The Spanish Aristocrat's Woman (3 page)

Now she was standing in an open and public place and this very attractive man was leaning over her, wanting her to accept…that she was more than she knew she was.

She could lie and say whatever he wanted—but she would never do that.

“I can’t say something I don’t believe,” she said at last, knowing that much about herself.

Usually she had no trouble dismissing men’s insincere flattery. But with Gui…what would be the reason to lie to her? He didn’t need her fortune or her connections. From the rumors she’d heard about him, his fortune far exceeded her own. And he was the brother-in-law of the Enfanta—his older brother was married to the royal princess of Spain.

“Why don’t you believe me?” he asked, stroking a finger down the side of her face.

She shrugged. Surely he didn’t want her to point out in detail every thing that was wrong with her. She’d probably start crying, and she’d already cried once in front of him.

“Suffice it to say, I’m into truth in a big way.”

“Maybe it’s because I am not American, but I do not understand your meaning.”

She wasn’t going to explain. She did have some pride, and telling this man about the insecurities she’d always carried with her wasn’t something she wanted to do.

Figuring out this engagement problem was something else. Rina wasn’t going to settle for evasions or half-truths. And Kara couldn’t lie to Rina anyway.

“Guillermo?”

“Yes,
querida?
”

She still didn’t like hearing that endearment from him. It was one he used without thought. And true, they barely knew each other, but she didn’t want to be one of a crowd to him.

Oh no, she was already falling for him.

“You are frowning. Have I said something to offend you?”

She tried to move away from him but he had positioned his body in such a way that she was trapped. Caught between him and the wall, but to a larger extent caught between who she’d always been and who she wished she could be.

That was the real danger. Gui made her feel that she wasn’t the overweight heiress she’d always been. Instead, she felt like a woman. A feminine and attractive woman, wanted by a very sexy man.

“Tell me.”

She became flustered and unsure of what to say to him. She really didn’t want to be one of the faceless masses of women who flocked around him, but at the same time, she was leery of saying the wrong thing and driving him away.

Oh, man.
She had it bad. A little masculine attention, and she was turning into one of those silly airheads that she and her friends usually disdained.

“Kara, I’m waiting.”

God, he was arrogant and bossy. She wanted to pretend it bothered her, but a part of her liked the way he demanded things from her. Demanded that she tell him what she felt as if he really cared about what was going on inside her head. Even his caresses felt like demands, and not in a bad way at all.

“As I said before, I don’t like being called by a generic endearment. Something you call every woman.”

His eyes blazed into hers. “Then I won’t call you that anymore.”

“Count de Cuaron, I’d like a word with you.”

Gui stiffened and Kara looked over his shoulder to see a man of Spanish descent coming toward them. Gui cursed under his breath and turned.

“Not now, Juan.”

“Yes, now.” Juan’s accent was much heavier than Gui’s, and Kara could almost feel the animosity coming off of him in waves.

Gui blocked her body with his own. He said something in Spanish in a very low voice. She couldn’t make out all the words, but she did hear the name
Elvira
. All the good feelings she’d had in his arms evaporated.

She’d never really paid much attention to the European social set apart from whatever affected Rina. But now she wished she had. Because it was clear that whatever was between Gui and Elvira hadn’t sprung up yesterday but had been lingering for a long time.

Juan, whoever he was, was clearly in the middle between Gui and the other woman.

She could handle the humiliation of telling her sister she wasn’t really engaged to Gui. But she couldn’t handle being used. And it was clear to her that, whatever was going on with Gui, he’d had entirely selfish reasons for making that ridiculous comment about them being engaged.

No matter what she looked like or what she’d always believed about herself, Kara had always had one thing that was hers and hers alone. And that was confidence that she deserved better than to be used either for her money or her station, or, in this case, because she was convenient.

While his attention was on the other man, she ducked under Gui’s arm and started to walk away.

“Excuse me, Count. I really should be returning to the reception,” Kara said, ducking under his arm.

He snagged her wrist and held her in place by his side. “We both should. Juan, whatever you need will have to wait.”

“I’m not—”

“I’m afraid you are,” Gui said, talking over Juan’s protest. “Call my assistant and schedule an appointment if we need to meet.”

