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And, eventually, as his bride—his wife.
“Well, if you don’t want to rest, let’s at least get you settled. I can show you to your room.” He stopped just behind her, settling his hands on her slender shoulders. She went rigid beneath his palms, her muscles tense, and he gave her a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry,” he murmured close to her ear. “I won’t bite.”
A soft laugh escaped her. “I’m not sure how to act around you, especially after what happened between us last night.”
“Are you referring to when I kissed you?” he joked. He knew exactly what she referred to.
“No.” She tensed once more and he began rubbing her shoulders, trying his best to ease her discomfort. “You, uh, know what I’m talking about. After I…rejected you.”
“My heart is still wounded from your cold and callous behavior,” he teased, though it really was, not that he’d ever admit it.
“Please. I don’t matter that much to you,” she murmured.
He gave her shoulders a meaningful squeeze. “That’s emphatically untrue.”
She glanced back at him. “What do you mean? As I told you repeatedly last night, we don’t even know each other. How could I matter?”
“We may not know each other well, but you’ve been a part of my life for years. A goal I worked toward, a life I looked forward to.” He pressed his lips together, not willing to reveal more. He’d end up sounding like a sappy idiot and he refused to show his hand this early in the game.
There he went again, referring to this life-altering situation as some sort of contest.
“Really?” She sounded surprised. Foolish woman. “I always believed you never thought of me at all.”
He was shocked. “Now why would you think that?”
“We hardly ever spoke to each other. You’ve ignored me for years,” she explained. “I always thought if I really mattered to you, you would’ve sought me out more. Tried to spend time with me.”
How could he explain his behavior over the last few years without sounding like a complete jerk? He had his reasons. But would she believe them?
With nothing else to lose, he went ahead and tried to explain. “I was working. Trying to better myself by moving my way up the ranks of the family business so I could offer you whatever you wanted as my wife. I wanted to provide you with a good life,” he said. “And…I’m a man. It wasn’t right, seeing other women. I know this. But what was I supposed to do? I wasn’t sure if we would really be together.”
She turned to face him and he let his hands fall away from her. “You’re serious.”
Rafe nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m an ass. It all sounds foolishly old fashioned, doesn’t it? I guess our entire situation could be described that way, though.”
“Yes, it does sound old fashioned,” she agreed, her voice so soft he could barely hear her. “My friends, they used to make fun of me. Many of them didn’t believe me when I told them I was engaged. They all thought I was a liar. I was only fourteen or fifteen when I started bragging about marrying you, so I guess I can’t blame them.”
He thought of a young, pretty Catalina telling her friends she would marry him one day. How he did ignore her because at the age of eighteen, nineteen, the very last thing on his mind was the uninteresting, way-too-young-for-him teenage girl he was being forced to marry. He’d much rather screw the endless string of girls his own age he’d chased after back in those days.
