In the early hours of the morning Taina cried out loud and awoke with a start. She sat up, heart pounding, her night slip sticking to her back. She turned on the light and looked around. There was no one there. She was alone. She took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. Of course she was alone. Daidan rarely slept more than a few hours and the man in her nightmares was far away and she wouldn’t be seeing him again. She’d always made sure they were never in the same city, even the same country, at the same time. She was safe.
“Taina?” Daidan called as she heard his footsteps coming toward the bedroom. He burst open the door, hair wet, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. “Taina, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She looked him up and down and felt the thrill she always felt at the sight of him. “Don’t you ever sleep?”
“Rarely. I thought I’d shower in the other bathroom so I didn’t disturb you and then get on with some work. Are you okay? I thought I heard you cry out.”
She pushed her hair of her face and half-turned away, not wanting him to see her distress. “Just a nightmare. I have them from time to time.”
“You had another one on the plane. You never used to have nightmares.”
She glanced at him. “Yeah, well, times have changed.” She walked over to the window and opened the curtains, letting in the half-light of midnight. The scented air from the garden below mingled with the salty edge of the sea. She turned back to him and smiled. “But when you’re beside me I don’t have them. I feel a lot of things when you’re with me, but they don’t include fear. Are you going to stay a little while? Would you like a drink? A whiskey?” She went to the dresser and held up the decanter.
“Why not?” He walked to the window where the castle ruins rose from the dark into the inky dusk sky. “Only a few days away now.”
She brought over two drinks and handed him one. “Will you be relieved when it’s over?”
“Oh, yes. I’m not good at all this marketing like you are.”
She shrugged, looked at the whiskey which suddenly didn’t appeal, and set it on the table. “I don’t know if I’m good at it. Just seems people are interested in me because I’m a member of the Mustonen family.”
“You’re rich, you’re beautiful and you’re charming. That makes you a marketer’s dream.”
She narrowed her eyes. “And is that why you’re interested in me?”
“I know plenty of rich, beautiful, charming women, but I’ve only ever wanted to make one my wife. And that’s you.” He sat further back in his chair and swirled his whiskey thoughtfully.
“I never did understand why. To begin with I thought it was my connections and then… and then, after I fell in love with you, I couldn’t bear to think it was that. I persuaded myself that, out of some miracle, you loved me. Me!” She shook her head. “And then, after the wedding, which we rushed to get organized before Papa died, but he didn’t even last till then, the lawyer spoke about his will and wishes and I thought, how could I have been so stupid? I was right the first time.”
He rose and came over to her by the window and extended his hand to hers. She reached out for him, watching his fingers curl around hers, not able to look up at him, all her thought and sensation wrapped up in the coming together of their hands. Something that happened all the time between people, whether they were known to each other or not. And yet this act seemed more intimate than any of the other intimacy they’d had recently.
“Taina, look at me.”
She swallowed and looked up at him as he spoke gently. “I’m so sorry. When your father and I discussed my marriage to you and I realized he was all for it, I couldn’t believe my luck. I’d always wanted a family of my own and as it happened that’s what he wanted. He was afraid for you, afraid you’d be taken advantage of, and he knew he was dying. He wanted to see you settled; he wanted both the company and you in good hands. And I am good hands, you know, Taina.”
She took his hands in hers and inspected them, her lips twisting into a wry smile. She looked up at him from beneath lowered lids. “I do know.” She kissed his palms before he held her face and kissed her tenderly. She melted deep inside, under the gentle command of his mouth. She had no thought, no feeling, that wasn’t connected to the movement of his lips against hers, the slide of his tongue against hers. Delicious shivers of sensual anticipation coursed through her body. She pulled away. “I do know, but maybe you should show me just how good your hands are?” She backed toward the bed.