Harlequin Presents--July 2021--Box Set 1 of 2

by Natalie Anderson

  Nevertheless, she’d caught herself in quiet moments wondering if, despite all the precautions she’d taken, she’d set herself up for a life-shattering heartache. One set to surpass the last disastrous episode, which now seemed such a non-starter compared to what she had with Christos.

  And what did she have, exactly?

  Those searing, portentous moments of dread quickly dissipated when he pulled her into his arms in their bed at night. And, as much as she knew she was sinking deeper into whatever this emotional quagmire was, she’d welcomed him. Craved his lovemaking. While clinging on to the belief that things would go back to normal when they left the island.

  Except...

  Normal didn’t appeal any more. Normal came with a Christos-shaped hole that—

  ‘Are you ready, matia m—’

  She spun around at his voice, then froze at the look in Christos’s eyes as he stood in the doorway to her dressing room. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘You look...stunning,’ he said, his voice hoarse and his attention...transfixed.

  Alexis couldn’t stop her smile or the pleasure that filled her heart. The dove grey dress edged with silvery crystals was a halter-neck design that moulded her figure from chest to thighs before dropping in an eye-catching fall of silver sequins at her feet. ‘Then I guess the dress is doing its job.’

  His lips twisted and he moved with a quiet urgency towards her. ‘It’s not the dress. It’s the woman inside it.’

  ‘I...thank you.’

  His nostrils flared then, as if breathing her in. ‘A woman I want to be inside right now,’ he added thickly, one hand reaching out to cup her nape.

  ‘Christos...’

  He lowered his head, brushed his lips over hers. ‘Thee mou, I don’t know why you do this to me,’ he muttered, his voice almost bewildered.

  One small part of her leapt in delight, while the other wondered where her willpower had gone. Why she continued to stand there, an open flower absorbing the power of his sun without caring if she got burned.

  Because she would get burned. That note in his voice that questioned his own craving of her was a warning not to hope. But he was cupping her shoulders, drawing her to him with ruthlessly carnal intent that made her tremble from head to toe.

  ‘I want you,’ he growled against her lips.

  ‘Christos...we need to be—’

  ‘Nowhere but here right now. I need to be inside you.’

  The raw words sent another hot shudder through her. And when he walked her back against the cool wall of her dressing room, she was his willing captive. When he drew up her dress and tore off her panties, she lost the ability to think. ‘Hold up your dress for me, agapita.’

  Her hands shook as she complied. And between one breath and the next, his trousers were undone, her legs were around his waist and he was driving hot and hard and mind-melting inside her.

  His mouth covered hers and their tongues commenced a decadent rhythm to match the one due south. Then, their movement catching the corner of her eye, Alexis twisted her head. Christos followed her gaze and, together, they watched in the mirror as he thrust into her over and over.

  But underneath the wicked hedonism of it, she caught something in her own eyes, something that went far beyond desire. Something sacred and precious she should’ve kept concealed but was now out in the open. So she quickly shut her eyes. When she exploded, her scream was muffled by his kiss, followed by the hoarse groan of his own release, before their urgent pants filled the room.

  He lowered her to her feet and she was still coming down from the addictive high when she felt a cool touch against her throat. Her gaze dropped to see brilliant gems gleaming in his hand. Her breath caught as he fastened the diamond necklace around her neck, trailed a string of kisses along her jaw, before rasping in her ear, ‘This is what I came to give you.’

  With her hair up in an elaborate knot the stylist had spent almost an hour on, her neck was exposed to highlight the magnificence of the diamond choker. ‘Oh, it’s beautiful.’ Her fingers shook as she reached up to touch it. But then the realisation of how deeply she was being drawn into this altered reality hit her hard. ‘But I can’t accept it. It’s...it’s too much.’

  Displeasure hardened his eyes as he slid his semi-hard erection out of her. ‘You’re my wife. It will be expected.’

