Seducing His Convenient Innocent

by Rachael Thomas

  The wind whipped at her hair, pulling the last part of her ponytail free, and Rio clutched it to the side of her neck, looking back at the island, now nothing more than a dark smudge on the horizon. Even though she felt sorry for herself, her thoughts turned to Xena. Would she be okay with Ricardo? What if he went back to his wife? The boat bounced over the water, taking her further away.

  She swallowed hard against the tears threatening once more. She didn’t want to show weakness. The boat slowed and she opened her eyes, looking around her as the engine died. The boat began to drift to a stop on the blue waters that surrounded them.

  ‘Why have we stopped?’ She turned to look at Lysandros stepping down from the seat and away from the controls. What was he doing? Was this the moment he told her how much he despised her, how disappointed he was and, worst of all, that he never wanted to see her again? Well, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  * * *

  ‘We need to talk,’ Lysandros said, balancing with ease as the boat rocked and rolled on the swell of the sea. Rio, however, looked less comfortable with the sensation, but he pressed on with the plan he’d had to rapidly form as he’d found her trying to make her escape—in his boat.

  He needed to talk to her alone. He had to know what had really happened. Right from the moment he’d kissed her in London at the recital to now. He couldn’t let her go. Not like this. When he’d seen her heading to the jetty, her case rumbling behind her, he’d known that alone at sea would be the perfect place for such a discussion.

  ‘There is nothing more to say,’ she said, trying to stand but stumbling back a pace before sitting down, unused to being at sea in a smaller boat, obviously feeling every swell on the deep waters.

  Her lovely hair was in disarray and her face very pale. She looked far more vulnerable and innocent than he’d ever seen her. Far more than she had appeared the night she’d played the piano in his apartment. The night he’d taken her virginity. A night that had changed everything. Changed him.

  He crossed to the stern of the boat, sitting down next to her. Now was not the time to dominate. This was not a boardroom deal that required power and control of the situation. This was Rio, the woman who had penetrated his cold heart, brought love back into his life. This was also his last chance to convince her of that.

  ‘You can’t go like this. Not after everything that has happened between us.’ He thought back to Athens, to the deepening desire that had claimed them both. He couldn’t allow her to walk away yet. He needed to buy himself more time. He needed to come to terms with the revelations of this afternoon.

  The fact Rio had kept Xena’s returned memory from him and had manipulated the situation was at total odds with his own admission of how he felt about Rio.

  ‘I have to go, Lysandros—because of what has happened between us.’

  Rio looked at him, her eyes begging him, pleading him to understand.

  ‘Doesn’t that night in Athens mean anything?’ He wasn’t ready to allow Rio to walk out of his life—again.

  ‘It does,’ Rio said, pulling her hair from her face, holding it tight to prevent the wind snatching it back. ‘It means too much and that is why I have to go.’

  Lysandros’s world rocked. His inability to acknowledge his emotions, to connect emotionally with anyone, was pushing away not just Xena but Rio—the most important woman in his life. That thought shocked him.

  He’d failed the people he loved, the people who counted on him. It seemed to be what he did best.

  Lysandros closed his eyes against the thought of the two women he loved dealing with so much alone. Savagely he pushed the full implications of that acknowledgement aside.

  ‘Why does it mean you have to go, Rio?’ Even as he asked the question he doubted she would give him the answer. She had well and truly locked him out of her life, her thoughts, her emotions.

  ‘We should never have got together, Lysandros, should never have got engaged.’

  Even as he asked he knew why—knew it was because of him, because he was emotionally unobtainable. Anger and guilt fused inside him, thrashing around like a raging storm.

  He swore savagely in Greek as the truth lashed at him. ‘I should never have forced you to become engaged—not like that, not as part of a deal.’

  ‘You did it for Xena,’ she said with conviction, forcing him to look at her, to calm the furious bubbles of anger before they spilled over. ‘Because you love her.’ The warmth of her touch unleashed that spark of attraction, that fatal awareness of her he couldn’t deny.

