Bound by the Millionaire's Ring(21)

Isidora's parents chose that moment to arrive, but the awkwardness only increased.

"My angel! We're so happy for you!" Francisca cried. "Have you set a date?"



"Hija preciosa," Isidora's father said as her mother moved along to fawn over Ramon.

"Papa." She leaned into her father's barrel chest to accept his enveloping hug.

"Estás bien?" He drew back to give her a searching look. Others had  laughed at her puppy love for Ramon, but he never had. He didn't know  about That Day, but he knew her reservations against taking this  position at Sauveterre International had been motivated by a strong  desire to avoid Ramon.

"I'm fine," she assured him. It felt like only a small lie. She was  telling the truth in this moment, especially since she and Ramon had  cleared the air in many ways, but she suspected that when this pretend  engagement was over, she would not be "fine" by any stretch of the  imagination.

Because he wouldn't marry her. That's why Cinnia's joke had landed so  flatly, like a gob of mud on the bricks at their feet. She shook off the  painful reminder and patted her father's lapel.

"How about you?" she asked with gentle concern. Every time her parents  had reunited in the past, a painful breakup had soon followed, usually  caused by her mother's tendency to wander.

Their experience was a cautionary tale, she reminded herself, thinking  of all the things Ramon had said that replaced her hurt and anger with  wistful yearning and a blind desire to believe in miracles.

"Excelente," her father assured her with confidence.

Isidora wanted to believe him. As she watched them through the evening,  staying close and sharing affectionate touches, she found herself hoping  that this time they really would find happiness. But deep down, she  knew she was just trying to believe in fairy-tale endings for her  parents so she could buy in to one for herself.

Like her engagement dinner in the Paris restaurant, this evening was  agonizing in its perfection. The moonlight turned the gentle foam on the  sea to a veil of lace. The late summer breeze caressed like down. Henri  and her father said warm things about how close their families had  always been. Some of her dearest friends raised their glasses, genuine  in their happiness for her, believing she was marrying the man of her  long-held dreams.

When she looked up at Ramon, she almost believed it-which was so very  dangerous, but how could she not be inexorably drawn to him? He was so  confident, with features painted by a master into an archangel's, mouth  curled in private amusement, body disciplined and still while his  restless gaze moved across all he surveyed.

He was aloof and hard for a reason. Knowing those reasons only made  caring for him more perilous. He wouldn't bend and nothing could break  him. She knew better than to expect anything but heartache from him.

When they toasted with champagne, however, and the partygoers tapped  their glasses, demanding a kiss from the happy couple, her heart raced  with excitement. He took her in his arms and she knew that no matter  what happened in the rest of her life, this man would always possess a  piece of her heart.

She tensed slightly, as she had before all of his kisses, bracing  herself to hide the way she reacted. She feared the blaze of need that  flared when he touched her. It had only grown worse with proximity. This  man had always had the ability to pull her outside herself and leave  her standing without defenses, bare to the world. In the last few weeks,  each and every time they had kissed, no matter how generic the peck,  she had wanted to sob out at the pleasure-pain of it.

His embrace was too great a power to withstand, making her feel pried open.

But not being near him, not feeling his touch, not kissing him, was worse.

Until this moment, she had used fury and hurt to suppress all those  feelings, but so much of her anger and agony was defused. She had little  left to protect her. She was tingly and soft. Without conscious  decision, she yielded.         

     



 

He noticed. His gaze flashed as he slid his hand along the bare skin  exposed by the cutout of her gown. He tucked his fingertips beneath the  fabric as he drew her into him, the sheer propriety of his action making  her heart stumble.

Other men had held her and kissed her, but no man except this one made  the soft crash of their bodies feel like an implosion. All the energy  was sucked from the surrounding area. It gathered tight inside her,  releasing as a blast of excitement as his mouth claimed hers.

She really hadn't stopped thinking about their night. She tasted the  memory on his lips, sipped again at the passion in the sweep of his  tongue into her mouth. She hadn't stopped thinking about it, either, and  abandoned chagrin in favor of welcoming the sensual storm he sent  whirling through her blood.

In that moment, she knew he must possess her. It wasn't a clear-headed  decision to make love with him tonight. It was a far more primal  knowledge that whether it was tonight, or next week, or some point in  the future, she would lie down with this man. Had to. Her mouth opened  wider to accept his plundering kiss. Her body yearned. She wrapped her  arms around his neck and stopped fearing he would destroy her.

She looked forward to it.





CHAPTER EIGHT

IF SHE HAD been a little bit drunk the last time she was in Ramon's  arms, tonight she was high on natural chemistry. Pheromones. The imprint  of a particular man's touch that never seemed to lift from her body  even if it was only his eyes across a dance floor.

Not that he let other men monopolize her. No, he cut in shamelessly more  than once, and reserved all the slow dances for himself. He said  nothing, but he knew. He was too experienced not to.

She felt obvious and callow, but she was supposed to be a besotted  fiancée, right? No one knew she was a virgin, though, least of all the  man who would relieve her of that label.

They slipped away from their own party while it continued to rage,  waiting until family was gone, then leaving the who's who to their  follies.

With a signal, Ramon ensured the guards didn't let anyone else onto  their elevator. The men stood at the front, giving her and Ramon the  privacy of their turned backs.

Ramon didn't draw her into a hot embrace, though. He leaned his shoulder  into the wall and gently drew her into the loose cage of his hands on  her waist. His one hand moved against her skin within the cutout. His  gaze went to where he traced that lazy pattern.

"I like this dress."

She choked out a laugh that sounded equally like a sob. The compliment was so bland. Seduce me.

His expression was solemn. He lifted one bent knuckle to stroke up her  throat, then caressed beneath her chin, the action surprisingly tender.

The doors opened, startling her.

Ramon linked their fingers as they walked to their room and waited for  it to be checked. Then he drew her inside and released her.

She stood for a moment in stasis, confused, aching, while he turned the  lock behind her. Anxiety started to creep in at the edges of her  consciousness. He was going to reject her. Again.

"Be sure, Isidora." The weight of his hands, solid and grounding,  possessive, settled on her bare shoulders. For a moment, that's all it  was, then he stepped closer, so she felt the graze of his tuxedo jacket,  then the movement of his breath as he spoke against her hair. "I want  to give you pleasure. I want that so badly you can't even imagine." His  head rested briefly against hers. "But I don't want you to hate me  after."

Because he wouldn't marry her.

She looked down at the clutch she held, then made herself move away from  his touch to set the purse aside and face him. It wasn't easy. His  focus on her was like a live wire, pulsing electricity through her in  painful beats.

"I'm not a reckless person. I try not to do self-destructive things."  She'd grown up watching it and knew better. She would proceed very  carefully, she told herself. She wouldn't let herself get in too deep.  "But I would always wonder."

She looked at where her hands tangled themselves together, not admitting  the harder truth, that she feared she would never get over him until  she had gone as far as she could with him.

"I know it would only be an affair." Her throat tightened, making the words rasp.

He flinched and the green of his eyes cooled to silver before he looked away. "You deserve better."

"I know I do."

That brought his attention back with a flash of reassessment that made her heart race into the base of her throat.

"I'm not a child, Ramon. Not anymore. You're right that you never could  have met my expectations back then. But I do know what I'm worth and  what I should expect from a man now, as a woman."         

     



 

She turned the ring on her finger.

"I wouldn't normally go into something so intimate without at least the  hope of long-term or permanent, but..." She sighed. "Maybe I am still a  little naive, but I want to believe that even though this...arrangement  is temporary, that we can be friends after."