Amber’s eyelids flickered half open and closed again. She nuzzled her head into the warm human pillow, blissfully aware of Lucas’s arms enfolding her in a warm embrace.
She opened her eyes again, and let her lips brush against the strong brown column of his throat. Her tongue flicked out, and tasted the warm, smooth skin. Amber breathed in the familiar masculine scent of him and sighed with pleasure. She felt the tightening of his fingers at her waist and stirred, tilting her head back to look up into his much-loved face. ‘Lucas,’ she murmured his name, still in that no man’s land between sleep and wakefulness.
Through half-closed eyes, she saw his dark head descending, the mobile mouth with just the hint of a smile, and her tongue stroked out over her softly parted lips in sensual anticipation.
His mouth covered hers, and she sighed her acceptance as his tongue gently explored the soft dark interior, and she reciprocated. His lips were firm yet sensuous, his touch so light, she mused languidly. His strong hand closed over her breast, and she groaned, the nipple peaking in instant reaction to his touch. She snuggled closer and let her own hand drop to his thigh and gently stroke upwards. She heard his hiss of breath and felt his instant reaction. His long, hard body was savagely tense; her slender fingers traced the outline of his rampant arousal through the fabric of his trousers. His dark head bent and he muttered something violent in Greek and captured her mouth again with a raw passion, a ferocious urgency that took her by surprise. Her head swam and she could hardly breathe. Fire scorched through her veins. She heard him moan, and the blast of heat was overpowering. With a violent curse Lucas lifted his head. Amber surfaced abruptly from a whirlpool of passion.
A blast of hot air had invaded the air-conditioned interior of the car. The door was open…
‘Come on, you two, we are waiting.’ A deep masculine voice laced with laughter echoed in Amber’s head, and suddenly she was wide awake. Appalled at what she was doing, she jerked back and clasped her hands tightly together across her chest, staring into Lucas’s dark face with horrified golden eyes.
‘Christo! Don’t move,’ Lucas growled, his arms tightening around her, shielding his body with hers. ‘Give me a moment,’ he husked with one strong hand stroking slowly up and down her back, his breathing ragged. ‘You have the most damnable timing, Amber,’ he informed her, slowly withdrawing his arms from around her trembling body.
A rueful smile twisted his firm lips, but the heat in his hungry gaze as he stared into her upturned face was sent wild colour surging over her cheeks. Lucas still wanted her every bit as much as she wanted him. The realisation sent her into renewed shock.
‘I must have been drunk,’ she muttered, sliding back along the seat to her own side of the car, mortified that she had betrayed herself so publicly. For a moment she had travelled back in time to the younger Amber when she’d fallen madly in love for the first time and had believed her feelings were reciprocated. Hastily she lifted her hands and swept back the wild tumble of her hair behind her ears.
‘Then I will have to make sure I feed you champagne for the rest of our lives.’ Lucas drove raking fingers through his thick black hair, much the same as she had just done, and stared at her. Dark eyes met her bemused gold, his lips curved back over brilliant white teeth in a dazzling genuine smile, the like of which Amber had not seen in years, and her own eyes widened in wonder. ‘But if you keep looking at me like that I think the champagne may be superfluous,’ Lucas prompted softly. ‘Come on.’
It was a very subdued Amber that stepped out of the car. How had she imagined for a second that she could marry Lucas and not go to bed with him, when a simple smile had her panting? Her knees felt weak and she was actually grateful when Lucas slid a strong arm around her waist as he introduced her to the man who had so casually interrupted them.
‘This is Joe, my right-hand man, and tomorrow my best man.’
Amber looked up into the laughing grey eyes of the tall, brown-haired man. ‘How do you do?’ she said formally.
‘Great for having finally met you,’ he responded with a trace of an American accent.
‘You’re American,’ Amber said stiltedly. If she had not been feeling so embarrassed she would have immediately liked the man.
‘Greek-American and you are very English, and very beautiful, exactly as Lucas described you.’ He smiled broadly. ‘Pity he saw you first.’
‘Cut that out, Joe; the lady is mine,’ Lucas said possessively. Amber watched as the two men exchanged an expressive look, and then they were all entering the vast foyer of the hotel.
