‘Yes. We can call him later.’
Dimitrios took a moment to let the feeling pass. Panic gripped him, vice-like and hard. Annabelle snuggled against him and he felt as though he suddenly couldn’t breathe, as though he was trapped in a place he’d never wanted to be. Married. Intimacy. This was all so new to him.
For many years, he’d promised himself this was a situation in which he’d never find himself. He’d slept with women—of course—but he’d never stayed the night. Even before Annabelle that had never been his inclination but, after their disastrous night, and realising how badly he’d hurt her, he’d taken an incredible degree of care not to inadvertently lead a woman on. He drew clear lines between sex and anything more, making sure he was absolutely open about what he could offer, what he wanted.
But Annabelle wasn’t just another woman, she was his wife, and besides, despite his usual proclivities, there was nowhere else he wanted to be than here, like this, with her. Her head against his chest had grown heavy, her breathing steady. She was asleep. He shifted a little, checking the time on his wristwatch, a slow smile spreading over his face. They had all night—and he was going to make the most of it.
‘And this is Annie.’
Lewis reached across, tussling his little sister’s blonde hair, earning an eye-roll from her. But, as her vibrant blue eyes shifted to Dimitrios and Zach, bright pink colour infused her cheeks and her full lips parted on a husky breath.
‘Hey, good to meet you.’
Zach extended a hand, grinning as she took it and smiled in response. Dimitrios, though, stood stock-still. She was nothing like Lewis, who was dark in complexion and colouring, though their eyes had a similar shape. And there was something in the quizzical force of her expression, intelligent eyes that he somehow just knew would miss very little.
‘We’re heading away for the weekend,’ Lewis said. ‘Are Mum and Dad home?’
Annie’s eyes lingered on Dimitrios before shifting to look at Lewis. ‘Dad is—upstairs.’
‘And Mum?’
Annie shrugged, but there was tension in those shoulders, a look in her eyes that spoke of pain.
Dimitrios wanted to know everything about that—why was she troubled?
Lewis didn’t speak of his parents often. But he talked about his sister constantly. Dimitrios wasn’t sure why, but he’d pictured Annie as younger than she was—perhaps that was just Lewis’s big brotherly, protective vibe, making it seem as if he had a kid sister rather than someone on the brink of womanhood.
Womanhood? Christ. She was a teenager. Fifteen? But, yes, she was on the cusp—and why the hell was he noticing the fullness of her curves, the sweetness of her smile? He needed to get a grip.
‘We should get going, Lewis.’
‘Right.’ Lewis put an arm around Annie’s shoulders, drawing her close. ‘Annie, entertain these guys while I go pack. Won’t be long.’
Dimitrios watched as Annie and Zach fell into an easy rhythm, chatting about anything, from the local area to her schoolwork, to the law degree she was already set on pursuing.
‘I do really well in legal studies,’ she said with a small smile.
Dimitrios noticed that she barely looked in his direction. But he looked at her. He found it almost impossible not to.
‘Law is so dry, though, so boring,’ Zach was teasing, a grin on his face.
‘I like boring.’
She laughed, a sound like a bell ringing. Then her eyes dipped furtively towards him and her smile dropped, a frown taking its place before she looked away again quickly—but not before he could see the pink in her cheeks again.
‘Would you like a drink?’ she asked Zach, but she gestured towards Dimitrios too, encompassing him in the invitation.
‘Nah, we’ve got water bottles in the car.’
‘I’ll have a coffee,’ Dimitrios was surprised to hear himself say.
Hadn’t he been telling Lewis to hurry up only a minute earlier? So why prolong their time in this house?
‘O-okay...’ She stuttered a little, dipping her head forward so a curtain of blonde covered her face. ‘How do you take it?’
‘Black, strong.’
She lifted her eyes to his then and something fizzed between them—something that made sense of what he’d been feeling.
She had a crush on him!
