Contract for Marriage (12 page)

Mind spinning, she laid her palm flat on Christo’s chest and against her fingers his powerful breaths began to slow.

When he pulled her closer, she buried her head in the hollow of his shoulder, heart bursting with impossible emotions. For these quiet, precious moments she wouldn’t think about what they’d done. She’d focus on the remnants of bliss flowing through her body and the beautiful man lying beside her.

Chapter Nine

The next morning in the summer house, Ruby stretched a lazy arm above her head, the sun warming the cotton of her pillow, and then sat bolt upright. Her heart hammered against her breastbone. She was getting married today. To Christo. The man she’d sworn she’d keep her body from. The man who, last night, had made her forget who she was.

Letting out a breath, she sank back against her pillow. How long had she been in the bed on her own? The last thing she remembered was lying in Christo’s arms after hours of lovemaking, the scent of gardenias floating in from the midnight garden. The sensation of his strong body wrapped around her branded her memory. The powerful but gentle way he’d made love to her, the unforgettable way he’d held her close… Her chest squeezed tighter, and she could barely breathe.

She’d done what she’d insisted to Christo and to herself that she wouldn’t. She’d succumbed to his seductive charm, to his irresistible body, and she’d made love with him the way he’d promised they would. And it had been magical.

Perhaps it had also been a
fait accompli
. Christo had always known the sensual power he had over her, the secrets he could unlock in her body, and deep down she accepted that this wouldn’t be the last time her mind would say no but her body would say yes. Her skin still hummed from where he’d touched her last night. Her lips still tingled from the ecstasy of his kisses.

But what had changed since they’d made love? Today had still dawned bright; the Earth hadn’t frozen over. On a sigh, she resolved that although she may not be able to protect the will of her body from Christo’s power, she could protect her mind—and her heart. Hugging herself tight, she pulled in a breath.
Focus
. That’s all she had to do. Focus on her baby’s security and happiness, two things she would never trade.

She reached across the bed and pulled a down cushion closer, the curve of Christo’s head still imprinted on it. Breathing in the remnants of his male scent, she smiled. There could be many worse things than to share the bed of such a patient and generous lover. As long as she kept that one, beating part of her safe, perhaps—a thrill rushed through her—she could enjoy all of the positives and none of the negatives of being Christo’s wife.

Reluctant to leave the serenity of the summer house but knowing she had a hectic day ahead, she formed a makeshift toga from one of the bed’s throws and ran the distance back to the house in bare feet. Letting herself in the kitchen side-door, she prayed she wouldn’t run into Stella.

“Hello, sleepy-head.”

“Hi.” Her stomach swooped at the sight of Christo standing at the counter. His hair was damp, he held a coffee cup in each hand, and a broad smile shone on his face. “I’ve taken my mother a coffee, and I was on my way out to bring you one—and to bring you some clothes.” He tracked her shape beneath the thin cotton throw, and her body tingled in reply. He threw her a sexy grin. “From the way you were sleeping when I left earlier, no one would guess you were about to be married.”

He set the cups down, and in two steps had covered the ground between them and wrapped her in a strong, warm embrace. “If it wasn’t for what we had to do today, I’d have stayed longer in that bed.” He pressed a kiss to her earlobe while his hands caressed her bare shoulders. “But we have a whole lifetime of last nights to look forward to.”

For a moment Ruby relaxed into his arms, his breath warm on her neck. Then she lifted her gaze to the carriage clock on the mantelpiece, her mind tripping. “I shouldn’t have slept so long,” she said. “It’s eight. I’m supposed to have hair and make-up done at ten.”

“You look perfect the way you are,” Christo said, and ran his hand down the flimsy throw. “I’d be happy with just your bed-head and your toga this afternoon.” Again he whispered near her ear. “Maybe we ditch the toga.”

He smelled of coffee and soap, and she wanted to run her hands along the hard planes of his chest as she’d done last night and sink into the delicious sensations of her body joined with his. Later today she would see him in a suit at the registry office, declaring that he’d love, honor, and cherish her until death parted them. And it would all be a lie.

