For a moment, Angelica experienced a numbness of incomprehension before the words struck, sharp and stunning as a blow to the head. The room darkened and everything within wobbled drunkenly.
She snorted and set her cup down on the table hard enough for it to clatter on the plate. “Let’s not be ludicrous. You are not the type of man who would be willing to settle down. Especially not for the likes of me.”
Valantín settled into his chair, his expression saying he was almost enjoying this. This was the first time for a long time Angelica had ever seen him with anything other than a dour expression on his face.
She saw Ludwig’s hooded gaze drop from her face down to her neckline and she felt heat simmer there and spread, just as though it had been his hands—or his mouth—upon her, not his eyes.
“Perhaps we can discuss this later,” said Ludwig.
“No.” Valantín’s expression might be open, but his tone was not. “We’ll discuss this now, and I’ll know where we are going before we leave this room.”
I really don’t want to have this particular conversation with a third party included. Angelica closed her eyes for a brief moment and then retrieved her tea. “I do not intend to marry Ludwig.”
Those simple words hit Ludwig like a bullet. He hadn’t realized until now just how much he truly cared for her. “Why not?”
“You can’t be serious.” Angelica appeared to be out of her comfort zone and struggling to maintain control of herself.
The growing web of hurt inside him made him realize just how serious he was. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Angelica looked to her brother.
He raised a hand in question. “I would like to know the answer to this as well.”
She released a long breath as if trying to settle her nerves. “The political situation that we find ourselves in will not allow it.”
“The political situation?” Ludwig had never been turned down by a woman he cared about, so this particular argument seemed quite lame to him. “You’re going to hide behind politics?”
“I’m not hiding behind them.” Angelica could not believe they were having this conversation now. There were other more pressing matters they should be discussing. This certainly was not one of them.
“It kind of feels as though you are, Sister,” Valantín said softly, in that voice he saved for moments when he was trying to tell her she was being stupid. “I want to hear more.”
That was not what she needed to hear at the moment. “The Democracy for Aragon is getting bigger and gaining traction. The marriages we make must be smart.”
“And what should I be looking for in a wife?” Valantín asked. “A military? A large dowry, perhaps?”
This conversation was going downhill rather quickly. “We cannot use military force on our own people.”
“Precisely. So what force can we use on our people?”
Angelica opened her mouth to say something but was cut off.
“Rationality.” Ludwig’s expression was devoid of emotion. He had never realized before that he might have an ally in any of Angelica’s family. But he was going to take anything he could get.
She heard it then, faint but recognizable. She had hurt him with her admission of not wanting to wed him. Masculine pride was an exceedingly precious and fragile item. She knew it and was still a little shocked by the fact that in the twenty-first century men were still taught to built fortresses around themselves since childhood. They were taught to laugh when they were sick with fear; they were taught not to cry, even if they were broken with pain.
Besides, she did not think that he would care for her so much that he would ever want to marry her.
“Continue.” Valantín turned his attention to Ludwig.
“The only thing your people are looking for is the right people or persons who have their best interests at heart.”
That was something Angelica could agree with. The scarce time she’d spent helping their people had taught her that. Well, that and a great deal more. “What if the Democracy for Aragon is right?”
Valantín looked at her in surprise.
Ludwig frowned at her. “What?”
This had been yet another thing eating at her that she had been unable to voice. To say it out loud felt blasphemous or traitorous. “What if we are not the right government for the people?”
“You really believe that?” Valantín asked.
The truth settled in her chest like a stone weight. “Sí.”
“Why would you say that?” Ludwig’s hands rose with the frustration in his tone. “Who loves this country and her people more than you do?”
Valantín raised his eyebrows at him but turned to his sister without saying a word.
“Look at this conversation, for one. We are so bound by tradition. We’re trying to decide whom I should marry for political favor.” Angelica shook her head.
Valantín dropped his gaze to his hands.
“I know that’s not what you were saying when you broached the subject. I’m quite sure that you were pushing me to find my own way. But what if we are just so outdated, so out of touch, that we are no longer best for our people?”
Ludwig stared at the two of them in the gathering silence. Finally, he set his cup on the table beside him and leaned forward. “Surely, you’re not trying to tell me that a political movement that thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to blow places up, killing people at random, is better and has truer intentions than you do?”
That was not what she was saying at all. “No, I—”
He slashed his hand to cut off whatever she might say. “You know how much you love your people. You work with them. You helped people in a dire situation putting yourself at risk, for God’s sake. I didn’t see anyone from the Democracy for Aragon doing that. I haven’t even heard word that they are wanting to put together a donation center in honor of those affected by the bombing. Or planning on helping rebuilding their houses and shops.”
Angelica did not like that Valantín leaned back in his chair, watching Ludwig with a keen eye. Her brother was probably considering Ludwig as a viable wedding solution.
“No one else is better suited for this than you.” Ludwig looked at Valantín and then at Angelica. “No one cares about these people as much as you do. The way you fought for that new hospital? I didn’t see anyone else fighting so hard for it.”