Immediately Amber’s family surrounded them, while Joe, with a few swift commands, had their luggage taken care of. Lucas confidently listed the features of the complex at Sir David’s request. Set in two hundred acres with its own golf course, shooting range, and private beach with every kind of water sport available, it was a holiday paradise. Private chalets were scattered all around the complex. But he had arranged for everyone to stay in a number of suites in the main hotel building, as it was more convenient.
Without a word Lucas took hold of Amber’s arm and led her towards a lift. The doors swung open as if waiting for his arrival and he urged her inside.
For the sake of something to say, Amber offered, ‘Joe seems a really nice man.’
The look Lucas cast her held a hint of wry acceptance and something more she did not recognise. ‘Implying I am not?’ he taunted gently.
‘I never said that.’ She tensed, suddenly feeling claustrophobic in the small enclosed lift.
‘Relax, Amber—I was joking. All the ladies like Joe. The trouble is, he likes all the ladies. All being the operative word.’ Lucas, his eyes glinting, flicked Amber a teasing glance, asking her to share his humour.
Lucas in a light-hearted mood was impossible to resist, and a reluctant smile parted her full lips. She could imagine Joe as a ladies’ man with no trouble. He had the good looks and easygoing charm, and the banter girls the world over fell for.
‘And of course you don’t,’ she mocked.
His hand reached out and caught hold of Amber’s, spreading her fingers as he threaded his own through hers. ‘No, I only want one.’ And the look he cast down was serious, his black eyes penetrating on her lovely face. ‘And I’ve got you,’ he murmured, leading her out of the lift. Amber was powerless to control the sudden acceleration in her pulse, or to deny his hand holding hers was oddly reassuring.
Twenty minutes later she stood in the centre of the elegantly furnished sitting room, and looked around in wide-eyed awe. ‘It’s magnificent, Lucas.’ She turned her beautiful face towards him and grinned. ‘It’s bigger than my cottage. I could live in here.’ He had just given her a tour of the suite. From the long balcony with magnificent views over the bay, through the stylish bedroom with a king-sized bed, from which she had hastily dashed out into the bathroom, with double shower and whirlpool bath all in the finest marble.
‘I’m glad you like it. My only regret is I cannot stop and share it with you now. But have patience, tomorrow will be a different story,’ he declared with all the arrogance of a supremely confident man. ‘And the experience will be all the more erotic for the anticipation, I promise.’
Amber flinched. After her performance in the car it was hardly surprising; he thought she was a pushover. But then Lucas was a typical alpha male, strikingly handsome, lethally sexy, wealthy, sophisticated, and great in bed, and the combination was irresistible. She doubted he’d ever met a woman in his life that would not be happy to fall into his arms at the first opportunity. But it galled her to think he thought she was one, and that he had to apologise for leaving!
She straightened her shoulders, her proud gaze narrowing on his face. ‘Providing I am still here. After all, there is nothing to stop me changing my mind, a woman’s prerogative and all that,’ Amber pointed out. That should give the arrogant devil something to worry about.
Tall and powerful even in casual clothes, Lucas watched her, not a flicker
of any emotion showing on his handsome, hard-boned face. ‘I’m sure you can leave,’ he said softly, moving swiftly across to where she stood. ‘But you won’t.’ Tilting her chin with one long finger, he added, ‘That is the second reason for your family’s attendance at the ceremony. You might want to walk out on me, but no way will you walk out on them…’ He shook his dark head. ‘Leaving them dependent on my hospitality. I know you too well, Amber.’
Amber squirmed at her own stupidity. She had actually bought his fairy story on the plane about her family. His second reason was much more believable. The devious devil—in that second she hated him. ‘You really are a swine,’ she hissed. The fact that his assumption was also correct did nothing for her temper.
His perfectly chiselled features froze into impassivity, but not before she saw the flare of anger in the depths of the hard black eyes that held hers.
‘It won’t work.’ Lucas’s fingers tightened slightly on her chin. ‘I told you earlier, I am not going to argue with you, so stop trying.’ His thumb traced along her full lower lip, and she could not repress the shiver that rippled through her.
