Enemies at the Altar by Melanie Milburne Read Free Book Online

make a few things clear, right from the start. Throughout the duration of our marriage, I will not tolerate any behaviour on your part that leads to speculation in the press that this is not a normal relationship. If you don’t behave yourself there will be consequences. Do I make myself clear?’
    She gave him one of her insolent schoolgirl looks. ‘Perfectly.’
    He drew in a breath for patience and slowly released it. ‘Secondly, I will not be made a fool of by your practice of leaping in and out of bed with a host of unsavoury men,’ he said. ‘That means no boudoir photos and no seedy little sex tapes uploaded to the Internet or social networking sites. Got it?’
    Her cheeks turned a cherry-red, he presumed from anger at being reminded of the sex tape incident that had occurred a little over two years ago, for which her twin sister had inadvertently taken the rap. He’d missed the scandal as he had been abroad at the time, but, after reading about her twin’s recent reconciliation with her fiancé, the thing that had struck him most was that Sienna hadn’t come forward at the time. To be fair, she hadn’t known she even had a twin then, but it was just typical of Sienna’s inability or unwillingness to take responsibility for her actions. She didn’t give a toss what anyone else suffered because of her reprehensible behaviour. She just barrelled her way through life with no thought or care for what anyone else was feeling.
    ‘There won’t be any slip-ups,’ she said stiffly.
    ‘There had better not be,’ he warned.
    She turned away from him and drained her glass,putting it down with a little rattle against the coffee table. ‘Will that be all?’ she asked.
    Andreas pressed his lips together. Her subdued tone was a new one. He hadn’t heard her use it before. How did she do it? How did she switch things so deftly to make him feel as if
he
had overstepped the mark? ‘If it is any consolation to you, I will also refrain from any behaviour that could compromise our arrangement,’ he said, ploughing a hand through his hair. ‘It’s only for six months. A bout of celibacy is supposed to re-energise the soul and sharpen the intellect, or so I’ve heard.’
    She gave him a little smile, that old familiar spark back in her gaze. ‘Do you think you’ll last the distance?’ she asked.
    Andreas wasn’t prepared to put any money on it. Not with her looking so damned hot and gorgeous without even trying. ‘I’ll take it one day at a time,’ he said, deliberately running his gaze over her from head to toe and back again.
    She held his look but he noticed one of her shoulders rolling as if she suddenly found her clothes prickly against her skin. ‘Good luck with that,’ she said in an airy tone.
    He refilled his wine glass and took a couple of mouthfuls before he turned to look at her again. ‘By the way, I’d appreciate you making an effort to buy something suitable to wear to the wedding. I’m not sure yoga pants or tattered jeans are going to set a new trend in bridal gear, no matter how good you look in them.’
    Sienna raised her brows at him. ‘My, oh, my, a compliment from the impossible-to-impress Signor Ferrante,’ she said. ‘Wonders will never cease.’
    Andreas frowned at her in irritation. ‘What are you talking about? I’ve complimented you plenty of times.’
    ‘Remind me of one,’ she said, folding her arms across her chest as she tilted one hip forwards in a pose of youthful scepticism. ‘My memory seems to have completely failed me.’
    He rubbed at the back of his neck. ‘What about the time you were going to that school dance when you were sixteen or thereabouts,’ he said. ‘You were wearing a crinkly candy-pink and white dress. I said you looked pretty.’
    She gave him a resentful look. ‘You said I looked like a cupcake.’
    Andreas felt a smile tug at his mouth. ‘Did I really say that?’
    ‘You did.’
    ‘Well, then, what I probably meant to say was you looked