She stared at him. ‘So?’ she questioned, as coldly as she could.
Leon nodded in response to her terse greeting but he didn’t speak straight away, knowing he had to choose his words carefully because surely these were the most important words he would ever say. He could see she was still angry and hurt—and he couldn’t blame her for that. Not for the first time, he recognised that the forgiveness he sought from Marnie Porter was by no means guaranteed and she might not want to forgive him. What if it was already too late—if she had decided that she was well rid of his privileged but strangely antiseptic life? He felt the thud of pain. Of dread. Of fear. And he wondered how he could have been so emotionally brutal with her.
‘I thought a lot about what you said, Marnie.’
‘Good. I hope you can learn from it. I hope we both can.’
‘Marnie...’ He shook his head in frustration, realising that he had wanted her to make it easy for him by guessing what was on his mind. That she would be able to detect his pain and begin the healing process by forgiving him. But she was right. She wasn’t a mind-reader, nor should he expect her to be. And he couldn’t escape from his feelings or from learning to express them, not if he wanted her.
‘What you said—’
‘I said a lot of things, Leon.’
‘I know you did—but one of them stuck in my mind more than any of the others.’
She stared at him. ‘About my mum?’
‘No. Not at all. Nobody should be blamed for their parentage, because that’s something over which we have no choice or control.’ He raked his fingers back through his windswept hair. ‘I’m talking about when you told me you weren’t good enough.’
She shifted awkwardly and stared down at the flagstone floor. ‘Oh, that.’
‘Yes, that. Because that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. You protected your sister through the most difficult of circumstances, all through your childhood. You forged a career for yourself and you’ve stuck at it. You made your own way in the world and took less from me than anyone else I’ve ever met. You have suffered knock-backs and the sort of prejudice which would have felled most other people, but not you. And somehow, along the way, you made me realise I was capable of feeling stuff. Stuff I’d always run away from before. You’re more than good enough by anyone’s reckoning, but especially by mine.’
‘Thanks,’ she said woodenly, her head still bent.
‘And I realised something else,’ he said slowly. ‘That maybe I deliberately failed to give you the opening to tell me about your mother before. There were plenty of times I could have asked you more, but I liked your reluctance to talk about the past. It seemed to offer a protection against the true intimacy I had spent my life trying to avoid. Do you understand what I’m trying to say to you, Marnie? That in a way, I condoned your secrecy.’
She shrugged. ‘Sure.’
‘I’ve missed you so much.’ He swallowed. ‘And the question I need to ask you now is whether you could forgive me?’ he questioned unsteadily. ‘Because I love you, Marnie Porter. I love you in a way I never believed I could love anyone and I can’t imagine spending my life without you.’
She looked up then and, though her eyes were very bright, she was shaking her head, a blonde halo of hair shimmering in the lamplight. ‘I’m afraid that’s not enough, Leon,’ she said. ‘The trust between us has been broken.’
‘Then let’s repair it.’
‘I don’t want to repair it.’
His heart was pounding—its loud thunder edged with fear. ‘Why not?’
‘Because...’
Her mouth was working and he could see her trying to keep a rein on her own emotions.
‘Because I don’t want to get hurt again,’ she burst out. ‘I’ve had a lot of trouble adjusting to life without you, but I’m managing and every day it’s getting easier. If we start seeing one another again, then we run the risk of breaking up all over again and I couldn’t bear it.’ She sucked in a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. ‘I’m strong,’ she added. ‘But I really don’t think I’m that strong.’
He wanted so much to hold her—to comfort and kiss her—but the flash of her eyes was very definitely telling him not to touch. ‘What if I told you that I want to spend the rest of my life with you? That I want to marry you?’ he said huskily. ‘What if I told you that I’ve sold off two large divisions of my company, which means we can live wherever you want to live. Maybe Thessaloniki? If you’d like that,’ he amended hastily.
‘You’ve sold part of your company?’
‘Sure.’ He shrugged. ‘I’ve been simplifying my life so that I could devote the next section of it to you—that’s what’s been keeping me busy. You haven’t seen the news? It’s been all over the internet.’
‘I haven’t got any internet here. And even if I had, I certainly wouldn’t have been reading anything about you.’
Leon’s heart was beating very fast as he realised that this woman needed a declaration of love so powerful that never again would she be in any doubt of his feelings for her. She’d said she didn’t know if she had the strength to risk having a relationship with him again, but he knew she did. He just had to convince her of that.
‘I love and admire you more than anyone I have ever met, Marnie,’ he said slowly, and very deliberately. ‘I love your pride and feistiness and your ability to make me laugh. I love waking up in the morning and finding you there beside me, so that I can kiss you. I like your company more than anyone else’s and I like you lying next to me when I wake in the darkness of the night. And I find myself imagining...’ For some reason, his voice had started to crack. ‘Imagining you,’ he breathed unevenly. ‘With a baby at your breast. Our child. A child we would love and protect with all our hearts. A child we would be honest with. There will be no more secrets between us from now on, my love. Agape mou. Just a shared life together. Will you share that vision with me, Marnie—will you journey down that road with me?’
