While the song played on, Melinda’s mind went back over the brief ceremony on the patio of the Stanford hotel. She had walked down a short, flower-strewn aisle on the arm of her beaming grandfather, and her gaze had locked on Sean. He wore a gray suit, with a crisp white shirt and a dark red tie. His gaze had heated as he watched her approach and she had felt just a small thrill of pleasure at the look in his eyes.
What woman wouldn’t have, she’d asked herself? Sean King was all male and seeing raw appreciation in his gaze had started a slow burn inside her that was still smoldering. He was gorgeous, her new husband. And the way he held her now almost made her want to rethink that no-sex pledge she had pushed him into.
But the moment that thought appeared, she banished it. In her mind, she replaced Sean’s image with that of Steven, the man who should have been her husband. The man she had loved until the day he died in a tragic car accident. This day should have been about love. Not business. Not a merger.
“You’re frowning,” Sean told her, dipping his head closer to hers. “Our guests will wonder what I said to upset you.”
“What?” She looked up into his lake-blue eyes and fought past the tumult going on inside her.
The song seemed to go and on. Or, she wondered, were these feelings and this hushed conversation really taking no time at all?
“Smile, Melinda. We’re married. You won. You’ve got everything you wanted.”
“Not everything,” she said softly as the song swelled even higher around them.
“So what’s missing?”
His palm splayed against her back and heat from his body slid into hers, fanning those low flames inside her. Flames from a fire that she hadn’t expected. Or wanted.
“Nothing,” she said quietly, unwilling to bring up Steven to the man she had just married. “It’s nothing.”
“Okay…so then smile a little or people will wonder why you married me.”
She chuckled as she knew he’d meant her to and the moment passed. She looked at the ring on her left hand and wiggled her ring finger to make the light sparkle off the gemstones. “I love my ring,” she said.
“I’m glad.” He nodded and added, “I saw it in a jewelry shop in town. It’s the same stone as the earrings I saw you wearing.”
“Tesoro Topaz,” she said with a smile.
“Yeah.” He turned her again, holding her close as Ella’s voice soared. “I thought it was appropriate.”
“It’s perfect,” Melinda assured him with a smile.
“Good. That’s good.” The music faded away and ended with a sigh as Sean turned her into one last, fast spin that left her breathless. Melinda was caught by his eyes as he stared down at her. She felt her own heartbeat speeding out of control as he gave her a slow smile that curved one corner of his mouth into a flirtatious grin.
The crowd applauded again, but neither of them acknowledged the thunderous noise. Instead they were caught on the empty dance floor, gazes locked.
Intimate strangers.
“A kiss!” Someone in the crowd shouted.
An instant later, that cry was repeated over and over again until it was a chant that filled the ballroom of the Stanford hotel, ringing off the punched tin ceiling and bouncing off the paneled walls.
“We don’t have to,” Melinda said, her voice swallowed by the noisy urging of their guests.
“Of course we do,” Sean said, that smile never wavering. “You want this to look real, right?”
“Yes…but we already kissed at the end of the ceremony.”
“That was a dignified peck, not a kiss,” he said and bent his head to hers. “If we want this to look good then we’ve got to make this one count—”
Melinda closed her eyes as her new husband swept her into a romantic dip, then covered her mouth with his. A wash of heat, delicious, soul-searing fire, enveloped her in an instant. She hadn’t expected this. It was just a kiss. And yet, it was so much more.
He took her thoroughly, and Melinda was only vaguely aware of the watching crowd cheering. How could she pay attention to anything else when every square inch of her body was electrified? His tongue tangled with hers and she arched into him, letting him—no—helping him to devour her.
It didn’t seem to matter that she wasn’t in love. Didn’t matter that she had never planned on kissing her new husband. All that did matter was what he was doing to her. The sensations crashing through her body, her mind.
She’d never known anything like this before. His arms tightened around her until she could hardly draw a breath and she didn’t care. She was much too busy trying to make sense of this. How could it happen? How could she feel these sensations blasting through her when she hardly knew him? When he wasn’t Steven?
That name reverberating in her mind was enough to douse the flames within. She broke the kiss, tearing her head back to stare up at him through astonished eyes. It was small comfort to see the same shock in his eyes she knew was written in her own.
“Now that was a wedding kiss!” Her grandfather’s voice bellowed out over the others.
In response, Sean eased her up onto her feet. He looked away from her, but with one smooth move wrapped one arm around her shoulders and tucked her into his side.
His stance was casual, his smile easy, but Melinda felt the rapid thud of his heartbeat and knew he had experienced everything she had during that kiss. Which meant…what?
He had already agreed to the no-sex clause in their bargain. Would he think that one amazing kiss would change her mind?
Would it change her mind?
No. It wouldn’t.
She shivered a little as Sean ran his hand up and down her bare arm, but she smiled in spite of everything. Because he had been right. It was important to play their parts.
“We’d like to thank you all for being with us today,” Sean said, his voice like chocolate, rich and dark. “I know it means a lot to Melinda and to Walter to have you all here.”
Another rousing cheer followed that little speech and as the music jumped into a rock and roll beat, Walter stepped out of the crowd and walked toward them. First, he offered his hand to Sean.
“Well said,” he acknowledged with a shake and a nod. Then the older man turned to Melinda. “You are as lovely a bride as your mother was.”
Tears filled her eyes again as she hugged her grandfather and breathed in his familiar scent of pipe tobacco and peppermint. He was the reason for this pretense and yet, she couldn’t find it in her heart to blame him. He was doing what he thought best, just as he always had. Melinda only hoped that when this was all over, he would accept that she wouldn’t be marrying again.