by Sarah Morgan
‘ I don't want to hurt you—'
She closed her eyes, suffocated by the building desire, needing him so badly that her whole body ached and shivered. 'Sebastien, please— ‘
He gave a rough exclamation and rolled her under him in a swift, powerful movement, positioning himself between her thighs before he covered her mouth with his once more and took her.
The hot, hard strength of him deep inside her made her cry out in shameful abandon and he smothered the cry with his mouth, his own harsh grunt of male satisfaction mingling with her soft gasps.
He drove them both forward with powerful thrusts, smashing down any barriers that remained between them, an animal mating that culminated in explosive fulfillment for both of them.
In the aftermath Alesia lay with her eyes closed, waiting for him to release her, braced for his usual dismissive comment.
Instead he rolled on to his back, taking her with him, smoothing her tangled blonde hair away from her flushed cheeks with a hand that was far from steady.
That was amazing’ he said hoarsely, studying her face. 'You are amazing. We can make this marriage work, Alesia.'
She swallowed. 'Because the sex is good—?'
'Not just because of that, but of course that is one reason,' he said, delivering a smile so sexy that she felt her whole body quiver. ‘ But I am fast discovering more and more about you. And I like what I discover.'
Suddenly consumed by guilt at the enormity of her deception, Alesia tried to wriggle away from him but he held her firm.
‘ No, this time I am not going to walk away. Nor will I say anything horrible. We are going to spend the night together. In the same bed. I believe that children deserve parents who are happy together.' He dropped a lingering kiss on her mouth. 'I believe that we can be happy together.
Guilt shot through her with the force of a bullet.
They couldn't be happy together. She couldn't give him children, and when he found that out... How could she tell him?
'You think I'm a gold-digger—'
He gave a dismissive shrug. 'At least you were honest about it. I can respect honesty. And what we share in bed is nothing to do with money, agape mou —'
He respected honesty.
Alesia closed her eyes, sick with dread at the thought of him discovering the truth.
That she'd been anything but honest with him.
But did he really need to find out? a tiny voice murmured inside her. She wouldn't be the first woman in the world who couldn't have children. Maybe he wouldn't discover that she'd always known...
CHAPTER EIGHT
The week that followed was the most blissful time of Alesia's life.
They made love for most of the night and much of the day and when they weren't sleeping off the exhaustion induced by endless mind-blowing sex, they were talking or eating meals out on the terrace that overlooked the gentle curve of sand. And, to her surprise, Alesia discovered that she loved Greece. Even the constant view of the sea stretching into the distance couldn't spoil her delight at waking every morning to blazing sunshine. She adored exploring the island, adored picking oranges fresh from the tree and loved the feel of the sun on her skin.
And she also discovered that she loved talking to Sebastien.
He was astonishingly entertaining company and for the first time in her life she experienced what it was like to be close to another human being and it felt amazing.
On one occasion they didn't leave the bed but made love, slept and then just talked and talked while they lay wrapped around each other.
Sebastien proved to have a sharp wit, a brilliant mind and a good sense of humour as well as being astonishingly astute about the world. He was also charming and so incredibly sexy that Alesia found herself just gazing and gazing at his handsome face, unable to believe that this man was actually in bed with her.
Alone on the island, they were cocooned in their own sensual nest, protected from the interfering gaze of the outside world.
Protected from the looming clouds of reality.
Swamped with a quite unfamiliar feeling of happiness, Alesia drifted through each day on a cloud of pure bliss, dimly aware that this wasn't real—that this idyllic life they were sharing couldn't continue.
She was dozing in bed late one morning exactly one week after they'd first arrived on the island when Sebastien strolled into the room, vibrant and masculine and just pulsing with his usual energy.
Alesia forced herself awake, wishing that she had even a fraction of his apparently limitless energy. 'Sorry—' she yawned, brushing her hair away from her face and rubbing her eyes ‘ —couldn't wake up this morning.'
That's because of last night,' he teased, the sensual flash of his dark eyes a heated reminder of the intimacies they'd shared.
As she held his gaze, Alesia felt her stomach roll over and wondered if she'd ever be able to look at him without experiencing that intense burst of sexual excitement deep inside her. He only had to walk into a room and her insides fell away. Especially now when he was wearing only a pair of swimming shorts. He maintained a punishing exercise regime and the results showed in every pulsing inch of his impressive physique. From the broad, muscular shoulders to his lean, flat stomach and long legs, he had the most amazing body she'd ever seen and she couldn't look at him without wanting him to take her back to bed. It didn't matter that he didn't love her. It didn't matter that he thought she was a gold-digger. She was just desperate for him.
She was a hopeless case.
‘I wiil get up in a minute,' she promised, wishing that he'd suggest they spend yet another day in bed. It was the only place she wanted to be with him.
