by Lynne Graham
‘A woman like me?’ Billie prompted, her green eyes taking on a dangerous sparkle.
‘A tart with a heart,’ Calisto quipped, rolling her eyes. ‘And let’s not forget the pantomime big boobs and bum. But you were never destined to be a Letsos and your reign as one will be painfully short.’
Billie shook her head in silent wonderment as she walked to the door. How could Gio have married such a spiteful shrew? In comparison with Calisto, she was unquestionably rounder in certain areas but she was determined not to get drawn into a childish spat with the other woman. She was less sanguine, however, concerning Calisto’s claims about Theo and why Gio had married her.
Was it possible that Gio had only married Billie to gain equal rights to his son? It was simply another angle to Gio’s insistence that they marry to give Theo his birthright. Obviously Gio would benefit as well from the formal acknowledgement of his role as Theo’s father. And was it true that Gio had divorced Calisto because she wouldn’t give him a child? Stamping down on further conjecture about Calisto, Billie reminded herself comfortingly that Gio had asked his ex-wife to leave their wedding.
Feeling hot, flushed and distinctly out of sorts, Billie returned to the elegant function room and collected Theo from his nanny to give him a cuddle. While her son nestled close, she was relieved to see Gio and Leandros chatting away to Dee.
‘She’s pleasant,’ Gio conceded later when they were all seated for the wedding breakfast. ‘But that doesn’t mean that I think she’s a fit person for you to have as a friend.’
‘Try to be less judgemental. If you hadn’t seen that report, you wouldn’t have known about her past,’ Billie pointed out. ‘And we’ve all made mistakes...you married Calypso.’
‘Calisto,’ Gio corrected. ‘She’s gone—’
‘Good.’ Lashes screening her gaze, Billie sipped her champagne.
‘It wasn’t appropriate for her to stay.’
‘Why did you divorce her?’ she heard herself ask.
‘We were incompatible,’ Gio fielded without hesitation.
‘That’s not telling me any—’ Billie began heatedly as Gio lifted a hand and closed it into her curls to turn her back to him.
She clashed with smouldering dark golden eyes and a writhing inferno of heat rushed up inside her in response. Her heart stuttered, her breath shortened in her throat. The tip of his tongue traced the curve of her lower lip and the peaks of her full breasts stiffened and strained below her boned bodice.
‘Se thelo...I want you,’ Gio growled soft and low, ferocious tension etched in every taut athletic line of his lean, powerful body.
‘So much,’ she echoed in breathless agreement, her tummy performing a somersault as he ravaged her mouth in an electrifyingly passionate kiss.
As Leandros signalled to indicate his readiness to make a short speech and dealt him a highly amused smile, Gio set Billie back from him, shrewd eyes searching her bemused face. She was like a breath of fresh air in his life. Was that why she unsettled him? Tempted him into engaging in the kind of PDA he had never before indulged in? But then what other woman would have tolerated Calisto’s appearance without throwing a big scene?
He watched Billie rise from her seat without hesitation to take Theo, who was stretching his arms out to her from a nearby table. Clearly tired and fed up, his son whimpered and clung to his mother like a little limpet before burying his head sleepily against her shoulder. Gio’s rarely touched conscience was pierced by the sight when he thought of the iniquitous pre-nuptial agreement he had had drawn up to ensnare Billie. She was such an innocent. He had guessed that she wouldn’t bother to read the terms, never mind the small print. Knowing she didn’t give a damn about his money, he had taken ruthless advantage of her trusting nature....regardless of his awareness of how much she loved their son.
Of course, she need never know about the terms of the pre-nup, Gio reasoned, reckoning that he didn’t want that coming back to haunt him at some inopportune time in the future. Billie would be shocked. Billie, who had always tried to see him as a nicer, kinder person than he could ever be, would for ever lose her rose-tinted view of him. He frowned, deciding that he would lose her copy of that document in a safe somewhere...
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE HELICOPTER LANDED in a clearing lit by torches on the island of Letsos.
