Shock Marriage For The Powerful Spaniard / The Greek's Virgin Temptation. Cathy Williams

this is your territory. You’re established here and you don’t care what the world thinks of you or the choices you make! But I… I don’t belong here, so just try and imagine what it’ll feel like if I ever walk into a room to be confronted by some woman you’re bedding behind my back!’

      ‘You have quite the imagination…’

      ‘Have I? You might not intend on flaunting anything but are you going to tell me that that world you occupy isn’t a really small one?’

      ‘It’s small,’ Rafael admitted in a roughened undertone. His grasp on her arm had slackened but he had also closed the tiny distance between them so that she could feel the heat radiating from his body.

      ‘Women can be vicious,’ Sofia muttered, looking down and thinking of the nasty digs that had plagued her teenage years and the bitchiness of jealous girls who had always guarded their stupid boyfriends against what they’d seen as a possible threat. As if she’d ever been interested in any of them. But still she knew what it felt like to be attacked through no fault of her own.

      She shuddered at the thought of having to deal with some woman Rafael might be seeing.

      ‘Are you speaking from experience?’ he murmured, dropping his hand to his side and stepping back as he stared down at her with his head tilted to one side.

      ‘The fairer sex can be anything but gentle when it comes to certain things.’ Sofia tilted her head at a challenging angle and folded her arms. Her whole body was still tingling. She felt as though she’d been touched, intimately touched, even though all he’d done was circle her arm with his fingers.

      ‘Especially given the way you look,’ he said, eyes roving over her flushed face. ‘I get it, cara.’

      Thick silence greeted this observation. It stretched and stretched, sending her thoughts into a giddy tailspin, making her mouth dry. It was an effort not to close her eyes and reach up…just a little…enough to brush her lips against his mouth.

      Her nipples, pushing against the cotton bra, felt scratchy and over-sensitive and between her legs…felt hot and damp.

      Their eyes locked. His breathing was thick and fast, giving her signals she didn’t trust and didn’t want to understand. He took a step towards her, jaw clenched, his body rigid with tension.

      Then, just like that, he seemed to gather himself, shutting down an atmosphere that had flared up between them like a sudden, fierce conflagration.

      ‘Right now…’ His voice was jerky and he raked his fingers through his hair, looking briefly away but then directing his back to her flushed face. ‘We both have enough on our plate without imagining a situation that might or might not happen.’

      He walked towards the window, stared out with his back to her and then threw over his shoulder, ‘Now that you’ve seen where you’ll be living, I think we can head back to London. The house should have been ready for you to move in immediately, and I would have returned to London, but there’s been a mix-up with the housekeeper who needs to come in tomorrow to spruce the place up. It would be useful for you to spend the day tomorrow buying whatever clothes you think you might need, anyway. I’ll also make sure you have a car at your disposal. You name the make and the model. When it comes to what happens…outside this marriage…that is a bridge to be crossed in due course, so let’s stick to the present. Meet the parents—or should I say parent—wedding vows exchanged, and once that’s done I get going on sorting out the problem with Freddy. That’s enough to be going on with, wouldn’t you agree?’