by Lynne Graham
‘They’re a lovely couple,’ Ellie whispered when they were eating their meal at the top table. ‘Have you known Nathan long?’
‘I was in a car smash when I was nineteen. Nathan was doing his stint as a med student in the casualty unit.’ For some reason that recollection made Dio’s firm lips curve into a surprisingly amused grin.
‘What’s so funny about that?’
‘I only had concussion, but my father was in a highly emotional frame of mind when he arrived.’ Dio grimaced. ‘He behaved as if Nathan had saved me from certain death and embarrassed the hell out of both of us. I think Nathan agreed to spend the weekend on our yacht just to escape being wept over and embraced!’
‘Of course your dad was upset. You were an only child,’ Ellie scolded, dismayed even by the mention of a car accident that had happened a decade earlier, simply terrified at the idea of anything ever happening to Dio.
Dio gazed deep into her anxious green eyes and his mouth quirked. ‘I wish he’d met you—’
‘No, you don’t!’ Ellie told him roundly. ‘He’d have locked you up before he’d have let you marry someone like me!’
‘What is this “someone like me” stuff?’
‘It’s my Cinderella complex talking. I certainly don’t mean that you’re my prince, Dio, so don’t be getting a swollen head!’ Ellie cautioned. ‘You’re the guy who first switched on a kettle as an adult…and I was the latch-key kid who got my own tea from the age of seven!’
Dio wasn’t amused. ‘No damn wonder you find it so hard to lean on me.’
‘Most people I’ve tried to lean on in life fell over!’ Ellie joked instantly, hoping to make him lighten up again, wishing she hadn’t mentioned her childhood.
‘But I won’t,’ Dio intoned very seriously. ‘You have to learn to trust me, pethi mou.’
Sometimes men were a tonic, she decided. He had said that without a shade of irony. Yet he didn’t trust her. At least, her word didn’t yet carry the same weight and value as his lifelong friend Helena’s, Ellie couldn’t help reflecting. But she swiftly suppressed that thought. They were married now, and it was early days yet. Time would take care of that problem. She couldn’t see that he would be meeting up with Helena Teriakos very much in the future, and she was too practical to make a running battle of that issue in the short term. A new marriage was a fragile thing. Wouldn’t it be foolish to make the beautiful Greek woman a bone of contention?
A few hours later, in the luxurious room set aside for her use, Ellie removed her wedding gown with rueful regret and put on the travelling outfit she had purchased. A loden-green suit, its fitted jacket adorned with snazzy gold buttons and teamed with a fashionable short skirt. It had cost the earth and she had picked it with great care. But the more mature appearance she had initially attempted to strike hadn’t come off. Those kind of clothes didn’t look right on her yet. She was twenty-one and she didn’t look older than her years.
When she returned to the crush of guests awaiting their departure for the airport, she was rewarded by the appreciative gleam that awakened in Dio’s expressive eyes the instant he saw her. Her rather anxious smile became downright sunny.
‘You look about eighteen. I should be hung,’ Dio groaned, but he curved a wonderfully possessive arm round her small thin figure. ‘Go on, throw your bouquet.’
‘No, I want to keep it.’
‘I thought it was tradition.’
‘No, I’m having mine preserved and framed…or something,’ Ellie told him stubbornly.
The number of people wishing to exchange last words with Dio briefly forced them apart. Ellie watched Dio laughing at some sally, and something akin to pure joy blossomed within her. He really did look happy and relaxed, just as a new husband should look.
And then, from behind her, a cool smooth voice remarked, ‘I pity you, Ellie. Playing the whore between Dio’s sheets won’t hold him for long. And you don’t have anything else to offer him, do you?’
In shock, Ellie froze, and then she spun round with a jerk. But Helena Teriakos had already moved on to chat to an older couple some distance from her. However, Sally Parkes was standing only a foot away, her mouth wide, her eyes almost as appalled as Ellie’s. ‘I was just hurrying over to speak to you before you left. Did I really just hear what I thought I heard?’ she demanded in an incredulous whisper. ‘My goodness, I never thought that cold fish had it in her to be that spiteful!’
