Harlequin Presents July 2017 Box Set : Sicilian's Baby of Shame / Salazar's One-night Heir / the Secret Kept from the Greek / Claiming His Convenient Fiance (9781460351802)

by Marinelli, Carol; Hayward, Jennifer; Stephens, Susan; Anderson, Natalie

  * * *

  She’d been moving food around her plate for so long the waiters had started glancing anxiously at her. They had a reputation to uphold. The food at this restaurant was supposed to be the best in London outside of Italy. It certainly smelled good, but Lizzie hadn’t managed more than a mouthful, and even that seemed to stick in her throat.

  The wine helped, but she waved away the offer of another glass with a polite, ‘No, thank you.’

  What she should have done was tell Damon to come here, so they could talk things over before she did anything as rash as going back with him to Greece. It would have been easier here, surrounded by strangers in a busy restaurant.

  ‘Penny for them…’

  Breath shot out of her lungs. ‘Damon?’

  Framed in the doorway, Damon looked like a dark angel on a mission to seduce. Everyone in the busy restaurant obviously agreed with her, as every head had instinctively turned his way.

  ‘May I join you?’ he asked.

  Who was going to stop him? She was as transfixed as every other sentient adult in the place. He looked vital and dangerous and a whole lot tastier than the pizza she’d been moving around her plate.

  ‘Please.’ She indicated the seat opposite hers in the secluded booth.

  Within moments of him settling waiters were swarming.

  ‘What are you doing with that pizza?’ He stared with disapproval at her plate. ‘Were you planning to re-sole your shoes with it, or maybe save it for a midnight snack? We’ll have two more of whatever this was,’ he added, smiling at a waiter. ‘It smells delicious. And a bottle of your best red, some olives, and a plate of antipasti to pick at…maybe some prosciutto and melon, grilled veggies, and a bowl of meatballs—’

  ‘Damon!’

  He put a restraining hand over hers. ‘I’m a big man with a huge appetite, and I didn’t realise how hungry I was until I walked through that door and smelled the food.’

  Blood rushed to her cheeks. Damon was a game-changer. She should have remembered that. She tried not to blink or react at all when he nestled his legs comfortably against hers. Space was the problem. Space would always be the problem with Damon. And the booth was an intimate, secluded oasis—ideal for people who wanted a little privacy with their meal.

  ‘Damon—no!’ she said as his expression changed from genial, when the waiter was around, to something else as he studied her face.

  ‘What do you mean, no?’

  The tug at the corner of his mouth was the only warning Lizzie needed that things weren’t going to go to plan. At least not to her plan.

  ‘I’m not going to hear any more of these trust issues, am I?’ he demanded. ‘Because I’ve got something for you.’ He settled back. ‘And there’s someone who wants to speak to you before I hand it over.’

  Her heart started thumping as Damon brought out his phone.

  He punched in a number on speed dial. ‘Is that okay with you?’ he asked, glancing at the phone in his hand as he waited for the call to connect.

  ‘Depends on who it is,’ Lizzie admitted.

  Damon’s expression brightened as the person he was calling answered the phone. ‘Thea?’

  Damon had Thea on speed dial? Lizzie blenched. Change she could cope with—but change this fast was something else again.

  ‘What’s going on?’ she demanded, before taking the phone.

  ‘Chill!’ Thea exclaimed. ‘I heard you. Don’t be angry with Damon. I’ve got something to tell you.’

  ‘Obviously…’ Lizzie tried to sound bright, and only succeeded in sounding tense and concerned.

  ‘Don’t sound so worried,’ Thea said, reading Lizzie with her usual ease.

  ‘I’m not worried,’ Lizzie said, still tense.

  ‘You’re going to like this—I promise,’ Thea said confidently.

  Right now, Lizzie doubted it. ‘Just tell me what it is,’ she prompted, forcing a smile into her voice.

  ‘Surprises are always the best, aren’t they?’ Thea enthused, giggling and obviously surrounded by her friends.

  ‘I do love surprises,’ Lizzie agreed, trying not to sound as if surprise right at this moment equated with a visit to the dentist.