That was why he was watching her like a hawk, trying to understand her behaviour towards him. She was young, inexperienced and her hormone-driven mind had cast him as some kind of romantic hero. Wasn’t that what teenage girls did?
He smiled to soften her nervousness, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.
‘I won’t be long.’
He startled, shifting in the bed, casting another glance at his gold wristwatch. Only ten minutes had elapsed but he’d dozed off, the past beckoning him, dragging him towards recollections he hadn’t thought of in years. The first time he’d met Annabelle she had made an impression on him. Even then there’d been something about her that had got under his skin—and it wasn’t simply that she’d had a crush on him. No, he’d found her every gesture intriguing, and he’d wanted to sit there and decode her, to make sense of her. Whenever Lewis had spoken of her after that, he’d listened with extra attentiveness. Particularly when she’d started dating some boy from a neighbouring school two years older than her. Lewis hadn’t really liked the guy. ‘But it’s her life,’ he’d said with a shrug. ‘And she clearly thinks he’s great.’
That had been the end of it. Or so Dimitrios had told himself. Then why had he gone to Annabelle the night after the funeral? It had been more than just checking up on her. It had been way more than his promise to Lewis. He’d felt compelled to see her, as though she was exactly where he needed to be.
He shifted a little in the bed, moving so he could see her, and something lurched inside him.
For whatever reason he’d gone to her, she’d deserved better. He’d had no idea she’d been a virgin; how could he have? She’d had boyfriends by then. Why would he presume a woman of eighteen hadn’t had sex when she’d been dating? Would it have changed anything about that night? That was something he couldn’t answer with any certainty.
He moved again and this time Annabelle stirred, slowly blinking up at him, the clarity of her eyes jettisoning him into the past at the same time she propelled him into the future, so he was at sixes and sevens with no clear notion of where he was in time or place.
‘I fell asleep.’ She smiled apologetically, only the slightest hint of the teenager he’d first met lingering in her eyes and on her lips.
‘Do you want to sleep some more?’ he asked, even as every bone in his body was silently praying she’d say no.
She shook her head, shyness flooding her eyes. ‘That’s the last thing I want.’
A second later, she’d lifted up and straddled him, her expression showing sensual heat. A second after that and her lips were on his, her flesh pressed to him, so thoughts and memories all burst into flames; there was only Annabelle, there was only this...
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘I DON’T WANT this to happen,’ she sobbed, hugging Lewis close, his frail frame in the bed bringing a lump to her throat that she couldn’t clear.
‘We don’t have any say in that.’ Even in his weakened condition, he smiled, trying to ease her pain. ‘Listen to me, Annie. I’m tired. I don’t know how long I’ll have, but it can’t be long. The drugs make me feel loopy most of the time,’ he said, referring to the cocktail of pain medication he’d been prescribed.
‘I know.’
She sat on the edge of his bed, stroking his hand. In the space of three months, he’d gone from looking strong and vital to this—pale and barely a skeleton with skin.
‘You are my favourite person in the whole world.’ He turned over his hand, catching hers. ‘You’re so smart and so ki
nd and so funny—you are going to live a wonderful life.’
A sob racked her lungs.
‘I need you to do something for me.’
She nodded urgently. ‘Anything.’
‘Live your life for me. Remember how proud I am of you. Remember how much faith I have in you. Remember the stories I’ve told you about everything you deserve and don’t ever settle for anything less. You’re brilliant, Annie. You deserve the world.’
The memory had come to her out of nowhere, hovering on the brink of her mind as she woke early the next morning. Their night had been perfect. After the boat, they’d gone to an exclusive club, where Dimitrios had sat close to Annie she had drunk a cocktail and felt as though she were floating in heaven. Neither of them had seemed to want the night to end. They’d come home in the small hours of the morning and they’d made love again in the bed that Annie now thought of as theirs until her body had been weakened by pleasure and she’d been too tired to keep her eyes open.
Everything was perfect.
