Latin Lovers: Seductive Frenchman: Chosen as the Frenchman's Bride / The Frenchman's Captive Wife / The French Doctor's Midwife Bride. Fiona Lowe

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СКАЧАТЬ yes. He needed to tread carefully. She was as skittish as a colt. He bent to take the bag from her grip, and left her to lock up.

      Jane had sent a text to Lisa that morning, wishing her all the best for her dad’s operation and saying she was taking a small trip. Just in case Lisa rang and got no answer from the house. She wasn’t going to go into any details about Xavier yet. If her friend thought for a second there was a man in the picture she’d be like a dog with a bone.

      And, as Jane could barely quantify to herself what was happening, she could hardly begin to explain herself to someone else.

      By the time they reached the island, and Xavier had guided her to a waiting Jeep, she had pushed any last dissenting voices out of her head. He was being a complete gentleman. Charming, funny, insightful. She hadn’t felt this kind of connection with anyone before—almost as though they’d known each other for years.

      A couple of times when they’d locked eyes the heat had flared, swift and intense, reminding her of what was not so far from the surface.

      He paused in the Jeep, turning towards her in his seat. ‘We’ll have to go to my home first … an unavoidable conference call I need to take. My penance for taking some time off … I’m sorry.’

      ‘That’s OK … I don’t mind.’

      ‘So, what I was going to suggest was this … as it’s nearly lunch, why don’t we eat, you can get settled, and we see the memorial tomorrow?’

      This was it. Even though he was assuming that she wanted to stay, he was giving her the opportunity to back out now. But she didn’t want to. She had to take the chance, knowing that in her acceptance, should she choose it, he would read her total acquiescence. She took a deep breath, feeling as though she were stepping over an invisible line drawn in the sand.

      ‘All right. That sounds good.’

      He looked at her for a long moment before leaning over and placing a feather-light kiss on her lips. ‘It will be, Jane … are you sure?’

      She looked at him steadily. ‘Yes, I’m sure.’

      With a spurt of dry earth, he turned the Jeep towards the castle in the distance. After they came to a stop in the courtyard outside, Jane couldn’t hide her reaction. It didn’t look like a castle, in the sense of turrets and moats. It had two higher wings on either side, huge, imposing archways, and intricate carvings on every stone. She had never seen anything like it before.

      ‘It’s amazing … Sorry—I’m sure you get that all the time. But really it is beautiful.’

      Xavier had stepped out of the Jeep and looked up, hands on hips. ‘Yes, I guess it is … the Moorish influence probably makes it a little less austere.’

      ‘I thought that was what it was, when I saw it from the distance the other day, but I wasn’t sure.’

      He lifted out her bag and took her hand, leading her into a huge open-plan flagstoned hall covered in complicated mosaics. Numerous green plants stood against the walls, and the open spaces were light-filled and indescribably foreign and exotic. Tall pillars led to an inner roofless courtyard.

      Jane looked around in awe, taking it all in. She could almost imagine an ancestor of Xavier’s reclining darkly on a divan, voluminous folds of silk covering his body, being attended to by lustrous haired beauties. She blushed at her imagination. Xavier reached out a finger and trailed it down her cheek, leaving a line of fire in its wake.

      ‘You blush so easily … a rare phenomenon these days.’

      ‘An embarrassing one, you mean … it tends to come at the most awkward moments, when the last thing I want is for someone to guess I might be unnerved.’

      ‘And are you … unnerved … here, now, with me?’

      ‘Well … a little.’

      ‘Your honesty is refreshing. How have you managed not to lose it yet?’

      ‘That’s a very cynical thing to say.’

      ‘I’ve come to learn it’s a very cynical world we live in … but you might prove me wrong.’

      Her eyes widened, a vulnerable light in their depths. That and any other thought flew from her mind as his large body closed the distance between them and he claimed her mouth with a kiss full of pent-up passion, his hands moving over her back. She found herself responding, instinctively matching his passion with her own.

      Before she knew what was what, she felt herself being lifted into strong arms, and hers automatically went around his neck as he walked back into the hall and up some stairs which were obscured behind material moving gently in the breeze.

      She took in an upper level, corridors, more open spaces, before Xavier shouldered his way through an imposing oak door and into a vast room, with a huge king-size bed in the centre. She barely had time to take in the rest of the room before he put her on her feet. Sudden panic gripped her. This was happening too quickly. She backed away, breath coming hard and fast.

      ‘Wait … do you think we could just … take things slowly for now?’

      He stood back from her and ran a hand through his hair. When he saw the look on her face he said quickly, ‘I never planned on dragging you up here like some teenager … I just lost control … which seems to happen more and more frequently since I saw you.’

      He gave her a rueful smile. He held out a hand and she took it.

      ‘Come on. Let’s have some lunch, and I promise not to manhandle you again.’

      ‘That’s OK. It’s not that I don’t want to be manhandled by you. I’m sure that’d be perfectly nice—’

      ‘Jane.’

      ‘Yes?’

      ‘Stop talking. It’s fine, you don’t have to say anything.’

      ‘OK.’

      He paused at a door almost opposite his bedroom, opening it to reveal another equally stunning room.

      ‘This is your room. I’ll bring your bag up after we’ve eaten and you can get settled.’ He turned towards her. ‘I’m sorry again, Jane. Believe me, I didn’t just assume that because you’re staying falling into my bed is a foregone conclusion, but I won’t lie to you … I want you. I’m perfectly happy for us to take it slowly, get to know each other … I’ll wait until you’re ready’

      Her heart flipped over. Danger. She looked up into his eyes, feeling a drowning sensation, ‘Thank you …’

      He needed the space as much as she did. The truth was that he had never before felt such an overwhelming urge to take a woman to his bed … His plan, as he had told her, had been that they would have lunch, get to know one another a little better, have dinner in the evening and then … who knew? But within mere minutes of coming in the front door he had been overtaken by his hormones.

      People called him the Prince of Darkness. Because in business he was ruthless and brilliant—even cold, some would say, but always fair. He had that necessary detachment. It was the same with women. He was the one in control. Always. Without СКАЧАТЬ