  ‘But that all depends what the surprise is, doesn’t it, Mama?’

  ‘Do you always have to be so smart?’

  As Thea broke into peals of laughter Lizzie shot a keen look at Damon, trying to read his face.

  ‘Damon’s got it,’ Thea announced, almost choking on her giggles. ‘Let him show you the surprise. He wanted to get you something to say sorry, and I told him what you’d like. You will give him a chance to say sorry, won’t you? Like in the last scene of all the best movies?’

  ‘What have you done?’ Lizzie mouthed, staring at Damon, who merely shrugged.

  ‘Sorry—I have to go now!’ Thea yelled. ‘We’re having movie night at school.’

  Hence the reference, Lizzie thought as she clutched the phone, wishing she could give Thea a hug instead.

  ‘Won’t be long until school breaks up for summer—and then we’re off to Greece again,’ Thea announced with excitement. ‘Night-night!’ she exclaimed, before Lizzie could ask any more questions.

  And with that the line was cut and Thea was gone.

  Thea and Damon were not only in contact with each other, they were arranging holidays together now…

  ‘You should have told me,’ she said quietly. ‘You have to keep me in the loop, Damon.’

  He huffed agreement. ‘I guess I’ll get there eventually.’

  ‘Damn right you will,’ Lizzie said, getting up to leave the booth.

  Damon grabbed her wrist, stopping her. ‘Our food’s on its way—’

  ‘So?’ She stared angrily at his hand on her arm until he removed it.

  ‘Sit down,’ he murmured, almost winning her over with a smile. ‘I want to give you the gift I told you about.’

  ‘It will have to wait,’ she said coolly. ‘I need time to—’

  ‘To do what, Lizzie? You’ve had all the time in the world, as far as I can tell.’

  She ground her jaw and then sat down again. ‘This had better be good.’

  ‘I hope you think so,’ Damon agreed as he delved into the pocket of his jacket.

  When he pulled out a battered ring case she was speechless.

  ‘I want you to have this—whatever you decide to do next.’ He pushed the black velvet box across the table towards her.

  She hardly dared touch it.

  ‘Thea would never forgive me if I didn’t sort this out for you,’ Damon explained. ‘I felt so bad about the incident with the violin that I asked Thea how I could make up for it, and she said with this. She said she’d promised to get it back for you one day, and that this was her chance to make good on her word. It was the first time she called me Dad,’ he added softly.

  Lizzie closed her hand around the ring case. There was so much to take in.

  ‘To be exact,’ Damon added wryly, changing the mood and brightening it, ‘Thea told me to, “Go get it, Dad. And remember this is just your first test.”’

  ‘That does sound like Thea,’ Lizzie admitted as she caressed the ring case with her fingertips.

  ‘Aren’t you going to open it?’

  ‘I’m not sure I dare.’

  ‘I’m sure you do dare,’ Damon argued softly. ‘There’s nothing you don’t dare, from what I remember. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about you, Lizzie, it’s that you’ve got more guts than most people. So open the box and wear the ring. Think of your mother when you wear it. Think how happy she’d be to know that you’ve got it back. And remember this isn’t a gift from me to you—this is a gift to you from Thea. Let the ring be the symbol of our new start…all three of us. It will
make Thea happy to see you wearing it, and I think it completes the circle. Don’t you agree?’

  I’ll heal you, he’d said, Lizzie remembered as Damon opened the ring case and took out her mother’s ring.

  She thanked him when he slipped the simple band onto her finger. ‘Thank you’ seemed inadequate for something like this, but she said it anyway.

  ‘Don’t thank me—thank Thea,’ he said as she stared down at the distinctive ring with its three tiny seed pearls set snugly in the golden band.

  ‘Thank you,’ Lizzie repeated softly, lifting her gaze to meet Damon’s.

  ‘You don’t have to thank a man who loves you for anything,’ he insisted, smiling into her eyes.

  * * *

  The short time that remained before school was out for summer was spent packing up the bedsit and putting everything Lizzie cared about into storage. The rest went to the thrift shops that Thea loved so much—though Thea did keep back a few battered articles.