Valantín rubbed his chin, his narrowed eyes focused on Angelica now.
She knew that look. It was the look that said he had caught her and had her positioned exactly the way he wanted her. Sometimes she really did dislike her brother.
“However,” Valantín said, turning his attention to Ludwig. “I do believe that we have grown out of touch with our people.”
“Then get in touch with them, for fuck’s sake.” Ludwig threw his hands up in the air in frustration as he stared at them. “But do not quit. Do not hand them over to a political party that says they care about your people, but whose actions state they do not.”
Valantín nodded once.
Angelica was floored by his passionate statements. Did Ludwig care this much? Could he? And what would he gain politically?
“Well, I have to go,” Ludwig looked at his watch and stood up. “You might be interested in knowing, Valantín, that I am closing the deal on a building for Lekten Royal Bank in Aragon in an hour.”
Valatín stood up too. “So, you are really moving here?”
With his electric blue gaze locked on Angelica’s, Ludwig nodded. “Really.”
With that, he turned on his heels and exited the room.
Valantín slowly sat down again. “What are you going to do?”
And as she did with her mother, Angelica didn’t answer. Because she still had absolutely no idea.
43
Ludwig knew what it took to run a bank, but, apparently, he didn’t realize what it took to run a country. Aragon was seriously understaffed and Valantín relied much on Angelica to help him. Since the bombin
g, Angelica rarely slept and had been eating while working, or even skipping meals.
He had talked to her staff, letting them know that it would be in everyone’s best interest to allow her some downtime. She needed a chance to unwind and relax. While most of them did not agree that she should do so with him, he did manage to set up a late dinner in her private rooms.
All he had to do was to wait for her to arrive.
Which gave him entirely too much time to think.
She was a force to be reckoned with. She wasn’t someone that could be easily taken over. He quickly came to the realization that their week together with her being compliant and soft and submissive wasn’t normally who she was.
And that made him realize why she enjoyed submitting in bed. It was the one place she could be seen as less than who she was. It was the only place she could allow others the upper hand.
If anything, that made him want her even more. And so, he waited for her with the cold dinner. He knew that his fiery, strong-willed woman would need a break. If she didn’t, at some point she would fall apart.
He would let her fall apart all over him. That was the gift he would offer her.
And then, in the public eye, she could be as strong as her people needed her to be.
“I am so glad you called, Siobhan.” Angelica walked out onto the terrace, allowing the last rays of the sun to warm her face. She was exhausted, attempting to be this strong person when all she wished to do was curl up in a corner and forget it all. “I’m happy to hear your voice. I feel like it has been ages.”
Siobhan laughed. “You sound tired.”
“I am tired,” Angelica sighed. “But how is married life? The honeymoon still a honeymoon?”
“As much as can be expected,” her sister replied. “Though I would much rather still be on my honeymoon. At least we were unreachable. Well, almost.”
“I understand,” Angelica said, thinking of how she would like to be back at Ludwig’s house, where it all started. There she didn’t have the weight of the world pressing down on them. “It’s hard, isn’t it?”
“I’m just glad I have someone to talk to,” Siobhan sighed into the phone. “Angus is not the best listener and he actually fell asleep while I was discussing the new color for the carpet last night. I mean, I know it was boring but he could pretend to enjoy the conversation.”
Angelica giggled, wondering if someday she would have the same sort of relationship with a man she loved. “Perhaps if you had been wearing a nightgown…”
“Oh no,” Siobhan laughed. “Then he wouldn’t have let me talk at all. You will learn to pick and choose your battles with your husband. No battle is ever won with lingerie, I can promise you.”
“You are so lucky,” Angelica said, meaning it. She didn’t just mean the fact that Siobhan was the long-lost princess, but more so that she had found her love and was living a life that most would want, without the money.
“Give it time,” Siobhan replied. “Soon you’ll be the lovesick fool and I’ll be the old married woman.”
“I’m glad that you’re part of our family,” Angelica blurted out, realizing she meant it. She and Valantín were close, but there was something about having another woman to discuss meaningless topics with.
“Me too,” Siobhan said softly. “I’ll see you soon.”
Angelica hung up the phone and felt a spark of warmth in her chest from their conversation. She had been so wrong to think that Siobhan was going to ruin their lives.
The sun had already set in a big red ball, coloring the night sky with tinges of purples and oranges until the midnight blue covered everything when Angelica went to her rooms intent on continuing her work.
But she was met by a nonchalant Ludwig lounging in her ante-room and a cold dinner set on a table on the balcony.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, before she could think.
Having him around, patiently waiting for her, and ready to help her with whatever he could, just made her feel guilty because she couldn’t give him what he needed. He was the type of man who demanded, needed more from a woman then what she was capable of giving. She couldn’t come out with their relationship while the country was in such turmoil. At least, not yet.
But the stubborn man refused to go.
He rose from the divan where he was stretched out reading Aragon’s economic news and approached her slowly. “Waiting for you. What else?”