  ‘And now she too will despise me for what I’ve done to you. If I had known about Hans, I would never have forced you into such a deal, Rio.’

  Rio jumped up, the boat steadier now, and she stood over him. ‘Xena could never despise you. She might be angry, but she will never despise you.’ The passion, the truth of her words was as clear as the crystal waters beneath them.

  Now he knew everything. Rio had wanted to protect Xena, proving her loyalty to her friend. She’d put Xena before everything, including her own happiness.

  ‘What about you? Do you despise me, Rio?’ He stood, moving closer, his voice becoming a whisper as he fought the overload of emotions he’d never wanted to indulge in again, the kind he no longer wanted to banish from his life—but was it too late?

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ‘DESPISE YOU?’ RIO’S heart thumped, hope flaring to life within her. She had to tell him. ‘I meant what I said to Xena.’ Lysandros watched her, saying nothing, making it even more difficult, his dark eyes searching hers. ‘When I told her I loved you.’

  ‘Was that true or was it merely part of the act of being engaged, something to make Xena believe it was real?’ His voice deepened, becoming more demanding, and even though he sat next to her calmly, he still dominated the very air she breathed. His question went to the heart of the matter like an arrow to the bullseye.

  Her nerves wavered in the face of his question. Had he understood what she’d said? She tried to find her courage after the admission he’d barely registered, too painfully true to make it again. ‘I have told you a great many things as part of our deal, but I want you to ignore them all now. Xena has recovered her memory and I want to put this farce of an engagement behind me.’

  He looked down at her hand, to the finger on which he’d placed the engagement ring such a short time ago. She remained firm, watching him, mimicking the same command he exuded so naturally, trying not to remember the heady sexual tension in the air as she’d played the piano at his apartment. She shut her mind against the pleasure of giving herself so completely to him that night. There was no alternative. She had to walk away from this—from him.

  ‘You want what we have to end?’ There was hurt and accusation laced into that question, neither of which she’d ever intended to inflict on him. ‘You don’t want to be engaged to me?’

  ‘No, I don’t. We can’t truly be together, Lysandros. We want different things, need different things from a relationship. We are too different.’ He sat back from her, from her passionate outburst, thankfully giving her space, room to think, to breathe, because she couldn’t do either when he was so close to her.

  ‘Different?’ He touched her face, his fingers soft against her cheek, and she couldn’t help but close her eyes to the sensation. She needed to get her emotions under control, needed to find some strength from somewhere. She’d just admitted she loved him, but he had casually sidetracked her words.

  ‘From the very beginning I always thought that for you the attraction was purely physical. That once we’d spent a night together you would want to move on to the next woman.’ Rio hung on to the strength she’d found, needing to tell him everything. After all, she had nothing to lose now. She’d already lost him, lost her hope of being loved by him. ‘That was why I had to be sure.’ She paused, looking at him. ‘Before I spent the night with you. And t
hen when Hans did what he did, I couldn’t tell you. Not after I’d finally made the decision to make our relationship physical. I just didn’t feel I could.’

  ‘I never wanted you to feel that way, Rio,’ Lysandros said, taking her hand in his. ‘I was shut down emotionally against feeling anything romantic. I hadn’t connected emotionally with a woman for many years. That was until you walked into my life. That’s when I knew I wanted more. That I wanted you.’

  She thought of the afternoon at the recital. He’d seemed different from his usual self that afternoon. More intense. But, then, she had been too. She’d been about to tell him she wanted to be with him all night.

  ‘Me?’ she asked, needing to know. Was Lysandros saying he’d envisaged more from their relationship than just a brief affair?

  ‘Yes, you, Rio. At first it was only Xena who saw what we could be, that there was something special between us. I was still too locked up behind my protective wall, but that afternoon at the recital I realised she was right.’

