The Hot-Headed Virgin

Mia gave a tight swallow. ‘So am—’ Her words faded as a tall figure suddenly appeared in the doorway.

‘Is this a private meeting or can anyone join in?’ Bryn asked as he entered the room.

‘Bryn, darling, you’re early,’ Agnes greeted him warmly. ‘Look at the lovely flowers Mia brought me.’

Mia watched as he stooped to press a kiss to his great-aunt’s cheek, trying to work out if he had overheard any of their conversation. She could imagine he would be very annoyed to find her discussing his past with his only living relative. How long had he been standing there?

‘And how is my gorgeous fiancée?’ He turned and pulled her into his embrace, lowering his head to place a scorching kiss on her lips.

She forced herself to meet his glinting dark gaze once he’d lifted his mouth from hers. ‘Hi…’

He held her look for what seemed a very long time before he turned back to his great-aunt. ‘Are you all set for the wedding?’

‘Yes, dear,’ Agnes responded. ‘The nurse is coming with me, as you arranged. I can hardly wait.’

Bryn took Mia’s hand and tucked it through his arm, looking down at her with an inscrutable expression on his face. ‘Nor can I, isn’t that right, sweetheart?’

‘Um…that’s right…’ Mia gave a shaky smile.

Bryn waited until they were outside in the car park before he spoke, his tone and frown accusatory. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to visit my great-aunt?’

‘It was a last-minute decision,’ she said, lowering her gaze. ‘I thought she might like some flowers.’

‘What did you talk about?’

‘Not much…the wedding arrangements and stuff…’

His frown increased at her evasive answer. ‘You weren’t tempted to act on your threat to spill the beans?’

‘No, of course not.’ She looked up at him. ‘I didn’t even mean it when I said it, much less intend to ever act on it. I was angry at you. I would never do anything to upset her.’

His eyes were hard as they clashed with hers. ‘You’d better be telling me the truth.’

‘I am telling you the truth but if you don’t stop glaring at me like that your great-aunt along with the staff around here might draw their own conclusions about the true state of our relationship,’ she warned him.

He let out his breath in a ragged stream, his mouth tilting wryly. ‘You’re right. I must have pre-wedding nerves or something.’

‘It’s not too late to call it off,’ she said, fiddling with her car keys in an effort to avoid his eyes again. ‘I’m sure Agnes would understand if you told her the truth.’

‘No.’ His tone was implacable. ‘Our marriage is going ahead come hell or high water. It’s what she wants more than anything. Besides, Annabelle rang me just before I arrived here and told me my latest ratings. My popularity is at an all-time high. If we pulled the plug now it would destroy my credibility and totally ruin my career.’

She gave him a haughty look as she unlocked her car. ‘I hope you’re not expecting empathy from me if that should ever happen.’

‘It’s not going to happen, Mia,’ he said with steely determination. ‘Because we are going to be husband and wife in forty-eight hours, and like I just said to Agnes: I can hardly wait.’

‘You look absolutely beautiful,’ Gina gushed as Mia put the final touches to her bridal make-up two days later. ‘I can’t wait to see Bryn’s face when he sees you.’

Mia gave herself a critical look in the mirror. The skirt of the white satin and tulle gown was voluminous and emphasised her slim waist, and the close-fitting strapless top showcased her upper body to maximum effect. Her make-up was subtle but highlighted her clear grey eyes and the creamy texture of her skin. Gina had done her hair for her, setting it in Velcro rollers first before arranging it on top of her head in a sophisticated style that made her feel like a princess.

‘I guess I look OK,’ she admitted grudgingly.

‘More than OK,’ Gina said, then added with a tiny sigh, ‘But it’s a pity your family aren’t here to see you.’

Mia pretended to be concentrating on attaching her veil rather than meet her friend’s eyes. It had been the hardest thing she’d had to do so far when she’d called her parents the previous night and told them she was getting married the following day. In many ways it had been the performance of her life. She had managed to convince her entire family that it was the real deal, including Ellie, who had called her from Brazil saying she was going to be released in forty-eight hours thanks to Mia’s efforts on her behalf.

