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“Hmm, well, I can’t wait to see how Humbolt reacts when he realizes this particular ship has been commandeered by a pirate.” Her mauve-colored lips tilted into a smirk.
Oddly, the fact she made no bones about using him against her stepfather reassured him. He knew exactly where they both stood.
He had also done his homework and was pleased to learn that, along with the financial advantage of leveraging against her trust fund, he was marrying a woman who had connections to aristocracy, heiresses, and socialites around the globe. Alexandra might be named in more than one celebrity clickbait story, or wear scanty outfits to upper-crust galas, but her scandals were deliberate. She knew exactly what was expected in every setting and would help him blend seamlessly into those places himself.
He was quite satisfied with this arrangement of theirs, even when she said at the courthouse before they spoke their vows, “I will promise to honor you, but I can’t promise to obey. Also, I’m growing fond of you, but I will probably never love you.”
Perhaps he should have asked her why not, but that would risk her telling him that she could see through his tailored morning suit to the gutter rat he’d once been.
“Good,” he said instead, meaning it. Love was a liability. People you loved could be used against you. Love made you helpless. “I need someone who is self-sufficient and won’t ask me for things I’m incapable of offering. You are the yin to my yang, Alexandra.”
Their vows had seemed moot at that point. They understood each other perfectly, right down to their mutual enjoyment of the commotion they created as they arrived in the sitting room of the mansion, where well-dressed couples were gathered for what was supposed to be Alexandra’s engagement brunch.
Along with Alexandra’s parents, her pseudo fiancé was there along with a handful of other middle-aged and older couples.
Alexandra’s hand tightened in his, sending a frisson of warning through Rafael. He followed her startled glance to a man in his late forties, but she was already looking elsewhere, smiling with vicious joy at the way everyone had frozen in shock.
Their audience was taking in their joined hands and the swallowtail jacket that Rafael wore with an ivory vest and striped trousers. Alexandra wore a demure, figure-hugging dress in oyster white that ended below her knees. A short cape topped it, falling from her shoulders to her elbows.
She was classy and willowy and unabashedly smug as she stated, “There’s been a misunderstanding. When I said I was ready to marry, I meant that I had found the husband I want.” She smoothed her free hand along the sleeve of his jacket.
“No,” Winnie Humbolt said in a gust of appalled disbelief. “I won’t allow it.”
“It’s done.” Rafael looked with suitable adoration at his entrancing bride. He could see she was having the time of her life dropping this bomb, and he couldn’t help the rush of pride that he could give her this. “We’ve come from the courthouse.”
Her mother raked in a gasp and looked as though she wanted to faint like a Victorian dowager onto the nearest couch. Humbolt was turning crimson, flapping his lips, nearly apoplectic.
“We’ll have it annulled,” Humbolt stammered. He shook with rage as he waggled his finger. “You’re not in your right mind. You have a history.”
“Try it.” Rafael snapped his head around to skewer the man with his most lethal glower. “Try to take my wife from me. Try to harm her. See what happens.” He had never been so sincere in his readiness to kill a man.
Humbolt’s color drained. “Don’t come into my home and threaten me.”
“But it’s not yours, is it?” Alexandra said in mock apology for having to correct him. “My name is on every piece of real estate that you live in. Now that I’m married, I’ve sent the paperwork to the various institutions, letting them know that I will control my assets from now on.”
“You can’t—” Humbolt started to bluster, but Rafael overrode him.
“I’ve put my own team onto performing a full audit,” Rafael warned. “Don’t bother trying to squirrel anything away. If Alexandra wishes to let you continue living here, that is her choice, but do be careful how you treat her going forward. I protect what’s mine.” He switched to a much sweeter tone when he asked her, “Do you need to pack anything for our honeymoon, darling?”
“I don’t need anything but you from now on.” She was gushing for their audience’s sake, but he lapped it up all the same. “We’ll be in the Maldives, but we won’t be taking calls. Newlyweds.” She sent a squinched smile at the group of slack-jawed faces.
“Alexandra!” her mother cried as they started to turn away. “Are you pregnant? Is that why you’ve married him?”
Alexandra jolted as though a spear had landed in her back.
“No,” she choked out as she turned. “I married him to get away from you, Mother. I thought that was obvious. Also, because he’s good in bed.” She put on a moue of affection as she gazed up at Rafael. “That’s more than she can say about her husband.”
“I’ll fight this,” Humbolt warned. “You’ll be sorry.”
“I’m sure you can make all of us very sorry if you start muckraking.” Alexandra shot that at him with a blast of ice from her eyes. “I suggest you cool off and think about whether it’s worth it before you do anything rash.”
Did she flash a look toward that fortyish man? Or was that Rafael’s imagination?
He would never know. Alexandra tugged on his hand, saying facetiously over her shoulder, “Thank you for your warm and sincere congratulations. Goodbye!”
CHAPTER THREE
THEIR HONEYMOON LASTED a year, until the following May.
