“They don’t even know us,” she murmured to Andreas. He flashed her a smile to die for.
“This is a happy place and a lot of weddings are performed here. It will bring us luck.”
“I don’t need luck. I have you. I adore you, Andreas.”
His eyes blazed with desire before they returned to the hotel. Once there, they enjoyed a wedding feast specially prepared for the present and former CEOs of Gavras House hotels. No luxury was spared to make it a day to remember all her life. But Zoe was too excited to be alone with Andreas to eat very much.
He noticed and whispered in her ear, “It’s time.” Andreas got to his feet. “My bride is tired. We’re going to our room, and we’ll see you tomorrow before we fly off on honeymoon.”
Zoe stood up. “Thank you for making this day so perfect.”
Andreas gave them each a kiss before ushering her out of the dining room and out in the hall to the elevator. She didn’t know who was in a bigger hurry to reach the bridal suite. It felt like Zoe had been in love with him forever.
When they reached their suite, she removed the garland and put it on a table with her flowers. Andreas took off his suit jacket and undid his tie. Next came his shirt. He tossed both on a chair. Little by little they left a trail, with the wedding dress being the last big item to be put aside before he carried her into the bedroom and laid her down on the bed. The covers had been turned down.
She heard an unmistakable sigh escape his lips before he covered her with his body and a new world opened up to her of loving and being loved like she could never have imagined. The pleasure they brought each other was indescribable.
They’d needed to be like this for so long, but the waiting had enhanced what they were sharing now. The freedom to show Andreas how much she loved him brought ecstasy. Near two in the morning he rolled her on top of him, covering her face and neck with kisses. He made her feel immortal.
“I hope we’ve already gotten pregnant,” she murmured against his lips. “One toddler isn’t enough for us.”
“I’ve been doing my best, agape mou.”
Zoe knew it meant darling. “If I conceive right away, our son or daughter will have a big brother. It’s so fantastic to think about.”
“Have I told you how delightful you are? How madly in love I am with you?”
“I can’t hear it enough. Keep loving me, Andreas, and never stop. You’re my whole world.”
“Luckily for us we’ve got the rest of our lives to do this over and over again.” So saying, he devoured her mouth, bringing rapture to her again. They made love again and finally fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Zoe awakened after the sun’s rays came through the slats of the shutters. Andreas lay beside her, looking at her. He needed a shave and had never looked so dangerous.
“You’re so beautiful, I could look at you all day and night. Your skin is like silk. If I have one concern, it’s that you’re going to grow bored of me now that you’ve given up teaching.”
“Maybe not,” she said, kissing him passionately.
He raised up on one elbow. “What do you mean?”
“Do you remember the time you asked me why I’d gone over to the University of Patras?”
“Yes.” He traced the line of her mouth with his finger. “You said you’d decided to talk to a professor about your research.”
“I lied.”
One corner of his compelling mouth lifted. “I’m intrigued.”
“The dean of the humanities department offered me a temporary job to teach a section on Lord Byron this fall in their theater department.”
“My brilliant wife.”
“But you know why I turned it down. Maybe if I call him and tell him my circumstances have changed, he’ll still allow it to happen.”
“I have no doubt of it.” He rubbed her arm as a prelude to making love. “I fell so hard for you from day one, I was afraid I would scare you off.”
“Obviously you didn’t. I wanted to be with you from that moment on.”
Andreas wrapped a leg around hers. I’m so proud of my gorgeous wife, who not only has beauty, but brains.”
She hid her face in his neck. “The thing is, if I get pregnant soon, I’ll be able to teach and still have time to relax before the baby comes. If I don’t get pregnant right away, then hopefully they’ll want me to teach another unit. Barring that, I want to learn Greek and need to start lessons. Ari and I can learn together.”
“Zoe—” He covered her with kisses and the world wheeled away until noon when they both awakened hungry.
“Don’t move a muscle. I’ll call for room service,” she offered and reached for the phone on the bedside table. “I want to wait on you.”
He lay back like a pasha against the pillows and waited while she told the kitchen what they wanted. Then she returned to his arms and he held her close. “After we eat, we’ll have all afternoon to please ourselves. Tonight we’ll go out on the boat and I’ll show you more wonders you haven’t begun to see.”
She clasped his handsome face in her hands. “I hope you know you’re the only wonder I want to look at or experience. Nothing else comes close to the Andreas effect. You come once in a millennium, and for some reason I still can’t comprehend, I’m the woman who’s been allowed the privilege to be loved by you.”
EPILOGUE
Hollywood, California, a year later
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, tonight we’re assembled here in the Galaxy Theater to honor Magda Collier and preview her extraordinary film about Lord Byron. Magda? Please come out onstage.”
