by Penny Jordan
‘With all my heart,’ she assured him with certainty. ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for you, Luc. My whole life!’ she repeated fervently, her arms tightening about him as her lips parted to receive his kiss.
Her whole body sang in response to his. To his hard chest against the softness of her breasts, his hard arousal pressed against the liquid fire of her thighs as her legs became entangled with his.
‘No, Darci!’ Luc breathed raggedly as he abruptly broke the kiss.
She looked up at him uncertainly. ‘No…?’
He gave her a smile. ‘This may be out of character—out of my character to date,’ he added knowingly. ‘Old-fashioned, even. But, the truth is, Darci, I do not want to pre-empt our wedding night—your wedding night. You’re everything to me, Darci. Everything! And I want everything to be perfect for you. Including our wedding,’ he told her firmly as she would have protested. ‘Although…’ He frowned slightly as he released her, before moving determinedly to the edge of the bed to stand up.
Darci looked up at him, still slightly dazed by the intensity of her response to him. A response she was sure she would always have to this gorgeously sexy man she loved beyond reason, beyond doubt.
‘Luc…?’ she said, as he walked around the bed to stand beside her.
He smiled at her—a bright, dazzling, loving smile. ‘Putting your happiness above everything else starts right now, Darci,’ he promised her as he dropped down onto one knee and took one of her hands in his much larger ones. ‘Will you marry me, Darci? Will you be my love for the rest of our lives? Will you be my wife, Darci?’
‘Oh, yes, Luc. Yes, yes, yes!’ she assured him tearfully.
‘This time I do not in the least mind your answer being in triplicate!’ he told her fiercely, and he moved to gather her up in his arms and kissed her until she was once again soft and wanton in his arms.
‘As long as we don’t have triplets,’ Darci murmured ruefully. Although the thought of that, of having Luc’s children, really wasn’t in the least daunting.
‘No doubt my mother would not complain—’
‘Your mother, Luc!’ Darci remembered, suddenly stricken. ‘What on earth must she think of me after seeing us together like that earlier?’
‘My mother is in absolutely no doubt as to what I think of you, my love,’ Luc assured huskily. ‘I told her before I came upstairs that I love you, and that if you would have me, I intended making you my wife,’ he explained, at Darci’s questioning look. ‘I am sure that even now she is downstairs—probably with the rest of my family, too!—making wedding plans,’ he said.
‘You really told her that about me?’ Darci breathed dazedly.
‘Oh, yes,’ he affirmed.
Darci swallowed hard. ‘What did she say?’
He smiled. ‘That I am her youngest beloved son.’ His voice deepened with emotion. ‘It’s strange, Darci. As a child I only felt excluded from my parents’ love—maybe because I am that youngest son. But tonight I have realised that my mother’s love for me is unreserved—that she wants only my happiness.’
Darci’s arms tightened about him. ‘I’m glad, Luc. So very glad,’ she told him shakily.
‘In any case,’ he continued briskly, ‘my mother approves of you, and she is greatly looking forward to welcoming you into our family,’ he announced with some of the arrogance Darci had noted tonight in all the Gambrelli men.
The Gambrelli men.
Cesare, Wolf and Luc.
And she was going to marry, to be the wife, the lifetime love, of the last—the very best!—of them….
Luc’s arms tightened about her. ‘When will you marry me, Darci?’
She glowed up at him. ‘Well, as you’ve put this embargo on our lovemaking, perhaps it had better be soon, hmm? Very soon,’ she added with feeling.
Luc gave a slow smile, a smile completely without reserve, and his eyes glowed with the deep love he felt for her. ‘The fact that I would like your wedding night to be exactly that does not mean that we have to completely deny ourselves…’ he pointed out.
‘No?’ Darci looked up at him with tempting green eyes.
‘Most definitely no,’ he assured her, as his lips trailed fire down the sensitive column of her throat, igniting desire.
‘Oh, good…’ she declared, before giving herself up to the wonder, the sheer delight, of being loved by Luc.
Her Gambrelli man.
The Kouros Marriage Revenge
By Abby Green
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE
‘KALLIE, you have to tell him you love him tonight. If you don’t, he’ll never know. You’re going home in two days, next year you’ll be at college or working…this is it, your last chance to tell Alexandros how you feel.’
Kallie’s arms were gripped by her older cousin Eleni, her dark face close to Kallie’s, her eyes fervent. In some dim part of herself she did wonder at that moment why Eleni cared so much about this. And stifled the thought, feeling mean. Hadn’t Eleni been her confidante, having had to listen to her wax lyrical about Alexandros for years on every summer holiday? She was only helping her.
Nerves made her voice shaky. ‘But, Eleni, I haven’t seen him in ages, he’s always in Athens now…’ She shivered. And a little remote. Which he’d never been before…
Eleni shook her head emphatically. ‘Doesn’t matter. He’s always had a soft spot for you. He’s exactly the same, the only difference now is that he’s loaded.’
Kallie gulped. And way more grown up…he’s going to laugh at me.
‘Kallie, come on. Don’t chicken out now.’
