Her second shocking surprise when she got back home displaced her more than finding Silas had appointed her a bodyguard.
She now stood and stared at her clothes in the closet. She had no idea what to wear and her nervousness didn’t encourage her decision-making either.
Silas had sprung the invitation on her so suddenly she felt a headache coming on. Okay he had sent Alice to spring it on her because he had avoided her like a coward all day long and now she was supposed to get ready to have dinner with his family.
She was going to meet his brothers and one sister-in-law in person and she didn’t know how she was going to behave or what to say, or anything for that matter.
Did they know that Silas paid her father for her hand in marriage? What would they think of her for accepting that preposterous proposal? Would they believe she hadn’t had a choice? That her father’s life literally depended on her going through with it? Would they think she was a gold-digger? Guilt for some weird reason crept under her skin and turned her a bit pale.
She dragged her fingers through her hair and told herself she had to act like she did nothing wrong. It was Silas who had sought her father out, surely that was the truth. It was Silas who had parted with a couple of million dollars for her and she innocently believed that maybe he’d actually like her enough to want to make the marriage work. But that hadn’t happened. He had blatantly said they would never be friendly. Which meant they were enemies.
So be it.
She took one more gander through her clothes and settled on a plain white dress that reached her knees and was embellished with a hem of red roses.
Her friend, Monique was in the fashion industry. It also meant she was allowed to purchase dirt cheap designer clothes with slight malfunctions attached to them.
Monique was skilled enough with a needle and she used Arabelle as her personal model to modify the designs which explained why besides long skirts, tank tops, and jeans, her closet was also filled with an array of beautiful dresses some of which she hadn’t worn yet.
She snatched the dress before she changed her mind, took a quick shower, then got dressed. She had wasted so much time overthinking everything, that she was now running late.
She applied some makeup and since there wasn’t enough time to curl her hair, she tied it into a high ponytail and declared herself done. She complimented the dress with a pair of black high-heel pumps and a simple pair of earrings that belonged to her mother.
She glanced at the velvet box on the dresser. She hadn’t opened the box and she wasn’t going to do it now. If anyone asked where her wedding ring was, she would let Silas explain and his answer would be something like this.
“I gave it to you the other morning in my study.”
“You mean when you slid the box across your desk and ordered me to wear it?”
She wondered how that conversation would be received because it wasn’t normal. Nothing about them was normal.
Grabbing her purse, she took the elevator down and met an impatient Silas waiting in the entrance hall.
She hadn’t seen him for a few days and instantly knew the source of her apprehension wasn’t meeting his family. It was being with him. Alone.
Her gaze engulfed him at once, everything from the tip of his dark head, his broad shoulders, the suit jacket that molded to his magnificent chest, his powerful long legs, his handmade Italian shoes, gleaming under the stalactite-like chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Her panties grew damp and her breath staggered as she inhaled his scent. How much longer could she go on this way, living with him when he could barely tolerate her. Why wouldn’t he tell her the reason he married her.
Was he in love with someone else? And was she just a business deal? Is that why he resented her?
She lifted her chin, gathering her pride around her like a shield. He had stripped her bare once before when he made her come and she had been too weak to say no. But that was never going to happen again.
Her heels clicked on the extraordinary black onyx tile, littered with shards of abalone shell as she walked through the door.
He followed but not closely.
Jurgen stood beside Silas' sports car. He opened the door for her, told her she looked lovely, strapped her in, then shut the door.
They drove in silence. Ordinarily, it would eat her alive and she would feel compelled to start a conversation, but not this time. Without even trying, Silas hardened her, which helped because the thought of not being wanted by him had the power to make her cry and she couldn’t understand why.
He seemed wholly distracted, deep in thought, driving faster than before, as he commanded his car around a steep mountain bend. Anyone else and she would have clutched the handle on the side of the door. She didn’t know why she trusted him not to kill her.
With one hand on the wheel, he bit theside of his index finger. Tension spilled off him in buckets. But when she caught him looking at her legs, the red roses on her hem, now sat well above her knees, she shifted in her seat, her panties reminding her just how wet she was, her whole body alert to his presence.
She dared another look at him. At the finger in his mouth. His mouth. On her pussy. She wanted him to touch her again. That one time hadn’t been enough. But she knew she couldn’t allow that.
She wasn’t going to be bound to him only because he got her pregnant.
She wanted him to choose her first.
She sucked in a breath, silently scolding herself for being so naive. Her action brought his attention to her and she quickly turned her head to look out of the window.
He would never choose her first and it was because of something he thought she had done to him.