That surprising comment dredged a nervous giggle from Ellie. ‘Now you know.’
‘Go and tell Dio right this minute,’ Sally urged her keenly.
‘No, I’ll handle it myself…’ Ellie said awkwardly, mortified colour now banishing her previous pallor. ‘I did kind of steal her man, so, well…I can’t blame her for hating me.’
Sally Parkes frowned. ‘Her man? They weren’t even dating, never mind engaged. Surely you don’t believe she’s been sitting home just waiting for Dio to pop the question! If a richer, more powerful prospect had come along, she’d have married him years ago!’
Ellie felt uneasy. She liked Sally, but, although it was comforting to be told such things, she didn’t want to discuss Helena with anyone.
‘Honestly!’ Sally was into full swing now, venting what were obviously pretty personal feelings about the other woman. ‘Helena’s all sweetness and light around Dio. I’d just love him to know what she’s really like! Men can be so blind.’
‘Yes,’ Ellie agreed, frantically trying to think of a change of subject.
‘He’s had a real narrow escape. She’s the original ice queen and the most awful snob. Nat and I just aren’t good enough to share the same room with her!’ Sally shared feelingly.
‘Who aren’t you and Nat good enough to share the same room with?’ Dio enquired with amusement. He closed a powerful arm round Ellie as he spoke, only to glance down at his bride in surprise when she jumped in guilty dismay. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I’m feeling a bit dizzy,’ Ellie announced, and right then she genuinely was. Dizzy with apprehension. She was terrified that Sally was about to name Helena and give Dio the impression that they had been enjoying a mutual muck-raking session.
But a split second later she saw that she needn’t have worried. Poor, outspoken Sally was hotly embarrassed by Dio’s untimely interruption. And, as a distraction, Ellie’s plea of dizziness worked a treat. Dio assisted her into the limousine as if she was an elderly lady of at least a hundred and one. Then he climbed back out again to stride over to Sally’s husband, Nathan.
From her stance a few feet from the car, Sally made the most comical grimace of relief. She pretended to mop her brow, evidently as aware as Ellie of Dio’s high opinion of Helena and grateful not to have caused offence.
Dio swung into the limousine beside Ellie. ‘The instant the jet’s airborne, you’re going to rest,’ he informed her with determination, fresh from what appeared to have been an urgent consultation with Nathan in his professional capacity.
‘But I’m OK!’ Ellie protested in dismay.
‘I should never have invited so many people. It’s been a hell of a demanding day for you…and I know it sounds crass but I keep on forgetting that you’re a pregnant lady!’ Dio told her apologetically.
Actually, no news could have pleased Ellie more. Only by the time she heard it, it was too late. There she was, longing to be passionately kissed, and Dio was behaving as if she had turned into some kind of invalid. When she argued, he simply assumed that she was striving not to be a sickly wet blanket. He then told her off for trying to take such an attitude with him, and pointed out that she had to accept the need to take extra care of herself now.
As soon as the jet was on route to Greece, where they were to spend a couple of weeks, Dio stashed Ellie on the bed in the cabin and helped her out of her shoes. He would have helped her out of her suit as well, but Ellie pulled away.
‘Go to sleep,’ he urged bossily. ‘I know you have to be exhausted.’
‘I’m not,�
�� Ellie groaned in despair.
Dio crouched down lithely by the side of the bed. Vibrant dark eyes swept her mutinous but pale face. ‘Don’t you want to be awake for our wedding night?’ he murmured silkily.
‘I thought Nathan might have put that on the forbidden list as well,’ Ellie said crossly.
Dio gave her a shimmering smile of amusement and smoothed her tumbled hair gently off her brow. ‘You’re such a kid sometimes.’
Ellie was so annoyed at that assurance she flipped over to turn her face to the wall and presented him with a stiff back.
‘And that’s really good for me!’ Dio protested with a tremor of laughter disturbing his usually even diction. ‘Occasionally I now have to think for two people instead of one. For a male who has been extremely selfish and spoilt for most of his life, that’s really terrific therapy!’
‘Oh, really?’ Ellie muttered sniffily. ‘I’m so glad one of us is having fun!’
