Claiming My Bride Of Convenience

Which, of course, had been what I wanted too. Still wanted. It was just that his contrary kiss had rocked me for a second. I was already recovering—or so I told myself.

I lifted my chin, heedless of the tears that I knew still sparkled in my eyes. ‘Come on, Matteo. You’ve made it very clear that you don’t find me…desirable.’ Stupidly, it hurt to say the words out loud.

Matteo gave me a smugly amused look, his lips curving, a surprising dimple appearing in one cheek. I realised I’d never actually seen him smile before—not properly.

‘I think I just proved to you otherwise.’

‘You were proving something,’ I agreed, unable to keep hurt from lacing every word. ‘But I think it had more to do with power than need.’

The dark slashes of his eyebrows drew together in a frown. ‘What is that supposed to mean?’

‘You didn’t want me going ahead with an annulment…doing something that isn’t sanctioned and signed off by you. I get it.’

I shook my head, suddenly exhausted, both emotionally and physically, with the aftershocks of his touch still zinging through me. It had taken all my emotional reserves to survive this encounter, after three years of peace and quiet and solitude.

What had I been thinking, coming here with my request? Knowing Matteo Dias would refuse it? Because I realised that while I still longed for a child, a family, the need as deep and fervent as ever, I didn’t have the strength to fight my husband for my freedom. Not when he held all the cards and had all the power.

‘You think that’s why I kissed you?’ Matteo demanded, sounding irritated by the idea.

I raised my shoulders in a weary shrug. ‘Are you saying differently—that you were suddenly overcome by passion for me and couldn’t control yourself?’ I let out a humourless laugh. ‘As if.’

Matteo’s frown deepened and he didn’t reply. His narrowed gaze was assessing and, I feared, would dismiss me in the space of a few seconds.

‘No, of course not,’ he said finally. ‘Don’t be absurd.’

His words should have vindicated me, but they only deflated me further. Of course that hadn’t been the case. He’d just been using me to prove a point—and suddenly I couldn’t bear it. I thought of the loathsome Chris Dawson again, the look of revulsion on his face as I stumbled away.

Do you honestly think you’re worth that much, sweetheart? You’re deluded.

I thought I’d wised up since then, but I could see now that I was still under the most unbearable delusion—thinking that someone like Matteo Dias would agree to my plan and bend to my will, even desire me as a woman, rather than make me a point to be proved.

In that moment I couldn’t fathom why I had come here at all. Had it simply been a perfect storm of memory and loss? The anniversary of my parents’ death, the marriage of my closest friend back on Amanos, the feeling that, as happy and busy as I was, I was still alone?

I was always alone, and I would always be alone as long as I was married to this man.

‘Never mind, Matteo.’ I choked the words out, wanting only to escape his ruthless, arrogant sneer and get to the solitude and safety of my hotel room. ‘I’ve changed my mind. I’ll stay married to you. For another year, at least.’

I whirled around far too fast in my slinky dress and towering heels. I started to stumble and I gasped, flinging my hands out to break my inevitable fall, but then Matteo steadied me, his hands warm and firm on my shoulders.

‘Daisy…’ he said in a low voice.

He sounded…what? Sad? Apologetic? Or just exasperated at the fact that he’d had to deal with me at all and that I wasn’t doing as he bade?

‘I’ll leave for Amanos in the morning,’ I said, and, wrenching myself out of his arms, I hurried blindly from the room.

CHAPTER FOUR (#u8356f64c-c608-555c-b50d-deb21af6943d)

WHAT HAD JUST HAPPENED?

Daisy had left—that was what. And I had kissed her. A shockingly pleasurable kiss that had left me aching in a way I hadn’t in a long time. In fact, in living memory.

I released a shuddering breath as I raked a hand through my hair, my heart thudding a little too hard for my liking. And yet I also felt invigorated, fully alive, as if that kiss had shocked something dormant inside me and sprung it into life.

I was pulsing with both memory and desire even as I was trying to make sense of Daisy’s words, her hurt. She thought I didn’t desire her, when surely even the most innocent woman would have realised that I obviously did. And yet I had been as surprised by my desire as Daisy had—if not more so. I’d never expected to want the woman, and certainly not in the way that I had—with explosive and alarming force, as if a tsunami had crashed over the both of us, pulling us under.

I might have started to kiss her to prove a point, but it had become something else entirely. Something outrageous and overwhelming—even now I was half tempted to chase after her and prove to her just how much I desired her and how much she desired me. I’d felt it in the way her mouth had opened under mine, her hands pulling at my shoulders, drawing me to her.

The memory alone was enough to send heat searing through my body, and I took a step forward before I stilled.

No. I did not chase after women. And certainly not the likes of Daisy, wife or not. I should be relieved that she clearly regretted her ridiculous impulse to ask for an annulment. She’d leave for Amanos in the morning, and if I had my preference I’d never see her again—which was how I’d always wanted it.

So why did the prospect unsettle me? It almost made me feel guilty—as if I’d treated Daisy badly, when I knew I had not. I had given her a fortune, a home to live in, and required nothing from her save that she stay put. If she was no longer satisfied with the arrangement we’d agreed on, that was her fault—not mine.

And yet…I couldn’t get the image of her out of my mind. The ridiculous red dress that had highlighted her figure in such a breathtaking display, her cloud of light brown hair and the fractured hurt in her topaz eyes. And the reality was pressing in on me that I would need an heir. A proper wife. And the one I currently had might actually fit the bill. After all, Daisy had been happy enough with our convenient marriage. Why shouldn’t she be satisfied with what I had to offer her now—the ability to have a child, a family of her own? She could even stay on Amanos, as was her preference. And my own life wouldn’t have to change—at least not much.

Could it be that simple? Was it what I really wanted?

Mulling it over, I headed back to the party.

‘Matteo, you’ve been gone for ages.’

A skinny arm wound through my own as my companion for the evening pouted prettily up at me, no doubt thinking she looked seductive rather than petulant. I stared down at her, trying to remember her name.

‘Matteo?’

‘I had some business to take care of.’

I reached for a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter’s tray and drained it in one long swallow. Daisy’s image was still flashing behind my eyes. Those hurt eyes. Why did they unsettle me so much? I’d managed to completely forget Daisy for three years. Why couldn’t I get her out of my mind now?

‘Business?’

The woman whose name I couldn’t remember deepened her pout, making her look like a sulky child. Did she honestly think that was alluring, or that I would care? I gazed down at her expertly made-up face and registered the calculation in her eyes.

As if on cue, she nestled closer to me.

‘This party’s rather dull, isn’t it? How about we go upstairs?’

She gave me a knowingly seductive look that normally would have had me smiling just as knowingly back, but for some reason it made my stomach clench and my body recoil. I didn’t want this woman. I wanted another one—with topaz eyes and a ridiculous red dress.

‘Matteo…?’

On any other evening I would have taken up this woman’s offer—and gladly. I’d arranged my marriage to satisfy my grandfather’s vindictive demand and also to grant me the minimum of inconvenience—and for the last three years I had been inconvenienced very little indeed. Yet now I thought of the paltry pleasures available to me and realised how little they appealed.

It was a strange thought, but I realised it was not a new one. Those pleasures had been palling for some time, and it had simply taken one shocking encounter with my wayward wife to make me realise it.

‘I’m busy tonight,’ I told the woman—Veronique, I’d remembered—and watched, unmoved, as her mouth dropped open in surprise and then her eyes narrowed.

‘It’s not that frumpy tramp, is it?’ she asked.