‘So, this is the island where you were born. Does it belong to you?’ Billie remarked as Gio lifted her down to the ground and then went back to take Theo and assist the nanny in her descent.
‘It still belongs to my grandfather, Theo’s namesake. I imagine if it had ever passed to my father, it would’ve been sold long ago,’ he opined drily. ‘He sold everything that wasn’t nailed down long before he died.’
‘Did your family name the island after themselves?’ she asked curiously.
‘No, I believe my ancestors stole the name and began using it several generations back after a family dispute split them into two factions,’ he explained, ushering her into the four-wheel-drive vehicle.
‘I’m looking forward to meeting your family,’ Billie lied because she felt she had to lie out of politeness.
While Billie was undeniably curious, she was also very apprehensive about the sort of reception she could expect to receive from Gio’s wealthy relatives. In her own opinion she had so many strikes against her: the speed of their marriage, Theo’s birth out of wedlock, never mind the reality that she was a complete stranger and a foreigner without either fancy lineage or cash. She was convinced that those facts would ensure that she was viewed with extreme suspicion and possibly even hostility.
‘You’ll meet them all tomorrow,’ Gio told her calmly.
‘But I assumed I’d be meeting them now...tonight,’ she said tensely.
‘It’s been a very long day and we’re not staying at the main house tonight. We’ll introduce them to Theo in the morning.’ Gio smoothed a hand down over Theo’s back as his son squeezed out a cross little mutter as he secured him in a car seat. ‘The sooner he’s in bed, the better. Irene, you’ll have the help of my old nursemaid tonight because I know you’re tired. We’re leaving Irene and Theo at Agata’s house.’
‘Leaving...Theo?’ Billie parroted in dismay.
‘Relax. It’s not as though we’re abandoning him on a park bench,’ Gio censured with quiet amusement, dark eyes skimming her anxious face. ‘We’re spending our wedding night at the beach house. We’ll pick up Theo in the morning before we go and meet the family. Agata will revel in being the first islander to get to know my son.’
When they drew up at Agata’s house, Billie soon appreciated that Gio had not exaggerated because Theo’s arrival was the source of much excitement and pleasure. Agata was middle-aged and rotund. She greeted Gio with overflowing affection and took hold of his son with a blissful smile while contriving simultaneously to offer Irene a warm welcome and the promise of a comfortable bed in her guest room.
Gio swept Billie back into the car. The road was soon travelling sharply downhill and the car finally stopped at the mouth of a sandy path. Their driver, a strapping youth, grabbed the heavy cases and trudged down the path, leaving them to follow.
‘Watch your step. It’s a steep track,’ Gio warned, clamping a strong arm to her slender spine to steady her as her heels sank into the sandy surface.
‘I’d never have worn these shoes if I’d realised we were going to a beach house!’ Billie muttered ruefully. ‘I’m dressed up in my fanciest togs because I thought I’d be meeting your family tonight.’
‘I wanted to surprise you.’
‘You’ve succeeded.’ Billie laughed, staring down at the stretch of pristine beach coming into view as they descended. The sun had gone down but a brazier was burning, casting flickers of light across the sand and the dark waves washing into the cove.
The wo
oden beach house was tucked into a corner and lit up with fairy lights that looked like roses. ‘Wow...that’s so pretty!’ Billie exclaimed, staring when she saw lights flickering beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows as well.
Gio carried her over the threshold and she lost one of her shoes and he said that was a good thing because she couldn’t walk in them and she was smiling as he set her down on a polished wood floor. There were flowers everywhere she looked and lots of burning candles casting glimmers of moving light and shadow across the opulent interior. Their driver settled the cases in the adjoining bedroom and departed.
Billie wandered barefoot into the bedroom, appreciating the luxurious but plain furnishings and the wide, comfortable bed.
‘Champagne?’ Gio prompted.
‘Maybe later. Right now, I want a shower more than anything,’ she confided, keen to be free of the tailored dress and jacket she had worn to look smart. ‘Could you unzip me?’
