The Blackmailed Bride (11 page)

‘My manner was a little terse when you arrived because I do not like to be kept waiting…' This conciliatory tack made Kate wary. ‘I think it's quite useful for you to know
little details like this; it builds up a picture of familiarity…intimacy.'

‘Intimacy…!'
She laughed, her scorn more fierce because the mental link of intimacy and Javier stirred up an unsettling mess of confusing feelings deep in her stomach. ‘If you think I'm ever going to be able to act cosy with you, you're a deeply deluded man,' she observed pityingly.

‘But you will try…' he replied, with a hint of steel in his voice.

‘It was part of the agreement,' she conceded uneasily.

‘Just so long as you don't forget it…'

‘Don't you dare threaten or…'

‘Or what…?' Javier immediately regretted that he'd allowed her to goad him into this taunt.

Kate felt her temper rise. They both knew the answer; she could do nothing. Flushing darkly she looked away.

‘And while we're talking manners I think your own might need a little modification also…?' he suggested drily as he turned the ignition.

‘What's wrong with my manner?'

‘You are petulant, confrontational and cranky,' he enumerated calmly.

‘Well, that's one of those
little details
you should know about me. I'm always
cranky
when I'm being coerced into marrying a loathsome man I deeply despise. A man who will stoop to any depths in his pathetic pursuit of power and money—'

‘Enough!' Javier's savage exclamation sliced through her furious diatribe.
‘Madre mia,'
he snarled, his air of faint indulgence vanishing as his patience snapped. ‘You will not speak to me in that manner.'

‘
Really!
I thought it helped build up a picture of intimacy?' she returned innocently.

‘Por Dios!'
he breathed.

Kate felt the beginning of a guilty backlash to her nas
tiness as she watched him lean back in his seat. Pressing his head into the head rest, he closed his eyes and, with an expression of frustration on his face, dragged a hand through his dark hair.

She sighed as her sense of fair play kicked in hard… You'll probably regret this, she told herself as she cleared her throat. ‘I'm sorry.'

He looked up, startled, at the soft apology.

‘I'm not being fair. I didn't have to agree to marry you…it was my decision.' She sniffed and searched for a non-existent tissue. ‘Thank you,' she murmured as a freshly laundered handkerchief was pressed into her sweaty palm. ‘You dangled a carrot and I went for it…' So, as nice as it was to blame him for everything and absolve herself from all responsibility, it just wasn't on.

‘I exploited your weakness.' An expression she didn't understand flickered into his iridescent eyes as they swept over her face. ‘If caring about other people is a weakness?' he added softly.

‘You get something you want and I get something I want.' Quietly she outlined the bare bones of their contract. ‘You've kept your end of the bargain, I'll keep mine,' she promised with a stoic little grimace. ‘I just think you could have invested your money more wisely.' Just thinking about the sheer volume of money they were talking scared her; for that amount he could have employed an Oscar-winning actress! ‘Nobody is going to believe you wanted to marry
me.
'

‘That is because…?'

‘I'm not exactly a supermodel…'

‘Is this any supermodel in particular or…?'

Kate bristled at his smooth sarcastic tone. ‘You know what I mean.'

‘I do indeed,' he replied, fingering the leather steering wheel.

Kate eyed his steel-reinforced jaw with some misgivings; it seemed even when she went out of the way to avoid conflict she still managed to aggravate him.

‘I have to tell you again that I don't consider the British habit of self-deprecation an attractive one… Neither do I care for someone assuming to know what I find attractive in a woman.'

This was too much for Kate, who laughed in disbelief…he was different from other men, but she refused to believe he was
that
different.

‘It's not exactly a
big
assumption. I'd say that ninety-nine point nine per cent of men in the world fantasise about women like that. The only difference between you and them—' other than a perfect masculine physique, a strikingly handsome face made to haunt a girl's dreams, and an indecent quantity of rampant sex appeal ‘—is you're in a position to do something about it,' she finished breathlessly—her unwise contemplation of what he had going for him had played havoc with her breathing.

