Читать книгу Mistress to the Mediterranean Male - Кэрол Мортимер, Кэрол Мортимер - Страница 12

BRYNNE shifted on the bed as she tried to find a comfortable position in which to fall asleep.

Something she had been trying to do for the last hour, feeling too restless to settle down to read the book she had brought away with her, and Alejandro not having returned from his evening out yet.

She had been so angry with him this afternoon, then so surprised and aroused as he had kissed her.

In fact, she had been so distracted, so disturbed, that she had felt relieved when Maria had come out and offered to take Michael for a walk to the village with her.

But the result was that Brynne had been so worn out from puzzling over that kiss, her head so full of the things she should have said to Alejandro and hadn’t, that she had eventually fallen into a deep sleep as she had continued to lay on the lounger beside the pool.

Only to wake up an hour later to find her back sunburnt because she had been too agitated earlier to remember to put any oil on it before falling asleep.

Brynne got impatiently out of the bed, the after-sun she had managed to put on her shoulders earlier, and partway up her back, doing absolutely nothing to alleviate the heat or the stinging sensation that continued to keep her from sleeping.

She opened the French doors to stroll out onto the balcony, hearing the distant clanging of a bell around the neck of a goat or sheep, and the clicking sound of the cicadas.

The island really was beautiful, with the brightly coloured bougainvillea that grew in such abundance, the orange and lemon trees that grew on the terraced hillsides and the tiny villages with their wondrous smells of cooking, old-fashioned shops and cafés. Plus it was all surrounded by the most magnificently coloured sea Brynne had ever seen.

But it was all ruined for Brynne by the presence of Alejandro.

What had happened between the two of them earlier today?

She wasn’t quite sure …

The conversation had started out so innocently. And ended in that fiercely heated kiss, a kiss that had left such tension and disharmony between them that Brynne had felt restless and disturbed ever since.

Because she was still angry with him, she had told herself after he had left her. It was only when she had come up to bed, and sleep had continued to elude her, that she had allowed her thoughts to become less angry, to try to understand why their conversation had deteriorated in the way that it had, with the result that Alejandro had actually kissed her.

Her conclusion, at least as far as she was concerned, was not a pleasant one!

There had been such intensity between them during that heated exchange, so that when he had kissed her so suddenly her body had given her no choice but to respond. At which point she had been totally aware of the heat of him, of the broadness of his shoulders, of the hard power—and pleasure—that hardness promised—

No!

Brynne closed her eyes to shut out the memory. It would be extremely stupid on her part to allow her sexual awareness of Alejandro to get any deeper than it already was.

But what if it was something she had no control over?

She could hear the sound of a car coming down the narrow, winding road to the villa, and knew it had to be Alejandro returning from his evening out.

There was something slightly undignified about the possibility that Alejandro might see her standing out on the balcony and think she had been waiting here for him to come home.

She hadn’t, had she …?

It didn’t matter whether she had or not, she decided as she moved quickly back into her bedroom and shut the door behind her; Alejandro wasn’t going to see her and jump to any conclusion, erroneous or otherwise.

Sounds carried in the silence of the night, and she heard Alejandro park the car in the garage, then the scrape of his shoes on the terrace as he walked to the villa and let himself in.

Her nerves tensed as she waited for him to ascend the stairs and walk down the hallway as he went to bed.

The light knock on her bedroom door startled her so much she almost knocked over the vase of lilies that stood on her dressing table.

Alejandro had come to her bedroom, not his own!

Because of that kiss they had shared this afternoon? Had Alejandro realized that part of her anger towards him had been because she had been inexplicably roused by the exchange?

You’re being stupid now, Brynne, she instantly rebuked her panicked thoughts. As far as Alejandro was concerned she had told him how much she didn’t like him this afternoon.

‘Yes?’ she called out, lacing her fingers together to stop them from trembling.

The door opened slowly, and Alejandro came quietly into the room. ‘I saw the light was still on in your bedroom and wondered if there was a problem …?’ He arched his dark brows.

Yes, there was a problem, Brynne realized achingly as she felt her nipples harden beneath her silky pyjamas from just looking at him in his evening suit, the warmth of her body centred between her thighs now.

The darkness of his hair was slightly ruffled by the evening breeze, and the top button of his shirt was undone to reveal the beginning of the dark hair that no doubt covered his chest and went down to his—

She lifted her startled gaze back up to his face and instantly wished that she hadn’t as she found her eyes were now held and captured by the intensity of his.

‘Brynne …?’ he prompted.

She swallowed hard, inwardly chastising herself for her stupidity. ‘Er—no, there’s no problem,’ she answered him determinedly. ‘I—just couldn’t sleep, that’s all. It’s—very hot this evening, isn’t it?’

Hotter still since Alejandro had entered her bedroom!

What was wrong with her? She wasn’t an impressionable teenager but a mature woman of twenty-five, and had been out with a number of men over the last few years—

But none of them had been in the least like Alejandro!

