This was much more than he’d hoped for. ‘Thank you.’
She shrugged her coat and woolly hat off and hung them in a store cupboard by the door. ‘Whatever.’
The kitchen was at the far end of the open-plan living space. Knowing she wouldn’t invite him to sit, he took a stool at the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the tiny dining area.
‘I read through your notebook,’ he said while she fixed the coffee, her back to him.
She stiffened a touch then opened a cupboard to remove two mugs.
‘You’re writing a script.’
Not a flicker of response this time.
‘Second chance love.’ He rubbed his jaw. ‘Not about us. Not exactly. I could figure that for myself. But still, second chance love. The path to redemption and forgiveness.’
There was a long period of silence, then, her back still to him, she opened the cupboard under the sink and pulled out some kitchen roll. She blew her nose.
‘Elizabeth?’
‘Can you please go?’ There was nothing stony about her voice now. It trembled and choked as she added, ‘There’s a coffee shop across the road. Please. Go. I can’t see you right now.’
‘Elizabeth...’
‘Please?’ Then she turned to face him. Tears fell down her cheeks in a torrent. ‘Please, Xander, just get out. I can’t bear it.’
He was off the stool and hauling her into his arms before he could blink.
Smoothing her hair with his hand, he held her tightly. ‘Elizabeth, please, don’t cry. Punch me or kick me, anything you like, just don’t cry like this. I’m not worth it.’
She punched a fist against his chest. ‘I know you’re not.’
‘I’m a selfish, selfish man.’
‘Yes.’
‘I put the business above everything else.’
She punched him again while still sobbing into the crook of his neck. ‘Yes.’
‘I walked away from you once because I was scared.’
She stilled.
‘And then I let you walk away from me because I was terrified.’
He took hold of the hand he feared was about to thump him again and held it tight against his heart. ‘You were the best person I had ever known. I fell in love with you the minute I saw you and I have never stopped loving you. I’ve done everything in my power to forget you but you’ve been living in my heart for so long you’ve claimed squatters’ rights.’
She made a noise like a choking hyena.
He smiled and kissed her hair reverently. ‘Those plans we made ten years ago, I meant every word of them. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you and have our four babies. Samuel, Giannis, Imogen and Rebecca.’
She wriggled enough to tilt her head back and look at him with puffy eyes. ‘You remember?’ she whispered.
‘Always.’ He couldn’t hold her tightly enough. What a fool he’d been. ‘But you’re right. I should have fought for you.’
He closed his eyes. ‘I should have fought for you,’ he repeated. ‘I didn’t. I thought I was doing the right thing. And maybe you’re right that the business meant more to me than you but I didn’t see it like that. The family business was my life. It was who I was. It didn’t cross my mind that I could walk away from it. All I knew for certain was that I didn’t want you within a thousand miles of my world. The one good person I knew from it was Ana and all I could think was if she couldn’t cope with our world—and she’d been raised in it—then how could you? You wouldn’t have, not then. And at her funeral I knew I’d made the right choice to leave you behind because it cut me to pieces to see her coffin lowered into the ground. If anything had happened to you it would have killed me.’
Elizabeth’s eyes shone with tears but she kept them on his face, not interrupting, letting him spill his guts.
‘Yanis and Katerina are going to divorce.’
‘Really?’ she whispered hoarsely.
‘Nai. It is time. Yanis will have custody of Loukas but between us we’ll make sure he spends lots of time with her. If and when she’s better they’ll look at it again but to keep Loukas settled they’ve agreed this is the way forward.’
She gave a tentative smile. ‘What brought it on?’
‘You.’
‘Me?’
He nodded. ‘You were right about that as well. They’d stayed together to protect the business. You made me see that my family have used the damned business as a means of controlling each other for too long. I bear guilt for that too, but it stops now. It’s us, the people in the family, the people we love who matter. Yanis and Katerina will never find happiness together but I hope they will find happiness with other lovers in the future, and I hope the cycle of revenge stops now too. You said a long time ago that no one knew what was in Ana’s head when she got behind the wheel. Ana made that choice and I need to let it go; the blame, the guilt, all of it, but I don’t know if I can do it without you.’
He paused for breath and rubbed his thumbs across her cheekbones. ‘When I read through your notebook and pieced together what your storyline would be about, that’s when it struck me that you’d opened your heart again enough to be able to write about love, and if you, someone who has been through far more than me, can open your heart and take that leap of faith... I have done some stupid things in my life but denying my love for you last week was the stupidest of them all. I do love you, Elizabeth. When I walked away from you ten years ago I had to put my heart in a vice to get through it. Having you back broke it free and I didn’t even realise. This past week...it’s felt like all my limbs have been ripped off. I can’t be without you. Please, come back to me, I beg you. I know I don’t deserve a third chance but I’m lost without you and I swear on Loukas’s life I will never put anyone or anything above you again, not even my own fears or pride.’
For the longest time, Elizabeth didn’t say anything. And then she gave a tentative smile. ‘Wow. That was some speech.’
He gave a shaky laugh. ‘I’ve been going over and over what I was going to say to you since I left Diadonus. So what do you say? Will you give me another chance? Will you take the leap of faith with me?’ He knew she loved him but was it enough for her to forgive him?
Her smile widened and she looped her arms around his neck and raised herself onto her toes to press a kiss to his mouth. ‘I’ll think about it.’
‘Take all the time you need.’
She rubbed her nose against his. ‘If you reject me again I will cut your heart out.’
‘Cut it out now. It’s yours. It’s yours for ever.’