Her wariness increased as Javier absorbed her words in brooding silence.

‘My money, you mean.'

‘Well, that too,' she conceded dismissively. She was sure that even had he been dirt-poor Javier would never have lacked female attention. ‘But it was thinking more about your…' Kate stopped, aghast at what she'd been about to say. You couldn't go around telling men they were incredibly beautiful.

‘My…?' he prompted attentively as her cheeks grew pink.

Kate gave a sigh of defeat. ‘Well, it's not as if you're exactly bad to look at, are you?' she observed crossly. ‘And don't act as if you didn't know.'

‘I'm flattered, Kate…'

His blue-eyed mockery was just too much.

‘No you're not, you're…' Javier watched as she valiantly struggled to bite back a scathing retort. ‘I'm trying,' she gritted. ‘I'm
really
trying, but it's really hard to be pleasant to you. I was just attempting…I know you're rich, but even for you we're not talking small change here. I'm just worried I'm not going to be good value for money,' Kate observed before she subsided into red-cheeked silence.

‘Actually, I consider you excellent value for money,' he revealed in a tone that made his exact meaning hard to define. ‘And leave me to worry about my money. I'm considered by some to be quite astute, financially speaking. Incidentally, though I appreciate your restraint, Kate, on the whole I think I prefer your acid retorts to the wooden dummy look.'

She was so relieved to be given the green light to speak her mind that she was prepared to overlook this unflattering comparison.

‘Don't you think it's possible that the thought of losing your inheritance has affected your judgement…?' she began tentatively.

Maybe she was right, though not in the way she thought. Perhaps wanting to make his grandfather happy had blinded him to the inherent flaws in his scheme? He was certainly acting more on instinct than objectivity, but that didn't bother him too much. Javier believed strongly in following his gut instincts.

‘Even if that were so, I'd hardly admit it, would I?'

‘You wouldn't…?'

‘Are you forgetting you're talking to an arrogant, conceited Spanish male? We are never wrong,' he explained with an ironic glint in his eyes. ‘If you remember that in future, we'll deal very well together.'

This particular Spanish male was disturbingly attractive when he revealed that under his macho exterior there lurked an unexpectedly dry sense of humour.

‘Thanks for the tip,' she responded in a similarly ironic vein. ‘Any more on offer?'

‘Well, treating my every pronouncement as though it is a pearl of wisdom would probably not come amiss,' he admitted gravely. ‘And laugh at my jokes.'

Kate couldn't repress the gurgle of responsive laughter that bubbled up.

Not a man she'd thought to be easily disconcerted, Javier appeared so now. ‘You have the
most
remarkable laugh!' he breathed.

Their eyes meshed, Kate stopped laughing, his held a searching quality that threw her into total confusion.

She began to clumsily struggle with her seat belt. Her efforts were futile; her co-ordination seemed to be in an advanced state of decay!

The engine was almost silent but when Javier switched it off she noticed. Well, she hadn't actually seen him do so, but it seemed safe to assume this had happened; this wasn't the sort of vehicle that conked out or stalled.

‘What's wrong? You know, I think there's something wrong with this seat-belt…' she observed, tinkering with the clip.

He brought his hands down with a thud on the steering column. ‘You are right,' he observed, turning to face her.

‘Now there's something I never expected to hear you say,' she observed drily.

‘We do not give the appearance of two people who have intimate knowledge of each other,' he pronounced flatly.

Kate's expression brightened. Could it be he was finally seeing that this ridiculous charade was doomed to failure? Once she recognised the flip side to this scenario, her hopeful expression faded. If he changed his mind about marriage she'd have to hand back the money, and she couldn't do that—not now, when they were already planning how to
spend it! Perhaps she'd presented her arguments for the prosecution a little
too
successfully.

‘You shy away from me when I touch you.'

