After a moment’s hesitation, Loukas took them and studied the notebook carefully.
‘Thank you,’ he whispered in English.
Startled amber eyes met his. As far as Xander was aware, they were the first words his nephew had spoken to Elizabeth since he’d told her to go away.
His chest swelled but he took pains not to show it. ‘Shall we eat here?’
Loukas took a seat. It was as far from Elizabeth as he could get but at least he didn’t curl his body away from her.
As Elizabeth studied her menu, and Loukas unwrapped his notebook, Xander studied Elizabeth and was consumed with the urge to unwrap her.
* * *
‘Have a drink with me,’ Xander said, pouring himself a Scotch.
Loukas’s nanny had just whisked him away from the dining table for a bath and Elizabeth had stood too, looking ready to bolt.
She hesitated.
‘I’m requesting a drink, not to rip your clothes off. Unless,’ he added when her eyes found his, ‘you want me to rip them off.’
‘Look, Xander...’ She perched her bottom on the edge of the table and dragged her teeth over her bottom lip. ‘Last night was great.’
‘It was,’ he agreed. A twinge pulled at his groin as he recalled for the hundredth time that day just how great it had been.
Pouring a liberal dose of gin in a glass for her, he added two cubes of ice, a slice of lemon, and topped it up with tonic water.
He took it over and held it out to her.
‘I didn’t say I wanted one,’ she said softly, accepting it nonetheless.
He deliberately brushed his fingers against hers. ‘You didn’t say no.’
A curl had fallen onto her face. He pushed it away then dove his hand into her thick mass of hair.
Her breath hitched. ‘Xander...’
‘I’ve been fantasising about you all day.’ He pressed his cheek against hers so his words flowed into her ear. Her beautiful scent played into his senses, heating him. ‘Have you been thinking of me?’
‘I’ve been with you for most of the day,’ she protested, but made no attempt to escape his hold or move her soft cheek from his.
He moved his mouth over hers and nipped her bottom lip. ‘All I’ve wanted today is to get you alone.’
He took the glass from her hand and set it on the table, then used his thighs to nudge her legs apart so he stood between them. Her eyes gleamed and he knew she could feel his arousal through the thick denim of the jeans they both wore.
‘You’re here. I’m here,’ he murmured, brushing his lips across her skin as he spoke. ‘We both want each other. We both know how good the sex is between us. The genie’s out of the bottle and it’s not going back in.’
He trailed his fingers down her spine, delighting in the little shivers she gave at his touch. He kissed her then looked deep into her bright eyes. ‘We both know where we stand. No false hopes. No one gets hurt.’
She gazed at him for an almost insufferable length of time before she sighed and wound her arms around his neck.
‘No one gets hurt,’ she agreed with a whisper. Then her lips parted and she was kissing him, her hold around his neck tightening as she pressed her chest to his.
The ache in his groin worse than ever, Xander devoured her mouth, plundering it as he leaned her back so she was almost flat on the table.
How badly he wanted to be inside her.
A discreet cough shattered the moment.
Loukas’s nanny stood in the doorway, bright red with embarrassment. ‘Loukas left his new notebook in here.’
Xander pulled away from a clearly mortified Elizabeth. The notebook was on the table next to her delectable bottom.
Once Rachael had disappeared he took a drink of his Scotch. Elizabeth was still cringing from her perch on the table.
‘Sometimes I think I employ too many staff,’ he said drily, adjusting his jeans, which had become painfully constricting.
Given the opportunity he would lock her in a secluded retreat, just the two of them, and make love to her until they were both so sated neither could walk.
She took a sip of her gin with a trembling hand but her voice was steady and her gaze unwavering as she said, ‘And I think an early night is called for.’
He raised his glass in a salute and adjusted his jeans again with a wince. ‘I’ll drink to that.’
* * *
Five hours later, Xander watched Elizabeth collect her strewn clothing from the mess on floor. By the time they’d got to his bedroom they’d been so desperate for each other they hadn’t even made it into the bed. He’d taken her against the door with only a fraction of their clothing removed.
Afterwards, they’d taken a shower together then got into bed and taken each other all over again.
She noticed him watching her and smiled. ‘Next time you can do the walk of shame.’
‘Through an adjoining door?’
She laughed softly and blew him a kiss.
Resisting the urge to ask her to stay, he said only, ‘You know where my bed is if you want another repeat.’
‘Goodnight, Xander.’
The last sound he heard from her room was the adjoining door being locked.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
NOW THEY WERE officially lovers again, the antipathy Elizabeth had been holding on to seeped from her like a slowly deflating balloon.
Their lives over the next few days took on a routine. Xander would fly to Athens early each morning after they’d breakfasted with Loukas, while she would take a long walk along the beach. Once back in his villa, she would set herself up in the infinity room with her notebook. Within a couple of days she’d filled it. When she asked Xander if she could hitch a lift with him to Athens he readily agreed, suggesting they meet for an early lunch.
Alone there, she found an excellent stationery shop, made her purchases, then decided to take a wander around the vibrant city. As she passed a news stand, the front cover of a paper caught her eye. It had a photo of her and Xander on it, taken at the museum fundraiser four days ago.