Dio burst out laughing. Ellie flipped back over, real temper sparking, and then she collided with his beautiful dark eyes. Her heart skipped a beat and she totally forgot what she might have been about to snap back.
‘I promise you, agape mou. The fun will include you tonight,’ he swore, not quite steadily.
And only when she was free of the undeniable distraction of his vibrant presence did Ellie feel the heaviness of the exhaustion she had rigorously denied slowly creeping over her to weight her limbs.
‘Stop it,’ Ellie surfaced to mumble in complaint when she sensed disturbance some timeless period later.
‘Hush,’ Dio soothed.
Ellie slid a sleepily seeking hand beneath his jacket. She spread possessive fingers across the silk shirt separating her from his warm, virile body and sighed with contentment. Dimly assuming he was lying down beside her, she sank back into peaceful sleep.
She finally wakened and stretched, only find to herself under restraint. Her eyes flew open. Dio was carrying her. ‘What…where?’
‘You’ve slept well for a lady who wasn’t remotely tired. You’ve been out of it for the whole trip,’ Dio drawled, with more than a hint of that satisfaction peculiar to a male who enjoys being proved right.
Ellie focused on the familiar frontage of the vast villa he was striding towards. ‘For goodness’ sake…put me down.’
‘I can’t. I left your shoes behind on the jet.’
‘How on earth did you cart me through Athens airport?’ she gasped.
‘The same way.’ Dio laughed. ‘It did cross my mind that the fact you’re not as staturesque as Helena was a distinct advantage—I’m still fit to carry you over the threshold!’
Ellie froze at his reference to the other woman, the disconcerting comparison which he had unthinkingly made. Dio tensed, closed his eyes and just groaned out loud, evidently registering what he had just said.
Ellie made an enormous effort. ‘It’s OK,’ she stressed with a forced smile intended to soothe. ‘She was part of your life for a long time…I understand.’
As he reached the palatial front entrance of the villa, Dio sent a rueful glance down at her. ‘Until I met you, I really believed I was a skilled diplomat.’
‘It’s all that boot-licking that goes on around you,’ Ellie told him baldly.
‘No, it isn’t that. It’s you,’ he condemned with a wry light in his eyes. ‘I get so used to listening to you say whatever you like that I relax my guard around you.’
Ellie thought about that. ‘That’s good.’
Well, sometimes it would be good—even most of the time, she adjusted inwardly. But right now she really could have done without finding out that Dio had been comparing her in even the tiniest way with Helena. Such a trivial little comparison too: Helena so tall and shapely, Ellie so small and slightly built. But still Ellie would have preferred not to have had the confirmation that the beautiful brunette was still so much in Dio’s thoughts on their wedding day.
But then it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out why Helena was on Dio’s mind. All his adult life, Dio had assumed that Helena would be his wife. He had had little time to come to terms with the sudden switch in brides. And he certainly cared about Helena, Ellie was forced to concede. He praised the beautiful brunette, became angry if she was criticised and hotly defended her. As she faced those hard facts head-on, Ellie was in pain. What if Dio really did love the other woman? It was perfectly possible that he had decided to put the needs of his unborn child ahead of his own personal feelings. But if he had done that, time would weaken his resolve, wouldn’t it?
As they entered the huge hall, Dio dragged Ellie back to the present by momentarily stilling with a low-pitched groan. ‘We have company,’ he sighed.
Two tiny old ladies with almost identical creased faces and wide smiles were waiting for them in the hall. Ellie rather thought she had noticed the elderly pair in their old-fashioned black dresses on her previous visit to the villa.
Dio greeted both women in a flow of warm Greek. He settled Ellie down on her stocking-clad feet to introduce her to his grandmother’s twin sisters: Polly and Lefki.
‘Dio has no mother to welcome you to your new home,’ Polly—Ellie thought it was—said in heavily accented English. ‘We are here to make you welcome.’
‘To make you welcome,’ Lefki repeated cheerfully.
‘Lefki, I have said that.’ Her sister turned to admonish her.
‘But we are not staying long.’ Lefki gave her sister a decidedly defiant look.
Ellie couldn’t help herself. She just grinned.
