‘You made an excellent choice of gown.’
Instinctively, she glanced down to where the cut of her bridal gown displayed her breasts. Her ex had always said she should cover them up—
‘Forget him,’ Luca said, reading her with his usual ease. ‘You’re married to me now.’
She stared down at Luca’s hand covering hers. He was right. ‘I’m sorry you read my distraction so accurately.’
‘There’s no need to be sorry. Just accept you’re beautiful and leave it at that. If I tell you often enough, you will eventually believe it.’
‘And then my head will be too big to fit through the doors.’
‘Don’t worry. I can handle you.’
Heat rushed through her as she imagined that promise transferred to the bedroom. She might have her fears and doubts when it came to the marriage bed, but her body was wholly in favour of the idea. As she adjusted the bodice on her dress she caught Luca staring at her. He seemed to understand there was a lot of damage to repair—for both of them, she thought. Remembering how she’d bridled at his throwaway comment, ‘little one,’ she thought it not worth pursuing. They’d get to know each other and their boundaries gradually as they went along. To challenge him now would be petty. Shouldn’t every partner in a healthy relationship want to look out for the other? She had to get used to a new way of thinking to give this unique situation a chance of survival.
Samia was a beautiful bride. And still a largely unknown quantity. But that would change in time. At this moment, he couldn’t believe how lucky he was, or that fickle fate had brought them together. He had needed a bride—almost any bride would do. Then she crossed his path. He considered that to be the most extraordinary piece of good luck.
‘You’re staring at me,’ she remarked with a slow-forming smile.
‘Am I?’ he queried. ‘I wonder why that could be.’
‘I have spinach between my teeth?’
He shook his head. ‘No. Because that delicate ivory gown is the perfect foil for your hair.’ Which, since the brief ceremony, she had unpinned and brushed out so it floated around her shoulders like a fiery cloud.
‘I’ve never worn anything like this before,’ she confessed as she smoothed the pale fabric.
Or taken anything like it off before, he guessed as he pictured the moment when he would remove it with the care and deliberation she deserved before he kissed every inch of her naked body. The night-dark sky was like a canopy over a throne crowned with stars, and cloaked in the last rays of the sun. When they returned to Madlena, there would be a blessing of this marriage for his people to witness and then he would be enthroned with Samia at his side.
‘Are you listening?’ she asked.
‘I have to confess, not a word,’ he admitted.
She hummed in mock disapproval. ‘I was saying that I have to work—a proper job. I need a purpose that goes beyond dressing up.’
Samia seemed oblivious to the fact that she had married into unimaginable wealth. ‘Why don’t you make a start by redesigning my properties?’
‘That’s hardly my forte.’
‘I have plenty of properties—’
‘Let me stop you there,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m not a practically minded person. If you want me to write a brief, or a wish list, I can do that for you, and willingly, but hands-on renovation will take a team of experts. That’s not who I am, and if we’re going to go forward successfully and make a positive difference to Madlena, each of us needs to play to our strengths.’
His lips tightened as he considered this, and then he shrugged. ‘You’re not that person,’ he agreed. She was so much more, and only needed the confidence to prove it.
‘What’s it like to live like this?’ she asked as they finished their meal.
‘Complicated,’ he admitted.
‘Nothing’s ever as straightforward as it appears, is it?’ she observed. ‘So, if it’s all right with you, after dinner I’d like to discuss some of my ideas going forward.’
After dinner they’d be in bed.
She talked animatedly for a while, until the moment came when neither of them brought up a new topic, and he thought she looked uncomfortable, and guessed she was hunting for a reason to delay their wedding night. Pushing his chair back, he stood. She glanced up, but made no move to join him. ‘I’m not tired at all,’ she insisted brightly as he eased his neck.
‘That’s good.’
She froze.