It was a vivid reminder of why she was there.
The court case was only two days away.
Studying the picture some more, she could see it had been taken when they’d first arrived at the museum, mere hours before they’d become lovers again, when she’d still been determined to fight her attraction to him.
The nights they shared were wonderful but, no matter how deeply sated she was or how badly she longed to sleep in his arms, she wouldn’t spend the night with him. It was safer that way.
As wary as she was of Loukas forming an attachment to her, she was doubly wary of allowing herself to form an attachment to Xander.
She would not leave herself open to heartbreak again. It had been hard enough to get over him the first time.
But you never really got over him, did you? If you had you wouldn’t have spent the rest of your life alone.
It was a thought she kept shoving away, scared to even dwell on it.
She found the restaurant she’d agreed to meet Xander at and, the sun shining down, decided to take an outside table. While she waited, her cell rang.
She pressed the accept button at the moment she spotted Xander heading towards her and raised her hand in greeting.
When he reached her, she rose to kiss him then carried on with her conversation.
‘Who was that?’ he asked when she’d finished the call.
‘Steve.’
Was she imagining it or did Xander’s jaw clench?
‘I thought you’d got everything wrapped up about Leviathan Solutions?’
No, she wasn’t imagining it. There was a definite edge to his voice.
‘He was calling to catch up.’
‘Catch up? Friends catch up.’
‘And Steve’s a friend. He wanted to tell me about the temp work he’s found and how awful his new colleagues are.’
His fingers drummed on the table. ‘Are you lovers?’
She rea
red back a little. ‘Are you insane? How many times do I have to tell you we’re just friends?’
‘You never answered the question properly before. Friends are capable of being lovers. It happens all the time.’
Her cheeks now scarlet, Elizabeth leaned over the table and said, ‘What does it matter? I don’t drill you on your sex life.’
‘That’s it though. I don’t know anything about who you’ve been involved with.’ Xander dragged a hand through his hair. ‘You know everything about my past relationships—including the ones that never happened,’ he added with a grin that belied the undercurrents racing through his veins. Whenever he heard the name Steve he wanted to thump something.
That she’d been his wife all these years was neither of their faults and he accepted he had no right to feel possessive towards her. It didn’t change the fact that he did feel possessive.
It was a level of possessiveness he hadn’t felt for many years. Ten of them.
‘That’s your own fault.’ She showed no sign of softening.
‘Those stories about me were bull and you know it. I was barely on first-name terms with half the women who said they’d shared my bed.’
Her eyes flashed. ‘Bull or not, it doesn’t give you the right to know every aspect of my life and your petty jealousy isn’t going to make me tell you anything.’
‘I’m not jealous.’
‘Then don’t act like you are.’
Xander had never been jealous in his life. The idea was ridiculous.
And yet...
The thought of another man touching her made him want to do more than thump things.
He rolled his neck and forced a deep breath. ‘Let’s change the subject to something neutral.’
After all, with Loukas’s custody case only two days away, the last thing they needed was to have a public argument. The restaurant was busy and, judging by the side-eye they were getting from most of the other diners and passers-by, they’d been recognised.
‘Can you ask your pilot to take me home?’ Elizabeth asked when she’d had enough. ‘I don’t want to hang around here for the rest of the day.’
Now that she had her new notebooks, she was itching to get back to the script idea slowly unfolding in her head.
Also, watching Xander spear his chicken pieces as if they’d personally offended him had affected her appetite. If they’d been in the privacy of his home she would have had it out with him but being in public she’d held her tongue and contented herself with throwing daggers at him with her eyes.
Was he really jealous of Steve? And if he was, what did that mean? That he was developing feelings for her?
He raised a shoulder and pulled his phone out. ‘Sure.’
He made the call and then looked at her. His lips, which had been pressed in a thin line, softened. ‘Do I get a kiss goodbye?’
‘Are you going to say sorry for being a butthead?’
‘A what...?’ His eyes narrowed but then he grinned and shook his head. ‘I’m sorry for being a butthead.’
‘Apology accepted.’
‘Now do I get a kiss goodbye?’
‘For the sake of the cameras?’ There were no lurking photographers that she could see.
His eyes gleamed. ‘Why else?’
* * *
Xander had arranged for a cab to meet her at the Diadonus airstrip. When Elizabeth walked into the villa she understood why he hadn’t got a member of staff to collect her. It was market day in Diadonus Town and all the staff had gone there.
Wandering into the kitchen to make herself a coffee, she was searching for cups when her cell rang.
‘Are you home?’ Xander asked without preamble.
‘I’ve just walked in. What’s up?’
‘I’ve had a call from the school. Loukas has fallen out of a tree—he’s okay but they think he might have fractured his arm. I’m on my way to the airport but it’s going to be a good hour until I get there. It’s Rachael’s day off so I need you to collect him for me and take him to the medical centre.’
‘Me?’
‘The school’s expecting you. Take one of my cars. The keys are in the top drawer of my desk in my study. I’ll meet you at the medical centre.’
