Enemies at the Altar by Melanie Milburne

stubble of his jaw scraping along her softer skin. She lost herself in the frenzied fever of his kiss. It was urgent, it was boldly insistent and, with that captivating edge of taboo about it, it made her forget about the past or the future. She was totally in the moment and the moment was all about him and how he made her feel.
    His hand went from her head to slide down to the dip in her spine, pulling her against the jut of his erection. It was shockingly, shamelessly intimate. It made every sensible thought fly out of her head. She was suddenly and totally reduced to raw physical need.
    His mouth lifted off hers as his gaze drilled smoulderingly into hers. ‘Still want separate bedrooms?’ he asked.
    Sienna drew in a sharp little breath that was connected to something deep in the pit of her belly. ‘I’m starting to see there could be some benefits to airing that musty old linen,’ she conceded wryly.
    He gave a spine-tingling chuckle as he cupped her face in his hands. ‘I like how you make me laugh,
ma petite
,’ he said. ‘You don’t kowtow to me like a lot of women do. I like that you are spirited and feisty. You always stand your ground with me.’
    Sienna wished she could find some ground to stand on, but right now she was on the rockiest platform shehad ever occupied. She was teetering on the edge of throwing caution to the wind and diving head first into a passionate affair with Andreas, no matter what the cost to her ultimately. She looked into his gaze and felt another layer of her resolve peel away like a slough of old useless skin.
    She wanted him.
    She had
always
wanted him.
    She could have him for six months
.
    The thought was more than a temptation. It was a statement of intent. The rationalisations began in her head. It was a finite time. She would be able to walk away when it was over. She knew the rules from the outset and so did he. It was a convenient arrangement, a no-strings affair that had benefits for them both. She wouldn’t fall in love with him and he wouldn’t fall in love with her. It would be an exciting erotic interlude to pass the time while they were shackled together in marriage. God knew she could do with the experience of a red-hot affair. Her body was craving an outlet for the sensuality denied her for so long.
    Andreas stroked the broad pad of his thumb over Sienna’s bottom lip, his hazel eyes meshing with hers in simmering heat. ‘You know how much I want you,’ he said. ‘You’ve known it from the start. I think my father must have known it too, otherwise why would he have orchestrated this?’
    Sienna salved her tingling lips with a quick darting sweep of her tongue. ‘I meant what I said last night,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry I acted the way I did when I was seventeen. I panicked when your father came in. I didn’t want my mother to lose her job. It was the first time I’d seen her really happy. I didn’t want to be the one whowrecked everything for her. I didn’t think things would get so out of hand. I didn’t think you would leave and never come back.’
    ‘There were lots of reasons I didn’t come back,’ he said, dropping his hands from her face to walk with her back towards the chateau. ‘My father and I always had a difficult relationship. We locked horns on many things. He didn’t want me to pursue my furniture design work. But I wanted to work for my wealth, not simply inherit it from him and his father and grandfather before him. I wanted to make my own way, not stand on anyone’s shoulders. My father took that as a slight. He liked to have control, but I refused to play by his rules.’
    Sienna walked alongside him, wondering if he would ever forgive her for her shameless behaviour. She had made his already strained relationship with his father so much worse. No wonder he hated her so much. She had ruined any chance of him making peace before his father had died. How could she expect him to overlook that as just a bit of immaturity on her