Honor-Bound Groom

by Yvonne Lindsay

  After their meal, Alex walked her to her suite as he did every night. As she unlocked the door he put out a hand to cover hers.

  “Would you mind if I come in with you this evening?” His voice was deep and the sound caressed her ears like a lover’s touch.

  “Not at all,” she answered with a smile as she swung the heavy door open and stepped inside. “Please, come in.”

  Loren’s heart fluttered in her chest. Had Alex decided not to wait for their wedding night? Nerves, plaited with a silken thread of longing, pulsed deep inside, slowly stoking a furnace of heat within her. Her skin grew sensitive. So sensitive, even the newly bought gown she’d worn to dinner felt too heavy against her.

  She turned to him, aware that her cheeks were warm and no doubt bore a flush of color quite at odds with the elegance of her appearance tonight. Her eyes raked over him. Ah, she never tired of drinking in the sight of his masculine beauty. Of the breadth of his shoulders as they filled the designer suit he wore with such effortless grace and style. Of the press of his chest against the crisp white cotton of his shirt. Even the way his throat moved above the knot of his silver-and-black striped silk tie mesmerized her.

  Her mind filled with the prospect of placing her lips to that very point where she could see the beat of his pulse—of pressing her lips into his skin, allowing her tongue to caress that spot and taste him, tasting so much more.

  She clenched her thighs against the sudden thrum of energy that coiled there. But instead of lessening the sensation, it only intensified it, sending a small shock of pleasure through her and driving a tiny gasp past her lips.

  She felt as though she was poised on the balls of her feet, ready to move into the shelter of his arms and feel once more the press of his body against hers. Her whole body was attuned to the man only a few short feet away from her.

  “There is something I need to discuss with you,” Alex said, the abruptly businesslike tone of his voice quelling her ardor as suddenly as if she’d been drenched by a rogue wave on the rocky bay beneath the castle.

  Was he now going to take her to task for her dismissal of Giselle today? Loren felt the lingering remnants of desire slowly flicker and die. She swallowed and took a steadying breath.

  “Well then, would you be more comfortable sitting down? Perhaps I can pour you a drink?”

  “Yes, thank you. A cognac I think. And pour one for yourself, too.”

  Did he think she’d need it? Suddenly Loren wished he had simply stuck with their usual routine. Even a noncommittal kiss at the door was bound to have been better than being castigated for rejecting his assistant’s company. Not that she was going to take any criticism of her choice today without putting up a decent protest of her own. But was she ready to face the truth if she asked him about his relationship with Giselle?

  She crossed the sitting room of her suite to the heavily carved dark wooden sideboard against one wall. She took two crystal snifters from within and then lifted the cut-crystal stopper from one of the decanters on the edged silver tray that sat on the polished surface. Alex’s warm hand closed over hers.

  “Here, let me pour, hmm?”

  A fine tremor ran through her as his touch sent a sizzle of electricity coursing up her arm.

  She pulled away from him and forced her suddenly uncooperative legs to take her over to one of the two-seater couches. She lowered herself onto the richly upholstered fabric, yet couldn’t bring herself to sit back and relax against the cushioned back, instead perching on the edge.

  Alex crossed the room and handed her one of the glasses. Loren bent her nose to the rim, taking a deep breath of the aroma of the dark amber liquid before lifting it to her lips and allowing the alcohol to trickle over her tongue and down her throat. She never normally drank hard spirits, but she had the distinct feeling that tonight she was going to need it.

  She swallowed, welcoming the burn the distilled liquor left in its path, and watched as Alex sat down opposite her. He unbuttoned his jacket and reached inside, drawing out a folded paper packet. He carefully placed the packet on the coffee table between them, then took a sip of his cognac.

  The liquid left a slight sheen upon his lips, capturing her gaze with the inevitability of a moth to a flame. He pressed his lips together, dissipating the residue, allowing her to look away.

  “Is that what you want to discuss?” Loren pressed as he made no effort to explain the papers he’d laid before them.

  “Yes. It’s a legal document I need you to read and sign before we are married. Someone can take you into the notary’s office tomorrow for it to be witnessed.”

  “What kind of legal document?” Loren asked, not even bothering to point out that she could quite capably make her own way into the city.

  Alex’s dark eyes bored into hers. “A prenuptial document.”

  “Well, that is only to be expected,” Loren said matter-of-factly, even as she forced herself to quell the swell of disappointment that rose within her. Did he really find such a document necessary?

  As far as she was concerned, this marriage was forever. She had no desire and no plans to ever leave Alex, nor, if such a heartbreaking event should occur, could she imagine she would ever make unreasonable financial demands against him.

  “Perhaps it would be best if you read it first. If you have any questions I’m sure the notary will be able to answer them for you.”

  Alex put down his glass and rose from his seat. “I’d better get going. I have an early flight tomorrow.”

  “Flight?” Loren asked. “Where? May I come with you?”

  “It is nothing but a business trip to Seville. You would be bored. Which reminds me, you will need to ask Reynard or Benedict to take you to the notary as Giselle will be accompanying me. Actually, best to call on Reynard. Benedict drives like a demented race-car driver at the best of times and I would hate for anything to happen to you before the wedding.”