Kate's plan had been not to look at him but the magnetic pull of his eyes proved greater than her willpower. ‘That's because I don't like you touching me. I do
not!
' she added fiercely, in the face of his glittering scepticism. ‘But,' she added, taking a deep breath, ‘I expect I could get used to it.' An occasional hug and a bit of hand-holding was not a big price to pay for what he had given in return.

‘That's extraordinarily generous of you.'

‘The least I can do…'

‘It's traditional for the groom to kiss the bride, Kate…' As he spoke his smoky eyes lingered suggestively on her mouth.

Kate was ashamed of the small bleating sound that emerged from her lips. ‘If you're thinking of kissing me…?' she mumbled apprehensively.

It came as something of a shock to Javier to realise how much he'd been thinking about it, almost since the first moment he'd laid eyes on her. Now, of course, he had a perfectly legitimate reason to do so.

‘There's something…'

‘You should warn me about…?' he suggested helpfully.

Kate frowned at this frivolous interruption—what was Javier doing being frivolous, anyhow…? ‘I've forgotten what I was going to say now!'

‘Then don't say anything,' he suggested.

Kate's nervous system simply closed down as he took her face between his hands and drew her towards him.

Her eyes half closed as she swayed towards him. This wasn't the body language of rejection and Kate was painfully aware of the fact, but she felt curiously unwilling to do anything to correct the false impression she was giving.

This close to his masculinity was totally overwhelming.
Breathing in his male scent reminded her of the time she'd downed two glasses of champagne in quick succession at Seb's wedding reception, only this time she was
much
dizzier.

Shock,
a knowledgeable voice in her head observed.

‘No…!' Kate began, recovering control of her voice but little else.

She felt the feather-light touch of his fingertips sliding across her jaw and shivered. His burning gaze watched her soft, succulent lips as they parted slightly beneath the gentle pressure of his thumbs.

If you don't say something he will kiss you, the voice in her head warned—he might even think you want to. He might even be right!

There eyes met and Kate's insides seemed to melt. His olive skin was pulled taut over his slashing cheekbones and his masterful nose was covered by the faintest sheen of sweat. His warm breath, coming almost as fast as her own, fanned out over her cheek as their noses almost grazed. Kate half closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of his warm male body like an addict.

‘You can tell a lot about a person from the way they kiss,' he explained thickly.

This didn't sound very scientific to Kate. ‘A kiss is a kiss,' she protested huskily.

‘Kissing also requires split-second timing,' he contradicted confidently.

‘I knew that…' she whispered as he nipped gently at her full lower lip—could that be classified as a kiss? she puzzled as his fingers began to stroke her throat in light, feathery motions.

‘It's extremely risky to let our first kiss be a public one—at the altar, even.'

He had a valid point. ‘I hadn't thought of that.'

‘These things need thinking about.'

His dark head lowered and her treacherous senses went wild in anticipation. His mouth covered hers, and there was nothing hard or invasive about the pressure as he kissed her gently.

Anticlimax.

Kate was dismayed to discover the almost chaste, teasing salute left her feeling cheated.

‘That wasn't too bad,' she admitted hoarsely as his mouth lifted fractionally from hers. She prayed that none of her irrational pique showed in her face.

They were still so close she could see the individual gold flecks in the drowning sapphire of his eyes. Her breath snagged painfully in her throat as she witnessed his pupils dilating until the drowning blue was almost swallowed up by the inky blackness.

‘A little bit of bad can be quite good,' he promised in a sexy rasp that made goose bumps break out all over her hot skin, just before he reasserted his authority over her mouth.

This time there was nothing even vaguely chaste about the deep, probing kiss. The erotic stabbing incursions of his tongue made her moan and wind her arms around his neck.

Later, she would try and convince herself that this had been a calculated—callous, even—attack on her senses, by a man who'd been the centre of female attention since he could smile, but at that moment nothing much mattered but the wave after incredible wave of scalding sensation that washed over her as he sank deeper into the warm recesses of her mouth.