Juan narrowed his eyes and for a moment Gui wondered if his old friend was finally finding his backbone. He drew Kara back to his side and positioned himself slightly in front of her body in case Juan decided to do something stupid.

“I will do that. We really need to talk.”

Juan stalked away and Kara tugged on her hand. He lifted it to his mouth and kissed the back of it gently. “I’m sorry,
mi dulce.
”

“Sorry? Sorry doesn’t work in this case, Guillermo. You can’t keep me by your side when I want to leave.”

He lifted her shackled wrist and arched one eyebrow at her. He knew he was being arrogant, but no one told him what to do. And when it came to women he’d always gotten his way. Why should Kara be any different?

She tugged again on her wrist. And he held her in a loose but secure grip.

“A man who has to resort to this type of action to keep a woman by his side isn’t much of a man.”

He pulled her off balance and into his arms, dropping her wrist as his mouth came down on hers, a hard slash that established his dominance over her.

Immediately he lessened the intensity of the kiss, wanting to show her that he didn’t need to use force to keep a woman by his side. As soon as he did she softened against him. Her arms went around his waist and she tipped her head to the side, giving him greater access to her mouth.

She sighed when he pulled back and Gui looked down at her. She was different from any other woman he’d kissed. As all women essentially were, but this time with Kara—she was really different. Her tongue moistened her lips. She opened her eyes, her gaze meeting his, and he forgot that he’d been proving a point. All he wanted to do was taste her again. Tease them both into forgetting that they were essentially strangers.

He lowered his head and touched the tip of her tongue with his. She drew his lower lip between her tongue and teeth and suckled on him.

He groaned deep in his throat. She clung to him, and he felt the passion rising in her body. He tamped down on his own urges, reaching deep to control the need to savage her mouth and then take her against the wall.

“Gui?” she asked, her voice low and dreamy.

“Hmm?” How easily he could claim this woman as his. There was a vulnerability in her eyes that he could exploit, and with another woman he might not hesitate to do it, to use her in his private war with Elvira. Although that’s what he’d done earlier, when he’d announced their engagement, now his intentions were changing.

He saw beyond a pawn in the game that had gone on too long to the woman here in his arms. A woman that he knew he didn’t want to hurt. He rubbed his thumb over her full lower lip, tracing it lightly until she shivered delicately in his arms and smiled at him.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

And it was there in her eyes and in her voice. That vulnerability that made him want to tell her to protect herself. To never allow him or any other man to see how easily her barriers could be swept aside. But saying that would—what?

Would it be crueler to pretend to be a gentleman as he usually did or to just show her the bastard he really was? Because despite his royal pedigree and his much lauded charm, he was at heart a man who lived for his own pleasure.

“Proving that I don’t have to use brute force to keep you by my side.”

“Oh, was that what you were doing?” she asked, a smile flirting around her lips.

“Mmm hmm. What did you think it was?”

“I thought it was an act to distract Juan.”

He inhaled sharply. “I’m not following.”

“Yes, you are,” she said, neatly stepping away from him. “You just didn’t think that I’d figure out what this attention of yours was all about.”

“It’s about attraction, of course. You are
muy hermoso.
”

She tipped her head to the side. “But that’s not why you danced with me earlier or kissed me now.”

He didn’t like that she thought she knew what made him tick. “Why do you believe I did those things?”

“To make another woman jealous.”

He started to speak but she shook her head.

“I’m not sure I want to be used, especially when you are not being up front about it.”

“I apologize.”

“You helped me out earlier. I suppose it’s the least I can do for you now.”

“What is?”

“Well, making that woman jealous…though to be honest, you probably should have picked someone more on par with her. She really is a world-class beauty.”

“Kara.” He said her name in that smooth Spanish accent of his and she wanted to pretend that whatever he said was the truth. But men like Guillermo de Cuaron didn’t fall instantly for women like her.

“
Si,
Gui?”

“You do yourself a disservice,” he said.

She tried to smile, but her face felt too tight and she knew she had to look like she was faking it. Which she totally was. “Well, you did it first. I’m just following you.”