  Loren fought back the bitter disappointment his words evoked in her. “I’ll bear that in mind,” she replied through stiff lips. “When will you be back?”

  “In a couple of days, certainly no more than three.”

  Three days away with Giselle? Loren felt the news deep in her gut, as if it was a physical blow. Perhaps her earlier fears of today were true after all.

  “Good night, then.” Alex walked the couple of steps that brought him to her side and bent to kiss the top of her head before leaving the room.

  As she watched the heavy door of her suite close behind him she blinked against the prick of tears that had begun behind her eyes. She would not cry. She would not.

  Loren reached across the table, lifted up the legal packet and slid out the folded document. Her eyes scanned the information. As unaccustomed as she was to legal jargon it all seemed to make sense until she reached a paragraph headed up with the words legal issue.

  She read the paragraph, then read it again to be certain she understood the terminology. If she was correct, to ensure the continuation of the del Castillo bloodline she and Alex must make love at the time when her body was at its most fertile, and to ensure the correct timing, her menstrual cycle was to be monitored. Even the details of the clinic she would be monitored by were in the agreement.

  Loren let the papers slide from suddenly nerveless fingers.

  The legalese twirled around in her mind, sentences fragmenting before joining back together. Did this mean that she and Alex would only make love when she was ovulating? That was, what? A span of a few days at most in each month. And what if she got pregnant? Would he still share her bed, still make love with her as a husband did with his wife? Or would her job have been done, leaving him free to go back into Giselle’s arms?

  Just what kind of marriage was she entering?

  Five

  Loren heard the knock at the door to her suite and wondered if perhaps her maid had forgotten something. She’d only just sent her away, preferring to spend these last few moments before her wedding alone. She picked up
her voluminous skirts and went to open the door.

  “Giselle!” Loren stepped back, startled to see the blonde there. She let her skirts settle back down to the carpet beneath her, the ivory French taffeta giving a distinctive rustle.

  “My, don’t you look every inch the fairy-tale princess,” Giselle remarked, coming into the sitting room.

  Loren tolerated the woman’s scrutiny of the dress that was the fulfillment of all her childhood dreams. Yes, she did feel like a fairy-tale princess in the strapless gown. Somehow the words from Giselle’s glossy red lips made the idea more of an insult than a compliment.

  “Was there something you wanted?” Loren asked coolly.

  “No, Alex asked me to come up and check on you. He thought you might benefit from some female company since your mother isn’t here.”

  Loren bit back the retort that immediately sprang to her lips. She would not fight, not with anyone, on her wedding day.

  “That’s lovely of him. But as you can see, I’m fine, thank you.”

  She waited for Giselle to leave but instead she settled herself on one of the couches. Loren had to admit, she looked beautiful. The woman certainly knew how to make the most of her features. The dress she wore would have looked vampish on anyone else, but on Giselle it was elegantly sensual.

  “You know, I have to hand it to you. I thought you’d have given up by now,” Giselle said. “Given up?”

  “Well, how many women would have signed that prenuptial agreement, for a start? I know I certainly wouldn’t.”

  “Perhaps you would if you loved your fiancé enough,” Loren commented quietly. “As I do.”

  Giselle waved her hand as if dismissing Loren’s words, the very gesture making Loren’s spine stiffen in irritation. She’d wanted this time alone to reflect on her coming marriage, and particularly on the terms of the prenuptial agreement that Giselle had mentioned. Clearly, the blonde knew all about it, and that fact rankled with Loren. It should have been a private matter. One between her and Alex alone.

  This past week had been such a whirl of activity with a museum opening to attend along with several charity functions, all of which gave her a taste for what her duties would be like as a del Castillo bride. She and Alex, while together for much of their waking moments, had barely had a moment alone to talk. Whenever she’d tried to bring the subject of the prenuptial document up, Alex had brushed it off until later. Now, today, was about as late as it could get and Loren was still unsure of where she stood on the agreement she’d eventually signed.

  “Well, whatever,” Giselle continued, oblivious to Loren’s obvious displeasure in her company. “You’ve really gone above and beyond the call of duty. It’s either incredibly naive of you to stick with it or incredibly kind.”

  “Kind?”

  “To agree to the terms just to help the company out and keep an old man happy.”

  “I don’t know what you mean. I’m marrying Alex because I love him. Because I’ve always loved him,” Loren stated as firmly as she was able.

  “Surely you’re aware that Alex is only marrying you because of the curse.”

  “The curse?” Surely she didn’t mean the old governess’s curse?

  Loren knew well the story of the woman who’d been brought to Isla Sagrado from the south of France to educate the daughters of one of the original del Castillos on the island—a nobleman from Spain. The poor woman had fallen in love with her employer and entered into an affair that had lasted years.

  Legend had it that she’d borne him three sons, but that in view of the fact his wife had only borne him daughters, he’d taken her boys from her and he’d raised them as his legitimate issue, paying her off with a ruby necklace from the del Castillo jewel collection. Paintings in the family gallery that predated the nobleman showed the necklace, known as La Verdad del Corazon—the Heart’s Truth. It was a stunning piece of chased gold with a massive heart-shaped ruby at its center. Loren had always privately believed that it was more the type of gift a man gave to his one true love than as payment for services rendered.

