Marriage Bargain With His Innocent (HQR Presents)

by Cathy Williams

  She couldn’t have tried harder to be quiet, but the flush of the toilet and the sound of running water as she washed her hands resounded like the booming of church bells on a Sunday morning.

  Tense as a bowstring, she crept stealthily towards the bed. Intent on making no noise, her narrowed eyes pinned to the inert dark shape on the bed, she took her eye off the ball. While her eyes were as keen as an eagle’s, and her breathing as silent as a sigh, her feet were not quite so obliging.

  An errant item of clothing on the ground was her downfall and she stumbled, panicked, reached out and fell with a crash.

  She had a second’s worth of mindless dismay and then Matias was there. He’d leapt from the bed, slammed on the lights and was kneeling on the ground before she had time to screech that she was perfectly fine.

  Mortified, Georgina could barely look at him.

  ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Nothing! Nothing’s going on.’ She tried to scramble to her feet and winced in discomfort. ‘I went to use the bathroom. I’m sorry I woke you up but it was dark and I didn’t want to switch the light on.’

  ‘Let me have a look.’

  ‘Go away! Go back to sleep!’

  ‘Don’t be an idiot, Georgie.’

  Georgina didn’t answer. She was miserably conscious of her state of undress and the wretched many-sizes-too-small tee shirt which Melissa had kindly lent her. Not to mention the fact that she was in her underwear because she hadn’t been able to squeeze herself into the insanely tiny pyjama shorts. She was aware of her legs on show, her thighs and her breasts, which were bursting out of their over-tight confinement. She was conscious of her body in a way she had never been in her life before.

  She jumped up—and subsided just as fast with a little yelp of pain.

  She abandoned the struggle as Matias scooped her up in one fluid movement and carried her to the bed, depositing her as carefully as if she were made of china. He was thoughtful enough to switch off the glaring overhead light, but then he immediately switched on the lamp by the bed, which at least had the benefit of being more forgiving.

  Georgina kept her eyes tightly shut. Matias examined her foot, gently turning it in his hand, pressing here and there and asking questions that she could barely answer because her mouth was so dry.

  ‘You’ll live,’ he said drily, straightening, at which point Georgina risked looking at him.

  He was wearing a pair of boxers and nothing else. He was so beautiful that she felt faint. Her heart was hammering and she knew that he would be able to suss out perfectly well what it was she was trying so hard not to convey—because there was a watchful stillness about him, an electric awareness of the situation and only a tenuous thread tethering them both to the straight and narrow.

  He broke the connection, turned around.

  ‘Matias...’ She heard the hitch in her voice.

  ‘What?’ He slowly swivelled to look at her, a taut, towering, brooding presence that was all shadows and angles.

  ‘Nothing...’

  ‘Nothing? Nothing? In that case I’ll go downstairs and work,’ he said, not looking at her. ‘That way you can sleep in peace and you won’t have to try and creep around like a thief if you need to use the toilet.’

  He began dressing, and for a few seconds Georgina watched him in tense silence, safely tucked under the duvet, legs drawn up to her chin.

  Maybe I don’t want you to go downstairs to work...maybe I don’t want to sleep in peace...maybe I can’t sleep in peace or do anything in peace with you around...maybe, just maybe, I’m sick to death of fighting this thing between us because, for me, it’s been there for ever...

  Never had she longed so much to say the unthinkable, to risk it all by throwing herself at him. She’d never had time for lust—but, then again, she’d never known what it felt like to be tempted.

  Hands balled into fists, she bit down hard on the temptation and remained silent.

  He didn’t stick around. He got dressed fast and walked out of the room without a backward glance, and when the door was shut Georgina sagged back against the pillows and closed her eyes.

  Her mobile phone was telling her that it was still very early in the morning. The sounds outside were reminding her of what awaited when dawn broke—water everywhere and rain turning the landscape into a miserable, sodden grey lake.

  She was here.

  He was here.

