That didn’t make any sense. If he’d been sent down here to humiliate and ruin Ruby even further, why try to protect her? Did he care about her? Was that it?
He’d said as much, but she hadn’t believed him. There must be some ulterior motive here, other than love. Maybe he’d married her because his aunt had chosen a mate for him and he didn’t like the woman? If he was that under her thumb then it might be possible. But then, by marrying her he was defying her, so maybe not?
It was all too confusing and too much to think about right now, so she focused on the bright sky. There were a few clouds up there, but other than that, it was a clear day, lovely for a wedding really.
“I’ll meet you at the house, shall I?” His voice broke into her thoughts and she turned to him, a blank look on her face.
“Of course, if that’s what you wish.” She wouldn’t argue, she didn’t have the strength to, not really.
“Be careful.” He leaned in, brushed a tender kiss along her cheek, and left to get into his car.
Some wedding, she thought as she climbed into her own car. That was the most… boring kiss he’d ever given her. That kiss was also the saddest one he’d ever given her. Even he knew this was wrong, but he had it in his head that it was necessary.
Tears stung at her eyes but she swiped them away carefully, she didn’t want to smudge the makeup she’d only learned to apply so recently. This emptiness would be her life now, this sadness would always be with her until she could find a way to get out of this marriage of convenience. Or whatever it was, she couldn’t decide.
He’d forced her into it - it was an arranged marriage and it was a marriage of convenience. Not so easy to define, yet it all came down to the same thing, she was now his wife. And he was her husband.
They hadn’t spoken a lot over the last couple of weeks, just texts about the wedding, a short meeting where she brought him the papers he needed to pay the bills she now owed, and to apply for the marriage license. They hadn’t discussed what he expected from her after the ceremony, or how long this sham was supposed to last.
They were questions she wanted to ask him, but even as she stepped into the house a short while later, something held her back. She thought she might be afraid of the answers he gave, or that the questions might make him angry. As a new wife, a wife who barely knew who her husband really was, she didn’t want to rock the boat too much.
“I’m in the dining room, Marie,” he called out to her and she followed the sound of his voice, slowly. Each step was like the tolling of a bell, a bell that pronounced her doom.
“Hello,” she said softly as she came in and saw a full meal on the table. It was barely lunchtime, but the cook had obviously been busy.
“Have a seat, Marie, and eat. You look pale.” He directed her to the chair beside him.
“Thank you.” She ate quietly, the spicy heat of the seafood jambalaya the only thing she noticed about the meal. She drank the crisp glass of green wine he poured for her and then poured herself another.
She heard him set down his silverware and she looked up to see he swiped at his mouth with a red linen napkin. He’d finished his meal, now what?
His hand came out, took her hand, and turned it so that her palm faced up. His fingers stroked at the pulse point in her wrist, and she took a deep breath to try to steady the way that pulse raced. The question he asked changed everything about that moment, made her pulse race even harder.
“Do you trust me at all, Marie, after what I’ve made you do?” His eyes were cloaked behind a mask of curiosity, but some hint in his voice, some warning, made her body respond instantly with hot desire.
He still wanted that from her then.
“I’m not sure, Matteo. I trust you with my body, of course, but the rest of me? I don’t know.” Always honest, even if it made his eyes tense at the corner.
The tension disappeared behind a smile, a seductive smile, meant to put