Heavy lids dropped down hastily over gleaming bronze eyes, hiding their expression from her.
‘What else could you want?’
Deliberately Isabelle leaned nearer, almost but not quite touching him.
‘Is this to be a proper marriage, Luis? A real marriage?’
‘Of course.’
She ran her tongue over her lips with slow provocation and watched as his gaze darkened, his pupils widening in response.
‘But—we might not be—compatible.’
Luis’s response was a short, hard bark of laughter.
‘Not compatible! Oh, Isabella, mi esposa, you cannot think that. That compatibility was the one thing that brought us together. The thing that never died between us. It will still be there. You need have no fear of that.’
‘Would you like to prove that?’
There it was again. That sudden stiffening of the muscular frame, the wariness in his eyes. He might act the hard, invulnerable, untouchable male, but every once in a while something flickered in that polished amber gaze, revealing a hidden emotion he couldn’t quite conceal.
But what was that emotion?
Isabelle leaned even closer, looked deep into those dark, watchful eyes.
&nb
sp; ‘Why don’t you kiss me, Luis?’
Luis stilled suddenly and the narrow-eyed glance he shot her was sharp, assessing, full of suspicion.
‘What is this, belleza?’ he demanded harshly. ‘Are you planning on seduction?’
She tried a smile to disarm him but even she could feel it wavering at the corners.
‘You’re going to have to do it some time. That is, if we’re to have this proper marriage.’
‘Oh, I see. This is a way of saying yes without actually admitting that you’re giving in?’
‘It might be.’
‘Isabella…’
It was a growl of warning, impatient and rough, making her stomach clench in sudden apprehension. But she’d started this. She had to go on—right to the finish.
‘I’ll tell you what…’
She tried to pitch her voice at a huskily seductive level and knew that she had succeeded as she saw the flare of response deep in his eyes.
‘Why don’t you kiss me and we’ll see? If what you say is true—if that compatibility is still there, then maybe I will agree to your terms.’
And she would know from the way he kissed her whether she was deceiving herself totally or not.
Her mouth was almost touching his now, and the sweet scent of her skin surrounded him, awakening every cell in his body, sending the hot, honeyed pulse of desire raging along his veins. He couldn’t have resisted her if he’d tried.
And he didn’t want to try.
One kiss, he told himself fiercely. One kiss and one kiss only. Just enough to prove to himself that he wasn’t the fool he feared he was where this woman was concerned.