A REASON FOR MARRIAGE

Sara shivered slightly despite her big padded coat when they got outside. Simon called his driver, but she wasn’t shivering from the cold; it was a shiver of anticipation. Because ever since this morning, and her brief, excruciatingly naked declaration that it was OK to have sex, something heavy and tangible had been humming between them. Sara was confused as to how things were going to go in general with this relationship, but one thing she knew for sure was this: Simon’s desire for her was finite, and soon-as soon as the pregnancy started to progress in earnest, she guessed-he’d be moving on. She just didn’t know where that would leave her. Oh, she wasn’t so silly to have fallen for him. Even now she could say with pride that she’d protected her heart. But…

“Here we go.”

Simon was helping Sara into the car, stopping her train of thought. And then, with him so close to her on the backseat, his fingers tangled in hers, she was finding it hard to think any more.

They got out of the cab in front of an ornately decorated restaurant situated on the corner of a street. It had old murals of lavishly dressed women on the panels outside, windows full of ancient books, bottles and delicate filigree balcony-railings around the first-floor windows.

“This is gorgeous,” breathed Sara as she looked up.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Simon just grunted something unintelligible in reply. When they went inside and Simon gave Sara’s name, as she had made the booking, she saw him exchange a few words with the head waiter. The man looked at her curiously and smiled, leading them up through the main part of the dining room and then off to the side and to a door. There were rooms off to all sides, creating a warren-like ambience of hidden nooks and crannies.

Simon looked at her with an indecipherable expression on his face as the waiter opened the door and indicated for her to step in. When she did, her heart stopped, and then started again with slow, heavy beats. It was a tiny, private dining-room, more like a salon, with a table set for two, a mirror along one wall and a banquette seat at the back on which sat plump, inviting velvet cushions. The colors were dark and earthy, unbelievably sensual. It was like a boudoir.

Sara heard the door click shut and turned to face Simon, her face flaming.

“I had no idea this was here.” she said,

His mouth quirked, his eyes glittering in the soft light. “I believe you.”

Sara was very aware of the look in his eye, the lines of tension on his face. No wonder he’d reacted the way he had. She’d led them to a veritable seduction scene straight out of a fantasy. She walked further into the intimate space.

“What is this place?”

She could sense him close behind her and her body trembled.

“It’s where the wealthy could dine privately in peace and seclusion, and also, it’s said, where clandestine affairs took place. Look here.”

He directed her attention to crude scrapings on the mirror. “This is where the women would test the diamonds they’d been given by their lovers to see if they were real or fake. Where they would write love messages.”

Sara leant close but couldn’t make out what the faint, scrawled writing said. She was very aware of the space, their breathing, them. A discreet cough sounded outside the door, and Simon opened it to let the waiter back in with menus and water. He took their coats and left again.

Simon indicated for Sara to sit down. They were practically side by side at the table. The banquette seat loomed large in Sara’s imagination just behind them.

Simon sat back easily, his huge body taking up most of the space, and drawled softly, “Good choice.”

Sara felt prim. “You know very well I had no idea about this.”

He sat up then and captured her hands, coming close. “I know, I’m only teasing. The table you’d booked was in the main part of the restaurant, quite innocuous. I asked for one of these rooms.”

“You did?” she all but squeaked.

He nodded. “I’ve heard about this place, but never been. It’s been something of a fantasy of mine to see what it was like.”

“It is?” Sara was barely breathing now; her whole body was igniting and melting. She’d all but forgotten that they were even in a restaurant. The thought of inadvertently fulfilling one of Simon’s fantasies was so heady, so…

A discreet cough came from outside again, and Simon let her hands go and called, “Enter,” But his eyes barely left hers or her face as the waiter took their food order.

Sara wasn’t entirely sure how or what she ate during that meal. The whole experience in that small space became about the senses. It felt as though she and Simon had been removed from the world and set adrift in this little cocoon of sensuality and decadence. She knew courses came: Dublin Bay prawns to start, amazingly enough, and a ham dish as a main course, and then a wickedly dark chocolate-praline sorbet. Or she could have been completely wrong, because she knew she wouldn’t be able to recall what they’d had if asked. The things she would be able to describe in detail had more to do with Simon’s gestures, the way his eyes crinkled appealingly when he smiled or laughed, the way he made her feel so hot inside.

A waiter had cleared the plates and was leaving small cups of coffee with an after-dinner liqueur for Simon. He was almost at the door when Simon called to him and told him that they would call if they needed anything else. The waiter nodded and with a ‘Yes, sir,’ left the room.

Simon turned to look at her with a heavy-lidded gaze. He came close and his arm brushed across her breasts, making her breath stop as he drew her attention to a cord descending from the wall beside her. She hadn’t even noticed it.

“We won’t be disturbed again unless we pull that.”

Sara looked from the cord to Simon; he didn’t move back. His scent wrapped around her like a cloak of heavy desire. The sheer sexiness of him, and the room, overwhelmed her, and she lifted a hand to run her fingers through his hair, feeling the beautiful shape of his strong skull. And then, unable to wait any longer, the promise of fulfillment so close, she pulled his head to hers and their mouths touched.