  He’d never beg her. Or pursue her. Or even hint. He didn’t care about her even if he did have a different take on her now that they’d been flung into one another’s company, just as she had a different take on him.

  She was a novelty for him. They weren’t even suited! Could there be any more reasons for not doing what she was about to do...?

  Her feet began taking her out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Her body was all for it. Her brain was on the back foot and no longer raising any objections. Having ruled the roost for so many years, it was now resigned to obeying stronger commands.

  She knew the house and knew where he would be. Either in the office that Melissa used or in the kitchen, with its sprawling weathered pine table and four-door Aga.

  She headed straight to the kitchen and hit the jackpot. Because there he was.

  Georgina paused in the doorway and her breathing slowed and her heartbeat accelerated. He was staring out of the kitchen window at the inky black rain-lashed gardens, only visible when lightning flashed, illuminating the bending trees and shrubs.

  He was still half naked but had slung on his jeans, which rode low on his lean hips. From behind, he was all muscle and sinew and bronzed streamlined beauty.

  She padded towards him and knew exactly when he became aware of her presence, because he stilled and then he turned around, very slowly, and looked at her in silence.

  He broke the silence to ask her in a roughened undertone, ‘What are you doing here?’

  He hadn’t been working. Only one light was switched on, over the kitchen table, so that he was enveloped in semi-darkness. Confused, Georgina wondered whether he’d just been staring out of the window and thinking. Thinking about what? Her?

  She held on to that thought because it gave her the courage to stand there in front of him, back in her jeans just as he was, but with the too-tight top an open invitation—whether he realised that or not.

  He realised.

  He stepped towards her into the light and his eyes dropped to her breasts, lingered there, lingered on the shape of them, their heavy weight and the prominence of her nipples pushing against the thin stretchy fabric.

  When eventually his eyes collided with hers, they registered what she was struggling to vocalise.

  ‘Well?’

  He took another step towards her, poetry in motion, his dark, brooding beauty sending shivers through her.

  ‘Did you want something to drink? Water?’

  ‘I couldn’t get to sleep,’ Georgina whispered, moving towards him.

  ‘No?’

  Matias paused, just out of reaching distance. It was going to be up to her to close the gap. He’d laid his cards on the table, told her that he wanted her, and she had turned him away. Now he was in charge, and this was his way of telling her that if she wanted him she was going to have to make the first move.

  But what if he’d lost interest in the interim?

  Georgina shut down that train of thought immediately. She was here and she was going to take what she’d wanted to have for...for ever...

  ‘No. I started to think...’

  ‘Thinking can sometimes be a dangerous luxury.’

  ‘Certainly dangerous...’ She stepped towards him, and she was breathing thickly as she placed one flattened palm against his chest. ‘Because I was thinking about you—thinking about the fact that I want you. Matias, I don’t want to play it safe. You’re dangerous... I
know that...but I want to know... I need to know...’

  Her voice trailed off and uncertainly she kept her hand where it was, not knowing what the outcome of this was going to be, but knowing that she had to risk possible rejection to find out.

  ‘You need to know what it feels like to take a walk on the wild side...?’

  ‘Something like that,’ Georgina muttered inaudibly.

  She made to remove her hand, already smelling rejection, but then he took her hand in his and tugged her towards him, a little closer, close enough for her to feel the warmth of his breath on her face.

  ‘You’re right about me, Georgie. I’m dangerous. And what you’re doing right now... It’s called playing with fire.’

  ‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘But maybe I’ve lived too long telling myself that playing it safe is the only way for me. I’ve been so careful not to take chances as far as guys are involved but you’re right. Being careful might make sense, but sometimes making sense can be a joyless exercise. You don’t tick any of my boxes...’

  ‘Who’s interested in a checklist?’

