Free Wedding Night with a Stranger by Anna Cleary Page B

cry. ‘In exchange for what?’
    Her pained mortification wrenched something deep in his guts. With shame he recognised he’d never once properly considered the transaction from her point of view. He’d always assumed she was compliant. Even when she’d told him she didn’t intend to marry him, he’d assumed it had been out of pique and anger.
    How had the uncle presented the deal to her? It was clear now it hadn’t been her initiative at all, and she knew nothing about the blackmail. He tried to remember what she’d told him in the lobby. A holiday to see if they suited each other, wasn’t that what she’d said? Was that how it had been sold to her?
    Never mind that the deal was all but sewn up a week before she’d left home. She deserved to know the truth, but how much truth about her uncle could she take?
    He said carefully, ‘Peri has offered a contract to my company—Celestrial. We design satellite systems for all sortsof uses, including marine navigation. Your uncle wants to upgrade his fleets’ equipment.’
    ‘I see.’ She held herself rigidly. Shadows under her eyes gave them a bruised look, but she maintained a stiff dignity, trying so hard not to betray her distress he felt moved. ‘So—so what will happen now the deal’s off? Without a wedding? Will that matter to your company?’
    Again he felt ashamed. Here she was struggling with her own situation, and she was worrying about his. He had no right to place any more anxiety on her head, he saw now.
    He gave an easy shrug, easier than the grim reality warranted. ‘We have other clients.’
    ‘Oh.’ She expelled a breath. ‘Good. Well, that’s a relief, anyway.’
    ‘So…’ He glanced searchingly at her. ‘When you said you came out here for a holiday, you were telling the truth?’
    She glanced at him and he saw with a further shock that the sudden glitter in her eyes was a wash of tears. She lowered her gaze as if she couldn’t face him and turned sharply away. ‘Yes,’ she said in a choked voice. ‘That was it. A holiday.’
    A few strands of her hair were ruffled by the breeze. The sight of her vulnerable neck in the moonlight caused something to twist in his chest. He took her shoulders and turned her gently back to face him. ‘Ariadne, listen…There’s no need to…’
    A ray of light caught the sparkle of a tear on her lashes, and he felt a dismayed, incoherent wave of tenderness, but how was he, a man and a virtual stranger, to comfort her? Unable to frame the appropriate words, he bent to brush her mouth with his. It was only the briefest of touches, but the contact to his starved lips was sizzling dynamite.
    She didn’t pull away. She stood absolutely immobilised as though poised on a heartbeat, her sweet face still turned up in the kiss position, her lashes fluttering down in languid expectation. For an instant the planet held its breath.
    God, it had been so long. Unable to resist such enticement, he kissed her properly.
    He felt the shock ripple through her slender frame. Her mouth quivered under his, and he felt the leap of response ignite in her deliciously soft, fiery lips. He pulled her hard against him, his own lips ablaze, wild to feel her breasts in friction with his chest, greedy to have all of her at once with every part of him.
    He urged her lips into parting, then slipped his tongue into the intoxicating seduction of her wine-sweet mouth. The scents and flavours of champagne, freshness, flowers and sweet, primitive woman rose and mingled in his senses, binding him in eternal, erotic enslavement. Stroking her mouth into arousal with his tongue was his own delicious torture.
    He heard her make a small involuntary sound in the back of her throat, so evocative of passion the thrill of victory roared through him.
    He deepened his demand on her mouth. And she responded, clinging to him and kissing him back with all the fire and fervour a man could dream of igniting in a woman.
    All at once she leaned into him like