The Blackmailed Bride (16 page)

His perfect mouth twisted. ‘Are you trying to kill yourself?' he demanded thickly, apparently unaware that she hadn't understood a word of his tirade to that point.

‘Why, are you offering to do it for me?'

She saw straight off—it was hard not to!—that her defensive flippancy had not gone down well. Javier drew a sharp breath that made his muscled torso strain hard against the fabric of his shirt.

‘Do not tempt me!' The irony of this advice brought a self derisive twist to his lips…
Temptation.
His eyes moved hungrily over her face. He had always prided himself on his self-control but her mere presence was temptation.

The crackling sexual tension between them was suddenly like a physical presence in the room. Without warning, Kate's legs turned to rubber; if he released her now she'd certainly slide gracelessly to the floor, but he showed no sign of releasing her. If anything, his grip tightened. She felt as though an invisible hand was inside her chest, squeezing her heart; the pressure made it hard to breathe.

‘It was your fault,' she contended belligerently. ‘You shouldn't have crept up on me like that.'

Javier's nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply. ‘You are the most infuriating woman!' he exploded, lowering his dark face down towards hers.

His burning glance dropped to her mouth and stayed there. The fingers in her hair tightened as his rapid respirations grew slower and slower…until he didn't seem to be breathing at all.

She ran her tongue nervously over her dry lips and a shocking groan of pain was wrenched from Javier's throat.

‘S…sorry.' Without being precisely aware of how, Kate
knew that she was in some way responsible for his apparent agony.

It was her turn to moan when he suddenly touched his thumb to her mouth and slowly traced the still moist outline of her tender lips. Kate shivered as hot desire drenched her like a cloud burst.

‘Please…'
she whispered brokenly just before his mouth came crashing down on hers.

Kate opened her mouth, wanting the taste of him in her mouth, wanting to feel his hard, vital body against hers, in fact just
wanting
him! There was an element of desperation and driving urgency in his whisky-flavoured kiss that excited her beyond bearing.

She twisted her fingers deep into the dark hair on his nape, drawing herself upwards so that her hips were sealed to his, so that her heavy aching breasts were flattened against his chest, so that his hard arousal ground into her belly.

Eyes squeezed shut, she moved restlessly as his lips moved in her hair, over her eyelids, her neck, across her collar bone, before he returned his attention to her mouth. He kissed her as though he would drain her.

When he finally drew back, ‘You are so beautiful,' she gasped reverently as she began to press her lips to the brown column of his neck. Her fingers plucked feverishly at the buttons of his shirt. It was a clumsy hit-and-miss process, her hands were shaking so hard, but even so in a matter of seconds there was a gap big enough for her to slide her fingers through. She gave a sigh of relief as her flattened palms slid across his skin; it was satiny and firm, just the way she had imagined it, only better!

She bent her head and pressed her lips to the exposed area of firm, golden flesh.

There were feverish streaks of dull colour across his cheekbones and his smile was fierce and predatory as he
urgently took her face between his two hands and looked with a rapt expression deep into her passion glazed eyes.

‘I want you,' he gritted.

‘Then what are you waiting for?' she sobbed. ‘A written invitation?
Touch me!
'

‘Where?'

‘Anywhere…everywhere…!'

A smile of male triumph spread over his taut features. ‘Like this…?' His hands left a trail of white heat as they moved over her skin.

‘Exactly like that,' she sighed voluptuously. Eyes closed, lips parted, Kate's head fell back; the intensity of the feelings coursing through her was like wild white fire in her veins.

His eyes didn't leave her aroused face as he slid the long zip of her dress all the way down. Kate's eyelids lifted as she felt the fabric slip over her shoulders. Gathering momentum, the fabric pooled around her feet. Beneath it she wore a lacy bra and pants.

‘My arm…' she began, revealing a vulnerability she didn't even admit to herself. Of course he'd say the scars were irrelevant, they were part of her, but deep down did his stomach tighten with disgust…?