  ‘We’re not necessarily staying on the island for good,’ Lizzie had warned.

  She and Damon had started over. They hadn’t slept together or even kissed since the night of the ring and Damon telling her that he loved her. The tension between them was ferocious, but it was all part of making that fresh start, he’d said.

  Lizzie had thought she knew how she wanted things to go, which was slowly, but the more she saw of Damon the more she wanted to let the past go—to learn from it, certainly, but never to let it rule her again.

  Damon’s private jet took Lizzie and Thea to the island, where he was waiting for them on the Tarmac. Thea had no inhibitions and flung herself into her father’s arms. Thea had always embraced life wholeheartedly, Lizzie thought, glad that she could. Life required a healthy dose of courage, and self-belief never went amiss. Thea would need those qualities if she was to give confidence to others in her turn.

  ‘The ring worked like the magic charm I said it would!’ Thea exclaimed to Damon, with a happy glance at Lizzie.

  Resting his sunglasses on top of his head, Damon smiled into Lizzie’s eyes. ‘So you’re still wearing it?’

  ‘Always,’ Lizzie whispered.

  Putting his arm around both of them, Damon escorted them to his SUV and saw them safely settled inside. The drive to the beach house was tense—but for all the right reasons, Lizzie thought as she sat up front with Damon. She tried not to look at him, not to register him at all, conscious that their daughter was sitting behind them and noticing everything. But she was entirely, acutely, lovingly aware of him.

  There were more surprises to come. Damon didn’t take them to the beach house, but to his old family home.

  ‘I swopped houses with my parents,’ he explained. ‘My mother has always lusted after the beach house, so I asked Thea which house you’d prefer and she said this one.’

  Lizzie was speechless—and not the slightest bit put out that Damon had sprung the surprise, because this was her true dream home.

  ‘There’s still a studio where you can paint, and a music room for Thea, but you can change things around any way you want,’ Damon explained. ‘No pressure for either of you. You can come here whenever you like, or don’t come at all. The house is in your name, Lizzie. I signed it over to you. Lawyers can be useful sometimes,’ he added with a wry smile.

  ‘It’s mine?’ Lizzie exclaimed. ‘But you can’t—’

  ‘I can and I have,’ Damon assured her. ‘I know a house can’t make up for all the years you spent on your own, but I hope it goes some way to saying that I love you both, and that I want you both in my life. And you, Lizzie, will have something of your own now—something to sell or to keep or to do whatever you want. All expenses are fully covered, of course—’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Mama!’

  ‘I can’t accept that.’

  ‘Why not?’ Thea demanded.

  ‘Are you two in league?’ Lizzie found it hard to be angry with Thea, who had never once complained when they were short of money.

  ‘If you mean, do we want to work together for your happiness, Thea and me, then the answer to that has to be yes,’ Damon assured her. ‘And there’s one more thing I have to ask you.’

  ‘Ask away. You might as well get it all off your chest,’ Lizzie conceded.

  She was stunned when Damon dropped to one knee at her feet.

  ‘I never thought I’d feel the need to do this,’ he said, ‘but I do. I so do. Will you marry me, Lizzie? Will you spend the rest of your life with me?’

  Damon had taken hold of her hand, and now he took hold of Thea’s hand.

  ‘Can we be a family at last—a happy family?’ he added for Thea’s benefit. ‘We’ve still got a lot of work to do,’ he admitted with his usual bluntness, ‘but when we work to the power of three I don’t know who’s going to stop us, do you?’

  It took her a moment to take everything in, but then Lizzie went to her knees in front of Damon. ‘I certainly won’t stand in your way,’ she teased him softly.

  He laughed.

  And when Thea knelt to join them Lizzie said, ‘For all of us, my answer to your question is absolutely yes.’

  * * *

  He’d waited to make Lizzie his bride for long enough, Damon informed Lizzie the next morning, so they would get married on the island that same week by special licence—with Thea as their bridesmaid and Iannis and Stavros as their witnesses.