Mia had told each of them of her whirlwind love affair with Bryn and how very happy she was. Her parents had initially been disappointed that she had left it so late to tell them but when she explained her reasons they understood her concern that they have the holiday they had planned for so long without interruption.

Ashleigh, so much in love with her own husband, was an easy person to convince. She had fallen in love with Jake Marriott at first sight, so there was no way she would have ever questioned Mia’s story.

‘I think that’s Henry now,’ Gina said, peering out of the window.

Mia took a steadying breath as she reached for the bouquet of white roses, her stomach turning over in trepidation.

There was no way out now.

She was going to be married to Bryn Dwyer within the hour.

Officially.

Legally.

Temporarily.

‘Ready?’ Gina asked with a huge excited grin.

Mia smiled until it hurt. ‘I’m ready.’

Bryn turned to watch Mia walk up the aisle; she had refused his offer of someone to give her away in the absence of her father and decided to do it all by herself with just her flatmate as bridesmaid.

He caught the eye of his great-aunt, who was sitting with a nurse in attendance. The sheer joy on her frail, pale face was all he had ever hoped for and it made him a little less guiltstricken about how he’d engineered his relationship with Mia.

From the very first moment his eyes had clashed with Mia’s in that café, he had wanted her. And when she’d come to the station and bawled him out he had wanted her even more. He liked her fighting spirit. He liked the way she stood up to him defiantly when every other woman would have given in. He also liked her soft heart; the way she had openly cried when she met his great-aunt for the first time had touched him very deeply. And though he knew it was probably terribly chauvinistic of him, he couldn’t help but feel pleased she hadn’t slept around. It seemed likely she would be less inclined to be indiscreet with someone else, but on the other hand it meant he would have his work cut out for him convincing her to sleep with him, which he very much wanted her to do. He had thought of nothing else; his desire for her throbbed constantly in his blood, until he could barely think about anything else. He saw her as a particular challenge, and the one thing he liked in life was a stiff challenge. She hated him and he looked forward to the challenge of making her fall for him just like every other woman had in the past. It had nothing to do with his feelings. He had no intention of complicating his life with emotions that could only come to grief. He liked her, of course; who wouldn’t? She was feisty and quick-witted and when she wasn’t tearing strips off him her personality was sweet and caring.

He looked down as Mia came and stood next to him, the scent of her flowery perfume filling his nostrils, her tentative smile as she met his gaze through the film of her veil making his throat feel unusually tight. He cleared it discreetly and faced the front, straightening his shoulders and taking a breath as the priest began the ceremony in a solemn, authoritative tone.

‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered here…’

CHAPTER NINE

MIA stood very still as Bryn turned to lift her veil from her face at the priest’s command to kiss the bride. His dark gaze meshed with hers for an infinitesimal pause before he lowered his mouth to hers. A soft sigh escaped from her lips and disappeared into the warmth of his mouth as it covered hers in a lingering, passionate kiss that sent rivers of sensation through her body.

You’re not acting, a little voice inside her head began to taunt her but she refused to acknowledge it. Of course she was acting! That was what Bryn was paying her to do, to convince the world that she was in love with him when the very opposite was true.

She hated him.

No, you don’t. That same little voice was back and even more insistent this time.

‘I do.’

Mia hadn’t realised she had spoken the words out loud until she saw the quizzical look on Bryn’s face as he straightened from kissing her.

‘We’ve already said that bit,’ he whispered with a teasing little smile.

‘I—I know…I was just…’ She gave up in relief when the priest announced the signing of the register would take place before the bride and groom would exit the cathedral.

Once the register was signed and some photos taken, they made their way back down the aisle to the strains of Handel’s music, the congregation and interested bystanders swelling towards them as they stepped out into the warm summer sunshine.

The reception was held at the same hotel as the ball had been, the room beautifully and lavishly decorated, and the champagne flowing freely by the time they arrived from having the official photographs taken.

Speeches and toasts were made, the cake was cut and the bridal waltz performed, cameras still flashing madly until it was finally time for Bryn and Mia to leave.