No, they had been nice men, ordinary men, men who had shared her interests, men she had been able to talk to, not a man who filled a room just by walking into it, a man who could command with just a look, a man who had upset and disturbed her life since the moment he had entered it six weeks ago, a man who—

A man who created a moist heat between her thighs just by being in the same room as her!

This was awful.

Terrible.

‘Brynne, what—’

‘No!’ she exclaimed when she saw he was about to walk farther into her bedroom. ‘It’s late, Alejandro,’ she told him abruptly. ‘I would like to go back to bed now.’

Alejandro searched her face. Was he being ridiculous? Brynne had looked at him just now as if—well, as if she returned some of the desire he had felt when he had kissed her this afternoon.

It was a feeling he had tried to dismiss as fanciful after he’d left her, and then again this evening as he had sat at the crowded dinner table of the Roigs, Antonia’s attempts to tease him out of his reverie completely unsuccessful. In fact, he had felt himself becoming more and more impatient this evening with Antonia’s attempts to beguile him with her sultry beauty!

He had seen the light still on in Brynne’s bedroom as he had driven down the hill to the villa and had told himself not to knock on her door. It would not be a sensible move on his part after their last encounter, when the emotion had been so heightened between them he had had to walk away from it.

He had told himself to go to his own bedroom, and forget all about Brynne Sullivan. But his feet had seemed to have a different idea of his intentions as he had found himself knocking on her door!

It was there still, a tension, a frisson, that he could feel stretching across the room between them.

Even in pyjamas Brynne looked beautiful, her hair draped across one shoulder and down over her breasts. Firm, uptilting breasts, the nipples of which were outlined against the soft peach-coloured material of her top. Alejandro’s lips tingled just at the thought of tasting the rosy tip with his tongue—

‘If you are sure you are all right …’ He nodded abruptly, knowing he had to leave now or put into practice all the things he was imagining doing with Brynne.

‘Yes, of course I—’ Brynne broke off, having started to cross the room to encourage his exit before coming to an abrupt halt, wincing slightly as she did so. ‘I’m fine,’ she told him brightly. ‘Just fine.’

Alejandro’s brow furrowed. ‘Somehow I do not think so …’ he murmured slowly, stepping farther into the bedroom.

‘Please, Alejandro,’ she said in protest, knowing that she shouldn’t have moved, because it had caused the material of her top to rub painfully over her red and throbbing back. ‘What could possibly be wrong?’ she dismissed.

‘I do not—’ He broke off, standing only inches away from her now as he looked down into her face. ‘You look—strained …’ he finally murmured.

‘Well, that’s hardly flattering, Alejandro,’ she told him dryly, wishing he would just leave.

She needed him to go now, and not just because she desperately needed to put some more cream on her back!

Alejandro shook his head, not in the least convinced by her attempt at humour. ‘I refuse to leave until you tell me what is wrong, Brynne,’ he said firmly.

She gave a disbelieving laugh. ‘I could just scream,’ she warned.

Her humour was still forced, in Alejandro’s opinion. ‘Is it Michael? Your parents, perhaps? Tell me what is wrong, Brynne,’ he repeated sharply.

Her mouth set stubbornly. ‘Nothing is—oh, very well,’ she snapped impatiently as Alejandro continued to look at her. ‘I just stayed out in the sun too long this afternoon, that’s all. Are you satisfied? Will you leave my bedroom now?’ She glared at him, colour flooding her cheeks.

It was what he should do, Alejandro knew. To do anything else could be dangerous in the extreme.

But he also knew that the Majorcan sun could be fierce in the afternoons, and if Brynne really had stayed out in it too long …

‘Show me,’ he said impatiently.

Brynne stared up at him with wide eyes. Show him? Take her top off and—

No way! There was absolutely no way she was going to undress for this man, even though the idea was making her body tingle all over.

‘I don’t think so,’ she told him primly. ‘I’m quite capable of dealing with it myself, thank you,’ she added defiantly as he still stood looking at her in that arrogant way that said he could be just as stubborn as she could.

‘Obviously not if you are still in pain,’ Alejandro rasped tersely.

‘I’ve put some after-sun on,’ she assured him irritably as she moved across the room to pick the bottle up from the bedside table. ‘Here. See.’ She held it up.

‘On where?’ His voice was silkily smooth.

She could feel the heat in her cheeks once again. ‘On my back. Now would you please—’

‘You cannot possibly reach the whole of your back,’ Alejandro told her with maddening accuracy.

Brynne was becoming more and more agitated by the minute.

Wasn’t it humiliating enough that he had kissed her earlier, that she had found herself becoming aroused just by his presence in this room, without having to bare her back to him?

‘I can reach far enough,’ she told him stubbornly.

‘I disagree—’

‘Do you know something, Alejandro?’ she interrupted. ‘It’s of absolutely no interest to me whether or not you agree or disagree with me! Now please leave my bedroom before I start to scream with rage!’

Alejandro continued to look at her, noting the fire in her eyes, and the flush to her cheeks. But was that with temper? Or something else …?