  ‘I always have been,’ she breathed. ‘Especially after Robbie. I felt like he slipped through the net. You’re right. My parents approved and I suppose I felt at the time that making them proud was important. After all...’ She laughed self-consciously. ‘I spent my life not living up to their expectations. At least that was what I thought, deep down. Never bright enough. Bit of a disappointment, really. So Robbie came along, and they approved, and that counted for a lot... And then...’

  And then there was you...there was always you... And who’s to say that Robbie wasn’t my way of trying to escape from the stranglehold you’d always seemed to have over me...?

  It occurred to her in a revelatory flash that maybe, beyond the whole lust thing, doing this...taking this step...making love to this man...would snuff out the hold he’d always seemed to exercise over her. The unknown was so tantalising, wasn’t it? Matias had always been her fantasy guy, but as soon as he became a known quantity she would be free of him, in a manner of speaking. He would no longer be a dream inside her head, an untested benchmark against which other men had always been found wanting.

  ‘And then...?’ he was asking her now, in that dark voice, rich as the richest chocolate, that could make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

  ‘And then, when it all fell apart, I sat back and took stock and told myself that I would never make the same mistake again. Next time round I would go out with someone I felt was suited to me. Someone who had all the qualities I looked for. Someone on my wavelength.’

  ‘But now you like the thought of playing with fire...?’

  ‘Have you ever played with fire?’

  ‘Not when it comes to sex,’ Matias murmured huskily. ‘I’ve had one or two nail-biting moments with deals that hung in the balance, but I like knowing where I am when it comes to relationships. We need to go upstairs, Georgie. We need a bed...’

  Their eyes tangled, and in the soft light, with the steady drumbeat of the rain against the windows, something inside Georgina twisted. This was the point, she knew, when decisions would be made and there would be no going back.

  So she would be taking a risk? But where had being careful got her? This fake relationship was the closest thing she’d got to adventure in years. This man standing in front of her was the closest thing she’d got to exciting in even longer. He wasn’t right for her and he didn’t try and pretend otherwise. He fancied her because... She didn’t quite know why, but he seemed to... And, God, did she fancy him. He took her breath away. Always had.

  She could fight the attraction but this was her moment, her window. If she walked away now then he wouldn’t look back, but she would always wonder. He wouldn’t, but she would. He wanted a bed and so did she.

  But first...

  She ran her hands along his thighs. She couldn’t miss the thick bulge of his erection. A surge of feminine power rushed through her in a wave and she stifled a groan. She laid her hand on it and heard him hiss at the touch, although he kept himself perfectly still.

  Eventually he clasped some of her bright, tangled hair in his hand and gently drew her face up so that they were staring at one another.

  ‘Think hard,’ he murmured, ‘because you’ll be stepping out of your comfort zone. My mother thinks we’re having a relationship, but we both know the truth...’

  ‘I get it, Matias. This isn’t for real. I’m not going to start getting confused and delusional. How many times do you think you have to hint at that before you realise that you’re preaching to the converted?’ Her voice was strangled, because thinking straight was proving impossible when the evidence of his attraction to her was pulsing against her hand.

  ‘Let’s go upstairs,’ Matias urged, his breathing ragged. ‘The way you’re touching me... I need to get these jeans off. I need to feel you...taste you...take you... I want to be inside you, Georgie, hot and hard.’

  ‘Matias...’

  ‘That’s nice...’

  He kissed her long and hard and deep, until she could scarcely breathe. She just couldn’t get enough of that dragging, hungry kiss.

  ‘I like it when you say my name like that... I like the sound of you wanting me as much as I want you... I’d take you right here on this kitchen table, but we’ll have to save the adventure for when we have a bit more privacy.’

  He drew back, and the hungry darkness in his eyes made her giddy with excitement.

  ‘For now... Let’s go upstairs...’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THEY MADE IT up the stairs softly and quickly, any noise drowned out by the pounding of the rain outside. The click of the bedroom door shutting behind them made her shudder with anticipation.

  ‘I need to see you.’ Matias moved to switch on one of the lamps, bathing the room in a mellow glow. ‘I want to see every inch of your glorious body when I make love to you.’