Except it wasn’t. It just looked perfect.
The distinction sat in her gut as she dressed that morning and, despite the corner they’d turned, she felt a sense of panic crowding her.
They’d become intimate but that didn’t really mean anything—at least, not in the sense she wanted it to.
Out of nowhere, with the force of a lightning bolt, she remembered the detail of when they’d been making love on the boat and she’d wanted, more than anything, for him to tell her he loved her. How she’d craved those words—words she knew she’d never hear him offer.
Dimitrios went to work and she was glad of that. She needed space to fathom what she wanted next, what their new level of intimacy meant and, more importantly, she needed to work out how to exist in a marriage that included friendship and sex but no love. Weren’t the lines getting far more blurred than either of them had intended?
Fortunately, Max was in one of his million-miles-an-hour moods, so it was hard for Annie to focus on anything but him. Even when her mind kept throwing flashbacks at her—reminding her of the pleasure she’d felt the night before, of the man who’d driven her wild—she forced herself to stay in the present. One foot after the other, breathing in and out, until the day was almost at an end.
In the way of children, Max barely seemed to feel the heat of Singapore. He wanted to go out and explore, and Annie agreed, so they asked the driver to take them into the city. They shopped and found a playground, then the driver took them to a food market full of local delicacies. They weren’t too adventurous with their selections, but what they did order was delicious, and Annie promised they’d come back another time.
Christmas was everywhere they looked—despite the heat, as in Australia the depictions and decorations were all of a northern hemisphere, wintry Christmas. Trees with white snow painted on their ends, windows that looked snow-covered. Annie bought a packet of gourmet fruit mince pies on autopilot—it was something she’d always loved as a child but had had to do without since Max.
As the evening drew closer, nervous anticipation began to seep into her body. Soon they’d be home and that would mean facing Dimitrios. Annie knew she had to work out what she wanted before then. If she didn’t? They’d go to bed together, and again and again, and a pattern would form that would set the tone for the rest of her life. Which was fine, if she could accept what he was offering.
But was it enough?
She looked down at Max and guilt rammed her. How could she even think it wouldn’t be? How could she think her feelings mattered at all? This was right for Max, wasn’t it?
But her own childhood had been so marred by her parents’ unhappy marriage. She knew she had to avoid that too. She wouldn’t raise Max in a war zone.
Only, fighting with Dimitrios wasn’t inevitable—they could treat each other with respect even if they didn’t love one another.
If only Annie could be certain that was the case!
She stopped walking, staring at a glamorous handbag-store as her heart twisted sharply. It wasn’t the case. They might not love each other but Annie loved Dimitrios. She groaned softly, lifting a hand to her parted lips. She’d loved him as a teenager, but that had been easy to write off as a childish infatuation. This was so different. This was far more adult, far more dangerous, predicated on the way she’d come to know him now, years after they’d conceived Max. He was everything she’d fantasised about back then but so much more, too. He was kind, gentle and thoughtful, considerate and passionate. He was her other half.
‘Mummy? What is it?’
She swallowed hard, realisation making her breathing uneven. ‘I’m just hot, Maxi.’ She reverted to his baby name and he didn’t complain.
‘We should go home. Or get ice-cream.’
His opportunistic second suggestion brought a vague smile to her face. ‘Home for now.’
‘Okay.’ His voice only sounded a little disappointed. ‘It’s funny to think of this as home.’
More guilt. What was she actually proposing—that she leave Dimitrios? She couldn’t do that to Max, no matter how hard this was for her. But nor could she stay in a sham marriage, could she? She felt as though she were in a small room with daggers on all sides.
‘Do you like it here?’
The question was guarded, carefully blanked of any of Annie’s own thoughts.
‘Oh, yeah. It’s great. I love the soccer team, and the school looks awesome. I love the house and the pool and the golf course and my room.’
Annie nodded, difficulties cracking through her mind. ‘Good, darling. I’m glad. Now, where’s that car...?’