As she heard the emotion underpinning his words, Marnie could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she looked up into his beloved face. At the bronzed beauty of his sculpted features and the mouth she had thought so hard and unforgiving the first time she’d ever seen him. But Leon had crafted himself a mask to present to the world, the same as she had, she realised. A mask intended to conceal the pain they’d both suffered—a pain which had made them keep people at arm’s length.
Yet somehow the two of them had come together—and how. They had got it wrong the first time around but he was right, they could start again. Because that was what life was all about.
About hope. And redemption. And renewal.
And love. Most of all it was about love. A love she had never imagined could be hers.
‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘Yes, I will journey down that road with you. Because I love you too, with all my heart. I think I’ve loved you from the moment I first set eyes on you, Leon Kanonidou.’
‘So you’ll marry me?’ he verified fiercely. ‘As soon as possible?’
She smiled. ‘Yes, I’ll marry you. But will you please hold me now? Because more than anything, I badly need you to kiss me.’
As his arms went round her, she sank lovingly into his embrace, feeling his warmth and protection as the sheer joy of being reunited with him flooded through her body. With tender fingers he dried the tracks of her tears and brushed the awry hair away from her cheeks and he lowered his lips to hers in what felt like slow motion.
But it was worth the wait.
Oh, yes. Definitely worth the wait.
Because that one kiss healed their past and sealed their future and made them realise how glorious their shared present was.
In fact, it was safe to say that it was the best kiss of their lives.
EPILOGUE
MARNIE HAD JUST positioned the final fondant dinosaur on top of
the cake when the sound of movement outside the window captured her attention. With sunlight glittering off the nearby sea, she glanced up to see Leon approaching and thought—as she always did—what perfect timing he had. A visual feast in sawn-off jeans and a black T-shirt, he was running to keep up with two sand-covered little boys. Their sons. Their twin sons. Their two beautiful boys who would be four years old tomorrow, and who brought their besotted parents unimaginable amounts of joy. She swallowed, overcome with emotion which was never far from the surface—particularly during the last few weeks.
Every day she gave thanks for her life and her marriage because it hadn’t all been plain sailing. Conceived early in their marriage, and born seven weeks prematurely, Theo and Atlas had been terrifyingly tiny when they had been delivered in Athens. Their parents had kept a tense vigil on the neonatal unit and Marnie had been shocked by the waxen pallor of her husband’s face and the bleak terror she could read in his eyes.
But those little boys had come battling through and today were as healthy and robust as any of their friends, five of whom would be joining them tomorrow for a raucous birthday picnic on the beach, along with their aunt and uncle. Pansy and Warren were flying in later on Leon’s private jet, along with their russet-haired daughter, Bryony—who was a loveable little terror. Warren was now one of the most successful barristers in the country and Pansy had become a valued prison visitor in London. She was even on the lecture circuit, giving increasingly popular talks about the realities of women’s experiences in jail. As she was fond of telling anyone who asked—nobody knew the inside of a cell as well as she did.
Marnie sighed. Who would ever have thought that fate could have done such a satisfying flip-flop and allowed the two Porter sisters to find true happiness?
‘That was a very big sigh,’ came a silken comment from behind her and Marnie felt a shiver of inevitable expectation rippling down her spine as she heard Leon’s voice.
She turned round, her heart clenching with pleasure. His blue eyes were bright against the bronzed gleam of his skin, but these days his raven-dark hair was styled a little longer and looked very sexy. She cut it herself, of course. In fact, lots of his friends had asked if she would cut theirs, too, but Marnie had resisted. She had loved her time as a hairdresser but other things beckoned to her now. With the help of their beloved nanny, Christina, she took an inordinate amount of pleasure from being a mother. She was on the board of trustees of a children’s home and, assisted by the philanthropic arm of Leon’s pared-down business, she hoped she was helping to make a real difference in the lives of those children. In fact, next week a tiny orphaned baby girl they were fostering was coming to the newly decorated pink nursery upstairs, which had been prepared just for her. She bit her lip. Well, that had been the theory.
‘It was a sigh of contentment,’ she informed her husband as he slid his arms around her waist.
‘But also one of faint concern,’ he noted as he traced the tiny frown on her brow with the tip of one finger.
‘Where are the boys?’
‘Christina has insisted they remove all that sand in the bath and, afterwards, they’ve decided they want to make welcome cards to give to their new baby sister next week.’
She grinned. ‘Aw. That’s so sweet.’
‘Mmm. And then they’re going to “play” chess.’
Marnie grimaced. ‘I hope they don’t start fighting again.’
‘Only time will tell.’ He smiled. ‘Which gave me the opportunity to come and find my beautiful wife, to admire the birthday cake she’s made and to wonder why she’s looking a little worried.’
