The Arranged Marriage by Emma Darcy Read Free Book Online Page A

herself. What else could she have expected?
    “Peter, bring one of those empty chairs from the next table over for Gina,” Isabella directed. “She can sit with me while...”
    “No, no, I really must be going now,” she quickly protested.
    “Going?” Isabella frowned at her. “I intended for you to stay and enjoy the party. Marco is perfectly safe in the nursery quarters with Rosita watching over him.”
    Isabella had pressed the invitation to stay overnight in the castle and Gina had been tempted into accepting it, not really admitting to herself that the main attraction had been the possibility of some further connection with Alex King. With that barely acknowledged fantasy now revealed as hopelessly askew, she sought a quick escape route.
    “The surroundings are strange to him, Mrs. King. Should he wake...”
    “If there’s any problem...”
    The words floated past her, not sinking into her consciousness. She’d caught sight of Alex King carving a path through the crowd on the dance floor, heading straight for her. The couples seemed to roll aside like the Red Sea letting Moses through, reacting to a strength of purpose that willed them away from him. And she was the end destination. His eyes told her so. He didn’t so much as glance at anyone else, not even his grandmother.
    Gina had the weirdest sense of her whole body being attacked by pins and needles. Her heart seemed to catapult around her chest. Her breath was caught in her throat. She stood absolutely still, waiting for him to reach her, hardly believing this was really happening and nothing was going to stop it. Did he really want to be with her? Did he want...
    She didn’t dare finish that thought. Her mind was trembling with an anticipation that had shot beyond the real world. But his gaze was trained exclusively on her, projecting a need—or a desire—that was triggering all these wild responses, and every aggressive stride he took towards her made them clamour with a compelling intensity, shutting out everything else.
    He looked incredibly handsome in his formal dinner suit. Somehow it made his tall, powerful physique even more imposingly male. She felt her inner muscles quivering and knew she was very much at risk of making a total fool of herself with this man. He struck at everything female in her, igniting a sexual chemistry she had never experienced before, not even with her husband.
    As he skirted the table where his grandmother sat, Gina instinctively turned towards him, the people close to her fading into a grey area that held no importance. She wasn’t even aware of them anymore. He dominated, his brilliant blue eyes holding her captive to whatever he intended.
    “Come with me,” he commanded more than asked.
    “Yes.” The word spilled from her lips, more a submission to his will than any decision on her part.
    He reached out and took her hand. Maybe she lifted it in response to his invitation. All she really knew was her hand was captured in his and her feet followed him towards the dance floor. The moment they were clear of the table and chairs, he gathered her into his embrace and they were together, hard muscular thighs pushing hers, the arm around her waist pressing an electric intimacy.
    Her free hand rested on his shoulder. She stared at it, fighting the urge to slide it around his neck, to touch...where she shouldn’t if any sense of decorum was to be kept. Bad enough to be so aware of his physicality—and hers—with the barrier of clothes between them. To nakedly touch the nape of his neck, his hair...no. It was begging trouble. Bigger trouble than she already had. A struggling strain of common sense insisted a line had to be drawn somewhere.
    Michelle was on this dance floor, too.
    Michelle could be watching them.
    But Alex didn’t seem to be caring about what his fiancée might think. Did he hold all his dance partners like this? She was close enough to smell the intriguingly attractive cologne he’d splashed