Gina had a tussle over the bouquet with several other young women but she was victorious in the end, although the bouquet she held proudly aloft was suspiciously short of a few blooms.

The ever-present journalists pressed forward as Bryn helped Mia into his car, their microphones outstretched. ‘Where’s the honeymoon going to be, Mr Dwyer?’ one of them asked.

‘How long will you be away?’ another pushed in.

‘No comment,’ Bryn said and closed Mia’s door. He waved to everyone before he got in the driver’s seat and leaning across gave Mia a long, sensual kiss for the benefit of the cameras.

Mia was already feeling a bit light-headed from all the champagne she’d consumed and his kiss made her head spin even more. She sank against him, her senses reeling at the erotic message being communicated by his lips and tongue.

He lifted his head and, smiling once more for the Press, he gunned the engine and they were away, balloons and tin cans and streamers trailing in their wake, the shaving-foam message ‘Just Married’ scrawled all over the back window.

‘How are you holding up?’ Bryn asked the silent figure beside him a few minutes later.

She sent him a rueful sideways glance. ‘My face aches from smiling all the time.’

He gave a soft chuckle of laughter. ‘Yeah, so does mine.’ He glanced in the rear-view mirror at the bouncing cans and pulled over to the side of the road to remove them, placing them in a rubbish bin on the pavement before getting back in behind the wheel and easing the car into the traffic.

Mia stared down at the two rings on her left hand. It hardly seemed real that she was sitting next to a man she hadn’t even met in person a little over a month ago. And now she was going on a honeymoon with him to his private retreat in the Queensland Sunshine Coast town of Noosa.

‘Do you think the Press will follow us?’ she asked to fill the little silence.

‘I shouldn’t think so,’ he answered. ‘I think now the wedding has come and gone their interest will die down. It has to. All they were really interested in was whether or not we were really getting married. No one thought I would ever do it.’

Mia gave her rings another twirl, not trusting herself to chance a glance his way. ‘Your great-aunt seemed to be very happy for you.’

‘Yes, she was.’ His eyes flicked to her briefly. ‘I guess I should thank you for playing the role so well. You must have acted the beautiful-bride part before. You were a natural.’

‘I’ve been to a lot of weddings,’ she said and then added in a self-deprecating tone, ‘besides, the priest tells you what to say. It’s hardly challenging. It’s like having an Autocue to prompt you.’

He smiled as he took the turn to the domestic terminal. ‘I guess the challenging bit is yet to come.’

Mia decided not to respond. She’d been steadily panicking about the bit to come all day and wondered how in the world she was going to negotiate her way through it.

Ever since she’d spoken with his great-aunt Mia had felt increasingly confused about her feelings towards him. She could still taste his kiss on her lips and it worried her that once they were alone she wouldn’t have the resolve to keep her growing attraction to him under control. He was hard enough to resist while she hated him. How much more tempting would he be if she started to like him?

But you do like him, the little voice in her head returned. She tried to block it but it kept on filling her head with nonsense.

You’re in love with him.

You want to spend the rest of your life with him.

You want to have his children.

She clutched at her bag with both hands, staring down at the rings on her finger that bound her to him.

It couldn’t possibly be true. How could she love a man who had destroyed her career with a few words he’d written, thinking nothing of it, as if it were a simple game of sport?

She was just falling under his sensual spell like every other silly woman who didn’t have a measure of self-control. She would just have to try harder to avoid becoming yet another of his conquests.

Falling in love with Bryn Dwyer was too dangerous.

Their relationship was temporary.

She had to remember that.

‘Come on, Mia.’ Bryn’s voice broke through her reverie as he opened her door a few minutes later. ‘Our plane leaves in forty minutes. We need to check in before the flight closes.’

The flight to Maroochydore took an hour and a half and Mia was glad that for most of it she had slept. She woke just as they were coming in to land, the lights of the coastal town situated on the south bank of the Maroochy River twinkling in the clear night air.

Bryn had organised a hire car for them and as soon as the luggage was collected he began the thirty-minute drive north to Noosa.

