Marriage at His Convenience

by Jacqueline Baird

  The speeches were over, and the wedding reception had taken on the air of a joyous feast. Lucas led Amber from one table to another to say their goodbyes. Amber was stunned at the number of people. Lucas appeared to have a remarkable number of friends, all Greek, and as she could not speak the language she simply nodded and smiled.

  It was a relief when Lucas curved his large hands possessively around her shoulders and murmured, ‘It’s time you changed, we have to leave in a few minutes.’

  ‘Leave. What for?’ Amber queried. She glanced up and saw the amusement gleaming in his black eyes, and she simply stared rather helplessly back at him.

  Lucas chuckled. ‘Because the honeymoon is the best part of the wedding, my sweet.’

  Julie burst out laughing. ‘Come on, Amber, I’ll help you change.’ Before Amber knew it she was back in the bedroom of the suite.

  Amber removed her bridal gown, and with Julie’s help managed to remove the rosebuds from her hair. Five minutes later her hair was brushed, but a little on the wild side because of the curls. Julie was holding an elegant cream trouser suit up for her inspection.

  ‘A present from your husband. Put it on.’

  A silk and linen mix—the designer label told Amber it was incredibly expensive. The tiny silk camisole that left her midriff bare prevented her from wearing a bra, but with the jacked fastened it looked great. Chic casual and Amber wondered again where they were going. Two hours later she knew…

  ‘So. What do you think?’ Lucas demanded, his black eyes alight with pleasure. ‘Isn’t she beautiful? I only bought her a few months ago, and I have not really had the time to try her out.’ The pride and admiration in his voice were unmistakable.

  Amber stood on the wooden deck and looked around. They had driven to a marina along the coast, and Lucas had just finished showing her around his latest toy—a thirty-foot motor cruiser.

  ‘The joy of this is…’ Lucas continued, his handsome face animated ‘…it does not need a crew, I can handle it myself, and the two of us will have no problem. Everyone sails around the islands, but I thought we could explore the mainland coastline, stopping off to see the places of interest, of course. It will be fun.’

  He was wearing cream cotton trousers and a short-sleeved blue checked shirt. His legs were planted slightly apart on the deck. He looked so sexy, the sheer size and virile strength of him hit her like a punch in the stomach. Amber hadn’t the heart to tell him she’d never been to sea before, other than on a ferry. For all she knew, she might get seasick.

  ‘It sounds very nice, but I don’t know much about boats,’ she managed to say, suddenly realising just what kind of intimacy she was inviting if she agreed. She had seen the galley was small and compact, the saloon was beautifully furnished, and comfortable, but not huge. There was one large cabin with a very big bed, a shower and toilet. One small cabin with a couple of bunks and a lot of computer equipment.

  ‘You don’t need to.’ Lucas caught both of her hands and cradled them in his own. ‘I will teach you everything; you will love it, I promise.’

  Standing barefoot on the deck, Lucas had insisted she remove her shoes, declaring they were unsuitable for the wood deck, and, with the warmth of his hands enfolding hers, she felt totally out of her depth in more ways than one. ‘Yes, well…’

  Lucas drew her into his arms, pulling her close so the top of her head tucked under his chin. ‘Great. I had intended taking you to a very exclusive holiday island in the Bahamas, but yesterday when I saw your suitcase and you said you only needed a few clothes because you intended to bum around and do nothing, I thought of this.’

  ‘I missed out on the Bahamas!’ Amber exclaimed, flashing a mock protesting glance up at him, only to chuckle when she saw his teasing expression.

  ‘I will take you another time,’ Lucas countered, his dark eyes suddenly serious. ‘I am going to do everything in my power to make sure you never miss out on anything life has to offer ever again.’ He gathered her in even closer, and Amber was utterly transfixed by the burning desire in his eyes. A desire Lucas was doing nothing to hide.

  She gasped, a soft sound, her lips parting as awareness shivered though her. Lucas lowered his mouth down to hers, and stole the breath from her body.

  The kiss didn’t last long, but when he drew away and said gruffly, ‘Let’s go below,’ with a nod of her head Amber mutely agreed.