  ‘It would never have worked, though, Lysandros. I couldn’t be the kind of woman you wanted, the kind you normally dated,’ she whispered, her heart and soul being dragged out into the sunshine, laid bare before him.

  ‘It’s because you weren’t the kind of woman I usually dated that I saw there was a future for us.’ He smiled in that devastatingly sexy way she loved so much.

  She had no idea what he was trying to tell her. No idea what the outcome of this conversation would be. All she knew was she had told him she loved him, and not once had he mentioned that word to her. He was doing all he could to avoid it.

  She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. Instead she allowed the motion of the boat to soothe her.

  ‘In the hospital, you made it clear you only wanted me in Greece because I could help Xena recover,’ she whispered, shocked to realise she’d spoken her thoughts aloud.

  ‘I know.’ He looked into her eyes, his own so dark she couldn’t fathom out the emotion in them. He was the one hiding secrets now. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘What happens now?’ She lifted her chin, looking directly at him, giving him the opportunity to be honest. To say they were over or to say he wanted her in his life—because he loved her. She didn’t need an engagement or marriage. All she needed was him, his love.

  * * *

  ‘I want this engagement to end,’ Lysandros said firmly, seeing raw emotions fill Rio’s eyes. He should just say it, just tell her, but still he found it difficult. Letting go of years of caution wasn’t easy.

  ‘Then we both want the same thing.’ Rio’s voice faltered. ‘To end the engagement.’

  ‘I want you, Rio. You cannot deny you are as attracted to me as I am to you.’ The air crackled as she looked up at him. His heart was pounding like a drum as he waited, cursing inwardly that he still couldn’t tell her just how much he wanted her.

  ‘It’s true. I do want you,’ she said in a resigned voice. ‘But I want more than that, Lysandros. Much more. I don’t want to pretend any more.’

  ‘I’m not pretending, Rio. I want you. I want more too.’

  She looked up at him and in the depths of her brown eyes he saw nothing but sadness. ‘Want isn’t enough.’

  Was she going to force him to lay bare his heart? His emotions? Why couldn’t he say it? What was holding him back? He cursed Kyra and her wicked lies, even cursed Rio’s loyalty to his sister, which had played into all his doubts.

  ‘Want is a good place to start.’

  ‘No. Nothing is going to start. I need to go home. Now, please, Lysandros.’ The firm determination in her voice was clearer than ever, but he wasn’t going to give up. If he had to lay his heart on the line, he’d do it. He wanted Rio to stay, wanted what they’d had in Athens.

  ‘I want you to stay.’ Damn it. What was stopping him from telling her how he really felt?

  ‘I can’t,’ she whispered, moving away from him. He could see tears threatening in her eyes and knew he had to prove to her how he felt or lose her for ever.

  ‘Want isn’t enough.’ That was what she had said. Would his love be enough?

  He took a deep breath, unlocking his heart, preparing to say the one thing he’d vowed never to say to a woman again. ‘I love you, Rio.’

  * * *

  Rio looked at Lysandros. He just stood there, the only sound the waves against the side of the speedboat. She tried to process the words she’d so wanted to hear, tried to replay them because she couldn’t bear it if they weren’t real, if he hadn’t meant them.

  He moved towards her suddenly, taking her arms, urging her to her feet to look at him, into his eyes. ‘Did you hear me? I love you, Rio.’

  Her heart soared high into the blue sky. He had said it.

  He spoke rapidly in Greek, shocking her from her stunned silence. ‘But I thought...’ She stumbled over her words, unable to voice her confusion, her shock, but more importantly her love.

  ‘I know what I told you. That I never wanted love in my life again.’ He looked into her eyes, and love, mixed with fear of her rejection, shone from his. ‘But you changed that, Rio. You, and I want this fake engagement to end too, because I want you to be my wife.’

  His wife? Her head spun as fast as her heart thumped. ‘You want to marry me? For real?’

