Cedric stared at his own reflection in the windows opposite him, the tiger’s smile vanishing, the intensity of his disappointment surprising him. Did you really expect her to agree to everything?.
Yes. Yes, he had. She was passionate and she wanted him, that had been obvious to him the moment he’d first spotted her watching him swimming in the lake. He didn’t think he’d been wrong. He knew when a woman desired him. So what was the problem?
Good question. One you could ask yourself.
Denial had never bothered him before, not that it happened very often, but still. So her refusal shouldn’t be an issue. And yet it was. And he had a sneaking suspicion he knew why. That it was about how she’d made him feel out there beside the lake and in the sitting room of Haerton, the fire of her passion lighting him up, chasing away the ghosts of his past. Making him feel alive.
And which in turn made him uneasy. He didn’t like acceding her any power and yet there was no denying that she had some. Otherwise why would he be feeling so annoyed about it?
“Can I ask why?” He made sure he sounded as calm and as cool as she did. That he was not disappointed in any way. “We do have some kind of…Chemistry. Or am I wrong? ”
“No,” she said quietly. “You’re not. And yes, Maybe…we do. But you’re a stranger to me. And I’m afraid I don’t know you well enough to sleep with you.”
“You don’t have to know anyone well in order to sleep with them, Anna,” he said before he could stop himself. “In fact, sometimes it’s better if you don’t.”
“That might be the way you do things, but it’s not the way I do them. I don’t sleep with people I don’t know.”
Annoyance sank claws into him, but he fought it down, because that wasn’t going to help. No, it wasn’t about her or what she gave him, it was about what she represented. If he didn’t claim her as his wife in the most basic way, then she could hardly be his, could she? Then again, in order for her to be his, he only needed to have one night with her. They didn’t have to keep sleeping together. He stayed silent for a moment, turning the thought over in his head.
She was clearly a woman who knew her own mind and would not be pushed. In which case he wouldn’t push.
“Very well,” he said coolly. “So, let’s say I agree to this, how did you imagine this business arrangement would progress?”
“Obviously to where we’d lead separate lives.” She paused briefly. “I won’t expect you to be faithful. As long as you’re discreet, I’m sure it won’t be a problem for you to take lovers.”
Part of him was outraged that she’d somehow managed to take control and start offering conditions as if the whole thing had been her idea, while another part of him was amused and not a little admiring of her audacity, not to mention her intelligence.
“Discreet?” he couldn’t help saying. “You did do your research about me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I’m aware of your reputation. But I’m sure that will change once you have a family to consider.”
He nearly laughed at her cool certainty that he’d do exactly what she asked, despite the fact that it was something he’d already decided to do himself.
“Of course,” he murmured. “And I’m sure you will do the same when it comes to lovers.”
“I will not be having lovers,” she said crisply. “I’ll be too busy attending university. But, as I said, if you want them then I won’t mind.”
University, hmm? Interesting.
“That’s very gracious of you,” he drawled. “But somehow I fail to see how a woman as passionate as yourself can go years without having sex at least once. Or are you planning on taking your vows?”
“That’s really none of your business. But I’ve managed very well so far and I don’t see that changing any time soon.”
Surprise rippled through him, though, on reflection, it shouldn’t. “You’re a virgin?” Cedric asked.
“Well… I… I mean… I don’t think…” She stopped, sounding flustered. “So? What if I am? It doesn’t matter anyway. Does it?”
It shouldn’t matter. He preferred not to deal with virgins. He preferred women who knew what they were doing. Yet somehow it did matter. She will be completely yours, he thought.
That thought made the blood pump hard in his veins, a primitive, almost Neanderthal reaction. But it was true. She would be his in a way that Haerton would never be. In a way that the title would never be. Because they were all things that Vincent had once had. But Vincent had never had her.
Cedric didn’t think. The idea was already in his head and so he said, “In that case, I have a condition to your condition.”
There was a small silence.
“Oh?” She sounded wary now. “What condition?”
The tiger’s smile was back, the reflection in the mirror looking hungry. He wanted this and he would have it. He was owed. For all the years of neglect. For all the years of feeling as if he was the ghost, not his brother. For all the years of anguish. And finally realizing that both his parents had had no love to give him.
“I want a wedding night,” he said in a voice that didn’t sound like his. That wasn’t either lazy or seductive. That was stripped to bare bones.
“Excuse me?” Anna didn’t sound quite so cool now and that was just as well. It was time she learned that this was his show, not hers.
“I think you heard me.” He swung the chair gently back and forth on its pivot. “I am happy for you to have a life and do whatever you choose. Go to university, see whomever you want, or not, as the case may be. But I want a wedding night,”
“Why?” Her voice was sharp. “If it’s just sex you want you can get that from any woman.”
It was true, he could. But it wasn’t just sex that he wanted. It was sex with her. With the woman who should have been his brother’s.
“But it’s not just sex that I want, Anna,”