Before she could protest that she hadn’t driven a car in over a decade, the line went dead.
Oh, well, she’d explain about her lack of driving experience when she got into an accident or something.
Oh, God, she had to drive Loukas in it too. As if the poor kid hadn’t suffered enough.
Mentally trying to remember the mechanics of driving, she sped to Xander’s study and found his collection of keys where he’d said they would be and took the first set that came to hand.
Entering the enormous garage, which was more like a hangar and filled with dozens of the world’s most famous and expensive cars in a neat row, she clicked the key until she spotted a car’s lights flashing.
It was the black Porsche Spyder.
She hit the button to open the main garage doors then scratched her head trying to figure how to get into the car. Once she’d managed that she stared at the spectacular array of gizmos and gadgets feeling rather dizzy and wondering how on earth she started the thing.
She’d learned to drive when she was sixteen but had never owned a car and hadn’t got behind the wheel since she quit Brown. She much preferred walking and, besides, New York was a nightmare for traffic.
She put the Porsche into gear and, sending a prayer to the God of Not Pranging Xander’s Car, inched forward and stalled it. After many starts, stalls and splutters she finally drove out of the garage and onto the open road.
Terrified of what she would find at the school, she parked badly at the front of the building and hurried into the reception.
The headmistress was waiting for her and looked at her with much suspicion. In her hand was a newspaper. It took Elizabeth a moment to realise it was the paper she’d seen in Athens earlier with her and Xander on the front. The head was satisfying herself Elizabeth really was Xander’s wife and therefore a person she could admit into her school.
‘He fell from tree,’ the headmistress said. ‘He was hiding.’
‘Is it only his arm that’s hurt?’
‘Nai.’
‘Where else is he injured?’ she asked in alarm before remembering nai was the Greek word for yes.
She was taken to a small room where a white-faced Loukas sat on a sofa, a young serious-faced woman beside him. Someone had made a sling for his damaged arm.
When he saw her his little face crumpled.
Kneeling before him, Elizabeth said gently, ‘How are you feeling?’
Loukas didn’t answer but tears started to fall.
‘Your arm hurts?’
He nodded.
‘Your uncle’s on his way home. He’s asked me to take you to the medical centre to get it looked at.’
Now he shook his head violently.
‘The doctor will be able to give you medicine to make you feel better,’ she cajoled.
More head shaking.
‘Don’t you want your arm to be better?’
A slight hesitation then a nod.
‘So why don’t you want to come with me? Your uncle will meet us there.’
So used to her every question being met with muteness, Elizabeth thought she was hearing things when his lips parted and he whispered something.
‘What did you say, honey?’
She leaned closer and tucked her hair behind her ear so he could speak into it, half expecting him to say he’d rather suffer his broken arm than go anywhere with her.
‘The doctor will keep me there.’
‘No...’ As she immediately repudiated his words, she thought of his mother and understood where his fears were coming from.
His mother had gone to hospital a month ago and there was no sign of her coming home any time soon.
‘Loukas,’ she tried again, ‘I promise you, they won’t keep you there. If your arm
is broken they might have to keep you in overnight—I’m not a doctor so I don’t know, but I promise, cross my heart, that you will come home very soon.’
‘I don’t want to be on my own.’
She could cry for him.
‘Your uncle won’t let that happen and neither will I. One of us will stay with you the whole time.’
‘You promise?’
She made a solemn sign of the cross over her chest. ‘I promise.’
Loukas seemed to think about it before giving a tentative nod.
Elizabeth held out a hand to him. ‘Shall we get your arm fixed now?’
The arm that wasn’t in a sling reached out. A little hand slipped into hers.
That one simple, trusting gesture melted her heart completely.
* * *
Xander made the journey to the medical centre ready to ram cars and people for not moving fast enough.
When he finally pulled up in the car park, he spotted his Porsche Spyder, sticking out like a sore thumb parked as it was almost diagonally over two spaces.
Despite the worry gnawing at him it was a sight that brought a wry smile to his face.
He knew he’d been unfair passing the responsibility for Loukas onto Elizabeth’s shoulders but he hadn’t been able to think of another option. It wasn’t that he thought her incapable of caring for his nephew; quite the opposite, but he was worried about Loukas’s reaction to her. His nephew seemed no closer to accepting her as a presence in his life and Xander had to keep reminding himself that Elizabeth was doing the right thing in not forcing it seeing as she wasn’t going to be a part of it for ever.
The medical centre had opened in Diadonus only four years ago and was like a miniature hospital with first-class medical staff, state-of-the-art scanners and even an operating theatre.
The lady working behind the reception desk recognised him and sent him off with a smile to the paediatric ward. There, he found them in a private room. They were both sitting on the bed, Elizabeth reading him a story.
They both smiled widely to see him.
To Xander’s amazement, Loukas was holding her hand.
Elizabeth saw the direction of his gaze and gave him a look that clearly said, ‘Do not say anything.’
Pulling up a chair to sit beside them, Xander made the usual small talk such circumstances necessitated, doing his best to be nonchalant about Loukas’s arm and the fact he seemed to have finally accepted Elizabeth.
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