  ‘Yes.’ He laughed, holding her hands as if afraid she might disappear, but she had no intention of going anywhere. The man she loved had told her he loved her. He’d left his past behind just as she had. ‘I want to marry you. I want the woman I love with all my heart to be my wife—as soon as possible.’

  He began to say something else but she pressed her finger to his lips, silencing him. Desire flooded his eyes and she smiled at him. ‘I love you, Lysandros, but should we rush into this?’

  ‘I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.’

  ‘You really want to get married?’

  ‘I do, Rio. I do.’ Those words flashed through her mind. The look in his eyes heated her body and the love she’d suppressed since she’d come to the island overflowed.

  ‘In that case, you’d better take me back to the island,’ she teased.

  ‘Not yet,’ he said, pulling her into his arms. ‘I think we should kiss and make up first.’

  She smiled up at him as he bent to kiss her, a kiss that showed her just how much he loved her. She could feel it, taste it. His love wrapped itself around her, caressing her entire body. The kiss deepened and her body trembled with shock at his revelation and the unfurling heat of passion inside her.

  ‘I love you so much,’ she whispered against his lips, unsure if the swaying was her or the boat.

  ‘Then marry me, not just be my fiancée. Say you will be my wife.’

  She smiled at him as she pulled back, held safely in his arms, looking into his handsome face. ‘Nothing would make me happier.’

  He answered by drawing her close against him, kissing her until she melted with pleasure. His hands caressed her and she wished she could show him right now just how much she wanted him, how much she loved him.

  ‘Why the hell aren’t we on my yacht?’ The feral growl of mock irritation made her laugh and the urge to taunt him was too strong to resist.

  ‘And why would that be?’ She couldn’t keep the coy smile from her face, revelling in the power of his love.

  ‘Because I want to make love to you—right now. I want to prove to you how much I love you.’

  ‘Then I will look forward to our wedding night.’ Shyness made her blush and she looked down, away from the intensity in his eyes.

  He lifted her chin back up gently, as he had done so many times. ‘You are making me wait until we are married?’

  ‘Yes,’ she breathed in a husky whisper. ‘And then I expect you to show me each and every night just how much you love me.’

  His eyes darkened and the air
became laden with desire. ‘That will be my greatest pleasure.’

  EPILOGUE

  THE NEW SEASON for the orchestra was in full swing, and with Judith conducting, Rio had had no qualms about continuing her career. Xena too, fully recovered from the accident, was once more playing the violin.

  Christmas was fast approaching and Rio had taken time off for a very important event. Xena and Ricardo were about to get married and Rome was filled with Christmas magic, the perfect setting for a wedding. It had also been the perfect setting in which to spend time with Lysandros.

  As Xena and Ricardo had exchanged vows Rio had held Lysandros’s hand. The small gathering of family members could be in no doubt that this couple belonged together as they were pronounced husband and wife. Rio looked up at Lysandros, standing beside her, remembering their intimate wedding day on the island at the end of the summer.

  Only four months ago she had said the same words to him. It might not have been the big white church wedding she’d always dreamed of having, but the man she’d married far surpassed her dream. He was handsome and incredibly sexy, but far more than that, he cared for her and loved her.

  Since that day on his speedboat when they had both put the past behind them, he had kept his promise, showing her just how much he loved her every day. Sometimes with passion that took her to another planet and sometimes with a gentle touch that held so much love.

  He looked down at her as the happy couple turned to face their guests. ‘Have I told you today just how beautiful you look?’

  She smiled as he took her hand, pulling her against him, oblivious to those around him. ‘Actually, you have,’ she teased. ‘At least a dozen times.’

  ‘Come on, you two.’ Xena’s voice broke through the mist of desire that was building rapidly. ‘We need you in the photographs.’

  Lysandros smiled. ‘I don’t think we are going to be able to escape this. You know what Xena is like.’