“Christo—”

He bent his head and kissed her on the mouth, and she hesitated for an instant before melting into his warm confidence. Her lips tingled with the memory of how and where he’d kissed her in the summerhouse. He drew back and brushed a ribbon of hair off her forehead. “No protests about what we did,” he said. “No declarations that it’s not what you wanted.”

She eased herself back but left her hands resting gently on his arms. “I wasn’t about to,” she said, looking up into his face. “Last night was beautiful.”

“Then what is it?” He held her closer, and the sure and steady beat of his pulse thrummed under her thumbs.

“I wanted to say that although it was wonderful, I’d like any physical relationship between us to be on my terms.” The words came out wooden and distant, and she willed this to be easier than it was.

He grinned and played a slow finger down her cheek. “Your terms? That sounds very clinical. But I like you planning for making love.”

She softened her tone. It was so important that she explained her worries, that they keep things clear from this point on. “When we first talked about getting married, you said you couldn’t live without sex.” She tipped her chin to look directly into his charcoal eyes. “I realize that if we’re to maintain a stable home environment for my baby, relationships with people outside the marriage aren’t an option.”

“Of course,” he said swiftly.

She moistened her lips. “Then I want to take a physical relationship between us at my own pace. Figure out what works for me and what doesn’t.” She paused, tension building in her shoulders. “And for that reason I’d like some rules.”

“I like rules.” He dipped his chin and laid a kiss on her forehead while his fingers curved around the base of her neck. “Rules can be sexy.”

“My bedroom is off limits.” She stroked her thumb against the warm skin of his forearm. “I need a place that’s private, where I can retreat if things become difficult. It’ll take time for both of us to figure out how this relationship will work, and I think some privacy is important.”

“No making love in your bed? I can think of all sorts of places I can take you.”

As she relaxed, she realized how much Christo’s calm and respectful manner meant to her. “And if I decide a physical relationship isn’t what I want, you’ll respect that, and our arrangement—the way we live day to day—will go unchanged.”

Christo nodded and his mouth lifted. “We’ll have this written in the contract if it makes you feel more comfortable.”

Ruby shook her head. There was something unseemly in that. It was too cold and business-like. They’d moved beyond having every last detail in writing. “As long as we know where the other stands, then I think that’s enough. We’re adults, we should be able to agree on something like this. It’s another point we need to negotiate.”

“Negotiating with you could become one of my favorite pastimes,” Christo teased as he dragged her close and kissed her.

…

Ruby pulled her spine straight, smoothed her ivory dress with damp hands, and concentrated on the back wall of the registry office. Chatting quietly behind her were her uncles and their families, Stella and her sister, and other people who believed they were about to witness a real marriage between two people who loved each other.

The nerves that had begun when she’d slipped into the dress that Christo’s PA had arranged for her were now a full-scale earthquake within her body. No matter how much she wanted to convince herself this was just a contract, the formalization of the agreement she’d made with Christo, it felt like so much more. “It’s in all the papers,” Patrice had said. “New Zealand’s most eligible bachelor will finally settle down.” Her mouth had lifted in a shy smile. “And a few have even suggested Christo’s going to be a father.”

Ruby had changed the subject then. She wasn’t ready to think about what people might say about her baby. Christo had assured her they’d always tell the truth. That anyone who counted would know who the biological father of her baby was. But something gnawed at her. If members of the press were so very interested in Christo’s private life, how long would it be before one of them discovered that his marriage was nothing more than a convenient arrangement? And how would that affect him and his status as one of New Zealand’s most successful businessmen? A deep and treasured part of her wanted to protect all three of them and the unconventional family they were about to create.

Christo leaned in, and his cool, ocean-breeze scent caused her pulse to skip. “Have I told you how incredible you look?” His voice was smooth at her ear, his warm breath causing a trail of sweet prickles down the back of her neck, and it took all her concentration to whisper back as she smiled. “Every few minutes.”

