The chorus rose to a crescendo all of a sudden, deafening her clamoring heartbeat. “Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!”
Her color rose as Landon took her champagne flute and set it aside. “Well, Beth.”
It was inevitable.
“If there are any doubts left, we might as well dispel them.”
Of course, she should take one for the team, do this for David…
The pressure of his fingers on her back brought her one step closer to him. Their eyes met. He smiled down at her, but his gaze held a warning. A request to comply.
His eyes were heat and flames; black coals burning. It’s all for show, all for show—Beth recited the thought like a mantra—sliding your hand into his, your legs turning to syrup, not remembering why you’re here, it’s all for show.
She suppressed a tremble as he ducked his head, still smiling.
She wanted to smile like him, but couldn’t. It was an act, it had to be, how she parted her lips and waited for his mouth. He breathed in her ear. “Easy.”
She wanted to melt.
The way he concentrated on her mouth made her go hot.
Their lips touched. His brushed over hers at first, a wistful, feathery touch that sent her control careening down a precipice she feared she’d never recover. She held her breath until her lungs burned and found her fingers digging into his shoulders.
He didn’t have to put his hands, warm and strong, on the sides of her face as he kissed her.
He didn’t have to smell like he did, or brush her lips so exquisitely.
He didn’t have to slide his tongue inside, but he did.
Desire hit her like a cannon blast, making her legs tremble. She gripped him harder and he slanted his head, in command as his mouth closed over hers, taking hers, leading. Wow, he deserved an Oscar. She believed that kiss to be as real as the reporters believed it, as real as her skyrocketing pulse. It wasn’t a messy kiss, it was soft, long and warm, and it was heartbreaking.
Because she’d wanted it since the moment she’d seen him come to her rescue after the Hector debacle. She’d wanted it since he’d helped her to her feet, his body a fortress of strength and warmth. She’d wanted it since the first reporter suggested they kiss and he’d pretended ignorance.
God, maybe she’d wanted it forever.
He didn’t end the kiss abruptly, but quietly, his mouth lingering over hers, as though still not ready to detach, their breaths mingling as, inch by inch, he drew back. She almost moaned, her lips burned, her body burned, the heights of need to which he’d sent her unimaginable.
Slowly, Landon adjusted their stance, shifting so that she covered his hardness with her rear.
Noticing she was flustered, he waved a commanding hand at the press. “Enough. That’s enough pictures tonight.”
The flashes stopped. Photographers stepped back a few paces, but Landon didn’t allow Beth the same luxury; his big hand rested on her hip proprietarily. His fingers bit into her skin, keeping her against him.
When the reporters dispersed, Beth wiggled free, avoiding his gaze, then snatched another champagne glass and went behind the safety of a twisting oak. Cloaked in shadows, she slumped against the tree trunk and blinked into the darkness.
How could a man kiss like that? She’d felt stroked all over, indecently stroked. She’d never been so aware of having such sensitive, eager nipples.
She kept telling herself that having sex with him would be a bad idea, a risky venture, one where if she ended up pregnant, he’d take her child just like Hector had. But even as her mind raced with protests, the other side of her brain already formulated a list of ways to avoid pregnancy while bringing their passion to fruition.
Damn. How was she supposed to say no to a guy who kissed like a volcanic avalanche?
She exhaled a breath she’d been holding, tightened her hold on her glass. She felt…helpless. Resented having to give him any kisses. It had been difficult last night at the hotel in her awkward attempts to enlist him, and it had been more so now that they’d been watched. She didn’t want to know his taste and now, well, now she’d never be able to forget it.
“You handled yourself well.”
Startled, she spotted her mother-in-law a few feet away. The woman wore an emerald green dress and a string of pearls, and her smile beamed with approval.
In the face of all that dignity and Texan charm, Beth forced herself to straighten, smoothing her hands along her hips. “I’m not new to the newspaper scene. It’s just nice to be treated with respect for a change.”
A chilly breeze sent the skirts of their dresses fluttering. “Then let me give you a piece of advice, Beth.” She jerked her chin in the press’s direction. “You win those people’s hearts, and you win the world.”
Beth narrowed her eyes, confused by this bit of wisdom. She’d been swept into Landon’s golden, glittering world of silk and velvet and music tonight—and they were lies, all lies, all for one purpose only.
Didn’t the woman know?
“Landon’s already doing that,” she then replied, cautiously. “Winning their hearts and the world.”
She gazed out at the gardens that led to the parking lot. They were vast and beautiful but they were shrouded in darkness. Dark and beckoning like Landon.
Past her shoulder, she spotted him, polite and easy as he talked to some of the reporters. He was such a solid, dynamic man, every time she saw him she found herself holding her breath.
“Why you, I wonder.”
That comment snapped Beth around. There wasn’t antagonism in her voice but genuine curiosity glimmered in her soft gray eyes.
“Me?”
“Well…” A jeweled hand fluttered in the air. “He’s been a bachelor for six years, and a lot of women have tried to get him. Why you?”
“I don’t want him, Mrs. Gage, and he doesn’t want me. We just happen to want the same thing.”
Spying on Landon once more, she watched him sip his drink as he assessed his surroundings.
“Maybe that’s why…” she added, to herself.
The woman huffed. “My son doesn’t need anyone to take down any man.”
Beth nodded, then thought of the little black book, of their prenup, their upcoming marriage. There was more at stake for her than for him. Why did he agree to marry her? Because he hates him, too, she thought. Her stomach contracted at the thought of all that Landon had lost because of Hector. “We won’t last,” she said out loud, unable to take her eyes off her betrothed.