Read The Bride Who Wouldn't for Free Online Page A

her tension start to dissipate and had felt the quicken of her pulse beneath his lips as he had kissed her neck.
    “We shan’t be sleeping together.” She saw him frown. “Or rather we shan’t be having sex. We shall do as the contract states and share a bed whilst at hotels.” She gave him the same smile that she had on the dance floor. “Your uncle and I had an agreement. Our marriage was only for appearances’ sake, sex was never to be a factor.”
    Isaak stood there. “Are you telling me that you and my uncle were never lovers?”
    “That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” Kate responded. “We never so much as kissed. I had agreed to the gorko and to occasionally kiss and be affectionate in public, once we were married.”
    Instead of anger there was a strange feeling of relief as that little knot of disquiet for Isaak was put to bed.
    He just wouldn’t be putting Kate to bed it would seem.
    “Why the health checks?”
    “Ivor didn’t even want his lawyer to know the truth.” Spite laced every word as Kate continued speaking.” If you don’t know how deep the river is, don’t step in.” She mocked him now with the Russian saying that he had used on her. “Of course, I understand if you want an annulment.”
    “Oh, I see,” Isaak responded. “I am supposed to run screaming for an annulment and you still get the money.”
    “Yes.”
    “Oh, no,” Isaak shook his head. “There will be no annulment. Anyway, no one but us needs to know that the marriage was never consummated. It would be a rather difficult thing to prove.”
    “Not really,” Kate said but her voice was less than sure now. This wasn’t going the way Kate had intended it to. She hadn’t wanted to reveal her truth to him, but he gave her no choice. “The doctor would know.”
    “What doctor?” Isaak asked and then his mouth actually gaped as the truth dawned. “Are you telling me that you’re a virgin?”
    “Yes, and I intend to stay one,” Kate primly said. “So I think an annulment would be a good idea.”
    “You really want to go that route?” Isaak asked. “Have you any idea how rarely that law is used?” He was openly smiling now and it confused her. “It would be all over the press…”
    “Oh, would that ruin your reputation, Isaak?” She loathed that he was still smiling, almost laughing in fact.
    “I could take it,” Isaak said. “Could you though?” He could actually picture the headlines. “Imagine the newspapers—‘The Last English Virgin!’ Or, they could write, ‘The Curse of the Zaretskys Continues!’”
    She loathed that he laughed at his own joke.
    “Oh, Kate, just think about it,” he said. “There will be no annulment. Whether you like it or not we are together for a year.”
    “Till you cheat, till you go off with some—” She stopped and his eyes narrowed as she continued. “I guess you’ll have to get your kicks elsewhere.”
    “You think you have this worked out.”
    “I do.” Kate almost spat in rage. “You thought you had me trapped. Well you don’t.”
    “What is it with women and the assumption that men can’t survive without sex?” Isaak asked. “You have managed without, so what makes you think I cannot? You talk like I am some dog, that I will be out on the street in five minutes.” He looked her right in the eye and slowly shook his head. “You misled me. You were attracted to me. You let me think …”
    “You were very easily misled,” Kate coolly responded. “It’s not my fault that you didn’t read between the lines.”
    “True,” Isaak shrugged. “I brought you here, I arranged these things.” He gestured to the champagne, the flowers and to the candlelit bathroom. “To start our marriage, our year together, the best way I knew how. I wanted to spoil you, to give you pleasure, for us to enjoy our time. I do not want some martyr tied to the bed.” He looked at her and could not fathom that someone so beautiful could be so cold, not just