“Because…” She folded her hands on the table. “I was trying to put the pieces to a puzzle together that you never explained fully. Can I ask where the Baron de Dona’s lands are?”
He motioned left as he said, “Next door.”
She jerked in her seat. “Seriously?”
This was how his father had come to lust after her mother, not that they needed to discuss that again. “It’s the closest estate to the castle, but not inside the walls.”
She scratched her forehead. “Did we pass it?”
“I’d have pointed it out.” He didn't want to take the time to answer her questions. “We took the land road. It’s closer to the sea.”
Her face blossomed when she smiled. “Well, I do like mist and fog. Maybe it’s genetic.”
This was his opportunity--he reached out and stroked her thigh. “Then your soul knows you belong here.”
She scooted closer in her seat as she asked, “With you?”
“You tempt a saint.” He'd reached her backside.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood, so he did too. “Lucky for me, you’re no saint.”
She closed her eyes. He said, “Lucky for both of us. Let’s get back to our room, out of sight.”
His lips claimed hers. She tasted better than the sweet dessert.
She still had that taste of innocence, like vanilla pudding.
Once the kiss ended, he said, “At some point we’ll be hungry for dinner.”
“This exercise you have in mind…” she laughed and kissed his cheek. “I really like being your wife.”
Good, because he needed her, far more that she needed him. But he’d do anything to keep her happy. She was temptation and the epitome of everything he'd wanted but had never found in a woman… until she came along.
Chapter 10
Clara finished her shower and changed into long white pants and an olive green blouse that had just appeared in her closet.
Whoever the castle tailor, dressmaker, and shoe makers were deserved personal thanks, so she would find out their names.
But not today. Tomorrow. She met her husband’s gaze as he brought her an afternoon coffee and a fruit-filled yogurt. He wore pressed gray pants and a dark-green collared shirt, no tie. But the socks with no shoes look he sported just had her chuckling.
He was the most handsome man she’d ever met. He even made dark green sexy. She picked up the coffee, and kissed his cheek.
With him, today was amazing. She hadn’t realized how much fun staying in bed actually could be.
They needed to go to her parents' home as the sun peeked outside the window. She sipped her coffee that tasted better than anything she’d ever brewed, even when she’d worked in a shop as a barista. “Do you think the staff wanted us to do something today?”
He shrugged. “We can start tomorrow.”
Then it was time to ask a question that had been on her mind since she'd arrived in his fortress of a castle. She wrapped her hands around the back of his neck. “The fog is lifting though there isn’t much daylight left.”
He lifted his brow. “What are you thinking?”
She raised her chin to look him in the eye. “I’d like to see the Baron de Dona’s estate.”
He held her waist as he asked, “Thinking of leaving me?”
Absolutely not. She wouldn't leave the one man that had actually made her happy. She let out a sigh and hugged him, listening to his heart.
