Luis moved forwards, one strong arm snaking round Isabelle’s waist, taking her with him.
‘Isabella, come and meet my mother…’
Desperate to hide her nervousness, Isabelle switched on a smile that she prayed looked genuine. But it faltered, almost disappearing as Luis bent his dark head until his mouth was close to her ear.
‘You know only too well how to make me happy, mi angel,’ he whispered, warm breath feathering over her skin. ‘Just as I know exactly how to please you. And if you’re good, I’ll prove it to you tonight.’
CHAPTER FIVE
ISABELLE leaned her arms on the wide stone sill of the castle’s arched windows and stared out at the darkened landscape, a low despondent sigh escaping her. She felt lost and isolated, a crazy, inexplicable feeling in a place full of people, but the truth was that she had never known loneliness like it.
She didn’t know who she was or where she belonged any more. She was Luis’s wife and yet here, amongst his family, she was only his fiancée. The duque and duquesa had welcomed her into their home, treated her like an honoured guest, but she knew that her presence here was just a pretence, that she was deceiving them by pretending to be something she was not. And Luis…
The sigh deepened. The truth was that she just didn’t really know how Luis saw her.
A soft sound of a knock at the door startled her, bringing her head up sharply.
‘Who is it?’
‘Your fiancé of course.’ Even through the thickness of the door, the irony in Luis’s tone was clear. ‘Were you expecting someone else?’
‘I wasn’t expecting anyone,’ Isabelle protested as she wrenched open the door. ‘Least of all you. What are you doing here?’
‘I’m performing my duties as your host,’ he drawled sardonically, black straight brows lifting in disapproval at her tone. ‘I came to see if you were comfortable and your room was okay.’
She couldn’t look him in the face, every heightened sense was too aware of him for that. He was still wearing the trousers of the elegant silver grey silk suit he had changed into for dinner, but he had discarded the jacket somewhere. The fine linen of his white shirt clung softly to the firm lines of his torso, emphasising the width of chest and broad straight shoulders. He had tugged his tie loose at the neck, unfastening a couple of buttons, and the immaculate colour seemed to glow vividly against the smooth tanned skin of his throat.
‘Luis, you’ve seen my flat. You know that compared to that this…’ her gesture took in the elegantly furnished room with a genuine four-poster bed, thick rose-coloured carpet and curtains ‘…is total luxury. I couldn’t be more comfortable.’
‘You’re quite sure you have everything you need.’
‘I’m perfectly fine! You don’t even have to ask that! Good-night.’
To emphasise the point, she tried to shut the door in his face, only to find the movement prevented by the swift insertion of one elegantly booted foot into the open space.
‘I also thought you might like a nightcap.’
He lifted a hand to display a bottle of red wine and two glasses hooked between his fingers.
‘Something to relax you.’
‘I think not.’
‘It’s from our own vineyards,’ he continued imperturbably, obviously unconcerned by her unwelcoming tone. ‘I think you’d enjoy it.’
‘And what would your parents think to that?’
Luis affected a pretence of not understanding, widening his eyes in a display of innocence.
‘Think to what, querida?’
‘To your being here, alone, with me at this time of night. Wouldn’t they think—?’
‘They wouldn’t expect anything else,’ Luis inserted smoothly, flooring her completely. ‘We are, after all, man and wife.’
‘But your parents don’t know that!’
‘They know that we are engaged, and they are modern minded enough to know that very few couples actually wait until they’ve exchanged vows before they share a bed together.’