He surveyed her with amused eyes. 'I'm feeling shamefully guilty that we've been here for an entire week and you haven't swum in the pool once,' he teased, scooping her up and carrying her on to the terrace. 'I've kept you pinned to the bed and that isn't exactly fair.'
Staring dreamily at his staggeringly handsome face, it took a moment for Alesia to realize what he had in mind.
And by then it was too late to stop him.
She experienced a second of heart-stopping panic and then he dropped her into the pool and darkness closed around her.
Guilt-ridden and seriously worried for the first time in his life, Sebastien paced backwards and forwards across the marble floor while the doctor he'd had flown in examined a white-faced Alesia.
It had been little consolation to him when she'd recovered consciousness because she'd proceeded to shiver so violently that no amount of blankets seemed to warm her. It was as if the chill came from the inside.
'She's suffering from shock’ the doctor said calmly, finishing his examination and closing his bag. 'Physically she's fine. Swallowed a bit of water when she went under so she might be feeling a bit sick, but apart from that no lasting effects. Mentally it's another matter. At a guess I'd say that she suffers from a phobia about water. Probably wasn't such a good idea to drop her in the pool.'
Unaccustomed to being lectured or to being in the wrong, Sebastien gritted his teeth and took the criticism levelled at him with remarkable restraint.
Never in his life had he felt so utterly remorseful and if a sound telling off was what it took to make him feel better, then he was more than willing to take it on the chin.
He didn't care.
All he cared about was the fact that Alesia still looked as pale as the marble on his floors and that her eyes were haunted. And he truly wished the shivering would stop.
Reluctant to leave her alone for more than a few minutes, he walked the doctor back to the waiting helicopter, a frown in his eyes. 'You're sure I shouldn't fly her back to Athens tonight?'
'My advice?' The doctor handed his bag to the pilot and looked Sebastien straight in the eye. 'She needs rest. I think you should keep her here tonight, give her time to get over the shock, then fly back tomorrow when she's feeling better.'
Pausing on the threshold of his living room, Sebastien noted grimly
that her skin exactly matched his white sofas and decided to take the matter of her recovery into his own hands.
He strode over to a tray of drinks and closed lean bronzed fingers around a curving bottle.
Moments later he slipped an arm under Alesia's shoulders and scooped her up, making a mental note to instruct his chef to stuff her full of food on their return to Athens. She was far too fragile.
He lifted the glass to her dry lips. 'Drink.'
Obediently she took a sip and then choked and pulled a face.
'It's disgusting.'
'On the contrary, it's an extremely expensive brandy,' Sebastien informed her, his voice thick with strain as he lifted the glass to her lips again. ‘ You are still suffering from shock. Please drink.'
She took a few sips and then flopped back against the pillow, totally drained.
‘I’m sorry—'
Laden with guilt that she was the one apologizing when it had been he who'd thrown her in the water, Sebastien raked shaking fingers through his still-damp dark hair.
'I'm the one who's sorry,' he said stiffly, unaccustomed to apologizing but determined to do so at the earliest possible minute in the hope that the incredible discomfort inside him would ease. 'But why didn't you tell me that you didn't swim—?'
She closed her eyes. 'I didn't go near the water— '
He gritted his teeth. All right, so he should have noticed that fact. 'It just didn't occur to me that it was because you were afraid—'
Her eyes stayed closed. 'Doesn't matter now.'
It mattered to him.
Driven by a need to put right a wrong, Sebastien disposed of the glass and scooped her on to his lap. 'I wish you would stop shivering’ he groaned but no matter how tightly he held her the shivering continued.
'Sorry—'
'Stop saying that’ he breathed in a raw tone, stroking her damp hair away from her face. Tm the one who is sorry but you should have told me how you felt. That first day when you were so afraid. I thought it was the flying, but I was barking up the wrong tree, wasn't I? It was the water—‘
Her teeth chattering, she gave a reluctant nod and he cursed softly.
She closed her eyes. ‘I’m being stupid—'
'You are not being stupid,' he said quietly. 'You are clearly reacting to something that happened in your past. I want to know what it was.'
There was a brief silence.
'I was on the boat— '
Sebastien tensed, unsure that he'd heard her correctly. 'What boat?'
'Your father's boat. The day it exploded. I was there. I almost drowned.'
Shattered by her unexpected confession, Sebastien found himself lost for words. That's not true,' he said finally, his voice sounding nothing like his own. 'There were no children invited on the boat that day— '
'I wasn't invited.' Still shivering, Alesia huddled deeper in the blankets, her blue eyes blank of expression. 'I went on board only moments before the explosion. I was supposed to have stayed at the hotel in Athens with my nanny but I was desperate to show my mother a new doll I'd been given.'
