Authors: Cristiane Serruya

Tags: #love_contemporary, #love_erotica

Trust: Betrayed (71 page)

BOOK: Trust: Betrayed

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Ethan danced effortlessly and a comfortable silence spread between them. He looked down, saw the warmth and understanding in her eyes, and wished he could hold her tightly in his arms again and feel her softness against him.

Frowning, Alistair opened his fisted hands and breathed.
You’re being unreasonable, Alistair Connor. She is only dancing. Nothing more. You have no justifiable cause to complain.

He wanted Sophia, had wanted her from the first moment he saw her, when she walked into that meeting room. The physical, possessive and protective want, the need for her loyalty, her commitment; it was all still powerful enough to unsettle him, to obsess him, to undermine his usual unassailable control.
Fuck!

She did look splendid in the gown, the lace bodice revealing a good deal more of her body than he deemed necessary. Enough to constitute a threat to public order.

Victoria did a fabulous job. It is gorgeous. She is gorgeous. And I am the most infatuated husband in the world.
Bemused, he shook his head at himself.
All I have to do is control my temper and remember that I mustn’t break any of my friends’ noses for looking where she is so flagrantly inviting them to.

Go there. Take her and take control of your feelings again.
Brows quirking, he examined that conclusion and could not fault it. He wasn’t going to get any real peace until he fulfilled this desire. Unbidden, his mind conjured up their first kiss and his hands fisted again. Lips thinning, he crossed the room with sure steps.

Sophia was startled when Alistair’s voice cut in, “My wife.”

Ethan’s hands fell slowly from Sophia’s body and he stepped back. The expression on his face showed his disappointment at Alistair’s arrival.

“Sophia, darling, thanks for the dance.” Ethan kissed her cheek and turned to Alistair, “MacCraig. Yours was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to.”

Of course. Sophia is the bride.
Alistair enlaced Sophia’s waist and pulled her flush to his body. “Thanks, Ashford.”

Ethan nodded and walked away slowly as Alistair spun Sophia in his arm and started dancing with her.

“What are you looking at?”

Alistair’s eyes turned in her direction, her face holding an unasked question. “I’m looking at my beautiful wife,” he murmured for her ears only, running his fingers over her nape, while he told himself he really should behave since they were in public. “My sexy wife, whom I’d like to peel out of her dress and set naked on my lap so I can do debauched things to her sexy body.”

“You shouldn’t be let out to torment women.”

Smiling with slow deliberation that brought lustful heat into those eyes of forest green, he leaned in close, his next words a purr against her ear. “I only plan to torment one woman for the rest of eternity.” He drew in a deep breath, took her scent within, but he wasn’t about to rush. Not today. “Shall I tell you what I intend to do to you as your gift on our wedding night?”

He wrapped her up in tendrils of vanilla and oak. A sensual and decadent promise.

“No.” It was a laughing refusal, her husky voice entangling him in chains he had no intention of ever breaking. “Or I’ll tell you what I’m wearing under this dress.”

He felt like stretching in pleasure as her precious laughter stroked his senses.

Mine.
The most beautiful woman in the place, and she was his. “You... You turn me inside out, you know?”

Welcome to your married life, Lord Caveman.
She cocked her head at him, playfulness sparkling in her honey eyes.

“I feel... I don’t know...” He lost what he was going to say as he looked at her face. A fleeting thought that he didn’t deserve to be looked at with so much love was immediately swept away by her sweet scent billowing around him, everywhere a soft cloud of lace and femininity.

“Possessive,” she said, delving her hands in his hair. “The word you’re looking for is possessive.” She sounded entirely satisfied and leaned in, her lips softening in subconscious invitation.

Her mouth was a breath away from his.

That was all the encouragement he needed. “Come,
my wife
, it’s time for you to indulge your husband’s possessive wishes.”

As they walked away, hand in hand, they vowed to be together forever, not knowing that forever always ended.

Epilogue

Scotland, Highlands.

Sunday, August 8
^th, 2010.

Airgead Caisteal.

9.15 a.m.

Some lessons are best learned with love.
He smiled as he changed the saying. Propping himself on one elbow, he admired the sleeping woman in his bed.
Mine.

He had known betrayal.

He had known pain.

But from the very first day he had met her, all he had known was love and happiness.

He didn’t resist the temptation and bent to kiss her soft lips.
All mine.

“Mmmm,” she moaned, stretching on the bed, her lips curling up.

She had lost so much.

She had been hurt so deeply.

Since he had entered her life, he’d given her all the missing pieces of her broken heart and shown her a new path.

A new path for them to trail together.

She opened her hazel eyes and gazed into his forest green ones. “Good morning, husband of mine.”

All yours.
“Good morning, my wife,” he answered and his smile grew impossibly large. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of your new title. My. Wife.”