He shrugged. ‘Perhaps that is the answer, after all,’ he murmured as he took the bottle of after-sun from her unresisting fingers and began to unscrew the top. ‘If Maria comes in answer to your scream then she can put on the after-sun for you instead of me!’ he said in a mocking tone as Brynne frowned.

He was nowhere near as calm and controlled as he wished to appear though. The thought of running his hands across Brynne’s back, and feeling her soft skin beneath his fingertips, was playing havoc with his self-control. His hands shook slightly as he tipped some of the after-sun lotion into the palm of his hand.

‘Do as I say, Brynne,’ he told her, his voice coming out harshly as he acknowledged his deepening arousal. And he hadn’t even touched her yet!

Brynne glared at him for several more seconds before letting her breath out in an angry hiss. ‘Oh, all right!’ she snapped before marching over to the bed and lying down on her stomach, pulling the back of her top up as she did so. At least she could try to protect some of her modesty—

‘That will not do, Brynne,’ Alejandro said quietly from just behind her. ‘I cannot reach your shoulders or the top of your back like that,’ he explained patiently as she turned to frown at him.

No, he couldn’t, could he? she conceded with an irritated sigh, sitting up to turn away from him as she undid the buttons to her top—mainly so that he shouldn’t see the way her hands were shaking!

‘Will you please look the other way for a moment?’ she told him uncomfortably, waiting until he had done so before dropping her top to the floor and then quickly moving to lie face down on the bed once again, her face burning now rather than her back—with pure embarrassment!

Alejandro sat down on the side of the bed to rub some of the cream onto his hands, then began to caress the lotion into her burning shoulders, relieving some of the soreness but at the same time instantly creating a burning sensation somewhere else in her body.

Brynne’s skin felt just as luxuriously silky as Alejandro had imagined it would, and his hands were necessarily gentle as he sensed her discomfort.

As he leant forward he could see the gentle swell of her breasts as they pressed into the cool sheets beneath her, a tantalizing glimpse that made him long to see them fully. He imagined running his hands over her there too, to bring her another sort of relief—

‘To lie out in the sun and let yourself get burnt like this was an extremely stupid thing to do,’ he declared harshly in an effort to hide his rapidly rising desire.

Brynne lifted her head to glare at him. ‘Oh, yes, I just sat out there and got burnt on purpose!’ she replied scathingly. ‘I fell asleep, okay?’ she added as she once again buried her face into the pillow.

Alejandro smiled slightly at her obvious annoyance with herself.

‘I hope that isn’t a smirk I see on your face, Alejandro Santiago!’ Brynne said indignantly, having opened one eye to look at him.

His smile deepened. ‘You sound like my mother when she used to chastise me as a child,’ he explained as he could see Brynne’s exasperation rising. ‘Except she always used my full name of Alejandro Miguel Diego Santiago!’

‘Perhaps I will too now that I know what it is!’ Brynne muttered irritably—at the same time as she realized that one of his middle names was Miguel, the same as Michael.

Had Joanna known that when she had named their son, or was it just a coincidence?

Coincidence or not, it certainly served as a reminder of exactly who and what Alejandro was!

‘I’m not sure that Señorina Roig would be too happy if she could see you right now,’ she murmured tauntingly.

‘Antonia?’ She could feel Alejandro’s hands tense at her mention of the other woman’s name. ‘What does Antonia have to do with my helping you deal with your sunburn?’ he demanded haughtily.

‘In my bedroom helping me deal with my sunburn,’ Brynne corrected pointedly. ‘In my bedroom helping me deal with my sunburn while I’m only half-dressed,’ she added. ‘She may just decide to call off the engagement if she knew.’

She felt the bed give slightly as Alejandro stood up abruptly, and Brynne reached out to pick up her top from the floor, holding it protectively against her as she sat up to face him.

To say he looked angry was an understatement. His eyes had turned pale silver, the arrogant planes of his face were enhanced by his tightly clenched jaw and his nostrils flared in the aquiline nose.

‘There is no engagement,’ he bit out icily. ‘There will never be an engagement between myself and Antonia Roig.’

Alejandro was more furious than Brynne had ever seen him—although she had no idea why her teasing should have roused him so intensely …

She gave a shrug. ‘Perhaps you haven’t made that plain enough to Miss Roig yet, because I’m pretty sure that she was lining up boarding-schools in her head earlier for Michael once the two of you are married.’

Alejandro’s eyes glittered coldly. ‘You were mistaken,’ he said tightly.

She had introduced the subject of Antonia as a means of putting an end to a situation that was becoming far too intimate for her comfort, but she hadn’t expected it to succeed quite as well as it had.

She gave a puzzled frown. ‘It was just an idea …’

‘Once again it is an example of your interference in something that is none of your concern—’

‘If she becomes Michael’s stepmother it will be my concern—’

‘She will not!’ His accent was so thick now Brynne thought he was in danger of lapsing into his native tongue completely. ‘Miguel will never have a stepmother, Antonia or any other woman, because I never intend to marry again! There, does that satisfy your curiosity?’ he rasped harshly.

Again …

Alejandro had said he would never marry ‘again’ …?