  Lucas wanted her, and, dear God, she wanted him. She wanted to feel that sensuous mouth on her own again, those elegant hands on her naked flesh, feel once more the exquisite pleasure only Lucas could provide. There was no point in denying it.

  He didn’t give her time to change her mind. Clasping her hand, he led her quickly down into the living quarters. His steps were urgent as he hurried her through the salon and into the bedroom.

  Kicking the door shut behind him, he let go of her hand and reached for her, quickly opening the buttons of her jacket, and he slid it down her shoulders to drop unnoticed on the floor.

  Amber gasped, her breathing was fractured, her pulse was racing, her breasts swelling against the silk camisole. His smouldering eyes burned a path down her body, taking in the bare midriff; at the same time his fingers deftly dealt with the fastening of her trousers. His dark head bent towards her and her lips parted in anticipation of his kiss, but instead he moved lower, his mouth closing over the tip of her silk-encased breast, sucking on it, then biting and nibbling, and her spine arched on a fierce shock of sensual pleasure.

  He dropped to his knees, taking her trousers and briefs with him while his mouth slid from her breast to lick down over her bare midriff, and circle her navel, and lower.

  ‘No, Lucas,’ she tried to protest at the ultimate intimacy, even as a low erotic moan escaped her. His head jerked up, his black eyes smouldered. Standing up, he whipped the camisole over her head, and tumbled her naked body backwards onto the bed.

  Lucas looked down at her, his passionate gaze roaming over every inch of her body as he swiftly stripped naked. ‘You’re perfect,’ he growled, falling down to join her on the bed.

  ‘So are you,’ Amber murmured throatily, the sight of his big tanned body, hugely aroused, sending shivers of pleasurable anticipation arching though her.

  He leant over her, his mouth capturing hers in a savagely hungry kiss that she welcomed like a sex-starved slave, her tongue tangling with his, relishing the devouring need that had always been between them. His hand slid down over her breast and stomach, along her slender thigh, parting her long legs. He touched her, and she shuddered, her body responding with a wanton life all of its own. She grasped his broad shoulders, her slender hands tracing down his long back, feeling the satin-smooth skin burning beneath her fingertips. She wanted him, wanted him now with a fierce, primitive need.

  He broke the kiss. They fought for breath, his dark eyes holding hers asking the question and he saw the answer in her luminous golden gaze. With a low growl he lowered his head and sucked one rigid nipple into his mouth. Her back arched off the bed, and she was lost in the fiery sensations flooding through her. She never heard her own little whimpering cries of pleasure, as with hands and mouth Lucas ravished every inch of her body.

  ‘You want me.’ Lucas shifted his weight between her thighs, his arms straining either side of her pulsing body.

  She was lost to all reason, her eyes burning like molten gold clung to his. ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ she pleaded, and involuntarily she lifted her long legs and wrapped them around his lean waist. Lucas thrust into her in one strong stroke, and she cried out at the power of his possession. He was there, where she ached for him.

  He filled her, and moved in her in a wild pagan rhythm. Her legs wrapped tighter around his thrusting body as she soared ever higher and higher. Her arms reached for him, pulling his head down close enough for her mouth to meet his. Her tongue sought to repeat the rhythm of their bodies.

  Lucas threw back his head, his battle for restraint evident in the damp sheen on the taut bronzed f
eatures. He watched her eagerly, as he drove feverishly harder, his hands grasping her buttocks, holding her in a grip of steel as she reached the peak. Her keening cry rending the air as the incredible tension snapped, her tight, pulsing muscles convulsed inside her taking Lucas with her in a fierce dynamic surge of powerful release that shook his great body, totally out of control.

  It was a frantic coupling and together they clung in the shuddering aftermath, until finally, their sweat-slicked bodies entwined, they both fought to breathe air into laboured lungs, the pounding of two hearts together.

  Amber let her arms fall weakly to the bed as reality intruded. But it wasn’t love and she had to remember that, and she tried to move.

  Lucas rolled off her, and, lying down beside her, he gathered her tenderly into the curve of his body. She tried to ease away, but he hauled her closer. ‘Lie still and let me hold you for a while,’ he rasped in a throaty voice. ‘My Amber, my sexy wife,’ and the satisfaction in his tone was unmistakable.