‘Don't worry,' he soothed with a smouldering smile. ‘I will get around to your little scars, too. I intend to kiss every inch of you…' he elaborated, in reply to her confused expression. Kate shivered as erotic images flashed across her consciousness. His dark head poised above her quivering body, her pink engorged nipples disappearing into his mouth…

He drew a light line between her straining breasts with the tip of his finger.

‘I like a man with ambitious goals.'

Her shivers became full-blown febrile shudders when he dropped down onto his knees before her.

Kate stood there gazing in disbelief at the top of his dark head as he licked his way across the soft curve of her stomach; muscles she didn't know she had started quivering. The softness inside her grew more aggressive, more demanding, as his caresses drove her to the edge of reason for the first time in her life.

When he wrenched down the stretchy lace that sheathed her breasts so that the soft, warm, coral-tipped mounds of flesh spilled out, Kate gave an aching needy cry as his big hands curved greedily over the quivering peaks, drawing them into his mouth.

At first, neither of them noticed the ringing of the phone above their own needy murmurs. When they did, by unspoken mutual agreement they ignored it, but finally the constant shrill chime just couldn't be ignored.

Javier swore in his native tongue and ran a frustrated hand over his sweat slick forehead. His shirt hung open to the waist, exposing his finely muscled torso.

‘I will be back,' he promised, levering himself upright.

Believing that was the only thing that made the brief separation bearable for Kate, who sank weakly down to her knees.

‘If you don't, I'll come after you,' she promised, watching him cross the room, taking incredible pleasure from something as simple as the way he moved, the sheer animal grace of his stride, the delicious quiver of finely toned muscle beneath firm flesh… The combination sent a stab of intense sexual longing through her aching body.

Seeing the grim expression on his dark, hard-edged features as he lifted the phone to his ear, Kate felt a fleeting sympathy for the person the other end of the line—only fleeting, she was too conscious of the empty ache inside her to empathise for long with the person responsible for this untimely interruption.

Even though the conversation was conducted totally in
Spanish Javier hadn't been speaking for long before she knew that something was wrong—
seriously
wrong.

 

By the time he put the phone down Kate was seated on the edge of the sofa, her hands folded primly in her lap. As he approached she was glad she'd haphazardly pulled on her clothes. She knew her instincts had been right; the window of opportunity had passed her by. Javier wasn't about to become her lover.

‘My grandfather has died.' He sounded chillingly matter-of-fact.

Kate gasped. ‘But I thought he had…'

‘It wasn't the cancer,' he interposed swiftly. ‘His plane crashed. Somewhat ironic?'

‘I'm so sorry, Javier.' If anything, her sympathy seemed to make him retreat farther from her. Looking at his remote profile, it was hard to believe that this was the same warm, passionate man who only moments before had introduced her to a sensual world she hadn't even known existed. It looked as if he wouldn't be taking her there any time soon…if ever!

Maybe ignorance wasn't such a bad thing. At least then she wouldn't have any idea what she was missing.

‘I'm needed.'

‘Of course you are.' But who do
you
need her heart cried, as she he stood there self-contained and in control. Who comforts you?

‘The private jet, the
other
private jet,' he corrected himself with a display of dark irony. ‘Is coming to pick me up. I'll be leaving first thing in the morning.'

Kate's normally sharp brain was slow to make the connections…I am leaving, not we are leaving, but of course everything had changed he no longer had any reason to pretend.

And that leaves me where…? Redundant, no longer
needed. He doesn't need a wife now; he doesn't need me. An image of his strong face driven by desire materialised in her head; his need had not been in question at that moment!

‘You must be pretty gutted that you married me. If only you'd waited a day longer…'

His mouth twisted. ‘One of life's little ironies,' he agreed unsmilingly.

‘Why did you marry me, Javier? Serge said there was no way your grandfather would have disinherited you…'

‘That's true,' he conceded. ‘I pretended to take his threats seriously; it required very little effort on my part. Playing the heartless despot was one his pleasures in life.'

