‘Has something happened? Is it your father or Ben?’
‘No, nothing like that,’ he said swiftly, and reached for her hand. He took it in his, his fingers linking with hers. She tried to pull free. ‘No—please, Phoebe, let me explain.’
He looked so different, so vulnerable—not the hard, arrogant man she was accustomed to. She was intrigued—and he had said please…
A gentle tug on her hand and she sat down beside him. ‘This had better be good, Jed. I want to go and see Ben soon.’ He turned, his knee touching her leg, and clasped her hand tightly in his on his thigh, looking down as if seeking inspiration, then back to her face.
‘I woke up this morning and turned to hold you. You were not there. I looked in the bathroom, and then I noticed my clothes were still strewn around the room but yours had gone. I know this sounds chauvinistic, but in the past when we spent the night together you would never have picked up your clothes and left mine.’
Phoebe smiled. ‘You’re right—it is chauvinistic.’
‘Then it hit me. You had left—run away again—and I love you,’ he said hoarsely.
Jed had said he loved her—words she had longed to hear for so very long—and she couldn’t believe it. She studied his handsome features, saw the strain in his dark eyes. But…‘I don’t believe you.’
‘I don’t blame you. I know I treated you abominably in the past—and in the present. Maybe I should start at the beginning.’ He sounded uncertain—a first for Jed, Phoebe thought. ‘But please listen,’ he pleaded. ‘If I don’t tell you now I might never have the nerve again.’
‘All right, I’m listening,’ she encouraged.
‘I have loved you from the moment I saw you, Phoebe, but in my conceit I took your innocence, your love for granted, without giving anything in return.’
‘Not true. You gave me rather a lot of jewellery,’ she prompted.
‘Exactly—something that cost me nothing in relation to my wealth and, as you so rightly said, was sleazy. But I never saw it like that. I only had to look at you to want you—still do.’ He tried to smile. ‘The months we were together were the happiest of my life—until tragedy struck and I handled it very badly. I thought only of myself, not how you were feeling. But I never meant to leave you. My father had a heart attack.’
‘I know—Marcus told me,’ she murmured.
‘Yes, well…you can’t use a cellphone in Intensive Care, so I gave mine to Christina and told her to call you and tell you I’d be delayed.’
‘She didn’t call me. I called her,’ Phoebe said. ‘She was very sympathetic and told me she was used to getting rid of your women. She said you had told her to inform me you were not coming back, and advised me to leave.’
‘She what?’ One ebony brow arched in outrage. ‘She never got rid of a woman for me in her life—I got rid of her, four years ago, when I belatedly realised she wanted to be more than my PA. And I certainly never asked her to tell you to leave, she told me you wanted to go.’
‘Going over the past is pointless,’ Phoebe said with a shake of her head. ‘Let’s be honest—you could have found me if you had really wanted to. You had no trouble finding me last week,’ she said bluntly. ‘Marcus also told me you wanted to marry me before, but we both know it would not have been for love but because of the baby—the same as now.’ She wasn’t going to trust his avowal of love so easily.
‘I deserve that, but it isn’t the real truth.’ His dark eyes held hers. There was vulnerability in the black depths, and his complexion was deepening into what looked rather like a blush. ‘I didn’t look for you because I was an emotional coward. When I returned to the apartment and you had gone I told myself it was for the best that you had moved on, because it meant I did not have to face how I really felt. I also felt guilty because you had lost the baby.’
‘You felt guilty?’ Phoebe queried. ‘Why?’
‘For the first time in my adult life I panicked when you told me you were pregnant. When I got over the shock I knew I wanted to marry you, but I’m ashamed to say I was in no hurry to tell you. Then, when I got to the hospital and the doctor told me you had lost the baby, he also gave me a few words of caution. He said he had noticed bruises on your thighs and a few other places, and that it would be a good idea to tone down the sex a little—especially if you got pregnant again. He said I could go in and see you. I walked into your room, totally disgusted with myself and feeling as guilty as hell. I might have caused you to lose the baby.’
Phoebe’s head was reeling. His confession had come totally out of the blue. The look of disgust on his face as he had entered her hospital room had haunted her for years, but it had never been for her, as she’d thought, but at himself. A spark of hope ignited in her heart. Maybe he did love her.
