The Spanish Aristocrat's Woman (9 page)

The moon was full tonight, and the light spilled into the car and over Kara’s smooth skin. She had her head back against the seat and her face was turned toward him. Her full lips were curved in a smile.

The gentleness of Kara was something that always took him by surprise. Even his sisters and mother, whom he adored, were passionate creatures with volatile tempers, but Kara was peaceful and soothing.

“Your brother is pretty funny and very charming. But that didn’t surprise me.”

“I taught him everything he knows,” Gui said.

“I think your father did. I really liked him. He told me once we were married I could call him Poppy.”

“Did he? He likes you, Kara.”

“I’m glad. I was worried about that. Your sisters are really nice. They’re going to do some work with my foundation back in the States.”

“Why did you start a foundation?”

“My mother. She died of breast cancer when I was a teen. We were fine, of course, because of my father’s money, but Rina and I met other kids whose families weren’t well off, and they were struggling to survive after losing their mothers. It may sound silly, but at sixteen I told my father that when I grew up I was going to make sure that families who went through what we did had a nice place to live.”

He smiled over at her. “That doesn’t sound silly at all. It sounds very much like you,
mi dulce.
”

“I guess you’re right. The need to help others is a big part of who I am. Don’t get me wrong, I like a shopping trip as much as the next girl. I just need to feel like I have a purpose.”

“I, too, am like that,” Gui said.

“Why did you choose to work with kids? You didn’t lose a parent.”

“No, I didn’t. But I did form a tight bond with my mates when I was thirteen. Tristan and Christos and I became friends because we were forced to be in each other’s company at school.”

“Forced?”

“Um…not sure what the right word for it is in English, but we were in trouble a lot and were given demerits and sent to work in the stables and on the grounds together.”

“Why am I not surprised that you three were troublemakers?” she asked with a soft laugh.

“I like your laugh, Kara.”

“You do?”

“Yes. It always makes me smile.”

She smiled over at him with the hint of innocence and shyness that he associated only with her.

“Tell me more about how you turned troublemaking into an idea for helping kids.”

He downshifted for a traffic light and brought the car to a stop. He put his hand on Kara’s thigh, and she shifted her legs toward him as he slid his hand upward.

“We became mates because we did stuff together and we shared the same disdain for authority. That gave me the idea that the kids who were getting into trouble in Madrid were probably in the same situation we were. Not enough of the right kind of activity.”

“That makes sense. Too much free time is never good when you’re young.”

“Did you get into trouble?”

“No. I’m a rule follower. I like to know what the boundaries are and to stay within them.”

“I like to know where the boundaries are, too,” he said, shifting the car into gear when the light changed. Kara lifted her hand to his and he joined their fingers together and held them loosely on the gearshift.

“Yes, but you blow right past the limits, don’t you? Even as an adult you still don’t like to follow the rules.”

“How do you know that?”

She arched one eyebrow at him. “You must be kidding. I’m engaged to you because you told me I am.”

That startled a laugh out of him. She was relaxed, teasing him. And he was seeing a woman…a woman he never wanted to let go.

That was another nice thing about marriage, he thought. For the first time, he realized that regular sex wasn’t the only plus to being married. There was also this quiet conversation. This teasing between the two of them.

He lifted their joined hands to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

He noticed she did that a lot. For some reason, she wanted to know what made him tick. But he wasn’t about to tell her what he was thinking now, because those kinds of thoughts left him too vulnerable.

She’d become important to him, and how the hell had that happened? She was a woman he was marrying so that he wasn’t the odd man out with his friends. She was the woman he was using to get Elvira out of his system and to finally, after ten long years, move on.

Kara was the woman who was supposed to be there when he needed her. And he was supposed to only need her for sex and for social functions. But, holding her hand in his, he realized he needed her for
this.
This quiet sharing in the middle of the night was just as important as the other reasons.

And he came to realize in that instant that he really did need her, and he wasn’t ever going to let her go.

“I’ll see you upstairs?”

“Si, bebe,”
he said, kissing her lingeringly.

She pulled away reluctantly and looked back at him just once before hurrying up the elegant staircase. She opened the door to her bedroom and walked inside, trying to tell herself that this romance was all in her head. That what she and Gui had was about convenience, both of them needing and wanting marriage for business reasons. It had nothing to do with romance.

Except, on this moonlit night, it sure didn’t feel that way to her.

She opened the door to her balcony and stepped outside into the cool spring evening. The moon was full and bright and she lifted her hand to cup it.

Holding the moon in her hand…Was that like fooling herself into believing that she and Gui had real romance between them?

“Bebe?”

“Out here,” she said.

He walked out onto the balcony. He’d shed his dinner jacket and tie before joining her.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes. I need to call Tristan first thing in the morning.”

“Oh?”

“Seconds business. We had to fire one of our finance officers recently for embezzling.”

“I don’t understand why someone would steal.”

“You wouldn’t,” he said and drew her into his arms, kissing her the way he did.

And immediately she caught fire. One touch of his mouth on hers was all it took to arouse her. It didn’t help matters that her entire body was still tingling from the orgasm he’d given her before they left for the dinner party.

He nibbled on her lips and held her still when she would have undulated against him. She lifted her hands to his shoulders, burying her hands in the crisp hair at the back of his neck.

His mouth left hers and she felt the gentle scrape of his teeth against her neck. She dug her nails into his shoulders.