Memories crowded into his brain. A young child badly injured —
'You were on board when the boat exploded?' His voice was hoarse and she lifted her head and nodded her beautiful heart-shaped face so white that Sebastien momentarily toyed with instructing his pilot to return with the doctor immediately.
'I’d barely set foot on the boat’ she said softly, ‘ and my parents didn't know that I’d arrived’ She swallowed. ‘ I don't remember much, to be honest. I was only seven. I just remember standing on the gangplank one minute and then being plunged into water. It was everywhere—I thrashed and thrashed’ Her fingers clenched into her palms and she had to force herself to stay calm. 'I couldn't breathe, couldn't find air, felt terrible pain and then everything went black’
Sebastien's breath hissed through his teeth and his face was pale under his tan. 'Someone rescued you—do you know who?'
'No.' She gave a wan smile. ‘ It was just a deckhand.'
'You were the only child on the boat that day—?'
She frowned. ‘ Yes—I suppose so’
"Theos mou —' His voice was hoarse and he raked an unsteady hand through his glossy dark hair.’I didn't know—'
'Didn't know what? What difference does it make?'
'You were injured? And you lost both of your parents’
Her gaze slid guiltily away from his. ‘I’m fine now.'
Sebastien surveyed her in frowning contemplation, sure that she wasn't telling him the truth. But why would she lie? Having confessed as much as she had, why would she now choose to conceal the truth about the accident?
'Sebastien?'
Aware that her teeth were still chattering, Sebastien's frown deepened. 'What?'
'Could we just go to bed?'
Faced with a potential solution which was well within his sphere of experience, Sebastien seized on the suggestion with enthusiasm and immediately lifted her into his arms.
'I could probably walk’ she murmured into his neck and he tightened his grip.
'Probably is not good enough’ he growled, lowering her on to the bed as if she were made of something extremely fragile and covering her with a sheet.
Her eyes flew to his. 'Aren't you joining me?'
Humbled by the question, Sebastien inhaled deeply. 'Do you want me to? I dropped you in the water—'
She gave a tired smile. 'You didn't know—'
'But I know now and from now on nothing is going to hurt you, agape mou' Sebastien vowed, stripping off and joining her in the bed with a flattering degree of speed.
With characteristic decisiveness he hauled her against him and rearranged her so that every shivering inch of her was pressed against his own body.
'Feels nice,' she mumbled, her eyes closing as she nestled against his shoulder.
Discovering feelings of protectiveness which he hadn't known he was capable of, Sebastien lay still, afraid to move in case the shivering started again.
No wonder she'd hated his family, he mused grimly, breathing in her warm, tantalizing scent and forcing himself to ignore it.
And no wonder Dimitrios Philipos blamed the Fiorukis family for everything. Not only had his beloved only son been killed on the Fiorukis yacht along with his wife, but the last remaining member of his family, his precious granddaughter, had been injured.
Was that why he'd had her educated in England? Sebastien mused.
Had Philipos removed her from Greece for her own safety?
Clearly he'd misjudged Dimitrios Philipos, Sebastien conceded, stroking aside a strand of blonde hair from Alesia's face and noting with relief that her colour was showing a definite improvement. In choosing to link their two families then he was indeed healing a rift that had been painful for both parties.
And, once he'd consulted experts and cured her of her water phobia, their marriage could begin properly.
Starting from tomorrow, Sebastien vowed, they were going to be a proper family.
Alesia held tightly to Sebastien's hand, grateful for the distraction that his conversation offered. He'd already apologized about a hundred times for the fact that they had to board the helicopter in order to return to Athens but he'd assured her that the alternative boat trip was much longer and would be more agonizing for her.
Touched by his concern and feeling much safer than she could have imagined possible, Alesia kept hold of his hand and forced herself to concentrate on other things as the azure-blue Mediterranean blurred beneath them.
Traumatic though the incident had been , she was glad that he knew. In a way she'd revealed an important part of herself. And if anything they were closer than ever and she knew now that she loved Sebastien Fiorukis with a wild passion that she hadn't believed possible.
Never had she thought she'd share this with a man and if, deep down, part of her was constantly reminding her that she wasn't being totally honest with him, she was managing
to ignore it.
For the first time in her life she was truly happy and she wasn't going to allow anything to spoil it.
Sebastien's mobile phone rang as soon as they landed and he gave a frustrated sigh. 'End of our peace and quiet’ he drawled as he shot her a look of apology and took the call.
Alesia smiled. She didn't mind that he took the call. She understood his dedication to his business, the fact that he cared what happened to his employees, the fact that he took his responsibilities so seriously. It was one of the many qualities that she'd grown to love about him.
Sebastien ended the call and looked at her, indecision evident in every plane of his handsome face.
'What's the matter?' Relieved to finally be on dry land, Alesia relaxed.