Page 38 of Awakened On Her Royal Wedding Night
Did he feel the same? Even a little?
That was the thing she didn’t want to face—his potential indifference to something that had left her feeling altered. It wasn’t the “I am a woman now” nonsense. It was more the sense that she had shared too much of herself and didn’t know how to take it back.
When she was dressed and as flawless as she could possibly feel, she braced herself to walk out to the lounge where she would have to look Felipe in the eye. All sorts of guilty longing were probably flashing neon bright in her face as she entered.
He had put on his tuxedo. Lord, why did he have to be so good-looking? And confident. He wore the addition of his royal sash of green satin with as much casual ease as he wore the shoes that were polished to a mirror finish.
When she appeared, he turned his head and his gaze swept to her toes and came back. Knowledge—so much carnal knowledge—sat as a banked heat behind his narrowed gaze. She was acutely aware they had both run their mouths all over each other’s bodies. She had had three orgasms and was tender between her thighs.
There was no mockery in his gaze, though. Only approval. The glow of appreciation in his eyes drew her the way a fire would have beckoned her closer on a cold winter night.
“I, um—” She had to clear a huskiness from her throat. “I asked Ippolita for my necklace. She said you have it?”
Her throat was already dry and grew positively arid when he offered a case covered in silver velvet.
“Not that you need adornment,” he said. “You’re beautiful without anything at all, as I’m more than aware.”
Really?He was going to say something like that in front of Vinicio?
She blushed and flicked a look to his secretary, but Vinicio was doing an excellent impression of a lamppost.
Felipe opened the case to reveal a stunning blue sapphire suspended from a platinum chain. A pair of matching drop earrings nestled beside it.
“I saw these when I bought the other one. I couldn’t decide, so I got both.”
She was too overwhelmed to speak and wound up standing mutely as he fastened the heavy links around her throat. Her hands shook as she removed her earrings and replaced them with the sapphires.
When she turned back to him, her shoes put her virtually eye to eye with him. A faint smile touched his mouth.
“I like this height.” He caressed her jaw and kissed near the corner of her mouth.
“Felipe,” she breathed in protest. “I don’t want to be bribed.”
“We talked about why I like to see you in things that I give you.” His fingertip traced the rim of her ear then nudged her earring into swinging.
Why does any man want to put a ring on a woman? To claim her, of course.
Oh, help. He had claimed her. Utterly and thoroughly. She closed her eyes, body paralyzed by the way his fingertips stole into the hollow beneath her ear and caressed her nape, lifting goose bumps on her skin.
“You don’t have to leave, Vinicio,” Felipe murmured. “We’re ready to go.”
Oh, Gawd. Felipe’s hand fell to catch her own while Claudine tried to pull herself together before she turned to face Vinicio. He smoothly held the door for them, avoiding direct eye contact. They all traveled down the elevator and into a car. Vinicio came in the back with them this time so there was no danger, or opportunity, for back-seat seductions.
The rest of the evening was not unlike Claudine’s life as a pageant contestant. She smiled and held her best posture without fidgeting. She shook hands and expressed interest in the people she met and stayed on message when people asked about her engagement to Felipe.
“He whisked me off my feet. It’s been a whirlwind.”
“And the pageant?” someone asked. “Why did you drop out?”
“I couldn’t continue to compete. It would have been a conflict of interest. I miss my friends, obviously, but it’s fun to be an observer for once. I can’t wait to see who wins.” She turned that into asking who that person’s favorite was and offered mild inside gossip about this woman’s talent or that one’s well-publicized struggle to overcome personal adversity.
“And your injuries?” a man asked behind her. “How did those happen?”
Claudine glanced over her shoulder to see a man roughly Felipe’s age. He sent Claudine a sly look before turning a more malevolent one onto Felipe.
The blatant implication was that Felipe had inflicted them on her. It was appalling enough to turn Claudine’s stomach. She felt Felipe’s hand come to the small of her back. His arm was tense, ready to pull her protectively close.
“They happened before I left the pageant,” Claudine said, holding the man’s gaze without flinching.
