Bronwyn Scott's Sexy Regency Bundle (105 page)

70

Seduction

of hair back from his face and absently stroked his brow.

"I had a dream. It was of a place I didn't recognize and people I didn't

you.

Then I dreamed about the ship, I think, the night it went

Elena's stroking stopped for a moment and then resumed. "It was just a dream," she said in the dark, curling up against him. "We're both safe now and that's all that matters. The past is not as important as you think."

Alejandro welcomed the

of her body.

He could feel her slipping back into sleep. They would wake up together tomorrow in the same they'd awakened his first morning home: naked and in each other's

In and of itself

that was a rare gift indeed, to be married to someone you loved so completely. Perhaps Elena was right. Perhaps what mattered most wasn't the past they'd had together but the present and the they would build together.

Elena spent the morning on her knees in the chapel. Her prayer was a short, fervent one:

"please don't let him remember, not yet." This was followed by

of penance: "Please forgive

me for my deception. There was no other way."

Everything had gone so well with Don Alicante in spite of his parting

Alejandro

Scott

had been spectacular in her defense, so virile and protective. No champion of old could have done better. She'd been worried when Don Alicante had accused her of trying to defraud him. But andro had been quick in his righteous anger to silence the man's suspicions.

But it was that righteousness that was at the of her guilt this morning. He'd stood up for her because he'd believed she was the wronged party. She was, but not in the way he thought.

And she was far

She'd taken

advantage of a man who didn't know who he was and had filled his head with a false identity by roping him into playing a false role without his consent. Worse, she had done this to a man who loved her, or thought he loved her.

His feelings for her were another tangle.

She'd told him he was her husband and she'd given him husbandly rights. But did he love her because he thought he should? Would he have loved her anyway without the trappings of the make-believe world she'd given him?

For her part, Elena knew it would be so easy to love him. It would be easy to pretend their marriage was real. What would it be like to be married to such a man, a man who was devoted to her as a fierce protector, a passionate lover, a partner in the practicalities of life?

72

's Seduction

Even now he was protecting her, visiting friends in the village and letting everyone know he was home so that Don Alicante couldn't let unfounded gossip loose in the village.

Elena rose, conscious that she should be more with her prayers.

all, she'd gotten

what she prayed for-deliverance

Don

Alicante. But that deliverance had come with a price she'd not anticipated: her own emotions. She was falling in love with the man she'd deceived into playing her husband.

And after his dreams last night, she was certain his memory was going to return. And when it did, his righteous anger was going to be on her.

And then who would protect her? Elena was not fool enough to think the past had been defeated so easily.

might not have

reason to take Don Alicante's threats seriously, but she did. Now she was fighting on two She had to fend off Alicante's impending investigation and she had to prepare herself for a time when Alejandro's memory

She was

keenly reminded of the old war adage-win the battle, lose the war. It was clear that she wasn't out of the woods yet.

Chapter 15

At times, she couldn't decide what was worse: facing the next potential obstacle immediately, head

or the waiting and wondering

threat

would ever materialize. Alejandro continued to dream at night, but so far the dreams had not led to his retrieval of any memories. She hadn't had any word

Don Alicante, but she knew the

don had made at least one trip into Santiago de Compostela and had men scour the coastal villages looking for clues. He was building his case, looking for evidence. All she could do was pray he didn't find any.

Meanwhile, their lives fell into a pleasant routine and Elena found it increasingly easier to push away the dark clouds that hovered on the rim of their paradise. She could almost forget that it hadn't been any other way. Days became weeks.

April became May and then June. Her guilt over what she'd done to keep the pazo safe from Don Alicante weighed less heavily on her mind.