Now she put her lips back to his and kissed him with such sweet passion his heart soared.
‘I’ve thought about it,’ she said when they came up for air, ‘and the answer is yes. You’re my world. I can function without you but it’s only when I’m with you that I feel whole. I don’t want to be without you.’
And then her soft lips were on his again and he knew they would be the lips he kissed for the rest of his life.
EPILOGUE
ELIZABETH COULDN’T STOP SMILING. Her mouth had been curved up for so long her cheeks ached in protest. It made not a jot of difference. This was the happiest day of her life and the best bit was about to happen.
Xander solemnly took the simple gold band from Loukas and then, a grin widening on his own face, slid it onto her finger.
She would never take it off.
Then it was her turn to slide Xander’s wedding ring onto his finger.
She knew in her heart he would never take it off.
The renewal of their vows done, they turned to face the congregation, who all stood in applause.
The church was jam-packed. Having done a beachside quickie marriage the first time with only two of the hotel’s bar staff as witnesses, this time they’d wanted to do it properly and exchange their vows in front of everyone they knew.
They’d chosen to do it all properly. Elizabeth wore a traditional white floor-length dress with a train Lou
kas kept hiding under, Xander was gorgeous in a black tux.
Her hand clasped tightly in his, she scanned the congregation. There was Katerina, still jaundiced but hopeful of recovery. After a horrendous relapse on the day she’d been discharged, she’d frightened herself enough to finally admit that she was an alcoholic. She’d been dry for two months and in another four would qualify for a liver transplant. All Elizabeth could do was pray she stayed dry.
In a surprise twist, Katerina and Yanis had decided to give their marriage another chance. Somewhere in all the years of pain and substance abuse, love had grown. It had taken them both getting sober to realise it.
In the front row to the left were Xander’s parents, both pretending to be delighted at this renewal of vows. A declaration of peace had been issued and so far all parties were sticking to it. Elizabeth didn’t believe for a minute that it would last.
Next to Mirela and Dragan sat Elizabeth’s father and stepmother, who had taken one look at her mother sitting in the front row to the right, and changed pews. Elizabeth was very much looking forward to seeing how her mother and Mirela got on during the reception. Xander had started a sweepstake over which mother-in-law would ‘accidentally’ spill something on the other first.
She couldn’t resist waving at Piper Mancini, bouncing her bonny newborn baby and looking utterly beautiful beside her handsome, protective husband Dante. Directly behind them sat Zayn and Amalia, pressed close together. Beside them were Benjamin and Julianna Carter. Rumours abounded that both Amalia and Julianna were pregnant and Elizabeth was determined to get them alone later to see if the rumours were true and share her own news—that the pregnancy test she’d taken a fortnight ago had been positive.
There was Yanis, now six months free from drugs and looking healthier by the day. There was Loukas, their ring-bearer, a happy soul unrecognisable from the scared child she’d met six months ago.
And then she turned her head to see the most important one of all. Xander. Her love, her rock, her best friend. And soon they would be parents, something that had made him spray champagne all over her to celebrate with.
As he leaned his head down to kiss her, she knew she would never regret taking this leap of faith.
* * * * *
EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT
Even unsentimental Alessandro Di Sione can’t deny his grandfather’s dream of retrieving a scandalous painting. Yet its return depends on outspoken Princess Gabriella. Travelling together to locate the painting, Gabby is drawn to this guilt-ridden man. Could their passion be his salvation?
Read on for a sneak preview of
THE LAST DI SIONE CLAIMS HIS PRIZE
the final part in the unmissable new eight book Presents series
THE BILLIONAIRE’S LEGACY
Alessandro was so different than she was. Gabby had never truly fully appreciated just how different men and women were. In a million ways, big and small.
Yes, there was the obvious, but it was more than that. And it was those differences that suddenly caused her to glory in who she was, what she was. To feel, if only for a moment, that she completely understood herself both body and soul, and that they were united in one desire.
“Kiss me, Princess,” he said, his voice low, strained.
He was affected.
So she had won.
She had been the one to make him burn.
But she’d made a mistake if she’d thought this game had one winner and one loser. She was right down there with him. And she didn’t care about winning anymore.
She couldn’t deny him, not now. Not when he was looking at her like she was a woman and not a girl, or an owl. Not when he was looking at her like she was the sun, moon and all the stars combined. Bright, brilliant and something that held the power to hold him transfixed.
Something more than what she was. Because Gabriella D’Oro had never transfixed anyone. Not her parents. Not a man.
But he was looking at her like she mattered. She didn’t feel like shrinking into a wall, or melting into the scenery. She wanted him to keep looking.
She didn’t want to hide from this. She wanted all of it.
Slowly, so slowly, so that she could savor the feel of him, relish the sensations of his body beneath her touch, she slid her hand up his throat, feeling the heat of his skin, the faint scratch of whiskers.
Then she moved to cup his jaw, his cheek.
“I’ve never touched a man like this before,” she confessed.
And she wasn’t even embarrassed by the confession, because he was still looking at her like he wanted her.
He moved closer, covering her hand with his. She could feel his heart pounding heavily, could sense the tension running through his frame. “I’ve touched a great many women,” he said, his tone grave. “But at the moment it doesn’t seem to matter.”
That was when she kissed him.
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THE LAST DI SIONE CLAIMS HIS PRIZE
By Maisey Yates
Available February 2017
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Copyright ©2016 Mills & Boon SA
ISBN: 978-1-474-05198-9
MARRIED FOR THE GREEK’S CONVENIENCE
© 2016 Michelle Smart
Published in Great Britain 2016
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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