  That hollow space inside that had never quite gone away expanded, and hurt poured in. The kind of hurt she knew she only had herself to blame for. ‘Of course, how silly of me to think it would be for any other reason. Well, since you put it that way, how can I refuse?’

  He heard the bite in her voice and his eyes narrowed. ‘You can’t.’

  He remained where he stood after rearranging his clothes back into pristine sophistication, blocking out her light, filling every corner of her senses. She needed a moment...several...to recentre herself after yet another emotional roller coaster. ‘Is that all?’

  ‘Alexis—’

  ‘We were already late before you came in. I think we’re now in danger of giving fashionably late a bad rep. I need to refresh my make-up. Not to mention the underwear you ripped off.’ Her face flamed as she said the last words, and she forbade herself from looking down, from giving substance to the reality of her shredded weakness.

  For an eternity, he stared at her. Then he stepped back. ‘I’ll see you in the living room in five minutes.’

  She watched him walk away, a new sensation of being in free fall with no parachute assailing her. She tried to push it out of her mind as she dug out fresh underwear, repaired her make-up and, after a few deep breaths that did nothing to restore her composure, ventured out to join Christos.

  He stood with his back to the room, his gaze on the sleek yachts that had started arriving two hours ago. From the buzz around the villa, she knew they belonged to extended family and Costas’s close friends. The remaining guests had started steadily arriving half an hour ago.

  Christos whirled at her approach, his gaze sweeping over her. It lingered at her hips and then he nodded and wordlessly held out his arm.

  He didn’t speak, and she was too wrapped up in containing her dread and hurt, as they made their way downstairs and out to the west terrace where the party was under way.

  The hundred-strong crowd turned in near-unison when they appeared, then the murmurs surged as, one by one, sharply suited men and their stunningly bejewelled women approached to greet Christos and his hitherto unknown bride.

  Normally, Alexis trusted herself on her ability to retain names and details, but after what had happened upstairs, and the ever-intensifying sensation that she might be falling in love with Christos, she soon gave up any hope of recollection.

  They finally reached the guest of honour and Alexis withstood his long enigmatic scrutiny with a tingling sensation before reaching down to brush a kiss on Costas’s cheek. ‘Happy birthday, Costas.’

  He smiled when she straightened. ‘Ne, it’s turning out to be,’ he said cryptically, before turning to his grandson. Their conversation was conducted in Greek before he was drawn away by a small party of guests.

  About to ask Christos as he handed her a glass of champagne what had just happened, she stopped when a man materialised in front of them.

  He was short and stout, older by about a decade than Christos, but his sour expression nevertheless bore the Drakakis stamp. Accompanying him was a tall statuesque blonde, with overplumped lips and a bust that defied gravity. ‘Ah, Christos. Kind of you to grace us with your presence. I was beginning to think Costas’s mind was playing tricks on him when he said you were here.’

  Outwardly, Christos remained unruffled, but the arm beneath hers stiffened. ‘There’s nothing wrong with his memory, Georgios,’ Christos answered and only a fool would’ve failed to catch the sharp warning in his tone.

  Georgios raised his free hand in an exag
gerated show of surrender. ‘Of course, of course,’ he said without any hint of remorse, then he turned to Alexis. ‘I’m Georgios Pantelli. This is my wife, Arianna. And this must be your elusive bride, Christos.’

  Alexis held out her hand. ‘I’m Alexis. Good to meet you.’

  Georgios held back from taking it a fraction of a second longer, enough to make her aware of the snub, before taking her hand in his faintly clammy one. His wife’s handshake was equally limp, her eyes mildly hostile as they held Alexis’s.

  ‘What a vision you are,’ Georgios said. ‘Were it not for my own stunning wife, I would think Christos was hiding you away because he’s afraid of the competition.’

  ‘I see you continue to set far too high a premium on your own importance, cousin,’ Christos bit out.

