“You are so beautiful.” He pressed a kiss against her cheek and hugged her closer. “A good-morning kiss will have to do for now. We don’t have enough time to make it to the bedroom, not with my family due to arrive any minute for lunch. Come closer, let me adore you with my lips, let me—”
“Stop it, Zac!” She turned her head away just before his lips landed on her mouth. “There’s no need for such reverence.”
He stilled. “What do you mean?”
She sat straight, no easy feat given that she sprawled across his lap, her colourful sundress bunched around his legs. “I know, Zac.”
His eyes suddenly wary, he asked. “What do you know?”
Gauging his response, she peered at him from behind her fringe. “I know everything.”
“Everything?”
“I know about the prophecy, about your need to marry a virgin bride.”
“And?” He prompted, his astute eyes suddenly hooded. “What else do you know? Surely that can’t be all.”
She took a deep breath. “I know you don’t love me.”
He flicked her a quick upward glance. “And why do you think that?”
“Because you never told me. And I never realized …”
“But I—”
“Let me finish.” She brushed her bangs back and glared at him. “You did such a great job of it that I never even realized you’d never told me you loved me. Jeez, I’ve been stupid.”
“I told you—”
“Yes, let’s revisit exactly what you told me. You’re so beautiful, Pandora. I love your hair. The pale gold reminds me of—”
“Sea sand.” Zac stretched out a hand and brushed the strands away from her face. “It does. It’s so soft, so pale.”
Pandora pushed his caressing hand away and stood. “Then what about I love your energy—like quicksilver, huh?”
“You never stop moving, it’s intriguing. Your hands are so small, so fine-boned, yet they move so swiftly, even when you talk. Even now when you’re mad.”
She clenched her fists and put them behind her back. “And you love my laughter, too, huh?”
He nodded slowly, his eyes watchful. “A sense of humour is important in a marriage.”
“And then there was I love the way you make me feel.”
“Definitely.”
“But you know what? You never said I love you, Pandora. And given all these things you told me, I never thought anything of it.” Until now. “It never crossed my mind that it was a clever way of getting out of—”
“Hey, wait a moment …” Zac straightened and pushed his hands through his hair. She’d never seen him look anything but coolly and good-humouredly in control. Now his hair stood up in all directions and a frown snaked across his forehead as he perched on the edge of the armchair.
“So say it, Zac.”
He looked at her in disbelief. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“I’m not kidding. I’m waiting, Zac.”
He gave a short, unamused laugh and shrugged. “This is about three little words?”
“I overheard you talking. I heard that you need to marry a virgin. Right now I need those three little words.”
“What the hell do they matter?” He stood, towering over her. “We’re married. We’re compatible. On every level. Do you know how rare that is? You understand my world—something that’s very important to me. We share interests, a sense of humour. And as for sex … well—” he blew out “—that’s better than I ever hoped for.”
“Lucky you! Because I feel like I’ve been cheated.” At her angry words, his head went back and his eyes flashed. “So when were you planning to tell me, Zac?”
His gaze dropped away.
“You weren’t, were you? You were planning to let me live in the clouds, to think this was the love match of the century.” She turned away, not wanting him to see what the realisation had cost her.
“Wait—”
“Wait?” She gave an angry laugh and spun to face him. “Why? For you to make a fool of me all over again?”
Zac stared into her furious countenance. Underneath the tight-lipped anger he thought he caught a glimpse of hurt in her stunning pale eyes. Those eyes that had held him entranced since the first moment he’d seen her.
She wanted him to say that he loved her.
He gulped in air. God, what was he to do?
“My family will be here soon. Let’s discuss this later.” And saw instantly it had been the wrong thing to say. Her fury grew until her eyes glimmered an angry incandescent silver.
“Your family? What do I care about your family? I’ve hardly even met them! For almost a week I’ve been trying to get you to introduce me to them. Every time you put me off. Stupid me, I was flattered. Thought it meant you wanted to spend all your free time alone with me. But I was deluding myself, wasn’t I? You just didn’t want me to meet them in case someone let slip that you needed to marry a virgin.”
“It wasn’t like that,” he replied lamely.
“So what was it like? Explain to me, Zac. In little one-syllable words that even a fool like me can understand. Or are you incapable of using those one-syllable words like I love you?”
Zac blinked at the unexpected attack. “You’re not a fool—”
“Oh, please! Don’t give me that. You’ve played me like a master. Convinced me you loved me. Jeez, I can’t believe how naive I’ve been. Why would you fall for me, a—”
“Because you’re young, beautiful and—”
“And a stupid, pretty little virgin?” She gave him a tight smile. When he failed to respond, she added, “So what if I’m young and beautiful. What do appearances matter anyway? It doesn’t say anything about the person I am inside. Good. Terrible. Or didn’t you care as long as I was a pretty stupid little virgin?”
The urge to laugh in appreciation at the clever way she’d twisted her own words rose in him, but one glance at her face convinced him that she would not appreciate it. “Pandora.” He took her hand. “I wasn’t—”
The door swung open. “Zac, people are starting to arrive,” Katy said anxiously, then put her hand over her mouth as she took in their obviously confrontational stances. “I’m out of here. But, brother, you need to get to the crowd downstairs.”
“Katy, I want to introduce you to—”
But Katy was already gone.
“Don’t worry, I introduced myself to your sister all by myself. Tell me, does she also know I’m a virgin?”
Zac took a deep breath and forced himself to ignore the inflammatory remark. “My family is here. I don’t want them embarrassed. Humour me. I need you to pretend everything is fine between us. Please?”
“Pretend? You mean, like you pretended you loved me?”
Zac winced as her bitter words hit home. “My family mean a lot to me. I don’t want them to see this discord between us—not when we only exchanged vows yesterday. We can talk it all out later, I promise you.”
“Later?”