Bronwyn Scott's Sexy Regency Bundle (101 page)

's Seduction

sincerity that

her. The straight set of

his shoulders suggested not only strength but confidence in his own sense of rightness.

She wished he was for real. Oh, he was a real man alright-in bed that was quite obvious. But he wasn't really her husband. She'd dressed him up in

clothes and taught him

Alejandro's life. He even believed it and accepted it. But then he'd had no choice in the matter, and when it came right down to it, neither had she. But that didn't mean she wasn't racked with guilt about perpetuating his belief that he was Alejandro di Duero. She was deliberately entangling him in a plot without his knowledge or consent. What would he do if she told him the truth? Staring in the mirror at him, she contemplated it for a moment. No, such a man had strictly defined ideas about right and wrong. He would not be forgiving.

"Don't worry. We have nothing to fear this man." He kissed her neck again, sending delicious tremors to her stomach.

We. They.
After a year of I and
me
her vocabulary had

quite drastically in the last

few days. There was an

sense of relief

that she was no longer in this alone. Someone else fought beside her. She gave him a tremulous smile in the mirror. It would be easy, too easy, to love

Scott

him. Not simply because he shared her burden but because of who he was, a man of strength and honor.

They would receive Don Alicante in the room of the pazo. It was the most

room of

the house, less given to the

needs of the

seaside and more imbued with the

of city

living. Alejandro watched the gentle of

Elena's neck as she calmly plied her needle to some delicate embroidery. Her placid demeanor belied none of the nerves he knew she possessed over this meeting.

Such calmness was not for him. He was anxious to meet this man who'd dared to threaten his wife, to prey on someone in a weaker state for the sake of personal advantage. Alejandro paced the length of the big room, studying its details.

Long deep-gold curtains hung at the windows.

large, aging but well-kept carpet dominated the center of the room. At one end, a carved oak mantle set off the fireplace and it gathered the room's

dark blue

brocaded sofa and two chairs.

couple of

mediocre oil paintings of the Spanish coast decorated the cream walls. Alejandro thought it was a pleasant room, not too ostentatious yet it spoke of the secure financial status of its owner.

's Seduction

That was him of course-he was the owner.

This was his room, his house. But such a claim still resonated oddly with him. He was familiar with the home's layout and style. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he was a stranger here.

Nothing in the house

right.

But he assured himself for the millionth time that such familiarity would come when his memory returned. In the meantime, he had Elena.

His wife had filled in the gaps in his memory admirably yesterday. Thanks to her, he knew the names of his friends in the village. He knew about Don Alicante. He knew about his childhood spent in the village and of all the myriad things one should know about oneself, even the less pleasant aspects of one's nature.

He had been stung to

of his own

failings. He'd had a regrettable tendency to be wishing to pursue his own pleasures instead of his wife's. He'd apologized to Elena several times, but she'd brushed those apologies aside saying it had been his right to choose as he had.

andro disagreed. Such choices hadn't felt right at all. He didn't want to believe he had been capable of putting himself first so thoroughly.

Which was why he was so

now to

ease Elena's worries over Alicante and banish him their lives for good. He tamped down his