little pause, asked, 'How is your hand?'
'It is fine,' he said, holding it out for her to see. 'I do not think there will even be a scar. You did a good job.'
A silence hummed for several seconds.
'Have you come to a decision?' Rafaele asked.
Her grey-blue eyes moved away from his. 'I have...yes...' She ran the tip of her tongue over her lips. 'I have decided I will marry you. It's the most sensible thing to do and...and it's what your father wanted.'
Rafaele smiled to himself. He had known from the first moment she would not be able to resist getting her hands on a fortune. She thought she had it all stitched up now, but he wasn't going to let things go her way. Nor was he going to make life easy for her. He would marry her certainly, for there was no other way to get his inheritance, but he wasn't going to stay married to her any longer than necessary. Once the year was up that would be it. Although looking at her now with her slim but curvy figure dressed in a white sundress, he was tempted to make the marriage a real one. She had an air of sensuality about her that was intoxicating. He had seen the looks she gave him when she thought he wasn't watching. She was as attracted to him as he was to her. He had felt the tension passing between them like high voltage electricity. He could even feel it now. 'I am sure we will be mutually satisfied by the arrangement,' he said with an enigmatic smile.
A flicker of something came and went in her gaze. 'I would like to establish some ground rules,' she said.
'Such as?'
'This is a hands-off arrangement, correct?'
'If that is what you want,' he said. 'But if you change your mind just let me know.'
She gave him a withering look. 'I will not be changing my mind,' she said. 'As far as I am concerned this is a temporary businesslike arrangement. I hope I won't have to keep reminding you of that.'
Oh, but she's damned good at this, Rafaele thought, deliberately withholding her charms to make me feel the lure of the chase. He would bring her to heel, however, and a whole lot sooner than she realised. His body hardened at the thought of driving into her softness, claiming her as his until she forgot all about her affair with his father. She would be screaming his name in the throes of pleasure. She would be raking her nails down his back as he took her to paradise. 'You will not have to remind me,' he assured her. 'I will take my cue from you.'
Her gaze narrowed slightly. 'What do you mean?'
He gave another inward smile at her artifice. 'I mean that if you make the first move I will respond to it as any full-blooded man would do in the same situation.'
She gave him a condescending look. 'So any woman with a pulse will do for you - is that it?'
'You do yourself a disservice, Emma,' he said with a lazy smile. 'You are a very attractive young woman. I would be more than happy to consummate our marriage if you should require my services.'
Her cheeks pooled with angry colour. 'I am sure I will be able to survive the duration of our marriage without resorting to such a measure of desperation,' she clipped back primly.
Rafaele felt his groin kicking with anticipation. He had never felt such wild desire before. No wonder his father had agreed to give her half of his estate. Rafaele felt like offering her double what he'd already offered just to have her on her back on the floor right here and now. He had to fight not to show how she was affecting him. He schooled his features into indifference and reached for his coffee again. 'I will have some legal papers for you to sign later today,' he said.
'What do I need to sign?' she asked with a guarded look.
'A pre-nuptial agreement, for one thing,' he said. 'I am not going to be stripped of half of my assets when we terminate our marriage.'
'How soon do I get the money you offered?' she asked.
He held her grey-blue gaze. 'How soon do you want it?'
She lowered her eyes. 'I have some debts to see to...they're rather urgent.'
'If you give me your bank account details I will see to it the moment we get back from the church.'
Her