‘You want me and I want you, so stop fighting it. With our history it is inevitable.’
‘No,’ she denied, but her body inexplicably swayed forward like a moth to a flame, her golden gaze captured by the simmering sensuality in his night-black eyes.
‘Yes.’ Lucas smiled a wry sexy twist to his firm lips. His hand dropped from her face. He ached for her with a hunger, a pain she had no knowledge of. But he dared not touch her again. Not yet! He’d made one mistake, and he was not about to risk making another until he had his ring safely on her finger. ‘But not now—I have some business to attend to in Athens, but I will be back to take you to dinner at nine. If you need anything, speak to Joe or Reception.’ Lucas bent and dropped a swift kiss on her full lips and left.
Tense and frustrated at her own inability to resist him, Amber paced the length of the room and back, her mind a seething mass of conflicting emotions. Was she a woman or a wimp? A few hours ago she’d been determined her marriage to Lucas would be in name only. But one touch and she melted like ice in a desert. And he, damn him, knew it!
By eight in the evening Amber was almost at boiling-point. The first shock had been Reception delivering a wedding dress to her room and a handful of bridesmaid dresses, closely followed by Julie and Mary and her daughters. Amber had stood in the middle of the room like a statue as the other two women had shoved the girls into masses of white froth while Julie had explained it had all been Lucas’s idea. He was such a considerate man, she had rhapsodised.
Apparently, he had explained, because it was a second marriage for him Amber was being stubborn and insisting on keeping it low-key—a simple suit had been mentioned. But he did not want to deprive Amber of a white wedding. So he’d asked Julie to choose the gowns for the occasion.
Any thought of depriving the young girls of being bridesmaids or of doing a bunk on Amber’s part had been quickly dispelled by the constant visitors to her room: her father, Mildred, everyone, and all in favour of the wedding.
Amber lay in the decadent marble bath, and steamed her temper as hot as the water. Finally she stepped out and, picking up a large fluffy towel, wrapped it around her naked body, and then, using the hair-dryer provided, she spent the next ten minutes drying her long hair. Walking back into the bedroom, she picked white lace briefs from the drawer and stepped into them. She didn’t have much time and she wanted to be ready before Lucas arrived. Amber did not want him in her room again; once was enough for one day.
Quickly she withdrew from the wardrobe a blue silk jersey halter-necked dress, and slipped it over her head. Turning, she glanced at her reflection in the wall mirror, smoothing the clinging fabric down over her slender hips. The skirt ended a few inches above her knee, and she adjusted the bodice over her firm breasts, eyeing the cleavage with a wry look. Either she was getting fatter or the dress had shrunk in the wash. With a toss of her head, she dismissed her worries and slipped her feet into matching blue open-toed sandals.
It took only minutes to apply moisturiser to her smooth skin, a touch of mascara to her long lashes, and a plain pink lipgloss completed her make-up. With the ease of long habit, she brushed her long hair back behind her ears and let it fall loose down her back. She fastened the gold Rolex watch, a present from her father, around her wrist. Five to nine, she made it, and, walking into the sitting room, she picked up her purse and left.
Luck was with her, a lift was waiting. Amber walked in and pressed the down button and seconds later she stepped out into the foyer. Julie and her husband and the whole crowd immediately surrounded her. Joe appeared and, heading straight for Amber, he took her arm. ‘You look sensational. Where’s Lucas?’
‘I don’t know,’ she told the truth. Then she did know, when a strong arm curved around her waist.
‘I’m here, Joe, you can unhand the lady now. I’ve got her.’
Amber tensed, her heart missing a beat. Slowly she turned her head. ‘Lucas,’ she greeted him.
‘Amber, darling, you couldn’t wait, you had to come down to meet me—how sweet.’ The devilish light in his dark eyes should have warned her. He curved her close into his hard body, crushing her up against him as his dark head swooped and his lips claimed hers.
Amber’s pulse went from normal to the speed of light, and then he lifted his head; though he still held her hard against him and she could not help but be aware of his instant, shameless arousal. ‘You’re sex mad,’ she muttered angrily. ‘And you had no right to get Julie to buy a wedding dress.’
