Page 9 of Forbidden Noble
“Should there be anyone who has cause for why this couple should not be united in marriage…”
For one second she imagined Max might barge into the lovely ceremony, but nothing happened. She whispered, “Guess we were smart in not inviting anyone.”
Astorre met her gaze with a brightness in his expression she rarely saw. The captain said, “Today we have come together to join your two lives. Today, you’re whisked out of the routine of ordinary life, and into the extraordinary, right here, right now. You met each other, fell in love, and are finalizing it with this wedding. A good marriage is your next chore that must be created. You’re never too old to hold hands, and remember to say I love you every day…”
Most of the ceremony was a blur of her reciting "I do" as she was here, about to be kissed, finally. The captain finished and said, “You may now kiss the bride.”
Maybe she should tell him. Her lips parted and eyes closed as she said, “Astorre…”
“After, my love.”
“Okay,” she managed to say as her body was tight with hope…and then his lips captured hers.
His kiss made her forget everything else but to hold him tighter.
Heaven help her…now that she'd been kissed by Astorre she’d never be the same.
Chapter 4
Astorre stared at the gold band on his ring finger as his new wife walked beside him to their upgraded room on the permanently parked cruise ship.
The promise to be faithful, to honor and cherish her, stuck in his head. What if he had his father’s evil inside him?
It was better to remain friendly with Clara than offer her falsehoods he’d never be able to live up to. They reached their door; he scooped her up in one arm and carried her over the threshold to their room.
At last they were alone. He let her down and locked the door. “Clara?”
“Yes?” She batted innocent brown eyes that made him pause. How she'd trembled in his arms and seemed to exude light from their simple kiss rocketed in his mind. He kept his voice low, but asked in all seriousness, “Was that your first kiss?”
Her sweet face flushed like he'd caught her red-handed--she'd avoided his question earlier rather than admit the truth. “How did you know?”
The blush faded, leaving her with a golden aura. That sounded silly. He took off his tie. “It’s in… how you glow. How is that possible?”
No beautiful woman he’d ever met was that pure. The idea was overwhelming though Americans were different with stricter moral codes on strange things. Was she secretly religious? He didn’t know, but he waited for her as she rocked on her heels.
Clara sucked in her painted lip on her pretty face though she was a rare jewel and just as pretty without any makeup on. She let her pinkish lip go and shrugged. “Until I hopped on a plane with my best friend, taking the place of her horrible fiancé, I wasn’t considered-”
“Don’t say attractive,” he said, as that was the opposite of true. Any man would notice right away her slight curves and clear skin that glowed without artifice. She let out a snort but he continued, “Clara, I can guarantee that’s not true.”
She lowered her shoulders and put her wedding bouquet on the coffee table in their suite, then kicked off her satin slippers and placed them next to her washed pink sneakers on the rack by the door. “Well, thank you, but I’m on the skinny side and until recently I had a horrible haircut.”
Men liked all types of women’s curves. Clara was tall for a woman, slender, and sweet. There were a lot of men out there who'd want her whole package. “None of that would stop a man-”
“I wanted my first kiss to be special,” she admitted.
His gaze narrowed. “Was this a religious thing?”
She unhooked the lace train of her dress from her arm and avoided his gaze. “Influenced maybe, as my grandmother dragged me to Church, but I wasn’t planning on being a nun or anything like that.”
Clara was absolutely the wrong woman for him. Hersurpriseswere meant for some other man, someone much better than he’d ever be.
The world had expected him to turn into a monster, like his father, and maybe they were all right. If so, Clara was in more danger than anyone as his wife. He took off his suit jacket. “We agreed to marry for monetary reasons and friendship.”
She stood taller and her chin lifted. “It was still probably my only wedding so I figured that was special.”
He unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt so he could breathe freely but it didn’t help. His skin buzzed with adrenaline as he massaged the back of his scalp. “Clara, I don’t want to disappoint you.”
She walked over and placed her hand on his chest. “You haven’t.”
