The Forced Bride by Sara Craven Page A

handed her a glass. ‘To our real honeymoon,’ he said and
    drank.
    Emily stared at him. ‘What are you talking about’ she asked breathlessly. ‘You got what you wanted. And I accept now
    that there’ll be no annulment,’ she added bitterly. ‘You’ve made quite sure of that.’
    She drew a breath. ‘But I’ll agree to your conditions for a divorce as long as—all ofthis —stops now and you leave me in
    peace.’
    ‘You thought that, having waited for almost three years, I would be satisfied by that one lacklustre performance’ Raf
    asked cynically. ‘You are mistaken.’ He smiled at her. ‘You have an exquisite body, my sweet one, and I intend to
    enjoyall of this whenever and however I wish, for the duration of our marriage.’
    ‘But—surely—you came here to talk about a divorce!’ She was pleading suddenly.
    ‘Oh, that is postponed,’ he said. ‘Indefinitely.’
    Her voice was a croak of disbelief. ‘Until when’
    He shrugged. ‘Until—perhaps—the ice melts.’ His smile was sardonic. ‘You see, Emilia, you have become a challenge.’
    She lifted her chin. ‘Even though I’ve just shown that I don’t want you—and never will’
    ‘You punish no one but yourself,mia cara ,’ he told her quietly. ‘A man’s ability to gain satisfaction does not depend on
    his partner’s pleasure. Although it is enhanced by it,naturalmente .’
    He paused. ‘And never is a long time, Emilia. While I—I have become used to waiting. It will not be such a hardship,
    especially when I expect the eventual rewards to be infinite,’ he added softly.
    Her voice shook. ‘I hate you.’
    ‘Then at least you will not weary me with declarations of undying love when we part.’ His tone was brisk as he took the
    untouched wine from her and set it aside, then reached into the pocket of his robe. ‘Now, give me your hand.’
    She obeyed reluctantly, looking down mutinously as Raf slid her wedding ring back on to her finger.
    ‘Where did you get that’
    ‘From your former bedroom at the Manor. I gathered from the lawyers, among other things, that you were no longer
    wearing it and made a special detour.’ His smile was ironic. ‘We are finally man and wife,carissima , and you will in future
    acknowledge as much to the world.’
    She was still staring down at the gleam of gold in the lamplight, but her head jerked up. ‘You said—former bedroom’
    ‘I have instructed the good Signora Penistone to prepare the master suite for us both when we next return to the Manor.’
    ‘But you can’t,’ she protested in sudden anguish. ‘Those were my father’s rooms.’
    ‘His rooms, Emilia,’ Raf said quietly. ‘Not his shrine.’
    ‘You have no right to give such an order in my house!’
    ‘I have any rights I choose to assume.’ He shrugged off the robe and rejoined her in the bed, pulling her effortlessly
    towards him. ‘And maybe now is the time I should remind you of some of them,’ he added softly and put his lips to the
    hollow between her breasts.
    Emily awoke slowly. For a moment she felt totally disorientated, but two things rapidly became apparent—that a pale,
    sharp light was filtering through the curtains and filling the room and that it was difficult to move because she seemed
    weighted to the bed.
    She turned her head cautiously and saw Raf sleeping beside her, his arm thrown carelessly across her body.
    And then she remembered—a wave of embarrassed heat sweeping over her body as all the events of the previous night
    returned inexorably to haunt her. Everything he’d said—and, oh, God, everything he’d done.
    Inch by inch, she began to edge away from him across the bed, but he did not stir.
    Too worn out by his exertions, no doubt, she thought, loathing him.
    She gave a silent sigh of relief as her feet touched the icy floor. She retrieved her discarded nightdress and put it on in lieu
    of a dressing gown, then tiptoed surreptitiously across to the window and looked round the