The Best Of February 2016. Catherine Mann

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      “Do you want to do something?” he asked, arms folded, rocking back on his heels. He sounded convinced that she didn’t.

      “I don’t know,” she grumbled, crossing her own arms.

      She wasn’t a prude, but she wasn’t terribly experienced. With her mother’s reputation hanging over them, then her sister’s teen pregnancy, the rest of them had tried to keep a low profile. The workplace hadn’t been much better. If Sorcha had wanted to be taken seriously, she had had to avoid flirting or dating coworkers. She’d had a couple of longer relationships, but her focus had always been on developing her career, not her bedroom skills.

      She’d been starkly aware of the differences in their confidence levels that day in Valencia, but had thought Cesar had enjoyed himself as much as she had. Then she’d woken alone. Everything that had followed hadn’t exactly reassured her that he’d been fully satisfied by her efforts.

      “She asked me if she should include a nightgown. I said yes.” He dismissed the conversation with a hitch of his shoulder. “It wasn’t meant as a demand to be serviced.” Insult underpinned his tone.

      She scowled. “Don’t make me feel callow.”

      “Callow?” he repeated.

      “Green. Inexperienced. Virginal,” she explained.

      “Do not tell me you were a virgin that day.” He froze, his gaze piercing hers.

      “No. Of course not. I—”

      “I don’t want to hear it,” he interrupted with a sweep of his hand.

      “Excuse me?”

      “I don’t want to hear how many lovers you’ve had. This conversation ends here.”

      She blinked at him. “You,” she said, “don’t want to know how many lovers I have had. When you’ve had—”

      “Not talking about it,” he said, flat and decisive. “We’re married now and exclusive to each other.”

      “Really,” she said, heart fluttering with hope. “Mr. Variety Pack is willing to be abstinent for six weeks then restrict himself to me for the rest of his life.”

      He looked about to say something then changed his mind, saying after a pause, “Do you have a problem with that?”

      “No,” she said, but her voice wavered. In theory it was exactly what she wanted. In reality, she doubted it would happen.

      He narrowed his eyes. “That didn’t sound very convincing. Do you have a problem with limiting yourself to me, Sorcha?”

      That was his what-do-you-mean-it-didn’t-arrive-and-we’re-on-the-hook-for-millions-if-we-miss-this-deadline? voice.

      She set her jaw, found her spine and looked him right in the eye. “What makes you think I’ll hold your interest forever?”

      “What makes you think you won’t?” he growled.

      “You left.”

      The aggression that had been bunching his muscles eased back a notch and his scowl went from challenge to caution. “What do you mean?”

      “After we made love that day. You left.” She flung a hand in the air, trying not to grow strident, but she was hurt, damn it. Scorned. “You didn’t wake me. You texted me that you were seeing the woman you were supposed to marry. According to her, you said you were ashamed that you’d touched me. I can’t assume you enjoyed yourself, can I? More like you couldn’t wait to get away.”

      And now her eyes were growing damp. Damn it.

      She looked to the curtained window. Swallowed hard. “Forget it. You’re right. Let’s not talk about this.”

      “Sorcha, I don’t remember—”

      “It doesn’t change the fact that you did it,” she said, managing to make it a steady, firm statement, but her fist knocked into the side of her thigh. “So go ahead and hate me for hiding your son, but you made me feel—”

      No. She wasn’t doing this.

      Snatching up her flannel pants and shirt, she started for the bathroom.

      “Sorcha.” His voice was a whip that made her flinch and flex her back.

      She stopped with her hand on the door latch.

      “Look at me.”

      No. She kept her hand on the latch, her back to him.

      He waited.

      “What?” she prompted, refusing to turn.

      “For what it’s worth, I haven’t slept with Diega.”

      Did that mean... She turned and tried to read beyond his begrudging expression.

      “Really.” She tucked the folded clothes under her elbow as she crossed her arms again. “You told me that day you wouldn’t cheat on her—”

      “I haven’t,” he groaned. “I haven’t been with anyone. That’s what I’m saying.”

      “Since me?” That couldn’t be right. She was standing on solid wood flooring, but it felt like a bouncy castle.

      “Since you.”

      She narrowed her eyes. “Are you being straight with me? She must have thought that was weird.”

      “She asked if everything was in working order. It is,” he assured her, tone pithy. “I’ve checked.”

      For some reason she wanted to laugh. She ducked her head and pressed the back of her hand to her mouth.

      He scooped up the peignoir in one motion, the silk so fine his fist easily closed over the bunched fabric. He brought it to her like a handful of Christmas tinsel. “I would prefer you wore this. If I wanted to sleep with a farm boy, I would have married one.”

      * * *

      Cesar had expected to wake exhausted and stiff on his first morning of marriage, but had imagined it would have been from another cause, not walking a baby half the night.

      Sorcha wore a wan expression as she bustled around in her efficient way, moving well enough, but she had to be just as tired.

      He gave himself a mental kick, dismayed that he wasn’t giving her more time to recover, but he wanted to get them to Spain. He had planned to be on his honeymoon with Diega right now, so work shouldn’t be an issue, but it was. A lot of wheels had been in motion and now needed braking and reversing.

      His father was refusing to step in and help him “incinerate a lifetime of planning out of sentiment” and Cesar didn’t want him to. He was going to dig deep and prove this was merely a detour, not a disaster.

      Still, it was his honeymoon and he was so sexually frustrated he could barely СКАЧАТЬ