He was so perceptive! Marnie touched her fingers to his shadowed jaw—treasuring a moment she’d prayed for but which she’d thought would be denied them for ever. Because even though the doctors had told her it was fine for her to have another baby, up until now it had never happened. She had convinced herself she was okay with that, and revelled in the fact that she had lots of blessings to count. Twin blessings, actually—as well as an adorable baby girl who was soon going to be joining their family. But now...
‘I’m pregnant, Leon,’ she whispered, watching the series of emotions which crossed the face of a man who no longer kept his feelings hidden away. She could see hope and fear and joy—all those things which most people felt every day of their lives. ‘I’m... I’m having your baby,’ she said, just in case it hadn’t registered. ‘Are you happy?’
Leon hoped his tight embrace reassured her on that point and as he pulled her closer he could hear the combined thunder of their hearts. ‘Agape,’ he said shakily, coming to terms with what she had just told him before uttering a silent prayer of gratitude. Because he had never imagined life could be like this. With his loving wife and two amazing sons, they had created the perfect family. He had thought things couldn’t get any better, but he had been wrong. But then, he had been wrong about so many things before he had met Marnie.
‘Am I happy?’ he echoed slowly. ‘Let me tell you that my happiness is right off the scale.’
‘But we’re going to have two new babies in the house now! And four children in total.’
‘Shh.’ He kissed the tremble of her lips. ‘We’ll cope. We coped with our two boys, just as we will with little Athena and her new brother or sister. We have enough love between us for an army of children in our lives, Marnie. Surely you know that?’
She nodded, smiling through the tears he recognised as tears of joy. He thought of all the ways he could respond to her news. Later, he would take her to their room and pay homage to her with his body. He would spoil her and cherish her and insist she rested. But for now there was only one thing she needed to hear, which happened to be the only thing he wanted to say.
‘I love you, Marnie. Se agapo. For the rest of my days, and beyond.’
Their kiss was slow and very passionate, interrupted only by a furious accusation from upstairs, shouted in perfect English.
‘Atlas, you’re cheating!’
* * *
Lost in the magic of Secrets of Cinderella’s Awakening? You’re sure to love these other stories by Sharon Kendrick!
His Contract Christmas Bride
Cinderella in the Sicilian’s World
The Sheikh’s Royal Announcement
Cinderella’s Christmas Secret
One Night Before the Royal Wedding
Available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Greek’s Hidden Vows by Maya Blake.
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The Greek’s Hidden Vows
by Maya Blake
CHAPTER ONE
EAVESDROPPERS NEVER HEARD anything good about themselves. Wasn’t that how the saying went? Christos Drakakis gritted his teeth at that inconvenient reminder as he stood frozen in the middle of the smaller of his two adjoining conference rooms. Except he wasn’t eavesdropping per se. Both rooms had been empty when he entered five minutes ago, searing disappointment and blazing frustration colouring his perceptions.
Something that seemed to be happening with unwelcome frequency lately—
‘I think we can safely assume it’s reached DEFCON One around here.’
‘I was thinking more along the lines of nuclear fallout, until I saw his face, then I knew we were already way past that. Apparently, it’s been three years since he lost a case. I wasn’t here then, but I know heads rolled on that particular case.’
The sentence was delivered with deep apprehension.
Gary Willis, one of his associates, had every right to be feeling the same sickening sensation churning Christos’s
guts. That was the reason he’d sidetracked to the conference room instead of continuing to his office a few dozen floors above.
Most lawyers, no matter how stellar their reputation, accepted a degree of failure in the course of their profession. Most divorce lawyers took on certain cases with the expectation of having to compromise.
Not him.
Christos never took on a case unless he’d calculated how to achieve his endgame. His first loss had jolted him enough to vow never to take his eye off the ball again. His second had been because his client was a pathological liar who couldn’t speak the truth even to salvage his own divorce proceedings.
Today’s loss had been...out of his control. He’d debated every scenario, investigated every piece of information and triple-checked the opposition’s weak points. Everything should have gone his way. Yet somehow here he stood, disbelief shaking through his veins, with the dire reminder that the past was always there, waiting to rear its ugly head. Today’s lesson had been aimed at his client and friend, Kyrios, but it was Christos who was feeling the full after-effects of losing his third case in five years.
‘Are you sure it’s just this case troubling our esteemed leader? We only took it on three weeks ago. He’s been channelling Vlad the Impaler for the better part of two months now!’
Christos’s guts turned to stone, even as his mouth twisted in acid amusement.
Vlad the Impaler was an apt description. He’d been that way ever since the incident. And his grandfather’s increasingly pressured demands had only contributed to the...chafing that resided beneath his skin, making him excruciatingly aware that things weren’t settled in his world. Or as settled as they should be.
He detested excuses from his subordinates. Making them for himself was even more of an anathema. Which was why his inability to have this situation sorted successfully grated so badly.
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