Page 22 of Bound by a One-Night Vow

Gianna smiled. ‘I will leave you to settle in. Would you like tea or coffee, a cool drink?’

‘Tea would be lovely, but I’ll come downstairs. You don’t have to wait on me.’

‘It is no trouble,’ Gianna said. ‘After all, you are the first woman Andrea has brought here to stay. That must count for something, no?’

* * *

The first woman he’d brought here to stay... It was hard not to feel a twinge of delight to think Andrea’s private sanctuary had never been shared with one of his casual lovers. Why did he keep himself so separate from others? Surely it was a little unusual to spend so much time alone? No wonder the housekeeper was in such raptures about Izzy’s arrival as his ‘bride’. But it didn’t mean he cared about her. Yes, he was honourable and had stepped up to help her claim her inheritance by marrying her according to the terms of her father’s will. And he had made a promise to keep their marriage on paper so there would be a less complicated cessation of it when the time was up.

Why then was Izzy wondering if their marriage could be more than that? Had the housekeeper’s romantic fantasy nonsense brushed off on her?

She looked at the adjoining door and suppressed a shiver. She moved across the room and touched the brass key sticking out of the lock. Her fingers curled around it and she gave it a single turn but, instead of locking the door, it unlocked with an audible click.

She held her breath for a moment and watched her hand going to the doorknob as if it belonged to someone else. She turned the doorknob and the door opened into a large suite that overlooked the coast below as well as a sweep of the wooded hills and rocky outcrops on the other side. The suite smelt faintly masculine—the hint of warm citrus and cool cedar she couldn’t help associating with Andrea. The décor was cream and white with black and gold trimmings that gave the room a regal air.

Izzy’s eyes strayed to the king-sized bed and her head swam with images of his tanned naked body lying against the pristine white of the sheets. She went over to the bed and trailed her fingers across the nearest pillow. No one else had shared this bed with him. No one. What did that mean? That he valued his privacy. That he came here to get away from the prying eyes of the press. It didn’t mean that Izzy held any special significance in his life. She was a temporary wife to solve his problem as well as her own.

The main door of the master suite opened and Andrea came in. He closed the door behind him, his eyes locking on hers with dark lustrous intensity. ‘I hope you’re not letting Gianna’s happy-ever-after fantasy mess with your head.’

It wasn’t just her head that was getting messed with—her whole body was full of restless longing. ‘I was just checking the lock.’ Izzy waved her hand back towards the connecting door.

‘I told Gianna to put you in a suite further down the corridor.’

‘Was that for my benefit or yours?’

His eyes darkened to black ink. ‘Both.’

Izzy’s tummy tingled at the thought of him trying to keep his distance. It was thrilling to think he was as tempted as she was to put aside their on-paper marriage and indulge in a red-hot affair. ‘Gianna told me I’m the first woman you’ve ever brought here to stay.’

He gave a rough-sounding laugh. ‘It would look odd if I didn’t bring you here since we’re married, would it not?’

‘I think Gianna thinks you’re secretly in love with me and me with you.’

His gaze became even more direct. ‘And are you?’

It was Izzy’s turn to laugh but she didn’t quite pull it off with the same convincing ease. ‘Of course not.’

He gave a stiff on-off smile. ‘Better keep it that way.’

Izzy tossed her hair back behind her shoulders. ‘Don’t worry. I have no intention of falling in love with you.’

‘But you want me.’ His gaze went to her mouth and back to her eyes in a heartbeat. ‘Don’t you, cara?’

Izzy swallowed, her heart kicking up its pace the longer he held her gaze with the searing probe of his. Desire throbbed in the air like an electrical current. She felt it zinging along her flesh, up and down her spine, pooling in a cave of molten heat between her thighs. ‘We agreed this was going to be a hands-off arrangement.’ Why had her voice betrayed her by coming out so breathy and husky?

Andrea came to stand in front of her—every pore of her body was acutely, desperately aware of him. His eyes dipped to her mouth and a wave of longing swept through her at the thought of his hard possessive mouth taking hers captive. His hand came up and cradled the side of her face. It was such a tender caress, a disarming resolve-melting touch that made her desire for him escalate even further. His thumb moved across her cheek in a slow-moving stroke that made her skin tingle and her heart skip a beat. ‘You shouldn’t have come in here.’ His voice was a deep bass with a grace note of gravel.

Izzy licked her suddenly bone-dry lips, her gaze flicking to the lazy curve of his mouth. ‘You should have locked and bolted the door on your side.’

He inched up her chin, meshing his gaze with hers in a sensually charged lock that made her stomach swoop. ‘I’m trying to do the right thing by you, but you keep making it so damn difficult.’ His thumb brushed over her lower lip, sending hot little pulses of delight through her sensitive skin. ‘A sexual relationship between us will only complicate things.’

Izzy sent her tongue over where his thumb had just been and tasted his saltiness on her lip. ‘I’m not asking you to sleep with me.’

A glint of cynicism lit his eyes. ‘Are you not?’

She lowered her gaze from the probe of his, but looking at his mouth made her desire for him all the more intense. ‘I’m not sure what I’m asking...’ It was a lie. She knew exactly what she was asking. What she wanted. What she craved. Him.

He brought up her chin and meshed his gaze with hers. ‘If we slept together it would only be for the duration of our marriage. You do understand that, don’t you?’

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