by Lynne Graham
‘I do and you need to listen.’ Nik closed a determined hand over hers and tugged her over to the mirror on the opposite wall. ‘You have to learn to see what I see-’
Prudence squeezed her eyes tight shut, chin taking on a mutinous angle. ‘No, I don’t. I’ve never liked flattery.’
Nik pulled her back into the hard, muscular heat of his lithe, powerful frame. ‘It’s not flattery…for the first time ever you are wearing something that fits your divine shape!’
Prudence had to open her eyes to roll them and express how unimpressed she was by that compliment. ‘My shape is not-’
The dark golden eyes above her head blazed with fierce impatience. ‘Do you know why I didn’t like your mother? She got a kick out of running you down and telling you how plain you were! But look at your face, your bone structure…and all that glorious hair!’
Dumbfounded by that speech, Prudence opened and closed her mouth a couple of times and stared at his reflection.
‘You also have a body to die for,’ he informed her, lean brown hands sliding up to cup the sides of her full breasts in a manner that shook her. ‘I love it.’
‘Really…?’ Prudence squeaked, watching as though mesmerised while his sure hands slide down her taut ribcage to rest at her small waist for a moment before skimming down to shape the voluptuous swell of her hips.
‘Can’t you tell?’ Nik splayed long fingers across her midriff to ease her back into closer connection with his blatant arousal.
Hot colour warmed her cheeks while a secret surge of tremendously feminine satisfaction engulfed her.
‘If I say you’re sexy…you’re sexy,’ Nik husked, letting his lips tease a trail down the side of her neck until she quivered in response. ‘But right now, we have something rather more important to attend to and I have to cool it. In the room next door the priest who conducted our wedding eight years ago is waiting to bless our marriage.’
Already bemused by that heated little interlude and with her legs still feeling distinctly wobbly, Prudence was even more disconcerted by that announcement. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘You said you didn’t feel married to me…I thought that the blessing might improve that situation.’
Assailed by several hostile reactions, not one of which she was willing to share with him, Prudence buttoned her lips and studied the ancient flagstones with furious intensity. Imagine Nik going to such outrageously traditional lengths to impress her! Imagine the nerve of a guy who had used virtual blackmail to keep her in the marriage then daring to request a blessing to ratify that act!
‘It’s my way of demonstrating that I’m committed to making our marriage work,’ Nik imparted without a shade of remorse or embarrassment.
‘But I’m not,’ Prudence confided with helpless honesty.
Nik surveyed her with glittering dark eyes and an aggressive set to his hard jaw line. ‘Given time, you will be…’
Prudence said nothing because it did not feel like the moment or the place to argue the point. The venerable old priest, Father Vasos, greeted them with pleasure. Sincerity shone from him and struck a chord within Prudence that made her squirm. How could she receive a blessing with a heart that was already closed to the words that would be spoken? How could she continue to deny the fact that she still loved Nik to distraction? Would it be so foolish to give Nik one more chance? When Nik eased a new wedding ring on her bare finger, her throat convulsed with sudden emotion. By the time Father Vasos left, her thoughts were in turmoil and her resolve to fight Nik by whatever means were available had been badly shaken.
Nik showed her into another room where a table had been set with crisp linen and gleaming silver. ‘Just for the two of us?’
‘Three or more is company and I want you all to myself.’
‘Who’s cooking?’ She was determined not to betray her astonishment at the elaborate arrangements he had made to mark the day as a very special event.
‘I flew in a chef from Paris. This time, I want everything to be perfect, glikia mou,’ Nik told her without hesitation. ‘You deserve only the best.’
Candles were lit by staff as silent and discreet as shadows. The food was delicious. She nibbled at the various dishes, listening to the melodious rise and fall of Nik’s dark, sexy drawl, acknowledging that he was wonderfully entertaining company. Every so often she would treat herself to a single appreciative look at his hard, bronzed features, his dazzling eyes and beautifully shaped mouth. Her heartbeat would race and she would address her attention to her food again and scold herself for letting her mind wander like a dreaming schoolgirl.