  When the nobleman’s wife died, however, he’d married another woman—one from a high-ranking family. In her misery the governess was said to have interrupted the wedding, begging her beloved to take her back. When her lover—and her sons—turned their backs on her, she cursed the del Castillo family. If, in the next nine generations, the del Castillos did not learn to live by their family motto of honor, truth and love, the ninth generation would be the last. With that pronouncement, she cast both herself and the Heart’s Truth from the cliffs behind the castle and into the savage ocean. Her body was later found, but the Heart’s Truth had been lost ever since.

  Loren had always found the story to be truly tragic and, as a child, had often imagined a happier ending for the governess and her lover.

  If the curse was to be believed—not to mention previous generations’ total disregard for its power—it was responsible for the steady diminishment of the family over the past nine generations. But to believe that Alex was marrying her in an attempt to break the curse, well, that was just ridiculous. What happened three hundred years ago had no bearing on life today.

  “Surely you must know of it. You’re from here, after all, and the papers have been full of it, especially since the announcement of your engagement. The boys are the ninth generation—the last of the line. Old Aston was starting to have concerns that they would stay that way. Alex is trying to downplay it but you know what his grandfather is like once he gets an idea into his head. He believes he’s even seen the governess’s ghost. Can you imagine it? Of course, Alex would move mountains to please the old man—especially if it also happened to be good for business.

  “Anyway, they came up with this fabulous publicity drive where they’d all get married and have babies to prove to everyone, their grandfather especially, that the curse isn’t real.”

  Giselle laughed but Loren was hard-pressed to quell the shiver that ran down her spine. Even more so when she weighed the truth in the other woman’s words. If, as she’d said, Abuelo was genuinely concerned about the curse, Alex would do anything to alleviate those concerns. It was the kind of man he was and his loyalty and love for his family were unquestionable.

  Would that loyalty and love extend to her, she wondered, or was Giselle right and was Loren merely the means to an end?

  Giselle rose from her seat and brushed an imaginary fleck of dust from her dress.

  “Well, I can see you don’t need me. I’ll go down to Alex and let him know you’re ready. The cars are waiting to take everyone to the cathedral.”

  “Thank you.”

  Loren forced the words past her lips and tried not to think too hard about the ceremony ahead.

  She would much rather have married in the intimate private chapel that formed a part of the castillo’s family history, but her wedding to Alex was to be quite a show. Visiting dignitaries from all over Europe would be in attendance along with the cream of Sagradan society. Hundreds of guests, if the lists she’d seen were any indication.

  Hundreds of strangers.

  As the door closed behind Giselle’s retreating figure it struck Loren how alone she truly was. The few old school friends she’d managed to touch base with since her return all viewed her differently now. Sure, they were friendly, but it was as if there was an invisible wall between them. As if she was unreachable. Untouchable.

  Well, untouchable certainly fit in well with how Alex had continued to treat her. Maybe he was saving himself, making sure he was locked and loaded for when they met the terms of their prenuptial agreement, she thought cynically. Or maybe he managed to sate his appetites elsewhere, a snide voice niggled from the back of her mind. She pushed the thought from her head but couldn’t quite get rid of the bitter aftertaste in her mouth at the thought.

  Loren crossed the sitting room to the large window that looked out past the castle’s walls and over the landscape. The sun was hot and bright today, a portent of the
burgeoning summer months ahead. The sky was a sharp clear blue, broken by slender drifts of cirrus cloud here and there. It was a perfect day to be married by any standard, so why then did she suddenly feel as if it was anything but?

  Alex fidgeted with his cuff links for what felt like the umpteenth time today as he stood at the altar of the cathedral.

  “Do that again and they’ll fall off,” Benedict cautioned from his side.

  “Funny guy,” Alex responded, but forced himself to relax.

  He looked back across the rows and rows of guests, some faces he knew well, others hardly at all. The cathedral was packed. Today’s ceremony would be the beginning of the new age of del Castillos that would lay old ghosts to rest, and everyone who was anyone wanted to be there to see it. He met Abuelo’s stare from the front pew, the one carved with the del Castillo crest. The old man gave him a slow nod of approval and Alex felt his chest swell with pride. Any doubts he might have had about whether he was doing the right thing were nothing in the face of his grandfather’s happiness.

  “Do you know what the delay is?” Reynard asked. “Maybe she’s got cold feet and has made a run for the airport.”

  Alex gave his brother a glare, but he felt a short sharp pang of concern. Loren had been different since he’d given her the prenup to read and sign. A little more distant and a little less eager to please. Had the agreement bothered her that much? Surely she could see the necessity for such an agreement without it affecting their marriage. The financial considerations of providing for her, should he die unexpectedly or should their marriage fail, aside, of primary importance was ensuring the next generation. Once that was out of the way then, well, they could take whatever came next at their leisure—a prospect that, he had to admit, filled him with pleasure. It had been hell keeping his hands off Loren these past two weeks, especially when she’d obviously been eager to take their relationship to an intimate level.