He seemed puzzled. ‘Is it so hard to believe that someone outside your immediate family cares what happens to you?’ he asked. ‘Or that a man wants you as fiercely as I do?’
‘At least you’re honest,’ she said as she pushed a smile through her tears.
‘Always,’ Cesar promised, but within a moment he was back to his unemotional self. ‘Come on, it’s time to go.’
Face facts. Apart from the mind-blowing sex, she didn’t know him that well.
How could he prove to a woman as strong and yet as fragile as Sofia that he meant her no harm?
By doing something together that didn’t involve sex.
Thanking his inner voice with a silent two-word curse, he returned his attention to Sofia.
‘Something wrong?’ she asked as he pressed his lips down in thought.
He was only surprised at the unexpected interruption from an inner voice that had lain quietly dormant for years. Maybe nothing had happened in that time that had required it to speak up, the thought occurred to him. ‘Do you play chess?’
‘Chess?’ Looking at him as if he’d gone mad, Sofia smoothed her hair, which required plucking quite a bit of hay out of it. ‘Yes, I play chess,’ she confirmed. ‘Is that relevant?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t see why not. We could go back to the ranch house, grab some food and a couple of beers, then engage in the age-old game of strategy. I find it clears the mind.’
‘And you think it might help me?’ she asked, curbing a smile.
‘I don’t see why not. It always helps me to focus and think clearly.’
‘Something I need?’ she suggested.
‘Something civilised,’ he confirmed,
‘Civilised?’ Sofia exclaimed on a laugh. ‘When I play chess with my brothers it’s like all-out war. If they even come close to losing, there’s always a possibility they might upend the board and storm out.’
His lips tugged with amusement as he pictured the scene. ‘Sounds reasonable.’
‘Not to me,’ Sofia assured him good-humouredly. ‘But if you promise to behave, I’m happy to give you a game.’
‘Come with me,’ he invited.
There was a chessboard in his study. The room was quiet and warm. He sat on one side of the chess table and Sofia sat on the other. He set out the pieces. ‘Ready?’
‘Are you ready?’ she challenged, dark eyes blazing with a competitive light.
‘Are you sure it isn’t you who upends the board if you lose? Just checking,’ he soothed when she shot him one of her looks.
Doing something together that didn’t involve sex turned out to be harder than expected. Sofia was a smart and merciless chess player. He knew the moment she asked to play the black pieces that she’d go for fool’s mate.
Foiling her plan, he sat back.
‘Okay,’ she conceded, viewing the board through narrowed eyes. ‘You got me.’
‘Not yet,’ he admitted. ‘But I will.’
Maybe it was the heat they had created between them, or the recent memory of what had happened in the stable, but he was finding it increasingly hard to concentrate. Had she intentionally picked up the bishop and stroked it? After touching the piece, should he commit her to that move?
To hell with chess! His groin had tightened to the point of pain.
Having completed her move, Sofia tapped her fingers on the table.
‘Would you like to use a timer for each move?’ he asked.