Suddenly she was incensed on Jed’s behalf. ‘The doctor should never have told you that. The way we made love had nothing to do with him, and I enjoyed every minute. It certainly was not your fault I lost the baby.’
For a second his eyes sparkled with a trace of his usual arrogance. ‘Maybe not, but along with Christina’s meddling it gave me another convenient excuse for not trying to find you. Because, being honest, I realised it was a relief as well. I always like to be in control, and what I felt for you terrified me. Our relationship was the longest I had ever had—I only had to think of you to want you with an ache that would not go away. I told myself it was lust, but deep down I knew I lied. I loved everything about you—your breathtaking smile, your quick enquiring mind.’ His piercing black eyes seemed to see right into her soul. ‘The soft avowals of love you gave so freely. I’d give anything to hear them again.’
Phoebe gave him a tentative smile, but still wasn’t sure she believed him.
‘I panicked for the second time in my life this morning, when I woke and you were gone. But this time for a different reason.’ His hands tightened on hers and she stared up at him. The planes and angles of his face were taut, and she wondered what was coming next to make him so tense. ‘Because I finally admitted to myself that I love you, Phoebe, and only you. I could not bear the thought of losing you—I could not go through that pain again.’
He let go of her hands, and leaning over her, clasped her face between his palms. His black eyes looked deep into her wary blue.
‘You have to believe me, Phoebe. I love you.’ He shook his head slightly and a black curl fell over his brow. She lifted her hand to sweep it away but then dropped it again. ‘I never even looked at another woman for over two years after you left.’ His hands slid down to her shoulders, his fingers flexing in her bare skin, and she shivered but Jed did not seem to notice.
‘That I find hard to believe,’ she murmured. Jed was a highly-sexed man, but she was flattered at the thought, and the spark of hope burned brighter with every word he said.
‘It is absolutely true, I swear, but I know you don’t trust me—how could you after the way I behaved? The moment I saw you at the embassy I was determined to get you back. I could have flattened Gladstone when he kissed you.’
She recognised the green devil in his eyes. ‘That is all Julian ever did,’ she told him. Honesty cut both ways.
‘Thank you for that,’ he acknowledged, and continued, ‘The day I found out about Ben I was angry and I blamed you, but it was my own fault because I had wasted five years denying how I truly felt. I could not resist making love to you the same night. Phoebe, I know I don’t deserve you, and I am not asking you to love me—only to stay with me and let me love and care for you. Please give me another chance.’
Phoebe lifted her hand, and this time she did sweep the black curl back from his brow. Jed pleading for her love was something she had never imagined, and her heart was filled with love. But did she trust him?
‘I said my father was a silly old fool for keeping his promise to my mother. But now I know exactly how he feels. I love you, I adore you, I worship the ground you walk on—and I am the bigger fool for being an abject coward and not admi
tting it sooner. And if the answer is no—’ his hands tightened on her shoulders and he looked like a man going to the gallows ‘—I will give you and Ben your freedom. You can return to England and I will be a visiting father.’ He grimaced. ‘Like you said, some things are unconscionable and I can do no less.’
‘You won’t have to.’ She took a leap of faith and trusted Jed with her heart. ‘I do love you, Jed, and always have,’ Phoebe said, her eyes inexplicably filling with tears as elation flooded through her. She gave him a beautiful smile. Jed loved her. Her husband—the magnificent man she had thought emotionless—loved her. He had done all along, but had been too afraid to admit his feelings. ‘If you remember, I used to tell you so all the time—too naive to hide my feelings,’ she declared, and it was there for him to see in the brilliant blue eyes blazing into his. ‘Nothing has changed, I love you and always will…’
‘Ah, Phoebe. If only you knew how I have longed to hear you say those words again,’ Jed murmured throatily, and he kissed her almost reverently, with love and a deep, soulful passion that touched her heart and melted her bones.
A long moment later he lifted his head. ‘You have made me the happiest man alive.’ He looked into her gleaming blue eyes, his own burning black. ‘Do you remember you once gave me a gold heart? Well, I have cherished it for years. It is my lucky charm and it always gave me hope.’
‘Of course I remember. I just saw it on your desk and it gave me hope simply knowing you had kept it,’ Phoebe said softly.
He smiled and kissed her brow. ‘Now you have gifted me your true heart, and for that I am eternally grateful. I will love, cherish and protect you till my dying day.’ He kissed her again.
