Needed: One Convenient Husband(25)

Kyle completed a turn as they reached the edge of the patio, in the  process pulling her more firmly against him. "Apparently, Mario  instructed them to make sure I gave you a proper Medinian wedding."

She frowned, caught by the oddness of the phrase. "Did they assume that you would marry me?"

He hesitated long enough for her to know that she was right.  "Apparently, Mario discussed it with them before he made the will."

Thankfully now, others were dancing and the noise of the music and the  general buzz of conversation was enough to create the privacy she  suddenly desperately needed, when it seemed that nothing about their  relationship was private in the family. She knew she shouldn't be upset,  but the thought that Kyle was really only marrying her because Mario  had put pressure on him struck a sensitive nerve.

Everything that happened with Kyle mattered, because she loved him.

She went still inside as the truth she'd been avoiding for weeks finally sank in.

Not only did she love him, she had always loved him, right from the  very first moment. She had even loved him when he had dumped her, which  was why it had hurt so much.

She stared at a pulse beating at the side of his throat, feeling even  sicker than she had when eating the cake. "But when Mario suggested you  should marry me, you didn't agree."

"I promised to see you married-"

"But you would never have chosen to marry me." A couple whirled past,  Zane and Lilah, utterly absorbed in one another, both wildly in love,  the complete opposite of her and Kyle. "You just had to in the end,  because I ran out of time."

His hold on her tightened infinitesimally. "It wasn't exactly like that and you know it."

She stopped dancing and pulled free. "Then how was it?" She felt tense  and on edge, her heart pounding. She wanted to believe that Kyle felt  something more for her than duty and desire, but she also knew she had  to try and be objective. No burying her head in the sand.

He caught her fingers and pulled her close again. "If I hadn't wanted  you for myself, I would have let you go ahead and marry one of the men  you chose." He paused. "You know I want you, and after that night on the  beach, I think you know how much."

She drew a breath. "What about...love?"

His gaze cooled. "What about it?"

She tilted her head and looked into Kyle's face, the blue of his eyes,  his Mediterranean heritage obvious in his olive skin, the clean cut of  his cheekbones and jaw. "I love you." The words were flat and  declarative, but she couldn't hide what she wanted. "The question is,  can you love again, after losing your wife and child?"

Can you love me?

He did a slow turn into an alcove of the room that was private. "We  need to slow this down. You agreed to a legal marriage," he said  quietly, "one you stipulated would be without sex. That's not exactly a  recipe for love."

Eva instantly regretted trying to lever some kind of confession of love  from Kyle. She hated the enigmatic expression on his face, as if he  needed to conceal his emotions in case she saw what he was really  feeling. She had seen that look on the faces of social workers and  foster parents when she'd been passed from home to home as a kid. It was  duty, minus emotion, the exact opposite of what she wanted!

She met his gaze squarely. "Can you really separate love from passion so completely?"

"Eva-"

"No, don't say it. Don't say anything." The conversation had always  been risky, but she had blown it completely, because while failing to  obtain any admission from Kyle, he now knew that she loved him.

Her cheeks burned at the kind of vulnerability she had spent years  avoiding. "Ask a silly question..." she said a little bitterly. "People  separate love from sex all the time."                       
       
           



       

Only, she never did. She had only ever slept with the one man she loved.

Turning on her heel, she left the room. As she walked, she could feel  Kyle's gaze boring into her back. As soon as she stepped out into the  spacious foyer, she felt better. At times their relationship had felt  like a game, but it wasn't anymore; it was serious and important,  because she needed Kyle to love her. This morning it had felt as if they  were balanced on the brink of that possibility, but now...

Lifting her skirts, she took the stairs to the upper level. She was  hot, her feet were hurting and after possibly the most embarrassing  conversation of her life she needed a moment. As she stepped into the  dimness of the upstairs hall, she almost walked into Constantine who was  quietly strolling along with Amber dead asleep over one broad shoulder.  Eva stared at the picture father and daughter made then quietly escaped  into her room.

Peeling off her shoes, she sat down on the edge of her bed. Tired of  coping with the dress and its long skirt, she started on the buttons and  eventually managed to ease out of the layers of silk and tulle.

She changed into a light silk shift in rich summer shades of berry red,  with touches of pink, purple and leaf green. Hanging the bridal gown in  the closet, she slipped on a pair of comfortable sandals that left her  feet mostly bare.

After checking her makeup to make sure the dampness in her eyes hadn't  smudged her mascara, she spritzed herself with perfume and walked back  downstairs. As she reached the last tread, the front door, which was not  locked, swung quietly open and a face from the past that she hoped she  would never see again stopped her in her tracks.

Sheldon Ferris, his countenance deceptively average-the boy next door  grown into middle age-smiled, his gaze taking in the rich foyer, "Nice  house. You've done well for yourself."

Eva's fingers tightened on the banister. "I don't know how you found me, but you need to leave now, before I ring the police."

His gaze darted to either side, checking to see if anyone was about to  disturb them. "And charge me with what? Knocking on your door?"

"I know it was you who trashed my house. I haven't given the police  your name yet, but if I do, by next week there could well be a warrant  out for your arrest."

Fear flashed across his expression, but it was replaced almost  immediately by a hard-eyed determination. "And I know why you haven't  given them my name. You don't want anyone to know about your trashy  background-"

"There's nothing wrong with my background."

"Then why is it such a big secret? I checked. There are plenty of  stories about your modeling success, but nothing about your past. But I  guess if you don't care about your gutter upbringing, you won't mind if I  splash it all over the press. I can see the headline now, 'Street kid,  sex symbol rises to become Atraeus heiress.'"

"You know very well I was not a street kid, or a sex-"

"Give me what I want and I won't sell the story. I'll leave you alone  for good." He named a figure that was even larger than the one he had  quoted before. "Pay up, and I won't tell your new husband what's wrong  with you. You'll never hear from me again."

Eva sincerely doubted that. She stared at the shifty gleam in his eyes,  not for the first time wondering what her mother had ever seen in him.  She guessed he had been younger and handsome in a lean way; now he was a  little heavier with gray at his temples and his suit had seen better  days. "I'm not paying you a cent. And if you think you can threaten me  with telling Kyle anything at all about my past, you can forget it.  Believe me, nothing you could ever say would make any difference to our  marriage."

And that was nothing more than the truth.

The sound of footsteps made Ferris shrink back onto the front porch:  the fear in his expression was palpable. Eva didn't wait to see who it  was, no doubt strolling from the sitting room down the hall to the  bathroom. She grasped the edge of the door and looked Ferris square in  the face. "Mario had information about you. Pretty sure, if I look long  enough, I'll find out what it was, and when I do, I'll take it to the  police."

She closed the door firmly and held her breath as the shadow of  Ferris's outline seen through the frosted glass disappeared. Feeling  empowered that she had faced down her ex-stepfather, who had always been  something of a bully, Eva walked back upstairs to her room and found  her tote bag.

Extracting her phone, she rang Auckland Central and left a message for  Detective Hicks to let him know that Ferris had called at her house,  demanding money. She also stated that he had been harassing her and that  she was certain he was the person who had broken into her house. The  next call was to the PI she had retained. He didn't pick up, either, so  she left a message asking him to forward any information he had found  out about Ferris to Detective Hicks.