An abundant supper awaited them in the big drawing room she remembered. Polly and Lefki sat perched on the sofa opposite. They were so small and shrunken that their feet didn’t touch the carpet. In between arguing with each other, they urged more food on Dio and shot loaded questions at Ellie.
What did she think of the island? With pride, they announced that neither of them had ever left the island, even for a day. Didn’t she think it would be a wonderful place to live all the year round? Did she know how much Dio loved Chindos? Didn’t she think that Dio worked too hard and travelled too much? Their love and concern for Dio became more endearingly obvious with each word.
When they finally took their leave in an elderly Rolls Royce, driven off at a snail’s pace by their careful driver, Dio shot Ellie a slightly uneasy glance. ‘Sorry about that. Polly and Lefki live at the far end of the island. I can appreciate that some people find them rather eccentric, but they rarely visit.’
‘Oh, I hope not. They’re absolutely adorable,’ Ellie told him. ‘What age are they? Have they always been together?’
‘Ninety-two and, yes, they’re completely inseparable.’ Dio smiled warmly down at her and relaxed. He dropped an arm round her as he walked her up the spectacular central staircase. ‘I’m glad you like them. I have a soft spot for my great-aunts. When my mother died, Polly and Lefki were a great comfort to me, and I’ve never forgotten that.’
He drew her into a fabulous bedroom furnished with the same unashamed opulence as the ground floor. Gorgeous flower arrangements scented the still air. Ellie glanced at the magnificent bed and her tummy clenched with anticipation. She looked away, her cheeks warming, embarrassed by the sensual stirrings of her own body. It was hard to credit that only a few weeks ago she had been blissfully ignorant of how powerful sexual hunger could be.
‘I could do with freshening up,’ she confided shyly.
‘So could I,’ Dio purred like a big lazy cat, casting off his jacket and tugging loose his tie.
Watching him strip, she ran out of breath and mobility. Meeting those dark golden eyes, feeling their bold, sensual glide over her taut figure, she felt her heart start to beat very fast. Naked now, his lean, bronzed, hair-roughened length a feast for her wakening senses, Dio strode over to her. He undid the buttons on her jacket one by one and eased it from her shoulders.
‘I want to drive you wild,’ he told her huskily.
‘My imagination has already d
one that for you…’ Ellie confided.
Releasing her bra, Dio curved his hands to the new fullness of her breasts. He smiled with sensual appreciation as she jerked and gasped at the brush of his thumbs over her urgently sensitive nipples. Suddenly intent, Dio pushed her gently down onto the bed. Following her there, he sealed his mouth hotly to a straining pink bud, laving it with his tongue and the edge of his teeth. Fiery response whooshed through her trembling tautness, provoking a driven moan from her parted lips.
Dio raised his dark head again, raw hunger in his eyes. He angled back and skimmed off her skirt. He dispensed with her remaining garments with unconcealed impatience. As he ran his burnished gaze over her pale nudity, she felt as if she was burning all over. ‘You are so perfect…I need a shower just to cool off,’ he confided thickly.
‘Me too…’
In the spacious shower cubicle, she leant up against him beneath the energizing beat of the water. Weak and hungry as her treacherous body was, anxiety still pierced her thoughts. She wouldn’t be perfect much longer. Her breasts were already fuller. Their baby would soon wreak havoc with the taut, slim figure he liked so much. Her waistline would thicken; her stomach would swell. Would Dio still find her attractive then?
‘I’m going to look like a balloon in a few months,’ she muttered helplessly, unable to keep her fear to herself.
‘Hmm…’ Dio sighed, sliding a reflective hand down over her still flat tummy, letting his fingers splay and linger. ‘I’m looking forward to showing you off.’
‘Showing me off?’ Ellie echoed weakly.
Dio sank down on the corner seat and tugged her down on top of him. Angling his handsome head back, he luxuriated in the warm jets of water hitting them from all directions before he looked at her again. A slashing grin slated his wide, sensual mouth then. ‘I think it must be a guy thing, agape mou. You have my baby inside you. That’s a hell of a turn-on.’
‘It is?’ Taken aback by that assurance, Ellie stared at him.