He silenced her by claiming her mouth again in a long passionate kiss, and when he finally let her up for air she was boneless. It didn’t matter how often he touched her, it was always the same. There had always been a devastating chemical reaction between them, and that had not changed in the intervening years. ‘What do you think you are doing?’ she croaked.
‘Not what I want to be doing, that’s for sure,’ Lucas said bluntly in her ear, and then very slowly eased her away from him.
Her face scarlet, Amber wanted the ground to open and swallow her up. How dared he embarrass her like that in front of her family? Eyes flashing angrily, she looked at Lucas and caught her breath. In a superbly tailored white dinner jacket and narrow black trousers that clung to his thighs and accentuated the long length of his legs, he looked magnificent. A perfect example of a man—the slight dilation of his pupils still evident, although he had controlled his body, only added to his aura of predatory masculine power.
‘You look ravishing, Amber.’ His dark eyes raked her from head to toe. ‘I am a very lucky man.’ Lucas smiled—for the audience, Amber thought, but said nothing as he caught her hand and tucked it under his arm.
Dinner was probably superb, Amber decided almost two hours later. It was a pity she had no idea what she’d eaten. The maître d’ had arranged for a long rectangular table to be set at one end of the elegant dining room so the whole party could eat together. Seated at Lucas’s side at the top of the table, she had smiled and chatted and prayed for the evening to end.
‘You must try this, agape mou.’ Lucas’s husky drawl had all the women at the table swooning, while Amber felt like a cat on a hot tin roof. If he put his finger in her mouth one more time she swore she would bite it off.
Finally, when the meal was over and he called her his love for the umpteenth time, and let his long fingers stray over her breast supposedly to smooth back a strand of her hair, Amber turned in her seat and raised her golden eyes to his. ‘You are so good to me, Lucas,’ she said, and delivered a hard kick to his shin under the table.
Lucas threw back his head and laughed out loud. ‘Really, Amber, you are priceless!’
She wasn’t priceless, she was furious and frustrated and tingling all over in a semi-permanent state of arousal, because of his tricks.
‘Hey, cut us in—what’s the joke?’ Joe asked with a grin.
‘Private, strictly private,’ Lucas responded, and settled gleaming dark eyes on Amber. ‘It is only between my fiancée and I. Isn’t that right, Amber?’
To everyone else it was a casual comment, but to Amber, with his intent gaze lingering on her face, it was very definitely a warning. Their war was private and nothing must upset the success of the evening. She picked up her wineglass and drained it, avoiding his eyes.
‘By the way, Lucas, you will have to leave before midnight,’ Sir David remarked as they were all being served with coffee after the meal. ‘Traditionally it is unlucky to see the bride before the ceremony on the day of the wedding.’
‘Well, I am all for tradition, so at midnight I’ll make my way back to my lonely bed,’ Lucas drawled with mock sorrow, and everyone laughed, except Amber who could only manage a stiff smile.
The urge to smash through the smooth façade he showed to their guests raged through her. How could they not see the deception behind the clever, striking face? The feeling of being trapped was almost overpowering and she sighed with relief when a trio of musicians arrived and took up positions on the small stage set at the back of the small square dance-floor at one end of the elegant dining room and started to play. Chairs were pushed back, and to Amber’s delight Tim appeared at her side.
‘Dance with me, Amber. We have hardly had a chance to talk,’ Tim asked. With a brief glance at Lucas, he added, ‘If you don’t mind.’
‘Of course he doesn’t mind,’ Amber answered for Lucas, leaping to her feet. To escape Lucas’s overpowering presence for a few moments was just what she needed. Grasping Tim’s hand, she almost dragged him onto the dance-floor.
The lights had been dimmed and quite a few people were dancing. Amber slipped into Tim’s arms, and felt as if she were home. ‘Thank God!’ she sighed, and, looking up into his familiar face and sparkling blue eyes, she smiled her first genuine smile of the evening. ‘It’s great to see you; I had no idea you were coming.’
Marriage at His Convenience Page 12