She looked at her cousin. She had that impatient look that always scared Kallie a little.
Kallie nodded jerkily, her heart thumping like crazy. Over Eleni’s head she could see the object of her affections. Alexandros Kouros. Twenty-five years old and so handsome it hurt. Midnight-black hair that shone almost blue-black in the light, curling softly on his collar, a touch too long. His skin a deep olive. His face had a harsh masculinity that made Kallie’s insides feel weak. An arresting, utterly captivating quality that drew the eye and kept it there with little effort.
He stood at least six feet four, broad across the shoulders and chest. His body was finely muscled, potently masculine. Sometimes it frightened Kallie, the response she felt around him. Like it was something she couldn’t control, didn’t fully understand…
They were in his palatial family villa, which was right beside her grandmother’s in the hills above Athens, where she always spent her summer holidays. Every year, the end-of-summer party in the Kouros villa was the highlight of the social scene. Kouros Shipping was one of the biggest companies in the world. And since his father’s untimely death two years before, Alexandros had taken full control without even breaking sweat.
‘Kallie, he’s never going to see you as anything but a friend unless you go and take things further.’
‘I know.’ Kallie was anguished, her attention brought back into the room, to the events that her cousin seemed to be determined to set in motion. She’d never done anything so bold in all her life, usually preferring to hide behind a book or in the hammock at the end of her grandmother’s garden, dreaming. She didn’t even know if she really wanted to do it. Suddenly she saw Alexandros across the room take a bottle of something off a table and disappear. Eleni had followed her gaze. She turned Kallie to face her.
‘This is it, Kall—now or never. You’ll regret it for ever if you don’
t. By the time you see him again he’ll be married with three kids…’
The thought made Kallie feel physically ill…or maybe that was the wine Eleni had been plying her with to get her courage up. Eleni held up the glass again. Kallie shook her head, as it was it was already swimming slightly. The sight of it made her feel nauseous. It was the first time she’d drunk anything alcoholic and she really wasn’t sure she liked it.
‘Go, Kallie. Now.’
Fuelled by something bigger than her—the wine, the sense of finality about everything—Kallie moved forward as if in a dream, through the crowd in the room, out the door that Alexandros had disappeared through and onto the patio. The warm air washed over her, bringing her to her senses somewhat. She almost turned around and went back inside, but saw Eleni at the door. No going back.
She didn’t see Alexandros at first—he was hidden by an overhanging tree that trailed its leaves along the stones of the grand patio. Then she saw him, his tall lean body, jacket off, leaning against the wall, and it made something inside her flutter to life. She moved forward. Thoughts swirled around her head, like a drumbeat…a mantra…as she approached him.
It’s now or never. If I don’t do it then I’ll never know, he’ll never know how I feel…
She held her breath and stepped into the space where the tree formed a kind of hidden clearing. The faint sounds of the party drifted out on the breeze but Kallie was oblivious to that. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest it was beating so hard. Alexandros had his back to her but she could see that he had a bottle in his hand and was lifting it up, drinking from it. She must have made a noise because he whirled around, the bottle clenched in one hand.
‘Who’s that?’ He peered into the gloom and Kallie stepped forward slightly. ‘Kallie? Is that you?’
She stepped forward. ‘It’s me.’
He turned away. ‘You should go back inside to the others.’
She was stung at his obvious desire to be alone. His dismissal. She realised a little belatedly that he’d been in a strange mood all evening, dark, brooding, as if a black cloud clung to him. And it seemed even more apparent now.
Having come this far, she ignored him and kept walking till she was almost beside him, the twinkling vista of Athens laid out below them at the end of the garden. Her heart was beating so rapidly she felt light-headed.
‘I’d like to stay, if that’s all right.’
He shrugged and took another swig from the bottle. Kallie grabbed it from him, taking him off guard, and took a drink herself before he could stop her. She coughed and spluttered as the liquid burnt her throat. He stood up straight and clapped her back, sitting her back on the low wall beside him. A wry grin on his face.
‘What were you expecting? Wine?’
Tears streamed down Kallie’s face, shocking her out of her nerves for a moment. ‘What was that?’
‘Ouzo.’
She shivered suddenly when she realised that they were close together, his muscular thigh burningly close to hers.
He reached for his coat and draped it over her shoulders. She had to fight not to give in to the sensation, not to close her eyes and breathe his scent deeply. They sat in silence for long minutes, neither one moving. That brooding energy emanated from Alexandros. The air seemed to grow thick around them, tension mounting, and Kallie wondered feverishly what to say, how to break it. But Alexandros turned to her suddenly.
‘Kallie…why did you come out here? You should go back, it’s getting dark.’
She looked at him, hurt in her eyes. ‘I just…I don’t mind just sitting here with you…’
He groaned softly and ran hands through his hair. ‘Sorry. I’m just…not the best company tonight.’
She laid a hand on his arm, and looked at him. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’
He looked at her for a long time with an intensity that made something coil deep in Kallie’s abdomen, something alien and tight…hot. He seemed to be fighting some inner battle, struggling with something. Then it passed. She held her breath as he reached out a hand and caught a lock of her hair, letting it slide through his fingers.
