I think I’m in love. Regarding the gorgeous sable-haired Spaniard who had just made love to her with all the passion and wild beauty that her wounded heart could ever have hoped for, Dominique had the stunning revelation that that same heart was even more vulnerable than she’d feared. Because it was too late now for regrets, or to rein in her emotions where Cristiano was concerned—even if he expected her to. And how was she supposed to stay here in his house, with his family, knowing that her love for him would probably never be reciprocated? That his heart belonged for ever to his wife and baby who had died so tragically?
Anguished, she knew she had probably landed herself in the deepest hot water that she had ever been in—and that included becoming an unmarried mother. She’d thought she had found a safe haven at last from all the past hurt that had wounded her, and the thought that she might have to leave that haven practically as soon as she’d arrived made her feel sick to her stomach.
All she could do was leave the outcome to a greater force than her own mere will. Learning to trust again was not something that came easily after what she had been through, but why not give it a try for once? she thought.
As the moonlight beaming in from the open window touched Cristiano’s head and shoulders with an almost ethereal glow—and with Christmas just around the corner—she asked herself if there had ever been a better time in which to make a heartfelt request of the Divine?
CHAPTER TEN
THE sensation of a silky hirsute leg rubbing up and down one of her own bare legs beneath the bedclothes caused Dominique’s eyes to ping open in heart-racing shock. Caught between the land of sleep and wakefulness, for a moment she forgot where she was.
As the beautiful bedroom with all its fine antiques and luxurious furnishings came into view in the softly smudged morning light—instead of the shabby bedsit she’d grown used to—reality hit with a vengeance. And—more importantly—the reality of just whose leg was rubbing up and down against hers.
Turning her head, Dominique came face to face with a pair of smouldering dark eyes that would warm up a statue on a freezing winter’s night. And right now, with the look Cristiano was giving her, Dominique was anything but an inanimate block of stone … ‘Buenos diás.’He smiled, placing a deliberately sexy little kiss on her startled mouth.
‘I thought—’
‘What did you think?’ He cupped her face and his leg inserted itself silkily between her thighs.
The melting sensation that made her feel like marshmallow was stealing through her body again, and Dominique struggled to give her thoughts voice. ‘I thought—I didn’t expect to find you still here,’ she admitted, and there was a husky cadence to the words that finally emerged.
‘Did you want me to leave?’ he asked, tanned brow furrowing.
‘No … It’s just that …’ Struggling to contain her embarrassment, Dominique sighed. ‘I thought you might not want anyone else to know … That we were together, I mean.’
‘Why would you think that? Do you imagine I am ashamed of being with you?’
‘No … But—what will your family think when they find out, Cristiano? What if they think that I deliberately—?’
‘Seduced me?’ he interjected, his dark brows wriggling comically like a pantomime villain.
Despite her anxiety, Dominique couldn’t help but smile. ‘I just want them to know that I’m not some manipulative little gold-digger. I would die if I thought they believed that for even a second!’
‘If you were a gold-digger, do you think you would even be here right now? Do you not think I would have recognised that right from the start? You did not even want to talk to me when I first came to your flat! Much less try and get money from me!’
‘As long as your family know I am only here because of Matilde … because I don’t want her to miss out on having a family who really love her.’
‘I do not even have to tell them that … They can already see for themselves the kind of woman you are, Dominique.’
‘And they do know that I didn’t deliberately get pregnant to try and trap Ramón? It was an accident, you see. He—’
‘I do not want to talk about Ramón!’
The anger in Cristiano’s voice as well as the tension that rolled off his body, made Dominique recoil for a moment.
‘I am only too aware of how my reckless cousin could behave. You do not have to draw me a picture! I am sorry if it hurts you to hear it, but it is a wonder he did not father many more children out of wedlock than just Matilde! Deep in her heart Consuela knows it too.’
‘It doesn’t hurt me.’ Her slender shoulders lifted and fell in a weary shrug. ‘Not any more. Please don’t be angry because I brought up the subject. I just want things to be out in the open … for there to be no doubt I’m here for all the right reasons. I was just afraid of what Consuela and the others would think if they found out we had slept together. You must understand my fears?’
Driving his hand through his already tousled black hair, Cristiano looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘No one is going to think any less of you, Dominique. You will have to trust me on that. In fact, I know they will be glad that I have such a close bond with you. There is nothing to worry about. Truly. Now, come here … Have I not said that I will protect you and take care of you?’
He dropped another lingering kiss on her softly parted lips, as if to seal his assertion, and a sigh of pleasure helplessly left her. But at the back of Dominique’s mind she wondered exactly what Cristiano meant by vowing to protect and take care of her. After making passionate love to her for most of the night, did he still view her welfare as something he was interested in merely out of a sense of duty and honour, because his cousin had made her pregnant and her child was a Cordova?
Even though his arm was lying possessively across her middle, Dominique moved to push up into a sitting position. If the truth were known, Cristiano was probably just as commitment-shy as his cousin. Doubly so because of what had happened to his wife … Her stomach turned over in dismay. Her wish that there might be a chance for them to enjoy a proper relationship was probably just a foolish pipedream, and one she should quickly put aside unless she wanted to make herself thoroughly miserable. It was nearly Christmas, and she at least wanted the opportunity to try and enjoy the season in this magical place before she had to face any more heartbreaking reality.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I need to put the bottle warmer on for Matilde’s feed.’ She glanced down at the wristwatch she wore out of habit most nights. ‘She’ll be waking up soon.’
Grasping the swathe of silken hair that spilled down over her breasts, Dominique started to swiftly plait it. At the same time, she glanced over to where her baby lay in peaceful slumber.
Cristiano slid his arm coaxingly round her waist. ‘She is not awake yet. There is still time to wish each other good morning properly … sí?’
His warm lips found the spot between Dominique’s shoulder and neck and his teeth nipped gently. Her treacherous body responded immediately, her breasts growing heavy and her nipples stinging with avaricious need to feel his hands and mouth there. But, as delicious as Cristiano’s seductive touch was, she knew she was going to have to distance herself a little today out of sheer self-preservation. Making love with him had left Dominique much more vulnerable to being hurt by him than before, when their relationship had been purely platonic … He had rocked her world to its innermost core, and the