There was a thunderous ovation from a packed audience. Zoe looked around Andreas to smile at Ginger and Abby, who were sitting by their husbands. It was such an exciting night, the three of them were running on adrenaline.
The famous film director walked out to the podium, a flamboyant, much-loved character. The MC, the president of the screen guild, embraced her before stepping out of the spotlight.
“What a sight. All this distinguished body of talent gathered together. Tonight is a landmark moment in my career. For years I’ve wanted to produce a film on Lord Byron, the great British poet, that shows him in a completely different light than the world has viewed him since the 1800s. I wanted him set apart from the usual clichés and I needed fresh material seen through new eyes. So I went to our great learning institutions to see if I could find these new eyes and discovered three outstanding scholars who came to Los Angeles to work with my screenwriters for a week. After I gave them their assignments, they left in January to begin their quests. As I say their names, will they please stand?”
Zoe moaned and grabbed Andreas’s arm. Neither she nor the girls had any idea this was going to happen.
“The first scholar is Abby Grant Decorvet from San Jose State. She was sent to Switzerland to cover Lord Byron’s travels there.”
Abby got to her feet and had to wait several minutes for the applause to subside. She’d given birth recently to a son. Both she and Raoul were ecstatic.
“The second scholar is Ginger Lawrence Della Scala from Stanford. I sent her to Italy, where the famous poet spent a great deal of time.”
Another explosion of applause sounded as Ginger stood. Her friend was six months along and showing it.
Zoe got ready, because she knew she would be next.
“Our third scholar is Zoe Perkins Gavras from UCLA. She traveled to Greece, where Lord Byron’s life was snuffed out at the age of thirty-six.”
Andreas gave her hand a squeeze before she got to her feet. They’d just found out they were expecting, and her joy knew no bounds. More applause filled the theater. When it subsided, she sat down. It was a good thing since her legs felt like jelly.
“When you view this film, you’ll begin to understand the brilliance of their research, which has been so divinely portrayed by th
e screenwriters and the actors for this film. It is a divine work, because George Byron was a genius. One thrilling side note for these three women is that all of them met the loves of their lives while working on this project. They married last year and now live in France, Italy and Greece, the three areas of Europe Byron loved so well. That was a bonus neither they nor I expected.”
The audience laughed and clapped hard.
“And now...the film.”
A hush fell over the theater as the movie began. Zoe sat there mesmerized, overjoyed, touched, moved to tears, haunted. The acting was superb. She experienced every emotion possible and knew the girls did, too, as they saw the beauty of Byron’s poetry come to life on the big screen using the material they’d supplied.
Pride in her accomplishment brought tears to Zoe’s eyes. Several times she glanced at the girls and noticed their eyes glistening, too. When she looked at Andreas, the love in his eyes melted her to the spot.
When the film ended, there was a roar of applause. Everyone got to their feet and cheered. Magda had to make six curtain calls. Zoe was so happy for the director, and humbled that she and the girls had been chosen to contribute to the making of such an extraordinary presentation. A masterpiece, really, from beginning to end.
As they exited the theater they were swamped by people who wanted to talk, to get an autograph, to take pictures.
A limo waited for them out in front and the six of them climbed in. Magda had booked them at the Kimpton Everly Hotel. When they arrived, they went up to Zoe and Andreas’s suite to talk. No one would sleep for a while. There was so much to talk about they’d be up half the night.
Andreas ordered coffee and sandwiches, and they all got comfortable.
Ginger spoke up first. “I have to admit that I didn’t expect the film to be such an emotional experience.”
Abby nodded. “I know what you mean. Every time something new unfolded, I had to pinch myself to believe that the three of us were responsible for the information.”
“It was really fantastic that Magda invited us and acknowledged us like that,” Zoe murmured.
Andreas put his arm around her shoulders. “I know I speak for the men here when I say how proud we are to be married to such extraordinary women.”
“Amen,” they said in unison.
“I wish my brother, Gaspare, could have seen what we saw tonight.”
“So do I, Vittorio,” Ginger said to her husband. “Hopefully this film will be shown abroad and he’ll have an opportunity to view it.”
Raoul got up to pour himself another cup of coffee. “The scene of The Prisoner of Chillon got to me.” He eyed Abby. “The day we met, we went out on Lake Geneva and you quoted some lines to me. I’ll never forget.”
“Neither will I, darling.”
Zoe reached for a sandwich. “Since we’re going to be here for a few days, what do you want to do tomorrow?”
Andreas leaned forward. “Why don’t we make the rounds to visit the places where our wives grew up?”
Everyone liked that idea, and then they decided to go to bed. Zoe smiled, because she knew the others couldn’t wait to be alone.