‘If I unzip you,’ Gio remarked as she shed her jacket and moved helpfully close, ‘you’ll never make it to the shower.’
The zip ran down. He spread the fabric back and pressed his mouth to the smooth slope of her shoulder. ‘Your skin is so wondrously soft,’ he told her huskily, skimming the short sleeves down her arms, giving the dress a helpful push downward as it threatened to settle at her waist, and lifting her out of the folds.
‘I’m not going to get my shower,’ Billie forecast as he turned her slowly round to face him.
‘Well, possibly not until later and you might have to share it.’ Gio grinned down at her, his eyes hot as the sun’s rays on her exposed the lush curves of her figure in a green satin and lace bra and panties set. ‘That’s if I ever let you out of bed...’
Billie resisted a sudden urge to stupidly ask him if he thought her bottom was too large. She tried to stay a stable weight but she had never fussed about the curvy shape she had been born with, regarding that as a futile exercise destined to lead only to disappointment. Irritated by her sudden self-consciousness in his presence, she said instead, ‘You’re wearing way too many clothes.’
Gio hauled her up into his arms and kissed her with passionate force before bringing her down on the bed. ‘A shower and food and civilised behaviour later...I promise,’ he swore.
Billie’s memory flew back to the many, many times in the past when Gio had barely stepped through the door of the apartment before grabbing her with the wild impatience and hunger she had always cherished in him, deeming that fervour proof that she was more important to him than he was ever likely to tell her. Of course, the fallout when he announced that he was marrying Calisto had been all the more painful to bear, she conceded ruefully. He had forced her to see the danger of wishful thinking, the foolishness of the assumptions that had made her feel secure. But as soon as she found herself thinking that way, Billie kicked out those negative thoughts and, reminding herself that this was their wedding night, she lay back on the bed where he had placed her.
Gio was her husband now and he was hers in so many ways that he had never been before, she conceded, trying to banish her worries. Together, she and Gio and Theo would be a family. They would also be part of a much bigger family, which she was praying would eventually accept her, even if it was only for Theo’s sake.
‘Who organised all this?’ Billie asked, shifting a hand to indicate the flowers and the candles and the opulent comfort of the room’s appointments. ‘Is the beach house in regular use?’
‘It hadn’t been used in quite some time,’ Gio admitted as he shed his shirt in a careless heap. ‘Leandros’ sister, Eva, is an interior designer and she agreed to do a rush job for me as a favour. She wasn’t sure she would make the deadline until the last minute and only finished this afternoon. The household staff saw to the rest.’
‘I love the candles and the flowers,’ Billie admitted.
‘I knew you would...you’ve always been such a romantic,’ Gio teased.
‘But you organised it so you must be a romantic too,’ she pointed out, absolutely blown away by the gradually dawning realisation that Gio had had the beach house set up for their wedding night solely in an attempt to please her.
‘I’ll never be romantic,’ he fielded wryly. ‘But I am bright enough to work out what’s required and deliver it, glyka mou.’
With the greatest difficulty, Billie dragged her attention from his washboard abs and the way his naturally golden skin sleekly delineated his ripcord musculature. He was gorgeous and yet he was with her and not with the equally gorgeous Calisto. For a split second she let that mystery unnerve her and then she squashed the thought flat, telling herself off for even thinking it. He was married to her now, with her, and Calisto was in the past. Gloriously unaware of her constant attacks of insecurity, Gio stepped out of his trousers and skimmed off his boxers in one fell swoop of impatience.
Her mouth ran dry, her heartbeat quickening. It had been so long since she had had the luxury of watching Gio strip. That day she had gone for lunch with him at his hotel and ended up in bed with him, he hadn’t even got undressed. Her face burned at the recollection.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Gio breathed, stalking across the bedroom to join her on the bed.
And she told him and, surprisingly, he laughed. ‘I wasn’t exactly the cool seducer, was I? I was as hot for you as a teenage boy having sex for the first time but I did at least use a condom.’
