Free The Hostage Bride by Kate Walker Page B

court want to hand out a life sentence to a man who has already taken on such a thing quite willingly?’
    â€˜A man who has what ?’
    Felicity could only shake her head in confusion, her grey eyes clouded with incomprehension.
    â€˜You’re not making any sense! Just what are you talking about?’
    â€˜It’s quite simple, gatita .’
    Rico’s voice was a rich purr of triumph, the gleam in his eyes brightening as verbally he moved in for the kill.
    â€˜What is it you say? For better for worse, for richer for poorer…until death do us part.’
    â€˜You’ve really lost me now.’
    Was the man totally off his head? She had thought things couldn’t get any worse but now it seemed that she was involved with a complete maniac.
    â€˜Just what have the words of the marriage service to do with anything?’
    â€˜They have everything to do with this, mi ángel . There are some who would say that marriage itself is a life sentence, and certainly no court on earth would condemn a man for wanting to run away with his promised bride.’
    â€˜His…’
    Felicity’s head was swimming, her stomach twisting in panic. Her throat was painfully dry and she had to swallow hard to relieve the constriction in it before she could even try to speak.
    â€˜I’m not going to marry you! No one would ever believe that!’ she croaked unevenly.
    â€˜Oh, but they already do believe it,’ Rico assured her, the conviction in his eyes and his voice turning her blood to ice and leaching all the colour from her face. ‘Why do you think your father was so pleased with life?’
    â€˜No!’
    Her mind was just one wild scream of protest but still the only sound that she could force from her throat was a raw, husky whisper.
    â€˜Yes,’ Rico insisted with soft menace. ‘Oh, yes. Everyone, all your family and friends who gathered in the cathedral think that you left poor Edward standing at the altar because you had fallen madly in love with someone else and wanted to be with him.’
    â€˜And that someone else is you ?’
    She couldn’t smooth the horror from her voice, a horror that doubled, trebled in strength as Rico inclined his proud dark head in nonchalant agreement.
    â€˜But why should they think that? What on earth would make them believe—?’
    â€˜They believe it because you told them. Because that was what was in the message you sent—’
    â€˜The message you sent!’ Felicity broke in on him, her voice shaking with horror. ‘You said that! You told the lie! I never…’
    He didn’t even have the grace to look shamefaced. Instead he simply regarded her with that cool, unmoving stare, those luxurious lashes looking impossibly long around the darkness of his eyes.
    â€˜It doesn’t matter who said what, querida ,’ he drawledwith slow insolence. ‘What matters is what everyone believes, and they all believe what they’ve been told. No one will be setting the police on our trail. No one will be coming after us now, or at any other time in the future. Why should they when they think that all we want is to be alone together?’
    Shock and consternation froze her tongue in her mouth. She couldn’t force herself to form a single word, her brain too numb to collect together any rational thoughts. She longed to be able to scream at him, to yell defiance straight into his watchful face, to tell him she didn’t believe…
    But everything about him told her that he had spoken nothing but the truth. That calm frighteningly relaxed demeanour, the controlled delivery of his words revealed an unshakeable conviction of everything he had said.
    And so she could only stand frozen to the spot and watch transfixed as he slid one long-fingered hand into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a jingling keying.
    The faint rasp of metal on metal as he pushed a key into the lock on the door,