“Is that the best use of your time?” Angelica didn’t mean to say it in that tone, not in that way. She turned and began undoing her braid because if she didn’t find something to do she would grab him and kiss him. He was looking fresh and delectable on a long-sleeve white T-shirt that stretched across his broad chest and washed blue jeans.
Ludwig moved closer, stopping when he was only a hair’s breadth away. “We both know what’s happening here,” he said, his voice dipping to an almost low growl, pulling away the scarf around her neck and letting it drop to the floor.
She felt his breath hitting her mouth, a teasingly light caress that made every thought she had focus on his lips. She couldn’t stop herself. Already she could taste his kiss on her mouth, almost feel it. Her eyelashes fluttered. “We do?”
“Ja, we do.” His beautiful gaze studied hers and his voice came out gruff but his fingers didn’t stop moving and he began to open the buttons of her blouse. “We’re crazy about each other and this is making you nervous. You have no idea what to do with this new Angelica you discovered inside yourself. You want to embrace her, but you’re afraid.”
Angelica’s breath caught with his words. “Am I?”
“Terrified.” His lips drew closer, brushing lightly along her mouth as he continued. Her nerves reached out for his touch, and her mind focused on every breath, every sound. “I can feel your sexual energy calling to me right now. It has been that way since I stepped on your office this afternoon. I know you try to cool it by working, but it doesn’t work, does it? Tell me, Angelica, when I am not here at night, do you touch yourself?”
“No,” she began to protest, not liking the embarrassing reminder of her wantonness. But warmth traveled through her blood, curling low in her pelvis. “I don’t—”
Her blouse floated down to the floor followed by her bra.
“Then it’s time I teach you how to please yourself, because this energy between us is potent. Primitive, even. It needs to be released.” He unzipped her skirt and pushed it down, his hands barely skimming her hips. “For example, now…my body is burning to possess you again and yours is eager to submit to me. Do you deny it, Angelica?”
“Ludwig, I…” Everything about this man excited her. It didn’t make any sense in her world, but she didn’t want it to.
He continued the assault on her senses by picking up a brush and running it through her hair, leisurely. From behind, he whispered in her ear, “Just look how hard your nipples are and I haven’t even touched them. I’ll bet your panties are soaked as well, so wet from the thoughts you’ve been having of me buried there.”
He’s right. Her nipples were hard. She didn’t have to look down to see it.
He put the brush back on her vanity table and circled back to her front. “I’ve accepted it, your body has accepted it, why won’t your brain?” Why won’t your heart?
She closed her eyes, hoping he’d take it as an invitation to take off her panties. Am I overanalyzing the situation because I’m scared? She could practically feel the rough texture of his fingers on her sex. Emotions like these don’t happen to regular, everyday people—can’t. Or else the entire world would be fornicating all the time.
“Just say the word and I’ll have you feeling exactly what your body is demanding to feel, relentlessly giving you the pleasure you’re trying to deny yourself, even as you crave it.” His voice was hoarse, thickening his accent. “In fact, I’ll bet it will feel so good, you know you’ll get lost in it, so you’ll beg me to stop before it carries you away, but I won’t. Nein, onc
e inside you, I won’t stop—ever.”
She gasped, taking in his bold words and unable to eke out an answer through her suddenly dry throat.
His sultry voice continued, fanning warm breath over her cheek and neck as he drew closer to whisper directly into her ear. “You’ll be crying out unsure if it’s pain or pleasure you’re feeling. Oh, but, ja, you’ll know as soon as you come, covering my cock with that sweet cream of yours.”
Angelica couldn’t have formed a sentence if she wanted to. Still he didn’t fully touch her, as if waiting for her permission.
What’s one more night? Her lids drifted open over her eyes lazily just in time to see him step out of his jeans and she let her gaze roam over him.
His face was ruthless but sexy, his hair fell to his chin in choppy dark-blond ribbons. Rope after rope of bronzed muscle offered a feast for her eyes. And from his belly button, a faint dusting of light-brown hair led straight onto a huge, long, thick—and sublimely aroused—cock.
Her mouth dried. A sharp ache pounded through her.
Every nerve ending in her body reached for him, pleading for attention. A sharp need to touch and to be touched, to taste and to be tasted—and why not?—to love and to be loved.
She’d always wanted to have a man, a relationship. She’d always been curious about the passion she’d heard so much about. He had given her that. But she’d also always wanted a man who would love her, who wouldn’t leave her when the passion-fire burned out.
She ached inside so badly.
Ached to be closer to him, as close as possible. To be totally possessed by him. To have some part of him that would become part of her and could never, ever be taken from her.
She sighed and heard herself say, “Sí, por favor.”
At her words, Ludwig felt a surge of victory inside him as he leaned to take her mouth in a kiss. A long, sweet kiss, a kiss made to drug her senses, to mark her as his. He cupped her breasts, rolling her nipples between his fingers.
“Ludwig,” she said his name with a gasp, and it drove him wild.