Nor will I tire of hearing you say it.
She happily smiled back at him. “I do hope not.”

“I love you,” he whispered on her lips.

And before he kissed her, she whispered back, “I love you.”

Altreck Caisteal.

9.30 a.m.

In the painting on the ceiling, a chubby cupid shot arrows at an enamored couple, and mocked the handsome man who was lying wide awake since the night before.

What am I supposed to do now?

He looked around at the beautiful master bedroom of his manor. Even though the recent refurbishment had altered it drastically the room was still haunted by the presence of his one and only love.

She was mine.
He sat up and rested his back on the wooden headboard, shoving his fingers into his brown sun-kissed hair.
The most kind, virtuous and beautiful woman I’ve ever found in my whole life.

He looked at the woman sleeping beside him. Despite their similar appearance, she would never replace his real love.

She was my chance for redemption.

He left the bed and walk into the bathroom.

His rage spiked when he saw a bottle of Sublime Vanille on the bathroom counter.

And I threw my chance away.
He grabbed the perfume bottle and hurled it at the wall.

The beautifully crafted crystal bottle smashed into tiny little pieces and the smell that was so like her spread through the room, almost choking him.

The futility of all his acts brought him to his knees as tears watered his azure eyes.

Now, I’m damned to waste away. Alone.

Defeated, he lowered his head on his knees.
How am I supposed to go on living without her?

Acknowledgments

The first installment of the TRUST trilogy was my first experience in the writing world.

I had that romantic notion that all I had to do was write a good book and people would buy it. I was an avid reader and I always looked for my books on Amazon and at bookstores. I didn’t know what Goodreads.com was or that ARCs, beta readers or bloggers existed.

So, my thanks this time starts with:

My readers and fans at Goodreads and LibraryThing, who have spread the word about my book and posted their lovely reviews, sharing their thoughts with me, and rooting for TRUST: Alberto Finamore, Gigi Tous, Dolors Casas - Ah, Dolors! Thanks for your friendship; Paddy O’Callaghan, Josie Raphjson and all those who have befriended me along this journey;

To my beta and advanced readers: Amy Haroulakis, Haylee Tippet, Leta Fisher, Marina Moura, Natalie Gerber, Niyati Makinkurve, Sónia Costa, Stacey Price, Tammy Thompson; Ladies, your caring feedback helped a lot;

To ALL the bloggers who shared their love of reading with me, for your TRUST in me, especially to: Braine at
Talk Supe
; Holly Polk, at
Full Moon Bites
, Katie at
Babbling About Books and More
; Mariann Mclaughlin, at
Belle’s Book Bag
; Marina Moura, at
Minha Vida Por Um Livro
; Naadir Idrus, at
The-Bookaholics
, Niyati Mavinkurve, at
Books, Food and Me
, Pamela, reviewing as Mason Canyon, at
Thoughts in Progress
; Roxanne Rhoads, at
Full Moon Bites
; Svetlana Len, at
Sveta Random Blog
; and so many others these pages are not long enough to list them;

To Linda Sims and Jane Stewart, Amazon Top Reviewers, who were kind enough to share with me their experienced thoughts;

To Margarete Bianchi, for your help with the therapy sessions.

Now. To TRUST’s surrogate mothers:

A most especial THANK YOU to Carla Kasumi Atkins. Thank you for taking such special loving care editing and reviewing my baby. You are the best!

Fernanda Martinez, and all you guys from the
oitoeoito
team, thanks for doing such an amazing site and fan page;

Renata Fontanive, thanks for creating such a beautiful cover and bookmark and putting up with me as I requested changes and more changes;

Mariana de Oliveira e Castro, for your constant help, thank you.

And last but not least, I cannot forget to thank my family, especially my husband, Raphael - who finally read TRUST - and my lovely daughters, Raphaela and Giovanna, thanks for your infinite patience and all the love you gave me.

About the Author

I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with my husband and two daughters. I’m a lawyer and have always loved to read and write. After twenty years of practicing law, I decided to give writing a go.

And - amazingly - it was the piece that was missing in my life.

As confessions go, I also need to tell you that Sophia, Gabriela and I share a few things. Apart from being able to read when I was three and starting my first University course - Fine Arts - when I was fifteen years old, I also share Sophia’s interest in preventing sexual abuse and violence against children and women. My senior thesis at law school was on this subject, twenty-two years ago.

This book is a work of fiction and the characters, and dialogues, places and incidents involving them are drawn from my imagination or are used fictitiously.

However, whenever I’ve used real locations, I’ve tried to keep all the details and descriptions as real as possible.

Unfortunately, I have to tell you that it’s true that more than thirteen million abortions are performed in China every year. And that drug trades use baby flesh to make supposed cure-all pills.

You can find more information on the TRUST TRILOGY on my website: cristianeserruya.com.br

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I loved writing it

BOOK: Trust: Betrayed

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