Read Online Wedding Night with a Stranger by Anna Cleary - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Anna Cleary
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concentration, and tried to bring it down to words of few syllables. ‘You see, my problem is I’d need the person to be in love with me as well. So we would be equals. How can you make promises and accept the blessing of the church without sincerity on both sides?’ She looked earnestly at him. ‘Do you think you can try to understand that concept, Sebastian?’
His eyes glinted, but she went on, regardless. ‘That’s why I can never risk it. You imagine someone loves you, then you find out they only wanted to marry you because they mistakenly thought you would inherit the Giorgias shipping fortune.’
His tanned, lean hands stilled. He’d understood that bit all right.
‘So you aren’t set to inherit?’ He scanned her face with an alert gaze.
She might have predicted his interest, but still she felt a stab of disappointment. Just when she was thinking he might be different from Demetri.
He’d made his own feelings on the issue so clear this afternoon, it made her wonder, if he was hoping to talk her round, what sort of marriage had he in mind? A marriage in name only, where they signed the register then went their separate ways?
Oh, it was all so humiliating. Did greed always have to outweigh honour and integrity in every man alive? She let out a frustrated sigh. She should let him know right now his chances of using her to improve his fortunes were zilch.
‘I won’t get a cent of it, as far as I know,’ she informed him,watching his face while she dashed his hopes. ‘I have older cousins, all male, and the company will go to them. Thio Peri doesn’t believe a woman can manage a business. Well, he knows, of course, women can manage some, but he doesn’t think a woman could manage his business.’ She sat back in her chair to await results. Would he rise from the table, bid her goodnight and disappear into the distance? ‘I’m only a niece, you see. And besides, Thio knows I don’t want to have anything to do with it.’ With a bittersweet smile she added softly, ‘The only thing I’m set to inherit is a little bit of money my parents left. They weren’t rich, I’m afraid. We lived in a modest little cottage. I don’t think they even owned it. So you’d have nothing to gain.’
He was silent for several seconds, his eyes downcast, his lean face inscrutable. Then he looked up at her. His dark shimmering eyes meshed with hers, deep and unreadable.
‘If I married you.’
‘That’s right. If you…But you can’t now, can you? Now that I’ve—refused you.’
He continued to hold her in his veiled gaze. The moment stretched, while her heart thumped and questions clamoured in her brain. What was he thinking? She had no real idea what her uncle had offered him, what he’d said. Had her warning been enough to put him off? Did he think he could change her mind?
Was she really so innocent? Sebastian wondered. It sounded as if she had no idea of the means her uncle had used to bring him to this point. If she had been set to inherit everything, he felt sure the old magnate would have had no hesitation about dangling his empire before his eyes. The fact that Pericles had never mentioned it to him made her claim seem likely to be true. In a strange way, it even made the outrageous deal slightly more palatable.
He grimaced. He must be going insane. What was wrong with him that made him find something to prefer in being blackmailed in a business deal over being bought like a stud stallion?
The dessert courses were cleared, and he watched her lift her head and turn a little to ask the waiter to pass on to the chef her undying gratitude for the chocolate pudding. The line of her cheek and neck, the smooth curve of her shoulder riveted his gaze and sank into his awareness like a hypnotic. Desire quickened in his blood.
Yiayia was right. He’d been without something lovely to look at for too long.
Even her voice, low and sweet, fell on his ears like an intoxication. Supposing he did decide to
His eyes glinted, but she went on, regardless. ‘That’s why I can never risk it. You imagine someone loves you, then you find out they only wanted to marry you because they mistakenly thought you would inherit the Giorgias shipping fortune.’
His tanned, lean hands stilled. He’d understood that bit all right.
‘So you aren’t set to inherit?’ He scanned her face with an alert gaze.
She might have predicted his interest, but still she felt a stab of disappointment. Just when she was thinking he might be different from Demetri.
He’d made his own feelings on the issue so clear this afternoon, it made her wonder, if he was hoping to talk her round, what sort of marriage had he in mind? A marriage in name only, where they signed the register then went their separate ways?
Oh, it was all so humiliating. Did greed always have to outweigh honour and integrity in every man alive? She let out a frustrated sigh. She should let him know right now his chances of using her to improve his fortunes were zilch.
‘I won’t get a cent of it, as far as I know,’ she informed him,watching his face while she dashed his hopes. ‘I have older cousins, all male, and the company will go to them. Thio Peri doesn’t believe a woman can manage a business. Well, he knows, of course, women can manage some, but he doesn’t think a woman could manage his business.’ She sat back in her chair to await results. Would he rise from the table, bid her goodnight and disappear into the distance? ‘I’m only a niece, you see. And besides, Thio knows I don’t want to have anything to do with it.’ With a bittersweet smile she added softly, ‘The only thing I’m set to inherit is a little bit of money my parents left. They weren’t rich, I’m afraid. We lived in a modest little cottage. I don’t think they even owned it. So you’d have nothing to gain.’
He was silent for several seconds, his eyes downcast, his lean face inscrutable. Then he looked up at her. His dark shimmering eyes meshed with hers, deep and unreadable.
‘If I married you.’
‘That’s right. If you…But you can’t now, can you? Now that I’ve—refused you.’
He continued to hold her in his veiled gaze. The moment stretched, while her heart thumped and questions clamoured in her brain. What was he thinking? She had no real idea what her uncle had offered him, what he’d said. Had her warning been enough to put him off? Did he think he could change her mind?
Was she really so innocent? Sebastian wondered. It sounded as if she had no idea of the means her uncle had used to bring him to this point. If she had been set to inherit everything, he felt sure the old magnate would have had no hesitation about dangling his empire before his eyes. The fact that Pericles had never mentioned it to him made her claim seem likely to be true. In a strange way, it even made the outrageous deal slightly more palatable.
He grimaced. He must be going insane. What was wrong with him that made him find something to prefer in being blackmailed in a business deal over being bought like a stud stallion?
The dessert courses were cleared, and he watched her lift her head and turn a little to ask the waiter to pass on to the chef her undying gratitude for the chocolate pudding. The line of her cheek and neck, the smooth curve of her shoulder riveted his gaze and sank into his awareness like a hypnotic. Desire quickened in his blood.
Yiayia was right. He’d been without something lovely to look at for too long.
Even her voice, low and sweet, fell on his ears like an intoxication. Supposing he did decide to
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