She squeezed the bouquet of pink and white roses she held in her lap. These flowers were the only thing she’d had a choice in, but that wasn’t the only reason they were so special. They were from the garden that her mother’s lover David had tended, and the link between the past and the future was important today.

Patrice had briefed her yesterday about what she’d wear, what flavor the cake would be, and even the words she’d say in her vows. Then it had all seemed so effortless, so painless—the means to an end that would be the best thing for her baby, and what would let Stella stay in her home. But that was before Christo had taken Ruby in his arms, before she’d opened her body to him once more. Before he’d seen her lost in the ecstasy of his body once again. A thrill raced through her at the memory.

She pulled her shoulders back. Being focused and in control—
that
was the difference between the eighteen-year-old Ruby who’d got things so wrong and this one. Yes, she’d felt all those sensations with Christo before. The way her heart had tripped when she caught him watching her, the taste of his skin as she pressed kisses into his flesh. But then she’d had an unguarded heart and a naïveté that she’d left behind when she’d moved away from here. Now she could let herself feel those things, dream about those things, and know that’s all they were—sensations she could acknowledge and accept as part of her new relationship with Christo.

“Maybe the celebrant’s been called away?” she whispered. Christo sat beside her, cool and relaxed, his ebony suit molding to his taut frame as they waited.

“This wedding has been organized with military precision,” he said with a slow smile. “She’ll be here.” He dropped his gaze to scan the documents they were about to sign.

As he read the marriage license, Ruby let her gaze drift through a rear window toward the city view beyond, her palm gently covering where her baby lay inside her. It had felt so right, saying goodbye to everything in New York and having all her things shipped here. All she had to do was get through today and then focus on her new life with Christo and her baby.

When she turned her face to look out the other window, her heart stilled. A perfect church, its spire piercing the sky of the brilliant summer’s day.

That’s where I should be getting married.

The thought tumbled hard and rough in her mind.

Since she had been a little girl playing dress-up, she’d dreamed her marriage would take place in a church with a man she loved, where her friends and family wouldn’t doubt that the promises she made were real—the beautiful beginning to a future full of hope. Holding on to the house for her baby was fulfilling one dream, but in marrying Christo this way, she was denying another.

She pulled her gaze from the window and concentrated on a vase of bright summer flowers on a pedestal. That had been her dream, not her baby’s. In marrying Christo today she was not only securing her baby’s future but also its past. Through what she was about to do now, this little life inside her would be connected to its heritage. It would be safe and secure. Happiness for her baby was her dream now.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the celebrant with a very large pink hat bustled in.

“Good afternoon,” she said in a stage-managed tone. “What a glorious day for a wedding!” And then she nodded at them to stand.

Before Ruby could move, Christo reached for her flowers and placed them on the chair beside him, then held out his hand to her. Lifting her gaze to his face, she was sideswiped by the calm confidence in his smile and the warmth in his eyes. For a moment the air seemed to still. Then Christo tucked her hand into his elbow and covered her cool fingers with his. “Don’t look so worried,” he whispered. “Everything will be fine. I promise. Have I told you how beautiful you look?”

Ruby smiled at him and sent up a silent prayer for what they were about to do.

The ceremony proceeded, fans whirring cool air on them from above, and every time Ruby felt her attention slipping back out to the church in the distance, she reminded herself to focus.

When it was time, she said her vows, gaining strength from the confidence in Christo’s replies and in the way he squeezed her hand when she stumbled.

Finally, as they stood facing each other, the celebrant beamed widely and said, “I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Lightning fast, Christo dragged her to him, and heat flowed across her skin as his lips covered hers, warm, firm, sure. Applause and whoops broke out from behind them while shock, excitement, and unchecked desire rocketed through her. Time stood still.

Unable to prevent herself melting under Christo’s touch, she felt her hands twine around his neck and she pulled him closer, deepening the kiss that should have been all about show and pretense but which felt like a treasure, a gift. The essence of him that she’d had a taste of last night was now filling her senses in every way possible.