She would submit when it was time, but right now, with the memory of Raif’s kisses still so sweet and fresh in her mind, this embrace of Burton’s was nothing but a travesty. She jerked back slightly as he suddenly released her and straightened, looking down upon her once more, his face impassive.
“See if you can’t drum up a little enthusiasm for my touch while I’m gone, hmm? And I expect I don’t have to tell you this, but stay away from Raif Masters.”
And with that parting shot he was gone. He didn’t need to verbalize a threat. She knew what would happen if she saw Raif again and Burton found out. All bets would be off the table and he’d follow through on his threats against her. As much as Burton Rogers coveted her, he wouldn’t share her with anyone else—certainly not a second time.
He was not a man who liked to be thwarted. She knew her appeal to him had grown out of his need to surround himself with rare and beautiful things. The way he looked at her, as if she were a priceless artifact, made her feel more objectified than if he’d wolf-whistled every time he saw her. Her intelligence only served to make her more appealing to him, she knew for a fact. And as his wife, she’d never leave his employ. All of that played into his original reasons for proposing. And now, ever since the wedding day that wasn’t, she got the sense that his competitiveness with Raif just made him more determined to “win” her away from his rival and lock her into marriage vows once and for all.
Despite the way everything inside her railed against Burton’s dictates, she wouldn’t be making any effort to see Raif again. He’d used her—he hadn’t even attempted to deny it. And even more galling, she’d been his willing partner in that. The man had swamped her with feeling, with emotion. He had cut past all the clinical and careful ways she’d lived her life to date, and made her aware of everything with a clarity that had taken her breath away. And it had all happened so darn fast.
How could she trust it? She was the kind of person who measured everything twice, examined every minute detail over and over. Who took the greatest care before committing to a decision, whether it be work or social or even what shoes to wear with her outfit each morning.
Raif was the antithesis of that. He was impulsive and daring. Physical and creative. Her body burned anew as she remembered just how creative he could be. They’d spent only one intimate night together, and one equally intimate morning, learning one another’s bodies as if they were maps to a pirate’s bountiful treasure, but the memories they’d created burned with perpetual ferocity, making her nights ever since barren and empty by comparison.
Shanal let go of the breath she’d been holding. She’d thought the idea of marrying Burton before was impossible. Marrying him now was going to be a great deal more difficult than she had ever imagined. But she’d do it. She had no other choice.
Ten
Raif pulled up outside Shanal’s parents’ home. Shanal hadn’t taken his calls last Friday at work, nor would she come to the phone over the weekend. An attempt to see her at Burton International had led to being escorted from the building by security—whether by Burton’s dictate or Shanal’s, he couldn’t be sure.
There was nothing left but to try and catch her here, at home. Raif knew Mr. and Mrs. Peat were out because he’d just passed them in their specially modified car, heading the other way. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel for a minute before grabbing the garbage sack he’d stowed on the seat beside him, and getting out the car. Bringing the Maserati probably hadn’t been the best idea, but he’d realized that only after he’d shoved and squeezed the bag full of the foaming concoction of material that was Shanal’s wedding dress into the trash bag and put it in the passenger seat beside him. And once he’d gotten it into the car, there was no way he was dealing with hauling it back out until it was time to pass it over once and for all.
Shanal’s car was nowhere to be seen, but he knocked on the front door of the house anyway, and counted slowly under his breath, waiting for an answer. Nothing. Seconds later, he noticed her little hatchback slowing outside the house. From his vantage point on the front porch he saw the moment she recognized his car parked out front.
She pulled into the driveway and looked toward the front door, her face pale and her beautiful eyes huge as she saw him standing there. For a second he thought that she’d shove the car into Reverse and back out of there and away from him as fast as she could. Instead she appeared to hasten to get out the car. She all but ran the short distance to the front door.