âIâve changed my mind.â
Eva stopped in front of Kyle. Any nerves about seducing him had long since burned away. She ran a finger down his chest, igniting a trail of heat. The heady masculine scents of clean skin and sandalwood made her head spin.
His hand curled over hers. âWhat about?â
She boldly wound one arm around his neck, leaned in close and gently bit down on one earlobe. âThe clause in our marriage agreement that prohibits sex. If anyone is going to sleep with my husband, itâs going to be me.â
When she would have drawn back, his hands closed on her waist, holding her against him. âIâll get my lawyer to strike it out in the morning.â
âAs long as we have a verbal agreement, the new condition is in effect.â
âWe could shake on it,â he muttered, âbut I have a better idea.â Lowering his head, he finally did what sheâd been dying for him to do ever since the wedding ceremony. He kissed her.
* * *
Needed: One Convenient Husband is part of The Pearl House seriesâBusiness and passion collide when two dynasties forge ties bound by love
One
Kyle Messenaâs gaze narrowed as the bridal car pulled up outside Dolphin Bayâs windblown, hilltop church. The bride, festooned in white tulle, stepped out of the limousine. A drift of gauze obscured her face, but sunlight gleamed on tawny hair that was heart-stoppingly familiar.
Adrenaline pumped and time seemed to slow, stop, as he considered the stunning fact that, despite his efforts to prevent Eva Atraeus marrying a man whose motives were purely financial, she had utterly fooled him and the wedding he had thought he had nixed was going ahead.
Kyle had taken two long, gliding steps out of the inky shade cast by an aged oak into the blistering heat of a New Zealand summerâs day before the ocean breeze whipped the veil from the brideâs face.
It wasnât Eva.
Relief unlocked the fierce tension that gripped him.
A tension that sliced through the indifference to relationships that had shrouded him for years, ever since the death of his wife and small son. Deaths that he should have prevented.
The unwanted, brooding intensity had grown over the months he had been entrusted with the duty of ensuring that the heiress to an Atraeus fortune married according to a draconian clause in her adoptive fatherâs will. Eva, in order to get control of her inheritance, had to either marry a Messenaâhimâor a man who genuinely wanted her and not her money.
Acting as Evaâs trustee did not sit well with Kyle. He was aware that his wily great-uncle, Mario, had named him as trustee in a last game-playing move to maneuver him into marrying the woman he had once wanted but left behind. Confronted by the mesmerizing power of an attraction that still held him in reluctant thrall and unable to accept that the one woman he had never been able to forget would marry someone else, Kyle had been unable to refuse the job.
A gust of wind whipped the brideâs veil to one side, revealing that she was a little on the plump side. Her hair was also a couple of shades lighter than the rich dark mane shot through with tawny highlights that had been a natural feature of Evaâs hair ever since heâd first set eyes on her at age sixteen.
Kyleâs jaw unlocked. Now that he had successfully circumvented Evaâs latest marriage plan, he was ready to leave, but when a zippy white sports car emblazoned with the name of Evaâs business, Perfect Weddings, pulled into a space, Kyle knew he wasnât going anywhere.
Eva Atraeus, dressed in a pale pink button-down suit that clung in all the right places, closed the door with an expensive thunk. Cell held to one ear, she hooked a matching pale pink tote over her shoulder and started toward the church doors, her stride fluid and distractingly sexy in a pair of strappy high heels. At five feet seven, Eva was several inches too short for the runway, but with her elegant, curvy figure, mouthwatering cheekbones and exotic dark eyes, she had been a knockout success as a photographic model. Gorgeous, quirky and certifiably high maintenance, Eva had fascinated gossip columnists for years and dazzled more men than sheâd had hot dinners, including him.
Every muscle in Kyleâs body tightened on a visceral hit of awareness that had become altogether too familiar.
A faint check in her step indicated that Eva had spotted him.