“So I’ve heard.” Anna clasped her hands together to stop them from fidgeting. “Again, nothing that would make me afraid of you. I do wonder, though, why you haven’t answered my question. You’re marrying because of a will, so why do you need a wedding when a quick ceremony in a register office would do the trick?”
“An interesting question.” Cedric was very still, his lean, powerful body perfectly at rest, which somehow relaxed her, easing her urge to fidget. “The fact is, I’m a very busy man. I work hard and then I play hard, and in the past that hasn’t left a lot of time for other things. I hadn’t thought a family would be important to me, but I admit that after my father died, that changed. I am the only Blackwood left, and so I want a son to carry on after me.” Something she didn’t understand shifted in his eyes. “Would you really blame me if I wanted wedding pictures of his parents to show him when he got older?”
It certainly sounded good. Almost as if he believed every word he’d said. And yet she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he was spinning her a story. Not lying, she didn’t think. More as if he wasn’t giving her the whole truth.
“Wedding pictures?” Anna didn’t bother to hide her disbelief. “This is really all about wedding pictures?”
His expression was guileless. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t mind announcing to the world that I’m getting married also. It’s not real if it isn’t talked about on the internet somewhere, after all.”
Now, that he meant, she could tell.
“But it’s not real,” she felt compelled to point out. “I’m not marrying you because I’m in love with you.”
“Why should love make a difference?” There was an odd note in his voice that she couldn’t quite interpret. “But that doesn’t matter anyway. In the eyes of the law our marriage will be as real as it gets, and the wedding is just the icing on the cake.” He gave her a sidelong look. “Don’t you want to wear a pretty dress?”
Anna ignored the question, studying the perfect lines of his face, trying to read the undercurrents in his voice and interpret the shadows shifting in his eyes. She wasn’t sure why she found his motivations so interesting. Perhaps it was because they weren’t obvious. Certainly he was turning out to be more complicated than she had thought, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Probably not.
She didn’t want to find Cedric Blackwood complicated. She didn’t want him to be interesting. She didn’t want to be drawn to the still way he stood or feel warmth when he smiled at her. Physical attraction she could deal with. Anything else, no.
“Keep staring at me, Anna,” he said softly, eyes gleaming. “I like it very much.”
Her breath caught, yet another blush rising in her cheeks. She hadn’t meant to be quite so obvious with her study, but then again, he was far too observant. He gave another soft laugh, and before she could say anything he pushed himself abruptly away from his desk.
“Let me find Bonnie and we’ll get some champagne in here. I want to do this properly.”
Anna wanted to tell him that there was no need, but he’d already pulled open the door and given some instructions to his PA. And then five minutes later, Bonnie bustled in with a bottle of what was clearly outrageously priced champagne and a couple of glasses on a silver tray. She deposited them on the table in front of Anna then bustled out again.
The Duke went around the side of the desk, pulled open a drawer, retrieved something from it then came over to where Anna sat. The look in his eyes was hot, a flame that made it impossible for her to think. Then, much to her shock, he dropped down onto one knee in a sudden, graceful movement.
“Don’t look so surprised.” His smile was wicked and slightly mischievous, wholly seductive. “I told you I wanted to do this properly.” He held out his hand, opening his fingers to reveal a small box of deep blue velvet. “Anna Remington,” he said formally, “will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Anna stared at him uncertainly and a bit of him was pleased at how he’d managed to surprise her, disturb that cool, sharp front that was so at odds with the fire he could sense burning inside her. And it was still there, that fire. He hadn’t imagined it. Hadn’t built it up over the space of the time since he’d seen her face-to-face into something it wasn’t.
A contrary beast, he’d called her, and she was. Even now, sitting there on the couch in the most delicious white dress, she looked cool and collected, and totally self-contained.
Yet that dress was floaty and sheer, had a few little buttons at the front that were undone, revealing her light gold skin, and he could see the faint shadows of her knickers and bra beneath the fabric. And there was a certain energy to her, something kinetic, as if she could hardly keep from pushing herself off the couch and start pacing around.
He found the contrasts in her unexpectedly fascinating. How cool and still on the surface she was and yet how fiery and restless she was underneath.
He’d been a quiet, studious child himself, back before he’d realized how little that had mattered to his father, and some lost part of him was inexplicably drawn to her restlessness. It was bright as a star, flickering like a firefly, and he wanted to put out his hand to try and catch it.
In fact, Miss Anna Remington herself was proving to be a whole lot more intriguing and desirable to him than he’d first thought, which was not a bad thing. The moment she’d walked into his office, oblivious to how lovely she was, her beautiful hair still in that wild ponytail that fell down her back, all he could think about was what she’d promised him-a wedding night… Or one night at least when she was ready. And as her gaze had met his, he’d known that she was thinking the same thing.