His expression as he spoke of his grandfather brought tears to her eyes. ‘Then why…?'

‘I wanted to make his last days happy ones,' he explained simply.

‘So what happens now…to me…?'

A deep silence grew around her hasty question—one that Javier showed no inclination to break. The longer it lasted, the more deeply embarrassed Kate felt. He's just learnt his grandfather has died and all I'm bothered about is where it leaves me—how selfish does that sound, Kate…?

‘I know you've got a lot of other things to think about, but I was just wondering…'

His hard voice sliced through her stumbling explanation. ‘What do you want to happen, Kate?'

The abrupt question shook her. ‘
Me…?
Her slender shoulders shrugged and a small frown appeared between her eyebrows. ‘I suppose I want things to go back to the way they were…?'
Suppose…?
Where had the suppose come from? She smiled staunchly and tried to put a bit of conviction into her tone. ‘I mean, it's not even as if anybody need ever know what happened.'
Only I will.

Suddenly Kate knew without question that things could
never go back to the way they were because she had been altered by events of the last couple of days, and most of all by her contact with this man.

A possibility she'd been doing her best to avoid needed facing. She might have fallen a little bit in love with him…was it possible to be a little bit in love? No, came the bleak reply, at least not if Javier was the man in question!
Oh, God…!

‘As you wish.' He shrugged in an offhand manner that drove home painfully to Kate that his lovemaking had been nothing more than an opportunist response to the signals she'd been broadcasting. ‘I will arrange transport for you back to your hotel.'

‘Thank you.'

His eyes lifted to her face and the pain she saw in his eyes was so profound that she raised her hand towards him in an unthinking gesture of comfort.

It was a gesture that he seemed to view with disdain, if not distaste. Under the cold regard of his eyes her hand fell away.

‘If you'll excuse me, I have to ring my sister. She doesn't know yet and I'd like to be the one to tell her. It will be hard for her.'

 

Kate had lain for hours in her room, her body rigid and tense as she listened to the sound of Javier pacing up and down in his own room. Her empathy with his pain was like a knife in her chest, and her inability to do anything about it twisted the blade.

She genuinely thought no feeling in the world could be worse until the pacing stopped and there was ominous silence. That was when her imagination kicked in. Javier was a strong man, but strong men were notoriously bad when it came to expressing emotion. When those emotions finally escaped people could behave in ways quite out of character.
After half an hour of imagining his silent suffering she could bear it no longer.

If he was asleep, fine, she could just slip away and he would never know she'd been there; if not…well, she'd work out the what's if and when she came to them. She'd know he was all right and that was what she needed.

He wasn't asleep.

When Kate pushed open the door Javier was sitting on the bed, still fully clothed, his head in his hands. Suddenly being here didn't seem a good idea; she backed up and was actually reaching for the door handle when he revealed he was aware of her presence.

‘You should be asleep.'

‘I…I could hear you moving around.' He looked so haggard it hurt. She wanted to rush to him and throw her arms around him, but the hostility he was radiating stopped her.

‘I'm sorry I disturbed you. I will be quiet…'

‘I don't care about that!' she ground out in frustration. He was broadcasting so much pain she wanted to cry, Let me take it away for a little while. This approach would almost certainly have been rejected so Kate had to rethink her strategy.

‘Then what do you care about? Ah, I see, my
agony
— you feel pity.' His lip curled derisively. ‘You wish to comfort me. By offering me the comfort of your lovely body, perhaps…?' A muscle in his lean cheek jerked as his bold glance roved with insulting familiarity over her lightly clad body.

Kate's chin went up. ‘You won't get rid of me that easily,' she declared coolly.

Inside she wasn't nearly so confident; inside she was a mass of painful insecurity. Throwing yourself at the man you loved when you knew that your feelings were not reciprocated was not a light-hearted step to take!

She saw Javier's eyes widen. He flattened his palms
against his thighs and, leaning forwards heavily, shook his head. ‘What do you think you're doing?'