  This felt like tasting forbidden fruit, and now that she had succumbed to temptation her excitement levels were rising fast. Georgina looked at him as he walked towards her. He touched her and she curved into him, and for a few seconds they held one another without saying anything.

  Then, ‘I’m not the skinny catwalk model type,’ she murmured against him.

  ‘You’re not.’ He propelled her towards the bed without breaking contact.

  ‘You like skinny catwalk model types.’

  ‘Is this based on your close observation of me over the years?’

  Georgina reddened, and he laughed softly and kissed the side of her mouth.

  ‘You’re wondering,’ he murmured, ‘whether to tell me that I’m an egotistical swine...’

  ‘If the hat fits...’ But she smiled nervously, and as the back of her knees came into contact with the mattress she collapsed onto the bed, eyes darkening as he remained standing, began unzipping the jeans.

  Her arms were spread wide, her hair a vibrant mane across the pillow. The jeans came off, and then the boxers, and she drew in a sharp breath when he circled his penis with his hand and gently played with himself while he watched her with smouldering intensity.

  Drugged with desire, Georgina discovered a side to herself she’d never known existed. A side without inhibition...a side that wanted to touch, to lick, to taste, to feel her own wetness the way he was feeling his own arousal.

  Gone was the primness that had held her in check all her life and in its place was a wanton, bold, daring woman who wanted to explore every inch of the man now settling onto the bed next to her.

  ‘Too many clothes,’ Matias said thickly, and he undressed her at speed, rearing up as he tugged down her jeans, taking her underwear with them, and then the too-tiny top.

  For a long moment he stared at her. He adored her with his eyes and she couldn’t breathe for wanting him.

  ‘Good G
od,’ he said in a driven undertone. ‘So damned beautiful...so bloody sexy...where have you been all my life?’

  It was just a figurative way of speaking, but, oh, how she wanted to shout, Here... I’ve always been here...

  It was so erotic, such a turn-on, and the heat pooled wet between her legs. He straddled her and gently swept her hair back, so that he could trail delicate kisses along her neck and enjoy the hitch in her breathing and her soft purrs of pleasure.

  His movements were slow, leisurely, intensely arousing. His touch was delicate, but she knew that there was sheathed power behind the light touch. He was taking his time.

  He covered her mouth with his and began kissing her, tasting her, probing the inside of her mouth with his tongue while he idly stroked her belly. Her generous breasts begged to be touched, and if by not touching them he intended to ratchet up her frantic desire to have him then he was spot-on.

  ‘So bloody beautiful,’ he murmured raggedly.

  She laughed with her eyes as they broke apart for a few seconds. ‘You don’t mean that.’

  ‘I never say anything I don’t mean.’

  ‘No, you don’t, do you?’ Georgina’s breathing was shallow and she wriggled sinuously against him, like a cat responding to the bliss of being stroked. ‘You don’t care how your words affect other people, do you?’

  ‘Life’s a tough business.’ Matias looked down at her for a few seconds, his dark eyes impenetrable. ‘I spent my early life moving away from my parents’ hocus-pocus lifestyle choices, and I discovered along the way that focusing on the tangible is all that matters. Caring too much about the abstract is a recipe for disaster.’

  ‘You mean love...?’

  ‘It gets in the way of what’s really important in life.’

  ‘Which is what?’

  ‘Too much talk.’ Matias neatly sidestepped the question, but then shot her a crooked smile because her questioning green eyes refused to be deflected. ‘You don’t give up, do you? I don’t do love, Georgie. My head rules my life. Always been that way and always will be that way. I’ve seen first-hand what happens when you start thinking with your emotions. You end up with a chaotic, rudderless life. Don’t look at me as though I’ve put out a hit on Father Christmas!’ He laughed softly. ‘Now, stop talking and let me pleasure you... You don’t have to feel nervous with me,’ he soothed.