Next her attention would stray to her shiny new wedding ring. That had been a surprisingly sensitive and much appreciated gift, because it was years since she had left her original rings behind in Athens. When she studied the slender platinum band, her hard-earned cynicism threatened to desert her and she would wonder if a leopard could change his spots and turn into a faithful husband, keen to embrace home, hearth and family.
‘Have you had enough to eat?’ Nik enquired lazily.
Prudence nodded, almost afraid to speak lest she somehow destroy the enchanted spell that had enfolded her.
Springing upright, he reached for her hand and she gave it to him without thinking about it.
‘Now we dance…’
Prudence just laughed as he escorted her out of the room. ‘How can we dance?’
And then she heard the music. The evocative notes were cascading down from behind the carved screens above the great hall and the furniture had been set back by the wall. She met Nik’s amused gaze and exclaimed in astonishment, ‘There are musicians up there?’
‘Playing just for us.’ Enclosing her in his arms, Nik whirled her round before she could catch her breath. ‘Eight years ago, you refused even to dance with me.’
Prudence winced. ‘I was too self-conscious to get up in front of all the wedding guests. But you only asked me once-’
‘Playing it cool was all I had left. I was still a boy and my pride was hurting,’ Nik countered wryly. ‘Your grandfather had bought you a husband and everyone knew it-’
‘Oh, no, Nik…surely you can’t have been thinking like that? You didn’t have any more choice than I had!’
‘Friends told me how lucky I was to catch a real live heiress. After all, Theo was and is richer than Croesus and my spendthrift father was on the brink of bankruptcy. I felt like the money meant that you owned me body and soul and I hated it,’ Nik admitted bluntly, wondering why she should be so honest in other ways and yet should still feel the need to pretend that she had not had a choice about whether or not she married him. ‘I wasn’t happy until I could repay every penny.’
Prudence was aghast. ‘No…no,’ she protested, taken aback by what he was admitting, for it had not occurred to her to see that angle before. ‘I would’ve died if I’d known you felt like that-’
‘But I did feel like that, pethi mou.’ Nik looked down at her with rueful regret.
‘Too much pride,’ she scolded uncomfortably.
‘Maybe. Certainly, when Theo told me last month that he was cutting you out of his will, I was relieved. It sets us both free of his interference for good.’
‘Hmm…’ Prudence was revelling in the skill with which he was whirling her round the room in perfect time to the music. She was dancing on air in the arms of the guy of her dreams. ‘I so wish our wedding had been like this.’
‘That’s the whole idea. This is how it should have been,’ Nik asserted, angling his sleek dark head down to kiss her.
Her body gave a leap of almost painful tension and response went zipping through her in a fireball of energy.
‘That was off the schedule. I’m aiming at perfection this time,’ Nik confided. ‘We still have to cut the cake, drink the champagne-’
Prudence gripped his lapels, stretched up on tiptoes and whispered feverishly, ‘We could take the cake and champagne up to bed with us…’
Nik tensed in surprise and dealt he
r an arrested glance. ‘Prudence Angelis…what’s come over you?’
Prudence pressed her hot face into his suit jacket, drinking in the familiar scent of him with sensually appreciative pleasure. She felt weak with wanting. ‘I don’t know, but if your aim is perfection it could be a mistake to stick too closely to the schedule…’
Nik vented an earthy laugh of appreciation and swept her out of the room without further ado.
CHAPTER SIX
ON THE THRESHOLD of the master bedroom, Nik scooped Prudence up into his arms and carried her in. He settled her down on the four-poster bed. She lay back and kicked off her shoes, her deeply appreciative eyes sparkling at the elaborate canopy above her and the beautiful rose-strewn curtains hanging at each corner. ‘This is my dream come true. All my life I’ve wanted a bed like this…how did you guess?’
‘Your girlie bedroom spoke for you. You’re a romantic.’
At that label, Prudence stiffened, wrinkled her nose and sat up on her knees. ‘No, I’m not.’
Amused dark eyes rested on her. ‘It’s not a crime.’
