement in it this time. It was the half-feral smile of a starving tiger who’d just sighted prey. ‘Turn around,princesa. You do not want to ruin that gown and you will if you’re not careful. Constanza would help, but she has bad arthritis and those buttons are very small.’
Ah, God, this was a challenge wasn’t it? And she’d never been able to resist the challenges he’d thrown at her...
Don’t forget that the power isn’t all with him. You have that same power, too.
Another thing she wouldn’t have understood three months ago, if she hadn’t been in his bed.
But she had and she knew that the same desire she felt for him, he also felt for her and that she could use it. She could tempt him every bit as much as he was tempting her.
It wasn’t the wisest course of action right now, not when she’d already decided to maintain her distance from him, not get closer. But he’d kidnapped her from her own wedding. She was trapped in his house and he was trying to make her marry him and really, if she wanted to get brutal about it, he was also using their baby to manipulate her.
It was time to turn the tables.
Hunger gleamed in his eyes and a dizzying excitement caught at her. She’d never had the opportunity to flirt with him like this. To tease him, tempt him. She’d been too innocent before.
Yet she wasn’t innocent now and there was nothing to stop them, so why not?
It didn’t mean giving in. All it meant was giving him a taste of his own medicine.
‘In that case,’ she said huskily and turned around, presenting her back to him, ‘you may deal with the buttons.’