‘I got carried away too,’ she soothed, running gentle fingers along his angular jaw line. ‘But you’d best be careful. I’m not using any form of contraception.’
Gio tugged her down on the pillows beside him and leant over her. ‘Do I need to be careful? I missed out on you being pregnant with Theo and I would be pretty excited if you were to conceive again,’ he admitted, dark eyes shimmering gold in the candlelight.
That was the most confidence-boosting thing Gio could have said to her, Billie reflected dizzily. His interest in her having a second child took her by storm because it meant that he regarded their marriage as a long-term venture rather than an exercise to simply grant Theo his legal birthright.
‘I put on a lot of weight when I’m pregnant,’ she warned him.
‘And in all the best places,’ Gio husked, running an admiring finger across a bra cup overflowing with soft creamy flesh. ‘Theos, I love your body.’
‘Honestly?’ Billie prompted, loathing herself for pressing the point.
‘I can’t keep my hands off you, Billie,’ Gio groaned, flipping open the catch on her bra and filling his hands with the bounty he had been admiring. ‘I never could...’
Her wretched brain was still shooting in directions she didn’t want it to. It was urging her to ask why he had then chosen to marry a woman like Calisto and suddenly she couldn’t restrain that need to know any longer and she asked, ‘Then why did you marry a woman half my size?’
There was a sudden deathly silence. His head bent while he toyed with the warm soft curves he had bared, Gio glanced up at her from below his ridiculously long lashes. ‘For all the wrong reasons...and I paid the price,’ he admitted in a roughened undertone.
Billie wanted to dig deeper into the topic but she also knew that she didn’t want to spoil their wedding night with the shadow of past pain and loss. With an almighty effort she cleared her head of such morbid reflections and said nothing at all because regret had coloured every syllable he spoke. Regret was enough to satisfy her, wasn’t it? How much of a pint of blood did she need to satisfy her damaged ego? Enough blood to cause ructions in their shiny new marriage when Gio had already mentioned a desire for another child? She thought not, decided it was better to leave the past where it belonged and look to a brighter future.
Gio captured a turgid nipple in his mouth and toyed with it until it was throbbing. Billie rested back, letting the heat flow through her, warming and moistening ever m
ore sensitive parts. Her hips shifted, her fingers raked through his short hair, eyes sliding shut as she held him to her with a deep sense of happiness. Another baby? What a sign of optimism on his part! He was a child of a broken marriage and she was convinced he would not risk bringing a second child into the mix if he believed their relationship was likely to break down.
‘Tomorrow’s going to come too soon for me,’ Gio complained huskily as he tugged up her knees and peeled down her knickers in one smooth operation. ‘But if I make love to you all night, you’ll be too tired to meet my family in the morning.’
‘You’ve got every night with me that you want now,’ Billie whispered as he shifted to trace the moist cleft between her legs with a roving forefinger and she quivered instantaneously, every tingling nerve ending instantly clamouring for more.
‘And I’m going to make the most of every opportunity. I’m sex-starved,’ Gio confided, working a trail of lusty nipping and sucking across the upper slope of her breasts to her throat. ‘I never could get enough of you. Now I’ve finally got you round the clock, I’ll be very demanding.’
‘Promises...promises,’ Billie quipped, warmed by that threat, for the more Gio expressed his desire for her, the more secure she felt.
As excitement began to claim Billie, conversation died because she couldn’t think straight for long enough to vocalise. He touched her with the unerring skill of an expert and she writhed, hands digging into his cropped black hair as he used his mouth to bring her to a shattering climax.
Weak with satiation in the aftermath, she loosed a startled gasp as Gio flipped her over onto her stomach. ‘What—?’
‘I’m in a very dominant mood, moro mou,’ Gio growled, gripping her hips and driving hard into her passion-moistened depths, stretching her to the limit with his length and girth and sending a renewed and arousing wash of hunger through her.