Dimitrios patted the box in his pocket as he strode through the front door, a smile on his face, impatience making his movements swift. His day had been long, far longer than he’d intended. A crisis had blown up with one of his corporate investments—the kind of crisis that would usually necessitate Dimitrios’s personal attention, requiring him to jump on the jet and fly straight to Hong Kong to sort it out.
But he didn’t. Instead, he did phone conferences and worked over email to resolve the situation, and in the back of his mind was the certainty that he didn’t want to leave Annabelle and Max.
His family.
Max was in bed when he returned home. ‘I’m late,’ he said to Annabelle, shaking his head. ‘I couldn’t get away sooner.’
Her eyes didn’t quite meet his, reminding him of the first time they’d met, that memory still fresh in his mind despite how much had happened—and changed—since then.
‘It’s fine. He was tired. We walked a lot today.’
He smiled, but also a kernel of jealousy lodged in his chest. He needed to scale back his hours—he should be joining Max as he got to know his new city.
‘Where did you go?’
‘Everywhere,’ she said. ‘Are you hungry?’
There was something in her tone that raised a hint of alarm. Instinctively, he wanted to erase that. ‘Sure. But first, I have something for you.’
She froze, her body quite still, her eyes wide as they lifted to his. ‘Oh?’
He reached for her hand at the same time he removed the jewellery box from his jacket. The world-famous turquoise would communicate to her that something special was inside. He watched as she lifted the lid, her fingers a little unsteady. The ring shone in the light of the hallway. Large diamonds formed a circlet, and in their centre there was a canary-yellow diamond the size of a fingernail, cut in a perfect circle and set in four shimmering claws. Annabelle stared at it for a long time, as though she’d never seen a ring before.
‘It goes on your finger,’ he said with a droll smile.
She didn’t look at him. ‘I know. It’s just... Whatever did you buy it for?’
He pulled the ring from the box and took her hand in his, lifting it so he could slip the ring on to her finge
r.
It was a perfect fit. She flexed her fingers, staring at it, before flicking her eyes in his direction. ‘Why are you giving me this?’
He reached for her hand, stroking her fingers. ‘Last night felt like a beginning. I wanted to mark the occasion.’
The column of her throat shifted as she swallowed. She looked the opposite of overjoyed. It was as though the ring was some kind of burden. ‘Thank you.’
Her reaction wasn’t what he’d expected. He spoke carefully, his voice calm, but his every instinct was flaring to life, telling him something was up.
‘You don’t like it?’
Her white teeth sank into her lower lip. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she contradicted, but so quietly he had to strain to hear. ‘It’s just...’
‘Go on.’
‘About last night...’
He braced his skeleton with steel, a sharp rush of wariness making his body tense all over. ‘Yes?’
She sighed. ‘I think we need to talk.’
And, just like that, he recognised that he’d been afraid of this all day. It was why he’d stayed local, why he’d moved mountains to be able to come home to her tonight. He’d been worried about her reaction.
Regret. Guilt. Shame. Everything he’d felt after the first time they’d been together came crashing back into him. But this was different—he’d been so careful this time, fighting all his instincts to make sure the time was right for Annabelle, that she was ready.
Except something was bothering her, and that was everything Dimitrios had wanted to avoid. He braced himself for whatever was coming. ‘Okay. Let’s talk.’
Annie poured two glasses of wine and handed one to him, the ring catching her attention. She stared at it for a few seconds, then moved towards the table nearest the pool. The water was a deep turquoise colour and greenery surrounded them—bougainvillea grew rampant like a purple-flowering wall, giving privacy on one side. The city glistened straight ahead, and geranium and succulents formed a lush garden to their left. She breathed in, the fragrance of this place heaven. Except her nerves were too stretched to enjoy it.
An Heir Claimed By Christmas (Mills & Boon Modern) (A Billion-Dollar Singapore Christmas, Book 1) Page 15