In moments she was beneath him, his robe shrugged off and her dress removed. Naked, he smiled down at her, his eyes full of humor and love. ‘Now for the worship and adoration,’ he murmured.
They made love with a slow, aching tenderness, stroking, sighing and murmuring soft words of love and need. And finally, when the passion built to fever pitch, Jed thrust into her sleek, welcoming body and they came together in a meeting of body and mind—two soul mates becoming one in a wild, wonderful climax.
‘What is it with you and sofas?’ Phoebe teased when she finally got her breath back. She lifted her hand to run her fingers gently down his cheek and then curved her slender arm lovingly around his neck.
Jed kissed her lightly on the lips. ‘The place does not matter. All that really matters is that I am with you, Phoebe—the woman I love with all my heart, now and always.’
Epilogue
‘TALK about a big Greek wedding—this is incredible.’ Phoebe turned laughing eyes up to her husband. ‘Have you seen your father and Aunt Jemma dancing with the children?’
Jed glanced across the crowded ballroom and spotted the older couple. He turned back to his wife. ‘If he didn’t have a bad heart to start with Jemma would give him one,’ he stated with a broad grin.
Phoebe looked radiant. He had not the words to do justice to her beauty, inside and out. Her hair, pale as moonlight, was swept up in an intricate loop on the top of her head to cascade in a shimmering silken swathe down her back. The long dress she wore fitted her shapely body like a glove. White satin and embroidered with Swarovski crystals, it sparkled as she moved—but not half as much as his fabulous wife did in his eyes. Jed had insisted on a church wedding, and the white dress, to show the world his virgin bride.
Phoebe would call him a chauvinist if she knew, but it gave him immense pride and satisfaction to know he was the only man who had ever made love to her or ever would, he silently vowed. She was the love of his life…She was his life—he’d be lost without her.
‘Are you enjoying yourself? Not the nightmare you envisaged?’ he asked, tightening his arm around her waist and smiling down at her.
‘Yes, the church service was beautiful—and I actually understood what the priest said this time.’ Phoebe laughed. ‘You were right,’ she conceded to her husband.
But then Jed was always right. He had insisted on the big wedding, the same as he had insisted on her Aunt Jemma, after she came back from Australia, coming to stay with them in Greece for a few weeks. Now, apart from the odd trip back to England, her aunt spent all her time here.
One year had passed since Ben had met his father, and now he spoke Greek like a native and loved his big Greek family and friends. Phoebe loved everyone—but especially her husband. With every day that passed their love got stronger, and Marcus had been right when he’d said Jed’s emotions ran deep. Her indomitable husband had opened up to her in a way she would never have thought possible a year ago. He had actually cried at the arrival of the latest additions to their family. That he loved her she had no doubt, and she would trust him with her life.
Reaching up, she ran her fingers through his hair and kissed him.
‘I love you, wife,’ Jed murmured when they came up for air. ‘Let’s leave now, and I’ll show you how much.’
Phoebe pulled back. ‘I love you too, husband.’ A slow, sensuous smile curved her lips, and there was a wicked gleam in her blue eyes. ‘But now you have the heir, the spare and the bonus. I’m not sure we should,’ she teased him. ‘Don’t you dare, Jed,’ she said as he hauled her close.
He had laughed when she told him about the no-sex plan she’d had on marrying him. And he’d been stunned when she hadn’t told him until she was over three months that she was pregnant again because she hadn’t wanted him getting paranoid about their love-life—he was such an over-protective husband.
She had confessed she had conceived that night they had met again, explaining at his surprise that she had not wanted to look a fool by admitting she hadn’t taken the pill since they’d parted—telling him she had not needed to because she had never had another lover. He had been humbled and overwhelmed with love. She never ceased to amaze him—no more so than three months ago, when she had given birth to a set of healthy twins—a boy, Leo, and a girl, Leanne. He had openly wept.
Phoebe—his wife, the mother of his children—filled his heart and his life with so much love and joy that he thanked God every day that he had found her.
But sometimes a man had to be a man. And, sweeping her up in his arms, he carried her out of the ballroom—to the cheers and laughter of the family and all their guests.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
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First published in Great Britain 2010
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Jacqueline Baird 2010
ISBN: 978-1-408-91925-5
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Excerpt
Title Page
About the Author
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Copyright
The Sabbides Secret Baby Page 16