After the others left, Andreas turned out the lights and they headed for the bedroom, their favorite place whether it be at the hotel, on the boat or at the villa.
Once in bed, he pulled her close. “That day when your taxi got in that accident I would never have dreamed we’d end up in Hollywood, attending a viewing of a film my wife helped make. After tonight you’re a celebrity. It’s a privilege to be married to you.”
“I feel the same way about you.” She started kissing him. “Let me show you.”
* * *
Look out for the previous two books in the Holiday with a Billionaire trilogy
Falling for the Venetian Billionaire
Captivated by the Brooding Billionaire
And if you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Rebecca Winters
The Magnate’s Holiday Proposal
Whisked Away by Her Sicilian Boss
Bound to Her Greek Billionaire
Return of Her Italian Duke
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from A Diamond in the Snow by Kate Hardy.
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A Diamond in the Snow
by Kate Hardy
CHAPTER ONE
‘VICTORIA?’ FELICITY, THE textile conservation expert who was doing the annual survey of the displays at Chiverton Hall, stood awkwardly in the office doorway. ‘Could I have a quick word?’
Victoria’s heart sank. Felicity and her team were checking for anything that might need conservation work over the winter. The fact that she wanted a word must mean she’d found something. ‘Bad news?’
‘It’s not all bad,’ Felicity said brightly. ‘There are a couple of rooms where you need to lower the light levels a bit more, to limit the fade damage, but those moth traps have worked brilliantly and there’s no evidence of silverfish or death watch beetle—all the holes in the wood are the same as they were last time round and there’s no evidence of frazz.’
Frazz, Victoria knew, were the little shavings of wood caused by beetles chomping through it. And that would’ve meant major structural repairs to whatever was affected, anything from a chair to floorboards to oak panelling. ‘I’m glad to hear that.’ Though she knew Felicity wouldn’t have come to talk about something minor. ‘But?’
Felicity sighed. ‘I was checking the gilt on a mirror and I found mould behind it.’
‘Mould?’ Victoria looked at her in shock. ‘But we keep an eye on the humidity levels and we’ve installed conservation heating.’ The type that switched on according to the relative humidity in a room, not the temperature. ‘How can we have mould?’ A nasty thought struck her. ‘Oh, no. Is there a leak somewhere that’s caused dampness in a wall?’ Though Victoria walked through the rooms every day. Surely she should’ve spotted any signs of water damage?
Felicity shook her head. ‘I think it probably started before you put in the heating, when the humidity wasn’t quite right, and we didn’t spot it at the last survey because it was behind the mirror and it’s only just grown out to the edge. Unless we’re doing a full clean of the wall coverings—’ something that they only did every five years ‘—we don’t take the mirrors and paintings down.’
‘Sorry.’ Victoria bit her lip. ‘I didn’t mean it to sound as if I was having a go at you.’
‘I know. It’s the sort of news that’d upset anyone.’
Victoria smiled, relieved that the conservation expert hadn’t taken offence. ‘Which room?’
‘The ballroom.’
Victoria’s favourite room in the house; she loved the way the silk damask wall hangings literally glowed in the light. As children, she and Lizzie had imagined Regency balls taking place there; they’d dressed up and pretended to be one of their ancestors. Well, Lizzie’s ancestors, really, as Victoria was adopted; though Patrick and Diana Hamilton had never treated her as if she were anything other than their biological and much-loved daughter.
‘I guess behind the mirror is the obvious place for mould to start,’ Victoria said. ‘We don’t use the fireplaces, so there’s cold, damp air in the chimney breast, and the dampness would be trapped between the wall and the mirror.’
‘Exactly that,’ Felicity said. ‘You know, if you ever get bored running this place, I’d be more than happy to poach you as a senior member of my team.’
Victoria summoned a smile, though she felt like bawling her eyes out. Mould wasn’t good in any building, but it was especially problematic when it came to heritage buildings. ‘Thanks, but I’m never going to get bored here.’ Though if Lizzie, the true heir to Chiverton Hall, had lived, she would’ve been the one taking over from their parents. Victoria probably would’ve ended up working in either food history or conservation but with books, rather than with textiles. ‘How bad is it?’
‘Bad enough that we’ll need to take the hangings down to dry them out. We can’t fix it in situ. Hopefully a thorough clean with the conservation vac and a soft brush will get out most of the damage, but if the material’s been weakened too much we’ll have to put a backing on it.’
‘Worst-case?’ Victoria asked.
‘The silk will be too fragile to go back, and we’ll need a specialist weaving company to produce a reproduction for us.’
Victoria dragged in a breath. ‘The whole room?’
Wedding the Greek Billionaire Page 15