He cursed under his breath. “We need to talk. Somewhere that we won’t be interrupted or overheard.”

“Yes, I think we do. But there is a reception going on and, as you pointed out, you are one of the groom’s best friends. We should get back.”

She had learned at an early age that if she took command of a situation, people would automatically follow her. There was something about a forceful tone of voice that made even the most determined man back down. She smiled as winningly as she could and decided that she wasn’t going to attend any more weddings.

This had to be the worst one yet, and she was tired of torturing herself by going. No one would remark if she started skipping them. Rina always attended; she could represent their family and Kara could stay away.

“I’m not a lapdog.”

“I never thought you were.”

“Then stop trying to lead me around,” she said.

“I don’t understand you.”

He shook his head and she caught a glimpse of something in his eyes. Maybe he didn’t understand himself, either, but she was tired of guessing what was in his head. “Just tell me what’s really going on.”

He arched one eyebrow and glanced up and down the hallway. “Now?”

Kara followed his gaze. A few groups of people were drifting nearer, perhaps looking for the restroom or a little privacy. She refused to feel silly. “If it’s okay to announce I’m your fiancée in the middle of the dance floor I think this hallway is okay for a serious chat.”

“You’re engaged, Gui?” Christos said, appearing suddenly behind Gui. How had she missed his approach?

Kara bit her lip and wanted to stomp her foot. Every time she tried to throw that bit back at him, someone overheard her. She needed to stop mentioning their “engagement” before the entire world thought it was the truth.

To Gui’s credit, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and turned so that she was tucked up next to his side. She tried not to let the way he felt pressed against her go to her head, tried not to acknowledge even to herself that there was a rightness to the way her shoulder nestled under his arm. To the way his hand felt on her back and his body heat warmed her.

“That’s what we were discussing. Do you know Kara deMontaine?”

Christos nodded toward her. “Yes, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Kara. Two years ago, wasn’t it? At Rina’s thirty-fifth?”

“Yes. Rina said that she wanted the world to know she wasn’t afraid of aging.”

“No one should be afraid,” Christos said. “Especially a woman as beautiful as your sister.”

Kara flinched and knew that Gui felt it, because he glanced down at her. She smiled, but it was forced. She hated comments like that one. Comments that inevitably made her compare herself to Rina and come up lacking.

How could she do anything but?

“I’m out here because of another beautiful woman. Sheri is looking for us—it is time for you and me to toast our best friend and his bride. So we are all needed inside.”

“Of course. I better go find my friends. I’ll talk to you later, Gui.”

“I’ll escort you,” he said, refusing to let her leave his side.

As soon as they were alone she was going to talk to him about that. She had the impression that he liked to always be in control of everyone around him.

“Why thank you, I’m not sure I could walk all the way back to the reception on my own,” she muttered under her breath.

Christos chuckled and shook his head as he walked away. He called back to Gui. “I’ll meet you at the bridal party table.”

Gui cupped her elbow and started walking back to the ballroom where the reception was being held. “Gentlemanly behavior shouldn’t elicit sarcasm.”

“Bossy behavior is a different story.”

“I’m hardly bossy.”

“You’re hardly ever
not
bossy. Ever since we met you’ve been telling me what to do and what to think.”

“Never what to think, Kara. You are too smart to let a man do that.”

She smiled up at him. “Yes, I am.”

He shook his head. “You’re very stubborn.”

“So are you. And you’re arrogant to boot. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

His finger rubbed against her inner arm where he held her. “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t notice.”

“Maybe that’s why you had to resort to what you did to get a woman to be your—” She stopped talking and glanced around to make sure that there was no one close by. Just to be safe she stood on tiptoe, bracing her hands against his broad shoulders and spoke it in his ear.

“—fiancée.”

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her off balance so that she was supported by his body.

“I didn’t resort to anything devious to get you.”

Before she could think of a response, he kissed her, and even though she knew she should stop letting him end conversations by embracing her, she couldn’t. No man kissed the way Gui did. Or at least no man had kissed
her
the way he did. And he made her feel the opposite of what Christos had earlier. He made her feel like she truly was a beautiful woman.