She wondered how long it would take her to get over him. Just then she felt as if the entire world were covered by a big dark storm cloud that shut out all the light. Her past track record on getting over Antonio was not inspiring. Her attention lingered on his bold masculine profile, the springy blue-black darkness of his hair, his classic nose, the ebony sweep of his lashes and the wide, sensual curve of his mouth. Heat prickled low in her pelvis and she found herself wondering if she could tempt him into bed just one more time, and she was so mortified by that thought that she punished herself by looking out the window instead.
By the time the battlemented towers of the castillo appeared on the horizon, Sophie was strung up as high as a kite with nervous tension. Set against the backdrop of hills clad with dense green forest, Antonio’s ancestral home looked glorious. Grand though the ancient fortress was, it had, without her even realising it, become home to her.
She worried at her full lower lip, keeping her eyes very wide to hold back the tears that were threatening her. She was remembering breakfasts on the ironwork balcony when Antonio had cut up fresh fruit for her and made her feel like a princess. She was remembering how he had driven her crazy when he was trying to teach her to drive. She was remembering how nervous she had been before that first dinner party and how he had teased her out of her worries and boosted her confidence by convincing her that she was much cleverer than she had ever thought she was.
In a silence that echoed and without even needing to discuss a preference, they both opted to go straight up to the nursery. Lydia was fast asleep in her cot, gloriously unaware of the revelations that had rocked the world of the adults selected to care for her.
‘Will you visit her?’ Sophie heard herself ask Antonio tightly as she walked back out of the room again. It was painful to bear the strained silence where once they would have been cheerfully engaged in talking about Lydia.
‘Lydia’s not going anywhere,’ Antonio retorted, slowing his long stride to match her slower pace.
‘You don’t have the right to tell me that—’
‘This is not about rights. Regardless of what happens between us, I intend to continue playing an active role in Lydia’s life.’
‘I wonder if you will.’ Unhidden cynicism edged Sophie’s curt response to that declaration.
‘You will find that I keep my promises, mi amada. What I say I will do, I will do—’
‘Oh, stop being so stuffy and superior!’ Sophie lashed out at him, her desperate unhappiness finding a vent in temper.
Antonio swore under his breath, smouldering golden eyes clashing with her defiant scrutiny. ‘Don’t speak to me in that tone.’
‘Why? What are you going to do about it?’ Sophie snapped like a cat ready to scratch.
Antonio tugged her to him with one powerful hand and trapped her between the wall and his lithe, powerful body. ‘What you like best?’
Her heart started pounding like a road drill, her breath parting her lips in short little spurts. Her pupils dilated, she stared up at him, every sensitive skin cell on fire for him, every nerve ending singing with sexual awareness. She wanted him instantly and desperately.
‘No…’ Antonio told her with seething derision. ‘No talk…no sex!’
Her soft lips fell open. Hot pink flooded her creamy complexion. Shaken eyes veiling, she twisted under his arm and stalked away. ‘I didn’t want—’
‘Don’t you dare lie to me!’ Antonio launched at her wrathfully.
Sophie was shattered that Antonio had raised his voice. She paled, mortification eating her alive. Just by looking at her he had realised she wanted him. How much else did he know? That she loved him?
‘Antonio…’
‘But even if you won’t talk, you can at least listen,’ Antonio delivered, lean, strong face grim and, with that assurance, he bent down and scooped her up into his arms.
‘When you’re in the middle of having an argument with someone, you don’t just lift the person up in the middle of it and carry them away!’ Sophie hissed enraged.
Antonio settled enquiring eyes on her furiously flushed face. ‘Why not?’
‘Because it’s disrespectful…that’s why!’ Sophie declared.
Antonio shouldered open the bedroom door and, pausing only to kick it resoundingly shut behind him, he strode over to the bed and settled her firmly down on the edge of it.
‘You want to talk? OK…I’ll say it all for you,’ Sophie told him jerkily.
‘Why didn’t I think of that? I really should take you into the office with me—’
‘Look, I can’t joke about this!’ All of a sudden Sophie was finding it impossible to maintain her act of insouciance. ‘But you know we only got married because you believed Lydia was your niece.’
‘No, I don’t know that,’ Antonio responded infuriatingly.
Sophie fixed strained eyes on him, her heart-shaped face tight with tension and very pale. ‘This is not the time to be smart. You thought you had to be a father to Lydia and you felt sorry for me because Norah had mentioned that I couldn’t h-have k-kids…’
Antonio unfroze from his intimidating stance over her and hunkered down at the side of the bed so that their eyes were on a level. ‘That’s not important, mi amada.’
‘Sí, enamorada,’ Antonio confirmed.
Her green eyes were huge. ‘I really make you that happy?’
‘You do…’
?
?So you don’t think a divorce would be a good idea?’ she pressed unevenly.