Her curling lashes hid her expression but the angle of her chin had a firmness that spoke for her.
‘You’re very wary,’ Nik drawled. ‘Can’t you trust me?’
Prudence shook her head.
Nik was taken aback by the speed of that response. ‘But you must trust me to some extent.’
Prudence shook her head a second time.
Nik levelled censorious golden eyes on her. ‘That is outrageous…you’re my wife!’
‘Let’s not forget why I’m here today.’
His gaze shimmered like a heatwave. ‘I’m fighting for our marriage…why can’t you appreciate that?’
‘Maybe I don’t like your methods.’
‘Some day you’ll look back and be glad I fought for you, pethi mou,’ Nik declared with fierce assurance.
‘So you think you’ve been fighting for me?’ Prudence was shaken by the obvious strength of his conviction in that fact. She could see that the secret of his phenomenal success lay in his outlook. When blackmail could be presented as an act of heroism and matrimonial devotion, how could she help but be impressed?
Nik flung back his arrogant dark head. ‘What else?’
‘But you still haven’t explained why you’ve gone to so much effort,’ she pointed out gently.
Nik sent her a winging look of frustration as if he could not comprehend why that should seem a mystery to her. ‘You’re my wife. What other reason do I need?’
Prudence lifted and dropped her shoulders for if he had no idea why, she had even less.
‘Did you enjoy today?’ he asked huskily.
Meeting his stunning dark golden eyes, she felt a sensation like her heart lurching inside her: he was that beautiful. ‘Much more than our wedding day…’
‘The night will be spectacular,’ he promised, leaning down to tip the bolero jacket off her shoulders and slide it off.
All of a sudden her agile brain stopped racing and throwing thoughts at her faster than she could handle. She connected with smouldering dark golden eyes and breathing became a considerable challenge. Simply by looking at her, Nik could plunge her into a state of hopeless desire. In an effort to overcome that sense of weakness, Prudence tugged him down to her and began to unknot his tie.
‘I like this sudden need to rip my clothes off,’ Nik confided, hot eyes melded to her.
Although her face was burning, Prudence had not lost her resolve. Rising onto her knees, she helped him out of his jacket and embarked on his shirt buttons with fingers that felt mortifyingly clumsy. ‘But maybe it’s a little less practised than what you’re used to-’
Disconcerted by that comment, Nik closed his hand over hers. ‘Don’t undervalue what I have with you. This is different for me.’
Wanting to believe that but afraid to, Prudence hesitated momentarily. ‘Is it?’
‘Of course it is…’ Nik covered her lips with an unexpected tenderness.
His tongue delved into the moist cavern of her mouth and sensual anticipation took her by storm. Suddenly the hunger he had taught her to feel, and which she had suppressed with every atom of her considerable will-power, was in the ascendant again. She was shocked by the urgency of her craving. The skilled movement of his mouth on hers, the explicit intrusion of his tongue were enough to make her shake and shiver as though she had a fever. One kiss ran hotly into the next.
A dark flush scoring his hard cheekbones, stunning eyes glittering, Nik undid the halter-neck of her dress and slowly drew the opulent fabric down to release her full curves from the shaped bodice.
‘You’re gorgeous,’ he said thickly.
Entranced by her creamy breasts and the distended rosy buds awaiting his attention, he pressed her back against the pillows. Smoothly extracting her from the gown round her hips, he tossed it aside. He bent over her with a husky sound of satisfaction to let his lips toy with a pouting pink nipple. Heat burst low in her pelvis and tensed her hips and an ache that was almost painful began to stir.
‘You’re also very clever,’ Nik murmured intently as he dragged himself back from her with flattering reluctance to shed his clothes.
‘Am I?’ Her body was taut and heavy with the sensuality he had awakened and she found it an effort to string even those two words together. With his amazing eyes fired to scorching gold and his shirt hanging loose on a brown, hair-roughened expanse of muscular chest, Nik also looked utterly breathtaking.