  For a flash of time, Georgios’s eyes turned flinty. Then he was back to pretended suaveness and affability. He even threw in a belly laugh, attracting several gazes. ‘I have missed our little banters, cousin.’ He stepped closer, grabbed Christos’s arm then, in a low tone, added, ‘I have also not forgotten that while you may have had Costas’s attention as a child, it and Drakonisos is now mine, because I have proved myself whereas you have not.’

  Christos bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile as he disengaged himself, a leonine action that sent shivers down her spine. ‘And how do you imagine you have done that?’

  Georgios stepped back, all but preening as he adjusted his lapel. ‘I see you’re out of the loop yet again. Costas is craving a child or two from the next generation to run around this place. And I have a feeling the first one of us to provide him with one will get Drakonisos. And tomorrow morning, I will be proudly informing him that my wife is to bless me with a child in six months’ time. So, you see, I win.’

  Several things happened in the next minute.

  Christos turned statue-still beside her, his face bleeding several shades of colour. At the same time, Alexis’s mind spun a thousand miles an hour. Specifically, to the morning after their night in the cave. Then fast forwarded to tonight, that hedonistic episode in her dressing room.

  Two occasions passion had completely engulfed them.

  Two occasions they’d failed to use protection.

  Grey eyes turbulent with shock and disbelief swivelled towards her. Then his expression slowly morphed to one of dread.

  Her belly fell into a steep dive, just as another man approached. The muted roar in her ears made her miss the upsurge of the crowd’s murmuring. But as she fought to reassure herself nothing was wrong, that her utter foolishness couldn’t...wouldn’t be repaid with another life-altering consequence, the present arrived in a rush, and she felt Christos grow even stiffer beside her.

  Alexis focused every last ounce of attention on the approaching man.

  From the marked resemblance, he had to be Christos’s father.

  Father and son stared at one another for a tight moment before, jaw clenched tight, Christos said, ‘What do you want?’

  Bleakness flashed across the older man’s face before it turned as neutral as his son’s. ‘To have a cordial conversation. It is a party, after all.’

  If anything, the icy anger vibrating off Christos multiplied by a thousand. ‘Cordial?’ he bit out. ‘I highly recommend you double-check the definition of the word before you apply it to yourself, Pateras.’

  A tight little smile curved his father’s lips. ‘At least you still call me Father. I suppose that is a small blessing.’ His gaze shifted to her, then back to his son. ‘Are you going to introduce me?’ he asked.

  Tense silence fell. Then, ‘No.’

  His father’s gaze returned to hers. ‘I’m Agios.’

  Once again she found herself holding out her hand to a relative of Christos’s she wasn’t sure she liked very much. ‘Alexis... Drakakis,’ she added at the last moment, the weight of it shaking through her.

  This time she felt a different energy emanating from Christos. Felt his ferocious gaze on her face for one monumental second before he faced his father again. ‘You’ve made a show of yourself to the crowd. Feel free to leave.’

  A hard, combative light filled his father’s eyes, then it died just as swiftly, leaving him a shadow of himself. ‘Five years I’ve been trying to get you to talk to me. I’d hoped tonight you would spare me a few minutes.’

  That bit of news surprised Alexis. Everything she’d learnt of Agios so far had suggested father and son were mutually estranged. A quick glance showed Christos’s granite-hard face gave no indication of softening. ‘You were wrong. Excuse us.’

  The fingers linking hers were stiff, his grip tight. Reeling from the twin bombshells, she allowed Christos to march her away, her surroundings blurring as stomach-hollowing possibilities filled her mind.

  Once again she found her back pressed against a wall, a short distance away from the party. But where there’d been torrid passion in his face, now there was a rabid watchfulness, as if he wanted to mine the answers from every hidden corner inside her.

  ‘Is there something we need to talk about?’ he breathed. The same energy vibrating through him, the one that felt like a mixture of earthquake, lightning and nuclear explosion held together by the thinnest rope, unravelled inside her.

  Her eyes darted over the guests, attempting to find something...anything to ground her. Because the no that should’ve fallen firmly from her lips was lodged in her throat.

