The Valquez Bride

Sex with a full-blooded man in his prime.

‘I would like us to be married as soon as possible.’

Her left hand shook as she poured a shot of brandy into a glass. ‘We have a month before the deadline.’

‘No point stalling. The sooner we marry, the sooner we end it.’

His comment shouldn’t have made her feel resentful. It shouldn’t have felt like an insult. She didn’t want to be married to him any longer than she had to. She would have said the same to him if she’d got in first. It was damned annoying she hadn’t. ‘Indeed.’ She gave him a gelid look. ‘I couldn’t have expressed it better myself.’

He moved to the windows to look at the view. ‘Nice place you have here. Have you lived here long?’

‘All my life.’

He turned and looked at her but because the sunlight was behind him his expression was masked by shadow. ‘You do realise you’ll have to come to Argentina with me.’ He didn’t pose it as a question but as a statement of fact.

Teddy gripped the crystal glass so tightly she thought it might explode in her hand. He wanted her to go with him? To live with him? She hadn’t planned on going anywhere. A paper marriage was just a signed piece of paper. She didn’t have to live with him. She just had to be married to him.

Didn’t she?

‘Surely that’s not necessary?’

‘You have a strange notion of what constitutes a marriage, Miss Marlstone.’

‘But you said it was to be a marriage on paper.’ She gripped the glass a little tighter. ‘We don’t have to live together. Lots of couples spend time apart, especially when they both have important careers.’

‘I’m not leaving anything open to speculation.’

‘But I have commitments here.’

‘Cancel them.’

Teddy’s back stiffened. ‘Why don’t you cancel yours?’

He had the audacity to chuckle at her suggestion. ‘I run a multimillion dollar business. I have staff who depend on me for their wages. I need to be on site to make sure things run as smoothly as possible. Your work is transportable, isn’t it?’

She gave him an intractable look. ‘Yes, but I prefer to work here. I have my studio here.’

‘I can give you a room at my villa. In fact, you can have a whole floor. Think of it as a working holiday, all expenses paid.’

Teddy pursed her lips in thought. It was only six months and she’d always wanted to visit Argentina. The sense of adventure appealed but living with a man she didn’t know—didn’t even like—was more than a little disquieting.

‘Be assured I will make no demands on you.’

The words dropped into the silence, making her feel as if he had the power to read her mind. Somehow that was even more disquieting than sharing a house with him for six months.

But then the feminine part of her felt another sense of pique. Did he have to make it so obvious he found her so physically repulsive?

She knew she wasn’t in-your-face beautiful. She had always been a little on the plain side. It was another thing her father had been so bitterly disappointed about in her. Not only hadn’t she been born a boy, she’d had the looks to compensate for the missing Y chromosome.

‘What will you tell your friends and family about our...situation?’

‘My brother knows the truth and, of course, our legal team, but that’s where it stops. I want everyone else to believe it’s a genuine love match. It goes without saying that I would like you to refrain from speaking to the press.’

Teddy wished he’d step out of the shadows so she could see his face. Was he mocking her again? Surely he didn’t think anyone would believe a man like him would fall for a girl like her? They would laugh at the suggestion. What was his motivation? Was this about his broken engagement? She had seen the press articles online about his fiancée jilting him on the day of the wedding. It would be a difficult thing for any man to face but having it splashed all over the media would have made it so much worse. Had he decided it was time to show he had moved on, so to speak? Ten years was a long time to nurse a broken heart. But had it been his heart or his pride that had taken the greatest hit?

‘Are you the type of man to fall in love so quickly?’

He made a sound that was part snort, part laugh. ‘I might have been once.’

Teddy pinned down her lower lip with her teeth. She couldn’t help feeling sorry for the idealistic young man he must have been back then.

He stepped away from the windows and came over to the tray of drinks on the desk, pouring himself another couple of fingers of whisky. She watched as he held the glass up to his lips, watched the strong tanned column of his throat as he tossed the contents back and swallowed. He had a frown between his brows that suddenly made him seem far older than his thirty-four years. Was he thinking of his fiancée? Of the love he had lost? It would have been a terrible shock to find the woman he loved had changed her mind, only to hook up with a much older and much richer man the week after. Was he thinking of the pain the public break-up had caused him?

Teddy found it hard to imagine him falling in love with someone. He didn’t seem the type. He was too hard-nosed and cynical. Too determined on having his way to give or compromise in a relationship. He was a playboy. A player, not a stayer. He changed partners as if they were disposable items. He had throwaway relationships that meant nothing to him other than a bit of temporary entertainment. She couldn’t imagine him wanting to settle down and bring up a family. He didn’t seem the type of man to be content with one woman. Not while he had a smorgasbord of beauties to feast on.

‘What about you, Miss Marlstone?’ The frown suddenly relaxed as his cynical smile returned. ‘Are you the type of woman to impulsively fall in love?’

‘No.’

He studied her for a long moment. ‘You sound very assured.’

‘That’s because I am.’

‘Have you ever been in love?’

‘No.’

The amused glint was back in his dark eyes. ‘So how do you know you won’t do so quickly or impulsively?’

Teddy felt the heat of his gaze all over her body. What was it about this man that made her think of sex all the time? It was crazy. It was totally out of character. It was as if he could set her on fire with a look. She became aware of her breasts behind the sensible white cotton of her bra, aware of her inner core that flickered on and off like a faulty light switch. When she quickly moistened her dry lips a rush of sensation flowed through her as she imagined what it would feel like to have his mouth pressed to hers. To have his tongue search for hers, to play with it, tease it and provoke it into a firestorm of passion. To have his arms gather her close, to have him crush her against his strong, powerful body.

To feel.

‘I’m not the impulsive type.’

His mouth tilted a little further in that fallen angel’s smile that wreaked such havoc on her equilibrium. She felt dizzy from being in his presence, from being so close to him she could smell the danger he represented. It was like an exotic potion wafting in the atmosphere.

She was breathing it in—breathing him in.

‘No?’

She suppressed a tiny shudder. ‘No.’

His eyes roved over her face, lingering for a moment on her mouth. When he reconnected his gaze with hers the frown was back between his brows. ‘I should warn you about the press. They can be ferocious. I’ll do my best to protect you, but there will be times when you’ll just have to ignore what they say.’

Teddy wondered if he was concerned about her or himself. Why would he care what the press said about her? Once the six months was up she would be out of his life. He wouldn’t have to spare her another thought. It would be his reputation he would be most concerned about. What would the press make of his choice of bride? Would comparisons be made? Of course they would and she would be found lacking in every way imaginable. ‘I hope I don’t cause you any unnecessary embarrassment.’

His frown deepened the trench between his eyes. ‘In what way?’