AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘You feel dizzy because too much alcohol in your blood can affect your balance. The best thing will be to go to bed, but you can’t sleep in your dress. If you don’t want me to take it off, I’ll call a maid to come and help you.’
Eleanor was tempted to take the coward’s way out. To delay the inevitable. She was sure that when Jace saw her scar his desire for her would cool rapidly from fiery hot to cold ashes. But perhaps it was better this way. He had said she was beautiful, but he would discover the truth and then they could continue with their marriage as planned—a business arrangement, nothing more.
‘Let’s get this over with,’ she muttered, turning around so that she was facing the dressing table.
‘I’ve had more encouraging invitations,’ he said drily.
‘I don’t doubt it.’ She remembered a stunning brunette at the wedding who had introduced herself as a member of Jace’s finance team. Angeliki had made it clear she hoped for a more personal role in his life.
‘Hold your hair up.’ Jace’s breath felt warm on her neck when she obeyed. She felt his fingers at the top of her dress as he worked on the buttons. Lower and lower he went, and now she was aware of the two sides of the bodice separating to reveal...
His breath hissed between his teeth. He did not say a word, but she saw his shocked expression in the mirror. Tears welled in Eleanor’s eyes, but she forced herself to stand unmoving while he continued to open her dress down to her waist.
‘Now you know,’ she choked. ‘I’m hideous.’
‘No...’
‘Yes!’She jerked away from him. ‘You don’t have to pretend that you’re not horrified by my scar. I saw your face in the mirror. You think I’m repulsive.’ Tears streamed down her face and her shoulders shook with the force of her sobs. This was the moment she had dreaded. Jace’s shocked silencehurt.
‘You can have any woman you want. Beautiful, perfect women with unblemished bodies. Why on earth would you want me?’ She gulped air into her lungs. Her close-fitting wedding dress was constricting, and its beauty mocked her. ‘Go away, Jace,’ she whispered brokenly.
‘I’m not going anywhere,matia mou.’ Jace kept his voice unemotional, recognising that Eleanor’s emotions were on a knife-edge. He could not deny he’d been shocked when he had uncovered her scar. But repulsed? Never. His insides twisted as he remembered the pain in her voice when she’d insisted that her scar made her ugly.
He had been rendered breathless by her loveliness at his first sight of her wearing her bridal gown. In the run up to the wedding he had been constantly aware of her. She had obviously followed his advice that she would need a new wardrobe for when they were married, although she’d refused to allow him to pay for her clothes. But seeing her in sexy outfits which showed off her fantastic figure had ratcheted up his desire.
The nights had been worse, knowing that she was in bed in the room adjoining his. Knowing too that the desire that made his body ache was mutual. Chemistry had simmered between them and his libido had been eagerly anticipating their wedding night.
Jace hadn’t realised that Eleanor had drunk way too much champagne at the reception, and he guessed she was unused to drinking a lot of alcohol. He felt a tug in his chest as he stared at her tear-stained face. ‘You can barely stand upright,’ he said softly. ‘Let’s get you into bed. Where do you keep your nightwear?’
She pointed to a drawer and he opened it and pulled out a wisp of black silk. Colour stormed into her face when he held up the seductive negligee. ‘Not that one, obviously,’ she muttered.
‘Why obviously?’
‘A sexy nightdress won’t change what I am.’
‘And what do you think you are?’
‘Disfigured. That’s what a boyfriend called me when he saw my back.’ She rubbed her hand across her face. ‘Tony was in the sixth form at school. I’d fancied him for ages, and I couldn’t believe it when he asked me out. We went on a couple of dates and he seemed to really like me.’
Her voice dropped so low that Jace had to strain to hear her. ‘We went to a pool party at another friend’s house. I felt nervous about wearing a bikini, but everyone was having fun in the pool...so I took my shirt off. When Tony saw my scar, he said it...it was disgusting. In front of all my friends he told me to put my shirt back on because my scar was repulsive.’
Jace swore. ‘The guy was a crass idiot. I assume you broke off your relationship after he was so insensitive?’
‘He dumped me right there at the party,’ she said flatly. ‘I felt so embarrassed. But he was right. My scar is an ugly disfigurement, which is why I keep it covered up.’
A red mist obliterated every thought in Jace’s head as rage pumped through him and he clenched his fists. The one and only time he’d resorted to physical violence to defend his best friend had resulted in him being sent to prison. But he would willingly serve a life sentence if he could spend five minutes with the young punk who had cruelly destroyed Eleanor’s self-confidence. Jace was taken aback by a feeling of protectiveness that he had never experienced before.
‘You wore a high-neck swimming costume on the cruise around the northern islands.’ He remembered she had looked wistfully at some colourful bikinis in a street market on Lemnos, but she’d refused his offer to buy one for her.
She nodded. ‘I was flattered by your attention. You made me feel attractive, but I was afraid you would be put off by my scar.’
It was little wonder that Eleanor had fled from his hotel room in Paris after she’d overheard him tell Takis why he had asked her to be his wife, Jace acknowledged grimly. She had already suffered with low self-esteem and his behaviour must have felt like a betrayal. Guilt left a bitter taste in his mouth. He looked away from her vulnerable expression and took an oversized tee shirt out of the drawer.
She held out her hand for the shirt. ‘Will you please turn around?’
Jace forbore from mentioning that he had seen her naked breasts before. He crossed the room and drew back the bedcovers, ready for Eleanor to climb into bed. She groaned as she lay back against the pillows.
He turned the lamp’s dimmer switch to its lowest setting and pulled a chair closer to the bed before he sat down and stretched his long legs out in front of him. ‘How did you get your scar—some kind of accident?’ he asked gently.
