Page 31 of Shock Marriage for the Powerful Spaniard
In Rafael’s house, with the duvet cover loosely draped over her, because she had obviously kicked it off at some point during the night.
Her half-closed eyes peeped from beneath the duvet but she was already registering what she wanted her startled eyes to confirm. The lilac dress had been removed, as had the shoes she’d been wearing when she had been deposited on the bed.
No bra! But then, she hadn’t been wearing one. Her underwear, the lacy thong for her eyes only, was still there...
With a groan of horror, she began sitting up...and there he was, a dark shadow in a chair next to the bed.
He’d dragged over the chair by the dressing table and positioned it so that he could stretch out his long legs. His hands were linked loosely and his computer was on the ground next to him. She could see the dull flicker of the screen, which had gone into sleep mode.
Was he asleep? Awake? Something in the middle? He’d changed into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
She’d begun to sink back under the duvet when, as calmly as if he were continuing a conversation they’d only just been having, ‘You’re awake. How’s the head?’
‘What are youdoinghere?’ She shuffled into an upright position, making sure that the duvet was tightly tucked around her, although she could feel the press of her bare breasts against the silky cotton.
‘You were sick during the night.’
‘I wasn’t!’ Had she been?
‘Too much alcohol. Happens.’
‘You took my dress off.’
‘I took your dress off. One of us had to do it and it wasn’t going to be you.’
‘How could you?’ she half-sobbed.
‘Sofia, you were half-asleep and clawing at it because you were uncomfortable. No one can sleep in something that’s as close-fitting as a second skin. You’re probably embarrassed, but you don’t have to be. You’re not the first naked woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.’
Sofia drew her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them, wishing, more than anything else that he would just disappear—poof, like a genie heading back into the bottle where he belonged.
It was okay for him—so she was just another half-naked female body!—but it wasn’t okayforher. This wasn’t supposed to have happened.
‘I’ve never felt so mortified in my entire life!’ she all but wailed, then froze as he levered himself up and moved to sit on the bed right next to her.
‘I didn’t lay a finger on you,’ Rafael said roughly. He shifted and she drew back.
‘That’s not the point. I wouldn’t have expected you to. It’s not as though you’re attracted to me. But I just hate the thought of...of...’
‘Notattracted to you?’ Rafael laughed shortly. ‘What ever gave youthatidea? And you don’t get to clam up on me this time and go into hiding because you’re finding the conversation you started a little uncomfortable. Have you looked in a mirror recently, Sofia? Do you have any idea how sexy you are? Especially in a dress that was made to be torn off.’
‘Made to betorn off?’
‘I saw you walking towards me and I discovered what it felt like to forget how to breathe.’
‘You don’t mean that!’
‘I was attracted to you the first time I ever set eyes on you.’
‘You weren’t, Rafael.’ Her nerves were racing and she knew,she knew, that she shouldn’t be having this conversation, because it was as dangerous as throwing a match onto tinder, but she couldn’t help herself.
And sheliked it. Liked hearing what he was saying.
‘You went out to Argentina to check me out, to see whether I would pass muster for the rich father I’d never met. You pretended...’
‘Pretended that I was attracted to you? Hate to burst the bubble of self-righteous hostility, Sofia, but I’m not that good an actor.’
Sofia could barely breathe. She was spellbound by the intense glitter in his dark eyes, mesmerised by his softly spoken words. She didn’t know whether he was saying stuff he wanted her to hear, but why would he do that? What would be the point?