He gave her a slashing grin of masculine appreciation. ‘You said no…you made me wait. I’m not used to practising patience, but there has been an unexpected benefit-I haven’t been this excited since I was a teenager.’
Embarrassment at his candour and satisfaction mingled within Prudence, before she picked up on the much more important fact he had just given her: he had not allowed any other woman to assuage his hot-blooded libido. As there were always sexually available women within reach of rich powerful tycoons, this could only mean that Nik had made a new and conscious choice to be faithful to his wife. Happiness thrilled through Prudence. For the first time it occurred to her that, if she set the marital bars high enough, his natural need to compete, excel and win might actually make him strive to meet her expectations.
‘I wasn’t thinking of that angle,’ Prudence muttered honestly, self-conscious but trying to smile rather than act the prude.
‘I’ve thought of you from every angle, thespinis mou,’ Nik confessed, strolling back to join her, unashamedly naked and brazenly aroused.
He had called her his woman and she wondered if she could be. Because, if she set her pride aside, it was what she had always wanted, indeed all she had ever dreamt of. And for that chance she was still willing to put her pride on the line, she acknowledged, her mouth running dry as he came down beside her on the bed. He was as lithe and powerful in his masculine beauty as a pagan god.
‘Nik,’ she whispered below the passionate onslaught of his hungry mouth, fingers spreading against the warm, muscular wall of his hard torso. ‘When I look at you-’
‘Don’t just look…touch,’ Nik urged, hungry golden eyes striking hers as he carried her hand down over his flat stomach to the aggressive jut of his bold erection.
Involuntarily she froze. ‘I don’t know how-’
‘But I know…’ a provocative smile slashed his handsome mouth ‘…and I intend to enjoy teaching you.’
It had never occurred to her that picking up fresh skills could be so stimulating. Or so empowering. She was absorbed by the delight of that new intimacy. The right to touch and explore Nik, the challenge of pushing him to the edge of his self-control, was utterly seductive.
When he swore quietly and wrenched himself back from her, his hot golden gaze ablaze with passion, she could see how hard he had found it to rein back his libido. His big, powerful body was covered in a fine sheen of sweat, his muscles were knotted and he was trembling. He was breathing fast and shallowly.
‘Enough…’
‘Spoilsport…’ Prudence gave him a languorous glance and slowly she smiled, her own body tingling with sensual awareness. The next time she would fine-tune her technique, she reflected with newly learnt confidence.
Sheer bewilderment gripped Nik. She was lounging back against the pillows like a sex goddess, natural sexuality emanating from her every pore. Out of nowhere came a fierce flash of jealousy that slivered through him like a knife. Had he just taught her, or had she just taught him? Was his wife-until very recently a virgin-actually a woman with excessive experience in the foreplay department? And if she was, how could he possibly complain? After all, who was he to moralise? Why were his thoughts even running on such a theme? He was not a jealous or possessive guy. He was not one of those sad, inadequate men who questioned their partners about their previous lovers. Of course he wasn’t.
‘You’ve done that before,’ Nik heard himself say.
Prudence laughed. ‘No, I haven’t-’
‘You must’ve done-you’ve got incredible aptitude…That’s OK, I’m cool with it,’ Nik framed with a tense smile.
Prudence shimmied across the divide that separated them and nuzzled into connection with his lean, bronzed torso and a long, hard, hair-roughened thigh. ‘I just like touching you-’
‘I want you.’ Sexual heat pulsing through him like a rocket charge, Nik found concentration overborne by his instinctive response to her and he flattened her to the pillows again and kissed her breathless.
The burst of passion he ignited extracted a muted gasp from her. In the space of an instant she went from languor to hunger, wildly conscious of the moist, throbbing heat at the heart of her. His wicked mouth and expert fingers teased at her swollen nipples, releasing a shower of sensual sparks inside her responsive body. A burning sense of tightness began to build low in her pelvis and it made her squirm helplessly beneath him and angle up her hips.
‘You don’t control the pace any more,’ Nik told her thickly, surveying her with smouldering golden eyes. ‘I will-’
‘Partnership?’