He caressed her back and spine. She rubbed herself against him, wishing they were both naked. “Let’s go inside.”

“Not yet,” he said, finding the tab of her zipper and drawing it down. The cool evening air brushed over her skin. He pushed the dress off her shoulders and it fell down her hips to pool at her feet. She glanced down at the body she’d always felt was unfashionable.

Gui tipped her head up to his. “You are exquisite,
querida.
I want to see you wearing nothing but moonlight and my ring.”

She nodded. He unfastened the back clasp of her bra and drew the fabric away from her breasts. Her nipples were already beaded with arousal and tightened more as the cool air touched them.

Gui cupped her breasts, running his finger over her nipples. He brushed his finger back and forth until she bit her lower lip and shifted in his arms.

“Now take off your panties,
bebe.
”

She reached for the waistband of her panties, pushed them down her hips and let them fall down her legs. She stepped out of them and then out of her shoes. She had nothing on now, just the moonlight that bathed the city and this night in its magical glow. And, of course, the ring on her left hand.

“Stand over there,” he said. She stepped to where he’d indicated. He sank down in the padded rocking chair on the balcony and just stared at her.

“What are you doing?” she asked, starting to remember she wasn’t svelte.

“God, woman, you are so beautiful.”

“Gui.”

“Come here so I can make love to my fiancée.”

She walked over to him slowly and he pulled her onto his lap. The rocking chair was large enough to seat two people, so straddling him was easy for her.

He cupped her breasts again and she moaned before he touched her nipples. He leaned down and caught the tip of one breast between his lips, drawing her into his mouth and suckling her.

She held his shoulders and moved on him, rubbing her center over his erection.

He scraped his fingernail over her nipple and she shivered in his arms. She drew back a little bit so she could see him. Her breasts were bare, nipples distended and begging for his mouth. He lowered his head and suckled her some more.

He held her still with a hand on the small of her back. He buried his other hand in her hair and arched her over his arm. Both of her breasts were thrust up at him.

“Damn, you are so hot tonight.”

Her eyes closed and her hips moved subtly against him. When he blew on her nipple, gooseflesh spread down her body.

She loved how hot he made her. Loved how open and honest he was with his reactions to her body. Loved his mouth on her breasts. Her nipples were so sensitive and she felt everything in her body clenching.

He leaned down and licked the valley between her breasts. She remembered the last time he’d left his mark on her right there. He hadn’t done that since the first time they’d made love.

He kept kissing and rubbing, caressing her nipples until her hands clenched in his hair and she rocked her hips harder against his length. He lifted his hips, thrusting up against her and then biting carefully on one tender, aroused nipple. She cried his name and he covered her mouth with his. She sucked his tongue into her mouth, needing to make him feel the same out-of-control passion that was swamping her right now.

He rocked her until she quieted in his arms, then he held her close. She felt him between her legs through the fabric of his pants and realized that, once again, he was still dressed.

She glanced up at him and saw he was watching her. The fire in his eyes made her entire body tight with anticipation. He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. Laying her on the center of the bed, he unzipped his pants and pushed them down his legs. He opened the top drawer of the nightstand and grabbed a condom, putting it on one-handed before turning back to her.

“Hurry,” she said. The doubts that had plagued her all her life were gone. She knew that this man liked her body. This sexy, virile man wanted her, and no other woman could satisfy him the way she could.

“Not a chance. I’m going to savor you.”

“Betcha can’t,” she said, reaching out to caress him. He groaned and fell forward, catching his weight on his arms.

“You really want—”

“I really want you, Gui. Deep inside me now.”

“How do you want me,
bebe?
”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted herself up to kiss him hard on the lips. Then whispered in his ear how she wanted him.

Hearing in explicit detail what she wanted from him seemed to inflame him, and he fell on her. She wrapped her arms and legs around him as he shifted his body. She felt him at the entrance to her body, and then he thrust home, all the way inside of her. So deep she felt like they’d always be connected this way.

She smiled up at him. “Don’t try to last, honey. Make me yours.”

He hugged her close and then took her mouth, thrusting his tongue between her lips in the same rhythm as he thrust into her body. She wrapped her thighs high around his waist. Her hands fluttered between them, and their eyes met.

He held her hips steady and thrust deeply, his pace increasing as their passion grew frenzied. Her eyes widened with each inch he gave her. She clutched at his hips, holding him to her.

He leaned down and caught one of her nipples in his teeth, scraping very gently. She started to tighten around him. Her hips moved faster, demanding more, but he kept the pace slow, steady. She didn’t want to come again without him.

He suckled her nipple and shifted his hips to catch her pleasure point with each thrust. She clutched her hands in his hair and threw her head back as another climax ripped through her.

“Gui,” she said. “Come with me, honey.”

“Not yet. I want you crazy with pleasure.”

“I
am.
”

He varied his thrusts, finding a rhythm that made her shiver again. She knew she was going to come again and this time she wanted him with her. She loved when they were together like this. It was the only time that she felt truly like they were both honest with each other.

He leaned back on his haunches and tipped her hips up to give him deeper access to her body. Then she scraped her nails down his back, clutching his buttocks and drawing him in. She felt him thrust harder and faster and knew his orgasm was near. She looked up at his face and felt everything in the world narrow to this one man. She knew then that she loved him.

He called her name as he came, and she felt her own body answer with another orgasm. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close.

She wanted to drift off to sleep in his arms before she did something truly silly and blurted out how much she loved him.