‘Have you been to Noosa before?’ he asked once they were on their way.

‘Yes, but it was quite a while ago, ten years at least. We came on a family holiday,’ she answered. ‘It might have completely changed by now.’

‘That’s what so nice about it up here,’ he said. ‘It never really changes. Sure, there’ve been developments up and down the river and along the coast, but nothing like the massive highrises on the Gold Coast. Noosa National Park is a great place to walk through. You can even do a beach crawl if you want. There are quiet, shady bays or great surf spots, so whatever your mood you can usually find somewhere to relax.’

‘I remember the national park. My sister Ashleigh hated the long walks my parents kept taking us on. Ellie wanted to stop and look at every bit of wildlife and I kept running on ahead, driving my parents crazy in case I got lost, which I seem to recall I did on more than one occasion.’

‘You must have been a cute kid,’ he said after a little pause. ‘I envy your family life. It must have been wonderful having such a loving environment to grow up in.’

‘It wasn’t always fun and games,’ she said. ‘I love my sisters but we fought a lot when we were younger. I guess all kids do.’

There was another lengthy silence.

‘I often wondered what it would have been like to have a brother or a sister.’

She looked at him. ‘It must have been very hard growing up without your parents.’

‘It was. But I learned to cope. My great-aunt did the best she could but I wasn’t the easiest person to be around at times.’

‘Do you have any photos of your parents?’

‘I guess I have them somewhere.’

‘Why don’t you have them out on show?’

‘I’m not the sentimental type,’ he said. ‘It’s in the past and I’m only interested in the future.’

Mia decided to step out on a limb. ‘Your great-aunt said you used to hide any photos of your parents when she put them out. Why did you do that?’

He gave her a hard little glance. ‘You sound as if the two of you had a very cosy chat.’

‘I just wanted to find out a bit more about the man I was marrying.’

‘And did she enlighten you?’

Mia frowned at his sharpened tone. ‘There’s no need to be so defensive.’

‘I’m not being defensive. I just don’t appreciate you interfering in things that don’t concern you.’

‘I think I have the right to know what has made you the way you are.’

‘Why? So you can reform me, to make me more user-friendly?’

‘You’re way beyond reform,’ she snapped back irritably. ‘I wouldn’t even bother trying.’

‘Good. Then at least we know where we both stand.’

Mia frowned as she sat back in her seat with a sigh of frustration. He was like a closed book. As soon as she tried to prise open the pages he would just as quickly snap them shut. She knew he was hurting—she could almost feel it coming off him whenever the subject of his childhood was raised. It was like an aura surrounding him. He didn’t trust life not to hit him from the left field again when he was least expecting it.

He reminded her of Ashleigh’s gorgeous husband, Jake. He had hidden his inner pain behind a façade of cynicism that had very nearly destroyed her sister’s life and his own as well. But Ashleigh’s enduring love had found a healing pathway to his soul.

Did she have what it took to do the same for Bryn? And more to the point—did she even want to try?

‘I think you’ll like my house,’ Bryn said after another lengthy silence. ‘I had it designed specially.’

As olive branches went it wasn’t quite what she had been hoping for but she realised he was making an effort and she forced herself to accept it in the spirit in which it was given.

‘I’m looking forward to seeing it,’ she said.

Mia looked around her a few minutes later in awe. She had been expecting Bryn’s beach hideaway to be luxurious but nothing had quite prepared her for the sheer brilliance of the design that gave him sweeping views over the Noosa River on one side and the beaches and national park on the other. The house was on three levels and was tucked in the bush land that fringed the area, offering a level of privacy that was unbelievable. There were no curtains at any of the main windows—they weren’t necessary as the house was set higher than the rest of its neighbours and the thick surrounding bush was an effective screen.

‘What do you think?’ Bryn asked as soon as he’d shown her the entry level where the main lounge was situated as well as the kitchen and spacious dining area.

‘It’s…wonderful…’ She turned to look at him. ‘No wonder you love coming here. It’s like a private paradise.’