‘Your colouring is amazing, do you know that?’
Kallie grimaced, felt like squirming under his gaze. ‘It’s horrible. I burn too easily. I blush too easily.’
And I’m too fat…
Every insecurity rose up all too easily.
He shook his head. ‘No, you’ve got your mother’s colouring. A typical English rose…’
‘That’s why my father says he fell in love with her.’
Something dark crossed his face and he let her hair go. The moment was gone. And in that same moment she knew she didn’t have the guts to do this. She should leave Alexandros alone. To fight whatever demons were chasing him.
‘I’ll go…’
She got up to leave and promptly stumbled when the ground swayed as she stood up. Alexandros’s arms came out automatically, swinging her into his chest to regain balance. Her wish to leave dissolved in a flash of heat. His chest was against her hands, strong and broad and warm, his heart beating steadily. His scent surrounded her. She looked up into those dark, fathomless depths and was lost, no more capable of moving than hiding the blatant desire in her expressive eyes. She was in a bubble of sensation so acute that she’d lost all sense of reality, space and time.
She lifted a tentative hand and with one trembling finger traced the outline of Alexandros’s mouth, the hard sensual contours. She could feel his breath against her palm.
‘Kallie…what are you doing?’
Her eyes jumped up to his and for the first time in her life she felt bold, filled with some unknown, unexplored feminine power. Not knowing how she had the nerve, she just said simply, ‘This…’
And she reached up, closed her eyes and pressed soft, warm lips against his.
For a long moment he didn’t do anything. Kallie felt something move through her, an aching wanting. It stunned her with its intensity. And then hope sprang in her breast. He wasn’t pushing her away. Would he kiss her back? She wanted him to, so much. Her lips moved tentatively against his…and then abruptly her world erupted and tilted. Alexandros stood and pushed her away from him with two harsh hands so quickly that Kallie was dizzy and would have staggered back except for his unwitting support. His jacket fell to the ground behind her.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
He let go and somehow Kallie managed to keep standing. She could feel a tide of red heat climb her chest, her body throbbing painfully with all the newly discovered sensations clamouring for release.
The way Alexandros was looking at her, with such disdain, disbelief and horror, made her turn to jelly.
Her voice was hesitant. ‘I…I was kissing you.’
He was scathing. ‘I know that, Kallie, I’m not stupid.’
Mortification twisted her insides. ‘I’m sorry…I don’t know what…’ She shook her head and stumbled away a little.
He caught her back with his hands on her shoulders. ‘No, Kallie, what the hell was that? Why would you try and kiss me?’
‘Because…’ She looked at him, backlit by the falling dusk. So handsome. And it made something burn in her belly, dissolving her embarrassment. She had to tell him. Now. ‘I did it because…’ she swallowed painfully ‘…I love you, Alexandros.’
He straightened, his whole body taut, bristling. ‘You what?’
‘I…love you.’
Nothing moved. Kallie saw Alexandros looking at her and the blatant shock on his face changed to confusion and then something else…disgust.
He took his hands off her shoulders suddenly as though he’d been burnt.
‘Look, I don’t know what you’re up to, Kallie, but I don’t appreciate it. I’m announcing my engagement tonight and if someone had seen…Hell. Just go, Kallie.’
His words dropped into her brain but didn’t register. Engagement? Married? To whom?
Kallie felt a mad desire to
burst into hysterical laughter and then just as suddenly felt very silly. And very small and very young. Like a child caught playing dress-up, her face smeared with make-up. Acutely conscious all of a sudden of her not exactly svelte figure and her dress, which she’d borrowed from Eleni, hoping to be more grown up, and which was a little too tight.
Her lips felt stiff and numb. Her body cold.
‘I’m sorry, Alexandros, just forget this…all of it. Forget it happened, forget me.’ She whirled away and ran, down the steps, into the garden, away from the patio, away from everything. She heard him call after her once but she didn’t stop, and he didn’t follow.
The tears came as she ran and when she finally stopped she hunched down and cried and cried until she could hardly see. She cried for being so naïve, so silly and for listening to Eleni. She must have been emboldened by some lunar magic or madness, the wine…As if someone like Alexandros Kouros would ever notice someone like her, would ever even want to kiss someone like her. She cringed when she thought of how she’d thrown herself at him. He’d as good as had to pry her hands off him. She wiped her cheeks. One thing was for sure, she was never going to touch alcohol again if it had led her to do something so stupid and ill-judged.
Miserable, Kallie went back up towards the house, unable to avoid going around it to return home. And as she passed the open patio doors, she couldn’t help but look inside. The room was hushed, the designer-clad, jewel-bedecked crowd with glasses high in the air as they toasted the newly announced union of Alexandros and the stunning woman at his side. His fiancée. Pia Kyriapolous, the famous model. They looked so beautiful together Kallie’s eyes watered again.
She felt a tap on her shoulder and whirled around, very aware of her tearstained cheeks. Eleni. Looking at her with sympathy written all over her face.
‘Oh, Kallie, I’m so sorry…’