AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His rich brown eyes skewered her, and her heart rate kicked up, thready and overwrought. It was a terrifying sensation, as if he could see everything she wanted to remain hidden for ever.
‘Nothing important, then.’
‘Sometimes there’s nothing more important than kissing.’
The air in the room grew thick with possibility. Surely he didn’t mean her? They hadn’t kissed, but that could be put down to part of their agreement. It must be someone else. Someone worldly. Passionate. A woman he could take up with again after a respectable time. The sort of woman he could fall in love with. Not her. Too young, inexperienced...unwanted. That realisation sliced through her, with something almost like pain. The ache in her head intensifying. She rubbed at her temple again, trying not to think about it.
‘What’s plaguing you, Lise?’
‘Nothing.’ Nothing she could tell him about. Nothing that wouldn’t condemn her, though she didn’t know why his good opinion mattered. All she needed was to get away from him and the way he affected her. The pounding heartbeats, which made her head throb ever harder. ‘Except this headache.’
‘We’d better not let the staff discover your malady, not today.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The clichéd excuse for avoiding a husband’s advances.Not tonight, dear, I have a headache.On the wedding night too. They’ll all be wondering about the antics in this room on what’s supposed to be the happiest night of our lives.’
She shrugged. ‘Maybe they’ll assume we both have a headache because they realise it’s not the happiest night for either of us and their supposition will end there.’
‘I’m not known for my headaches.’
‘I applaud your pain-free status.’
‘What few people realise...’ Rafe leaned forwards with a conspiratorial whisper, his muscular shoulders pressing at the fine white cotton of his shirt ‘...is that orgasms are a recognised cure. So a headache shouldn’t be an excuse for avoiding sex, but an incentive to have it.’
How that three-letter word,sex, slipped from his mouth. Accentuated by his voice, deep and tempting, as if it held a wealth of meaning. Once, all she’d dreamed of was a moment when he might hold her, make love to her... A product of her foolish imagination and naïve, romantic dreams. She’d never held any kind of meaning to him. It was the position he wanted, not her. Lise cast aside those thoughts. Rolled her eyes. ‘I can see men all over the globe using that line. And there’s nothing more to say on the subject.’
‘Headaches, or orgasms?’
‘The latter.’
‘Shame.’ Rafe considered her through steepled fingers. ‘The tea hasn’t helped?’
She peered down into her cup, at the dregs of liquid there. ‘With my headache?’
A few random leaves settled in the bottom of the fine porcelain. If someone could divine her future from them, what would it hold? She suspected nothing good...
‘Yes. If it gave you orgasms, I’d be the wealthiest man on the planet rather than the wealthiest in Europe.’
Rafe sat back and threaded his hands behind his head as if he was getting comfortable. As if he had no plans to leave. She needed him to go, so she could spend her wedding night trying to forget who she’d married andwhy.
‘Ifyou were given the recipe,’ she said. ‘Which you weren’t because your mother doesn’t trust you and neither do I.’
That seemed to catch his attention. Rafe stopped lounging and straightened. His eyes narrowed. ‘In this place I’m theoneperson you can trust. I wish you’d realise that.’
Once, she might have believed it. Not now. She placed her cup and saucer on a side table and smoothed damp palms on her black trousers.
‘A trustworthy man wouldn’t have feigned interest in me when all the while the deal for my hand was being sealed as a fait accompli.’ Her jaw clenched hard. How it galled her, the things his attention made her believe. ‘That charade was cruel.’
He narrowed his gaze, assessing and intent. ‘My interest was not feigned.’
But he didn’t deny the charade. Lise closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Tears burning behind her eyelids.
‘I can’t do this, not today,’ she said. More to herself than anyone else but she hoped he listened since she didn’t have the energy to fight him. Not now.
‘I’m sorry, I’ve been trying to lighten the mood and you’re suffering. Do you need painkillers?’
She looked up at him and shook her head. ‘I’ve taken some. Nothing’s working on this headache and right now I’d do anything to get rid of it.’