‘Come and I’ll show you the rest of the house from the top floor down,’ he said, leading the way to the open-plan stairs.

Mia followed him as he showed her the three large bedrooms on the top level. A wall of built-in wardrobes gave each room a feeling of space, as did the minimalist décor and pristine white bed linen on the beds. Each en suite had a large, free-standing bowl-like white basin on top of a simple vanity and a big walk-in shower, and the floor and walls were tiled with marble the colour of flecked sand.

He led her back down the stairs to the lower level, where an impressive gym was set up in a large room that led out through French doors to a lap pool in the private garden in which frangipani trees scented the balmy night air.

‘Wow…’ Mia breathed in wonder as she looked around. ‘You sure know the way to an exercise junkie’s heart.’

Bryn chuckled as she bent down to trail her fingers in the water of the pool to test its temperature. ‘I was wondering how you maintained that stunning figure of yours. Now I know.’

Mia felt his compliment wash over her like the warm silk of the water around her fingers. She straightened from the pool and tried to hide her reaction but he caught one of her hands and brought her to a standstill right in front of him.

He stroked the backs of the knuckles of one hand over the heightened colour of her cheek in a movement so gentle her breath came to a stumbling halt right in the middle of her chest. Her stomach gave a little flutter, just like the wings of a trapped moth inside a tiny confined space.

She moistened her suddenly dry mouth at the dark intensity in his midnight-blue gaze as it locked with hers.

The perfumed air swirled around them, wrapping them in a sensual mantle of summer warmth, the exotic atmosphere tipping the balance of distance Mia had desperately tried to maintain between them ever since their marriage was formalised that afternoon.

She felt sure he was going to kiss her. She could feel it along the exposed skin of her arms and legs, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck lifting in anticipation as his head came inexorably closer. Her eyelids fluttered closed as his mouth touched down on hers with breath-like softness, as if the moth from inside her stomach had somehow escaped and landed ever so gently on her lips.

Bryn lifted his head a mere fraction, his mouth still so close she could feel the movement of air from his breath over her acutely sensitive skin.

Two beats of silence passed before he lowered his mouth back to hers, the pressure increasing subtly and tantalisingly. Mia felt the full rush of her blood surging through her veins at the first stroke of his tongue over her lips. She parted her lips and he entered her mouth with gentle but firm insistence, searching for her tongue and mating with it possessively.

Mia felt the prickling of her breasts as he drew her closer into his embrace, her nipples tightening, while her legs and spine felt as if they had been instantly liquefied when one of his hard thighs slipped between hers. She leaned into his hold, her body craving more of his touch, her senses on fire where his hardness probed her softness. Desire exploded inside her, running like a hot stream that threatened to get out of control now it was finally unleashed. She tried to pull it back, tried to get her responses under some semblance of control, but it was impossible. His mouth was like a lighted taper to the spilled fuel of her need, sending hot, licking flames to every single part of her body. She could feel the fullness of her breasts aching for his touch and almost unconsciously began to press herself closer. His erection burned and pulsed against her and she heard his low groan of spiralling need as he deepened the kiss even further.

Without taking his mouth off hers he pressed her back against the wall of the house, one of his hands going to her breast, cupping it through the thin fabric of her top, his thumb rolling over the hardened point of her nipple. Mia felt her breath trip over something invisible as he lifted his head from her mouth, his dark eyes glittering as they held hers for a tiny pause.

Her stomach gave a complete somersault as he slid his hand beneath her top, the warm glide of his fingers over her bare flesh sending her senses into a tailspin. He pushed aside her lacy bra and brought his mouth down to her breast, his lips closing over her nipple and suckling gently until she felt as if he had pulled on an invisible string that was attached to her feminine core. She felt each delicious tug on her sensitised flesh, the tiny arrows of delight like spot fires being lit throughout her quivering body.

His lips left her breast to return to her mouth, this time with increasing urgency, as if he was not quite in control of his reaction to her. She felt his struggle to hold back, the increasing tension in his body where it pressed so temptingly against hers and the latent strength in his arms as he hauled her even closer.