Page 6 of The Forbidden Husband
The elegant gown hugged each of her curves. The low-cut chest gave me a good look at her cleavage, and her crossed arms pushed it out. I moved toward her, still taking in the lightly made-up face and curled hair.
Aria Bianchi was a smoke show.
I knew she would be pretty enough if her father was offering her to me, but damn.
“You’re Aria?”
She nodded, and I waited for her to say something more. She didn’t. She hardly even met my eyes.
“Some would consider it rude not to speak.”
“I don’t have anything to say,” she retorted.
The words took me aback. Not only the words but the tone she used to deliver them. A pent-up frustration settled there.
I tilted my head and tucked both hands into my pockets. “We’re here to meet one another, are we not? Did you plan on staying silent the whole time?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them. The rebellious woman who had been standing before me disappeared before my eyes. “Well, it’s great to meet you, Enzo.”
“Is it, now?”
“You are to be my husband, so yes. It is.”
“You sound like you’re speaking from a script,” I pointed out.
She shrugged. “How else would you like me to speak?”
“I—” I cut myself off and shook my head. I hadn’t come here to have a conversation. I hadn’t planned on being intrigued by the woman before me and asking her questions. Hell, a few moments ago, I had been considering cutting off her fingers and sending them to her father as leverage. “It doesn’t matter how you speak. I want to make myself clear on how this arrangement is going to go.”
A spark of resilience shone in her hazel eyes. Curiosity and intrigue flooded through me, but I ignored it.
“Go on,” she offered, gesturing toward me. “How will this go?”
“We will do what is expected of us. We will marry, consummate the marriage, and then you will come and live with me. Beyond that, we will be nothing to one another. If you use discretion, you can have suitors. I will, as well. We will live separate lives, and there will be no need to combine them.”
Oh, that was fury behind her eyes—flaming-hot fury.
“You’ve decided this for the both of us?”
“As I should. I will be your husband.”
I didn’t know what to expect from her. The battle between her demure side and her outraged one was visible. Her eyes darted around as her thoughts took control. She wasn’t the woman Alonzo had presented. She wasn’t meek and timid. She wasn’t blindly obedient.
He’d been a fool if he thought those things about her.
She had hardly said a word to me, and I could see her mind racing and defiance building.
But with another breath, it fell away.
“Yes, you will be.”
Now, I wanted to get a rise out of her. I wanted to see more of that woman beneath the mask. I stepped into her personal space. “As your husband, I will have a right to your body whenever I please.”
Her breath hitched, but she didn’t say anything.
“Maybe I’ll put an heir inside of you on our wedding night.”
That seemed to do the trick. It wasn’t a battle this time. She tilted back her head and warm fluid sprayed across my face. My eyes closed on their own volition and I stepped back. I lifted my arm slowly, wiping the fluid off my face before opening my eyes and examining my sleeve.