  ‘I hope you don’t mind that I’ve already made plans,’ Damon said as the two of them lay entwined in bed.

  ‘There are some plans I’m quite happy for you to make without any direction from me,’ Lizzie teased him lightly. ‘Though I did think you meant that you couldn’t wait for our wedding night.’

  ‘That too,’ he said, brushing her hair aside to kiss the angry tiger cub. ‘And also this—’

  ‘What?’ she said as he leaned over the side of the bed.

  Opening a drawer in the nightstand, Damon brought out a small jeweller’s box. ‘Wedding and engagement ring all in one,’ he explained. ‘I hope you’re all right with that?’

  When Lizzie opened the box she was speechless. The band was exquisite. Chased gold, with a flawless emerald cut diamond set in the centre of it, the ring was spectacular. It was everything she would have chosen for herself, way back when fairytales had been her usual night-time reading, but it was the inscription inside the ring that really choked her up.

  For the love of my life.

  And there was a date. Damon had charted their love from the first night they’d met.

  ‘Full circle,’ he said.

  ‘For ever,’ Lizzie agreed.

  Drawing her into his arms, Damon removed the ring box from her fingers and placed the symbol of their love on her hand.

  EPILOGUE

  ALL OF LIZZIE’S dreams came true under a cobalt blue sky on a sugar sand beach, barefoot in the arms of the man she loved.

  Stavros and Iannis had got together with their wives to ensure there was a flower-strewn canopy where their wedding ceremony would be held, and guests came from all over the island to see Lizzie in a simple gown that slipped over her head and clung to her body like a delicately embroidered, diaphanous second skin.

  She was sure the flimsy ankle-length gown must have cost Damon a fortune, though he’d completely blown her mind by supplying her with an entire rail of dresses to choose from.

  ‘No reason why my bride should suffer because I can’t wait to marry her,’ he’d said.

  ‘Don’t look so worried. I found half of them in a thrift shop,’ Thea had added, with a mischievous glance at her father.

  ‘Yeah,’ Lizzie had agreed wryly, ‘a thrift shop named—’

  ‘Does it matter where they came from?’ Damon had interrupted. ‘They’ve been bought with love.
Accept them.’

  Now she’d sold her first painting she might just do that, Lizzie thought. Who would have known that her happiness-infused watercolours of the island would sell so well?

  The Internet made everything immediate, and she might only have been back on the island for a short while, but her head was buzzing with ideas for paintings and it seemed to Lizzie that she’d found a fresh calling—better than washing dishes, though the only downside was that her nails were now customarily rimmed with paint.

  As everyone cheered the newly married couple Thea joined in with the local band on an improvised stage to salute them with a resoundingly popular solo.

  ‘Maybe I will be a violinist, after all,’ she told Damon and Lizzie, before racing off to join the friends she would be staying with during her parents’ honeymoon.

  Whatever their daughter wanted to be was all right with them, Lizzie thought as she shared a glance with Damon. They both wanted the same thing for Thea, and that was for their daughter to do what she wanted to do and be happy doing it.

  ‘I guess I’ll have to work harder at this family thing than I ever had to work at business,’ Damon admitted as he brought Lizzie into his arms.

  ‘You better had—’

  ‘I will,’ he promised softly, in a way that made her body yearn. ‘Starting now…’

  ‘What—where are you taking me?’ Lizzie demanded as Damon carried her through the line of cheering guests. ‘What about our wedding reception?’

  ‘Our wedding has been unconventional, and the same goes for our wedding reception,’ Damon informed her. ‘The feasting will continue without us. We’ll be back in a week’s time for a celebratory party with our friends—’

  ‘And where are we going in the meantime?’ Lizzie asked.

  ‘Some call it paradise,’ Damon told her solemnly as he strode towards the waiting helicopter. ‘I just call it bed.’

  ‘I’m good with that,’ Lizzie agreed.

  ‘Agapi mou, you’re the love of my life,’ Damon assured her with a soft, husky laugh. ‘And I need at least a week to prove that to you before the rest of our happily married life can continue—or I will surely die of frustration.’