  ‘Wife,’ Amber murmured, her golden eyes widening in surprise as she glanced up at him. The sexy she did not like at all—it reminded her too much of their past affair. But the wife she did like. Amber Karadines had a nice ring to it.

  ‘Why the surprise?’ Lucas grinned and, leaning over her, he kissed her very gently. ‘We have just consummated our marriage, and that does make you my wife,’ he drawled huskily. ‘And if you give me a moment I will prove it to you all over again.’ His eyes held hers, glinting with amusement, and Amber could not look away.

  His suggestion of a repeat performance was enough to make her stomach curl and her breasts tingle, in shameful awareness of his promise of more sensual delights to come. ‘I thought we were supposed to be going out to sea,’ she reminded him, to take her mind off more erotic thoughts.

  ‘I know,’ he declared with a rueful grin. ‘I’m beginning to wonder if a cruising holiday was such a great idea with only me to steer the boat.’

  ‘Serves you right.’ Amber laughed. ‘You will be stuck at the wheel all day and night.’

  ‘No way.’ His head bent and he captured her mouth with his own.

  Her lips parted, and her senses stirred again, a slow, deep, salacious curl of excitement that unfurled from her belly to ignite every nerve-end in her body. Lucas thought she was sex mad, always had. Why try to deny it? she wondered with stark reality—after all, this was what she wanted. She let her hands slide up over the bulging biceps to the wide shoulders and up to tangle in the thick black hair, and she held his head to hers and returned the kiss with equal fervour.

  It was dark when Amber opened her eyes. She rolled over onto her stomach and discovered she was alone in the big bed. Then she realised the low noise she could hear was the sound of the engines, and the gentle motion of the boat told her he had put out to sea. Struggling to a sitting position, she surveyed the tangled mass of sheets, and her own slightly bruised naked body. She was just reaching for a sheet to cover her with when a light flicked on. Blinded by the light, she blinked for a moment.

  ‘Good, you’re awake. Come on.’ Lucas smiled, walking over to the bed and lifting her bodily out of it.

  ‘Wait a minute, what do you think you are doing?’

  He lowered her down the length of his long body, and, with her feet on the not-so-firm floor, she glanced up at him. ‘What time is it?’

  ‘Time you started work, sailor. Hurry and get dressed and meet me on the deck. If I stay here much longer—’ his sparkling black eyes slid lasciviously over her naked body ‘—the boat will probably run aground.’

  Ten days later, Amber leant on the rail of the boat with a cup of coffee in one hand, idly surveying the approaching shoreline. She had just showered and put on a fine lawn sarong skirt in blue and white with a blue bandeau around her breasts. Her long hair hung down her back in wet strands, because Lucas’s precious boat with all mod cons did not possess a hair-dryer.

  Stifling a big yawn, she lifted the cup to her mouth and took a sip. She grimaced as she swallowed. She needed the caffeine—an unrestricted diet of sex, sex and more sex could be pretty exhausting. For the first four days of their honeymoon, Lucas had anchored the boat in a secluded cove and they had lived on sex and the provisions on board. Lucas was almost insatiable, more so than she remembered, and, being brutally honest, she was no better herself.

  He only had to look at her a certain way and they were straight into bed, or not necessarily the bed—the salon, the galley, the deck, a beach, even the sea, which she was surprised was possible. Maybe Lucas had been right about her all along—maybe she was a sex fiend, but then what did that make him?

  She drained her coffee-cup and sighed. He certainly did not love her, the word hadn’t been mentioned. Sometimes when she felt him deep inside her, possessing her, devouring her completely, she had to bite her tongue to stop crying out her love for him.

  The tour of the Greek coastline had been a joke. The only sites Amber had seen were the sea and a naked Lucas. Her lips curled in a secretive smile—not that she was complaining. Lucas was fun to be with, and an experienced and inventive lover, and no woman could have dreamed of a more passionate honeymoon. And they had actually managed to travel through the Corinthian canal a couple of days ago.

  They had stopped in the town of Corinth, and dined out for a change, and now they were heading for Karadines Island, and home.

