“I’d love to try one,” Isabella said at the same time. And without waiting, she and the stall keeper’s wife disappeared again behind the curtains. The woman yelled something to her daughter, who thrust a bundle of white things through the curtains.
Luke waited. Rustling sounds and murmurs came from the curtained cubicle.
“Now how do I look?” Isabella pulled back the curtain.
Luke stared. And swallowed. Instead of a loose neckline that hinted at gently shadowed curves beneath, two silky puffs of breast rose impudently above the neckline. A dress that was perfectly acceptable before now looked… mouthwatering.
His mouth was hanging open, he realized suddenly. He shut it with a snap that jarred his teeth.
“Well?” Isabella gave him a speculative look.
He ran his tongue over parched lips. “You don’t need it,” he told her. “It looks… ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous?” Her eyes narrowed to two gold slits. She glanced down at her neckline then let her gaze drift slowly over him, from head to toe, lingering at his groin for what felt like minutes. Luke felt her gaze like a slow, hot caress. He felt his body stir.
He raised one brow. “Playing with fire, wife?”
She met his gaze, blushed, tossed her head, and whisked herself back behind the curtain. “I’ll take two,” she said. “My husband will pay.”
Luke smiled to himself. He was not the only aroused person here, but he was the only one who recognized it.You are welcome to try, indeed. Come the night, she would discover the consequences of her reckless invitation.
Luke had never yet lost a challenge.
The stall keeper emerged from the cubicle with a knowing smile and, while Luke was waiting for Isabella to emerge, showed him another dress, the same size and style but in a patterned fabric in blue, white, and café au lait. “This would suit theseñoraperfectly,” she told him.
“Wrap it up as well.”
They wandered on through the market, investigating every stall thoroughly. They bought small custard-filled pastries made by nuns. They bought cinnamon-candied nuts, dried apricots, and fresh dates. Isabella found some scented soap that she said didn’t smell anything like the convent soap, and Luke bought her a pair of cat’s-eye earrings that exactly matched her eyes.
“I know what you’re doing,” she said as she happily inserted the earrings. “But it won’t work.”
“What am I doing?” He untangled a tendril of hair from one earring.
“Hah! So innocent. You think to seduce me with gifts.”
He shook his head. “I don’t need gifts to seduce you.”
She gave him a speculative look, laced with challenge. “What will you use, then?”
He gave her a slow smile. “Me.”
His utter confidence secretly thrilled Bella, even as she tried to toughen herself against it. However many dark, smoky looks he gave her, whatever words he used to try to entice her, she would not couple with him. Not tonight.
She needed more time. Time to prepare herself, arm herself, before she lay in his embrace again. Last night he’d hurt her, badly.
Not her body. She didn’t care about that small, transient hurt. All girls, all women experienced that when they first lay with a man. It was a rite of passage. If anything she was glad of it, glad to have gone to her marriage bed a virgin after all.
And the first part… the kissing, the touching…
In all her girlish imaginings, she’d never even dreamed anything so sweet. And yet so affecting.
Her insides quivered, just thinking about it. His hunger for her. His tender urgency, his slow, careful… worship.With my body I thee worship.It unraveled her, dissolved every doubt, revived every dream she’d ever had of this man, this marriage. She was filled… exalted… flooded with love.
And then…
She felt small and sick and cold, remembering.
His words, his response had cut so deep. The anger in him when he realized she’d been a virgin, the bitter realization he’d been trapped into an unwanted marriage. Deceived.
