Maid for Montero(51)

Did he lay the blame for his failed marriage at his father’s door? It would certainly go a long way to explain why, all these years later, he could not forgive and forget. Common sense told her this was a subject she shouldn’t broach but a need to understand this man who had captured her heart was stronger. ‘You were forced to concentrate your energy on saving your father and the firm and you didn’t have time for your…’ Her voice faltered as she stopped and gave a self-conscious shrug. ‘It’s none of my business. I just…’

‘Want to pry and prod.’

Encouraged that he sounded amused, but not antagonistic, she lifted her gaze, studying his face as he replied.

‘No, my marriage did not fail because I was busy rebuilding the company. Though I imagine it might have speeded up the process. Simply put, my marriage was never my priority. We married too young—we both wanted different things from life. Marriage requires compromise.’ His dark eyes brushed her face. ‘I do not do compromise.’ He gave a sardonic smile, to which she had no response. ‘The end was inevitable.’

Did this clinical analysis hide a broken heart Isandro could not admit to even to himself?

‘I was not surprised when Dana left.’ One side of his mobile mouth lifted in an ironic half-smile. ‘Though I was not expecting her to leave with my best friend,’ he conceded.

Unable to control her reaction, Zoe gasped.

Isandro placed a finger under her chin and lifted it. ‘The open-mouth look is not so bad on you.’ Head tilted a little to one side, he drew back slightly to look at her face, realising as he did so that nothing was a bad look on her.

His eyes darkened as he ran the pad of his thumb down her smooth, downy soft cheek. Inhaling the scent of her warm skin through flared nostrils, he felt the desire that was always close to the surface. Unable to resist the lush softness of her mouth, he bent his head, feeling her sigh as she opened her mouth to deepen the penetration of his tongue, winding her fingers into his hair, pulling him in close.

When he lifted his mouth they stayed that way, her nose pressed to the side of his, her fingers in his hair, their warm breaths mingling.

Reluctant to break physical contact, she slid her hands slowly down over his broad muscular shoulders before crossing them across her stomach in a protective hug. She was still shaking in response to the soul-stripping kiss, the barely leashed violence in his embrace; the simmering hunger still in his eyes made it hard for her to speak, let alone focus.

She felt his hand go to her breasts, cupping them through her clothes, as his other hand skimmed down the side of her face.

She was breathing hard now; her fingers went to his belt.

‘If anyone comes…’ she said thickly.

He pulled down his jeans and reached across to slide her skirt up her thighs, his fingers sliding up her silky warm skin under the hem of her panties.

‘They won’t.’

His hard, predatory expression made her shiver inside. Excited and aroused beyond reason or caution, she climbed onto his lap, facing him. His hands moved in a sweeping motion up and down her back and down her buttocks before coming to rest on her hips.

He wanted her so badly that he couldn’t breathe; all he could think about was sinking into her. It was crazy and intense.

Zoe reached down to caress his shaft, waiting until he was groaning before she raised herself up and impaled herself on the hard, silky, hot length. Perfectly in tune, they moved together fast and hard in perfect harmony until they both came in a hot, violent flood.

Adjusting her clothes, aware that beside her Isandro was doing the same, she could hardly believe what she had just done. Anyone could have driven by and seen them, and she hadn’t cared.

Her body still warm with the flush of desire, she turned to look at him.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know about…It must have been terrible for you.’ Dana was a beautiful name. Had she been beautiful? Of course she’d been beautiful.

And he’d loved her…Zoe was shocked by the animosity she felt towards a woman she had never met. Had he been thinking about her while he made love just now?

It took him a few seconds to realise what she was talking about—his ex-wife! They had just made devastating love and she was talking about his ex. He didn’t want to talk about Dana; he wanted to talk about where this was going. He wanted to talk about having Zoe in his bed nights.

‘I was a hell of a husband. Basically I lived my own life and expected her to take it or leave it. In the end, she left it. I do not blame her. She was lonely and Carl was able to give her the things she wanted.’ He held her blue eyes as he said, ‘Some men are not meant for marriage.’