  Home was such an emotive word, and Amber felt longingly of her own little house in England. Amber was beginning to have severe doubts about lazing around all summer. It was all right for Lucas—he was going back to work after the weekend. He had told her last night. He had everything arranged: they would live on the island, and Lucas would travel into Athens most days by helicopter, but when he had to travel further afield Amber would go with him—at least until the children arrived, he’d laughed.

  Amber had been stunned to think Lucas was actually considering her as the mother of his children. Or had he been joking…? She wasn’t sure and so she’d mumbled something and changed the subject.

  Before she’d left England she’d visited her doctor and started taking the pill, because, though loath to admit it, she’d known a platonic marriage was never going to work between them. And she wasn’t fool enough to risk getting pregnant, much as she would love to have his child, until she was sure their relationship was going to last beyond the probate of Spiro’s will. Lucas had let her down before, and she still didn’t trust him…

  Two large hands slid around her slender waist. ‘Time to take up position.’

  ‘What position would that be?’ Amber queried teasingly as she turned in his arms to face him. He looked good enough to eat, showered and shaved and dressed in white tailored shorts, and pale blue short-sleeved shirt, and his sensuous mouth curved in a wicked smile.

  ‘How about over the rail?’ Lucas prompted, elevating one dark brow enquiringly. ‘I think that’s one we have missed.’ His head dipped and he kissed her, and in an exaggerated gesture bent her back over the rail.

  ‘No, no,’ she squealed with laughter as he nuzzled the side of her neck. ‘I was only joking.’

  ‘I wasn’t,’ Lucas drawled mockingly, allowing her to stand up.

  ‘You’re incorrigible.’ Amber shook her head, but grinned.

  ‘I know. We will save the rail for later. In the meantime would you go to the stern of the ship and be ready to throw the line? We are going to dock in a few minutes.’

  Only then did she notice they were a lot nearer the shore. She could see the tiny harbour, and she was vividly reminded of her other visit here with Tim and Spiro. It seemed a lifetime ago now…

  Twenty-two and in love for the first time, the only time. Full of confidence and dressed up to the nines, she’d set out to make Lucas Karadines notice her. Hoping and praying he would fall in love with her, and they would live happily ever after. Then believing he had, she’d been bitterly disillusioned when their relationship had ended.

  Who would have thou
ght years later she would be coming back as Lucas’s wife? Was she making the same mistake again? Amber wondered. No, because it wasn’t the same. She was no longer a young, trusting fool; she no longer wore her heart on her sleeve. She and Lucas had a mature adult relationship based mostly on sexual attraction and a growing mutual respect. She kept her love and her innermost thoughts to herself. Perhaps she had finally grown up emotionally…

  How times change, Amber mused sadly, her hazel eyes hazing with moisture. She was no longer the carefree girl who had first arrived on this island, but at least she was here. Poor Spiro was dead, and the woman Lucas had really loved, Christina, was also dead, both long before their time. Amber was the lucky one. She had a chance at a good marriage. It was up to her to take it. Life was too short for regrets.

  CHAPTER TEN

  ‘THROW it, Amber. Amber!’ Lost in her thoughts, Amber had forgotten what she was supposed to be doing until an irate Lucas appeared at her side, grabbed the rope from her hand and threw it, muttering a string of curses in Greek.

  She looked at him, and felt her breath catch in her throat. His hair was rumpled, his big muscled chest was bare and he looked supremely male and infinitely desirable.

  ‘What were you thinking of?’ Lucas whirled to face her. ‘We almost hit the pier.’

  ‘Sorry.’ Amber smiled up at him, and, stepping forward, she looped her arms around his neck and, stretching up, placed a swift kiss on his firm lips. ‘Guess,’ she murmured teasingly.

  His arms clasped her loosely around the waist, his dark eyes lit with laughter. ‘I’d take you up on that, but the welcoming party awaits.’

  Before she could respond, a heavy-set middle-aged man hurried along the deck to meet them carrying two garlands of wild flowers in his hands.

  As he approached Lucas greeted him, and, taking Amber’s hand, said, ‘This is Tomso, he runs the bar-cum-store, and is in charge in my absence—a sort of mayor.’