  ‘Alexis.’ It wasn’t a question. More of a dire warning. And something else...

  Something earth-shattering in its ferocity. And even though she knew it was the epitome of folly to look into his eyes in that moment, Alexis raised her gaze, met a cyclone of grey shot through with blinding, unholy light.

  ‘I... I don’t know.’

  His face clenched hard before he exhaled. ‘I accept that I share responsibility for this...state we find ourselves in, but I need a better answer than that.’

  ‘That’s all I can give you right now. I’m not on the pill, and my period is...erratic at best,’ she confessed.

  He seemed transfixed. ‘Thee mou,’ he breathed. ‘So you could be pregnant?’

  ‘Not necessarily. The odds are low,’ she said, mentally calculating frantically.

  A look passed through his eyes, gone as quickly as it arrived. ‘When will you know?’

  ‘A week. Maybe less.’

  Another eternity passed as he stared at her. Then his gaze dropped to her belly. Whatever thought went through his mind evoked a faint trembling in the fingers that raked through his hair a moment later.

  ‘It could be nothing, Christos.’

  ‘Or it could be...the opposite,’ he countered tightly. Laughter and the clink of glasses nearby intruded on their bubble. Mouth firming, he took a step back. ‘This isn’t the right moment to discuss it.’

  They returned to mingle with a new, jagged awareness vibrating between them. Christos barely left her side throughout the long evening. He introduced her to guests with a hand around her waist, which lingered until, the yearning it created unbearable, she found an excuse to pull away.

  Because with each moment that passed, it could be nothing tumbled through her brain, fighting against the soul-shaking need to be something. And each time he touched her, each time he introduced her as his wife and those stormy grey eyes swept over her, her heart yearned harder.

  As the party wound down they gravitated back to Costas, who was holding court with a small group of guests. About to take a seat, she started in surprise when Christos pulled her into his lap. It took every ounce of composure not to stiffen or show her surprise. But she blushed at the few suggestive looks that came their way.

  * * *

  ‘Relax,’ he commanded quietly, his hand planted possessively on her hip.

  But she couldn’t relax. Besides the simple fact that she wanted nothing more than to melt
into his arms, Alexis was also aware of Christos’s father’s frequent gaze, the regretful expression that lingered on his son when he thought no one was looking.

  A nerve-shredding hour later, once a few more helicopters had taken off and overnight guests retired to their suites, she took the opportunity to make her escape. ‘I’m tired, I think I’m going to head up.’

  She held her breath as Christos’s arm tightened momentarily before he released her. He got up and started to accompany her inside. ‘I’ll walk you in,’ he said smoothly, his hand capturing hers.

  ‘You don’t have to—’

  ‘Stop, Alexis. We’re past that,’ he interrupted.

  She should’ve taken the hint. Instead, she paused on the first step of the sweeping staircase leading up to their wing, a different subject altogether tumbling from her lips. ‘What about your father? Are you past the right moment to talk to him too?’

  His eyes turned arctic. ‘What?’

  ‘Are you going to avoid him forever? Or just wait until it’s too late to do anything about it?’

  His eyes narrowed in warning. ‘Be careful, Alexis. You tread on dangerous ground.’

  ‘Do I?’ she dared, because that need wedged tight beneath her breastbone wouldn’t be silenced. The last hour had shown her the type of family she and Christos could have. The type she’d yearned for all her life. Sitting there, with the knowledge that their blind passion could have unexpected results, had only intensified that need. ‘I know what he did to you was painful, but I think he regrets it. You should give him a—’

  She paused, catching movement behind Christos’s shoulder. A moment later, the man in question appeared.

  Spotting him, Christos stiffened.

  ‘Christos, I really must talk to you,’ his father said, his voice ringed with authority she’d heard many times from his son.

  Sensing he was about to refuse again, she spoke. ‘Go ahead, Christos. I need to call Sophie, anyway.’