“No.” She shook her head and gritted her teeth at the overwhelming sensations coursing through her.
He growled again before taking her mouth as his fingers shattered her. His stroked her clitoris with devastating precision. Every nerve in her body was pulsing.
“Open your eyes, darling,” he told her as he circled his fingers at her core. “Look at the stars while I give you this.”
She cried out when her orgasm crashed into her, and he took her mouth again. Luz kept her eyes open as pleasure enveloped her, and it felt like the night was a dark velvet blanket giving them cover.
She whimpered as the last tremors racked through her. She could feel his hardness against her, insistent. But he was solely focused on her, whispering soothing words in Gaelic as he smoothed her skirts, and then kissed her again. She was still searching for words when he finally spoke.
“I think this arrangement could be very beneficial, indeed,” he said, and in an instant the bone-deep warmth she’d been feeling was replaced by a horrible chill.
“Right,” she bit out, hiding her eyes from him, stiff in his arms. He had ruined the moment, but he was right to keep her head out of the clouds. If she was to do this, she needed to remember where she stood with Evan Sinclair.
“Luz Alana, look at me,” he coaxed, but the lift operator’s voice pierced through the haze and after one chaste kiss on her lips, Evan pulled away on a sigh.
Something changed between them as they entered the lift again, and the closeness and heat from before evaporated, leaving them both lost in their own thoughts. Luz mulled over the proposal Evan had made and whether it would be a good idea to enter into a marriage with a man she could see herself falling desperately in love with. She could be practical, get her money back and her business going, and have a man in her bed who she desired and who seemed to at least respect her independence. He was not offering her what he could not give her, and he expected her to do the same.
This could work.Youwillget your heart broken, but it could work.
The lift shook Luz as it docked at the base of the tower, and Evan reached for her hand to steady her. “Thank you,” she said, accepting his help.
“It was nothing,” he demurred as if he hadn’t just taken her on a private excursion up the Eiffel Tower on a whim. He sounded distracted, probably reconsidering his offer, she thought.
“Is the address at the Place des Vosges the best place to find you?” he asked as they walked back in the direction of the pavilion. God, she’d never told the Leonas she was leaving the soirée. She really needed to get back.
“Yes.”
“I’ll send for word tomorrow,” he told her before stepping away. “Your pride is here.”
Luz turned to see Aurora and Antonio step out through an opening among the hedges. They waved to her, and she lifted a hand, feeling unprepared for the time with Evan to end. “I must go.” She was glad to at least sound normal.
Evan smiled at her in a way that made her belly dip and her skin prickle. He slid his hands into the pockets of his trousers again, and that’s when she realized she was still wearing his jacket over her shoulders. She slid it off and stepped closer to hand it him. “Thank you for letting me use it.” Their hands brushed as he reached for it, and she felt that shocking thrill of his touch again.
“Think about my offer, Luz Alana.”
She opened her mouth to demur, to ask for more time, but Aurora and Antonio were already upon her. By the time she turned to bid Evan a good evening, he was gone.
Twelve
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Aurora asked Luz as they walked up the street to Evan’s mansion flat. Her friends had both asked her that very question a dozen times in the last two days, and she still didn’t think she had what they would consider a satisfying answer. After what felt like a thousand conversations about Evan’s proposal and every potential pitfall if she agreed to marry, she finally felt prepared to face him.
“It’s the best choice I have at the moment.” It was the only answer she could offer that would not require they dissect the situation again, and he was expecting her. “Without my inheritance, I barely have enough to get settled in Scotland and live comfortably for a year while I get the business set up. That’s not a viable option, and I’m not letting Childers continue to hold my inheritance hostage.” Not when she had hundreds of workers counting on her securing more buyers. When she had her sister depending on her. Not when her own dreams were at stake.
“Do you trust him?” asked Manuela, who had made her own marriage deal for the sake of her family. Luz was not one to indulge in self-delusion. She knew the risk she was taking, tying herself to a man who could make himself a nuisance in her life forever if he chose to.
“She doesn’t have to trust him,” Aurora answered before Luz could. “That’s why she’s making him sign papers agreeing not to touch her money.”
“It’s only temporary,” Luz added, mostly as a reminder for herself. “Hewillgive me a divorce if I wish for one.”
“Doyou wish for one?” Manuela asked, always seeing further than anyone else.
“It’s not love.” And it wasn’t, even if lust was certainly there. “It’s a mutually beneficial business arrangement.”
“But you want him,” Aurora stated.
“I do,” she admitted, not bothering to offer any explanations.
What was the point of lying?
