Honor-Bound Groom by Yvonne Lindsay

Buenos días, Loren. I trust you slept well?”
    He was absolutely the last person she expected to see this morning. She’d anticipated being totally left to her own devices after her rejection of him last night. Instead, here he was, looking and smelling divine. As if what had transpired between them had never happened. As if she’d never rejected him.
    â€œAs charming as your nightgown is, you will need to change for our excursion today.”
    â€œChange?”
    â€œOf course, unless you want to be seen out and about Isla Sagrado in your night wear.”
    â€œWe…we’re going out? I thought—”
    â€œYes, I’m sure you thought that after last night I would not want to be near you. You underestimate me, Loren. We are newly married. We are expected to be seen together. Do you honestly believe that after everything I’ve put in place to make our marriage happen that Iwould just dissolve into the castle walls because you have decided we are not to sleep together?”
    There was a dangerous edge to his voice. A hint of a reined-in temper simmering just beneath the surface of his urbane exterior.
    â€œOf course not. I don’t know what I thought, to be honest.” Loren dragged in a breath, her senses instantly on alert as his fragrance infiltrated her confused mind and sent her pulse hammering in her veins. “When do you want me to be ready?”
    â€œOur first appointment is in about half an hour, near Puerto Seguro, so about five minutes ago would be ideal.”
    â€œAppointment?”
    â€œYes, a tradition in my family when someone marries.”
    Thinking it was to be with the family lawyer, Loren spun away and yanked open her wardrobe, choosing a slim-fitting ice-blue suit. Her arm was stayed by Alex’s hand upon her. She couldn’t help it, she flinched, and didn’t miss the frown that descended over Alex’s features. He pointedly withdrew his hand from her bare skin before speaking.
    â€œThat’s too formal. Wear something comfortable but smart.”
    Without any further information he spun on his heel and left her room. For a moment she just watched him. Her eyes drinking in the beauty of his movement, the breadth of his shoulders beneath the lightweight cream shirt he wore teamed with dark caramel-colored trousers. The way those trousers skimmed the cheeks of his buttocks.
    She forced herself to blink, to break the spell he’d unwittingly woven about her, enticing her. She shovedthe suit back into the wardrobe and flicked through her hangers, finally settling upon a black sundress with an abstract white print patterned upon it, relieving the starkness of the background. A mid-heeled pair of strappy sandals would hopefully give the outfit just the right balance Alex had specified.
    Gathering her dress and a fistful of clean underwear, Loren swept into her bathroom. She wanted nothing more than to wash her hair but she doubted time would allow it. She swept its length into a shower cap and stepped beneath the stinging spray of the shower before the water had even reached temperature, gasping slightly against the cold.
    She reached for the shower gel and liberally lathered it over her body. Had things been different, she wondered, would it be Alex’s hands sliding over her skin now? Her nipples beaded into tight buds at the thought. Shaking her head at herself, Loren quickly rinsed off and stepped out of the shower cubicle and reached for a towel to dry off.
    It only took a moment to dress and spritz a light spray of perfume on her pulse points. Her hair she brushed into a fiercely controlled ponytail, which she then braided and pinned in a spiral against the back of her head, all the while trying to forget how it had felt last night as Alex had brushed her hair. He’d shown her a tenderness she knew he’d have brought to his lovemaking—had she let things get that far.
    Her reflection, however, definitely gave her