‘But I do give a damn and so I raise money anyway. But I don’t want this tied to that. This is my escape.’ Just as this island was his.
‘Then do it anonymously. We could find a dealer.’
‘Or I could just do them for myself.’ She sent him the stern look back. ‘For my own enjoyment.’
‘They’d bring joy to other people too,’ he said charmingly.
‘Flatterer.’ She mock slapped him as she walked away.
‘I have no need to flatter you when I already own your panties,’ he called after her.
She stopped and swivelled to send him a death stare that time. ‘Oh, that is—’
He threw back his head and laughed. ‘True. It’s true.’
* * *
Playing in the sea with Eleni was too much fun. She was so beautiful, lithe and, as he’d suspected that very first moment he’d seen her, strong. Now, as he sat on the sand beside her and let the sun dry his skin, satisfaction pooled within him. The same feeling that had crept up on him while she’d been seated beside him upstairs all morning.
But it was the quiet moments like these that unsettled him the most—when he felt too content.
Moments like these became too precious. And moments didn’t last. Nor did marriages.
He stood, needing some space for a second to get them back to that light teasing. He turned and tugged her to her feet. He only had to whisper a dare and they raced back to the house. Play came so easy with her now she was free.
‘How do you ever force yourself off this island?’ she asked, breathless as he caught her.
‘Actually we’re leaving in the morning,’ Damon muttered.
‘What?’ Her shocked query made him turn her in his arms so he could see her eyes.
‘It’s only twenty minutes by helicopter to the next island,’ Damon quickly explained. ‘There aren’t many shops but...’ He strode to a small cabinet in the lounge and retrieved a small purse that he tossed to her. ‘Here. You can go wild, practise counting out the right currency before you hit the big cities.’
She caught the bag neatly with one hand but wrinkled her pretty nose. ‘I don’t want your money.’
‘Well, until you earn your own I think you’re stuck with mine, because I’m your husband and apparently that makes me responsible.’ He sent her a deliberately patronising smile. ‘I can give you an allowance if you’d like.’
The nose-wrinkle morphed into a full-face frown.
Chuckling, he backed her up against the wall. ‘If our positions were reversed, you’d do the same for me,’ he whispered.
‘Don’t be so sure.’
‘Oh, I’m sure.’ Laughing, he kissed her.
But her lips parted and she didn’t just let him in, she pulled him closer, hooking her leg around his waist, her towel dropping in the process.
‘If you keep this up I’ll get you a credit card, so you don’t even have to count.’ He rolled his hips against her heat, giving into the irresistible desire she roused in him.
‘Payment for services rendered?’ she asked tartly. ‘Finally you’ve figured out I married you for your money.’
‘I knew it.’ He failed to claw back some semblance of sanity from the ultimate temptation she personified.
‘It certainly wasn’t for your charm.’ She glared at him.
‘Then spend every cent.’ He smiled, loving the sparks in her eyes. Those few shops mainly stocked bikinis. The thought made his mouth dry. ‘Meanwhile...’ he stepped back and unfastened his shorts ‘...I was thinking you might want me to model for you.’
‘You’re...’ Her gaze dropped and her words faded.
* * *
‘You’re not concerned about people taking photos?’
He shook his head as their helicopter descended. ‘The people here appreciate the privacy of their visitors.’
To be frank, the island was barely larger than Damon’s. There were only a few shops along the waterfront and, when Eleni saw this, her expressive features were a picture of mock outrage. He laughed, enjoying his little joke.
‘They sell bikinis.’ He held up his hands in surrender. ‘I thought you’d love it.’
‘You’re the biggest tease ever.’ She growled at him with a glint in her eye. ‘You’re the one who wants me to get the bikinis.’
‘Have you ever bought a bikini before? All by yourself?’
‘Actually I have. Online.’
‘In the privacy of the palace.’
‘Of course.’
‘Well, you can cruise the whole mall here.’
She rolled her eyes.
‘If you don’t want to shop for skimpy little swimsuits, why don’t you spend some coin and buy me an ice cream?’ He dared her.
‘Because you don’t deserve it.’
She flounced off to the bikini store and he lazily loitered outside, watching her through the wide open doors as she browsed the racks. In less than five seconds she lost that faux indignance and relaxed. As she chatted to the woman serving behind the counter she relaxed even more and that gorgeous vitality oozed from her skin. His gaze narrowed as it finally clicked—interaction with others was what gave her that luminescence. The ability she had to be able to talk to anyone, and to put them at ease, wasn’t just learned skill from being ‘the Princess’, it was a core part of who she was. Warm, compassionate. Interested. Caring.
So much more than him.
Now she’d stopped to talk to another couple of customers and she was positively glowing. One of the women was balancing a wriggling toddler in her arms. Damon watched as Eleni turned to talk to the child, who immediately stopped wriggling and smiled, entranced—as if Eleni was some damn baby whisperer. Of course she was—she had that effect on everyone, big and small. They stopped what they were doing and smiled when she came near. Because she was like a beautiful, sparkling light.
She was going to be such a great mother, given her truly genuine, generous nature. He narrowed his gaze as his imagination caught him unawares—slipping him a vision of how she was going to look when cradling their child in her arms. Primitive possessiveness clenched in his gut, sending a totally foreign kind of heat throughout his veins.
His woman. His baby. His world.
He blinked, breathing hard, bringing himself back to here, now, on the beach. Her body had yet to reveal its fertile secret—while her breasts were slightly fuller, her belly had barely a curve. But their baby was safe within her womb.
Despite the summer sun, a chill swept across his skin and he cocked his head to study her closer. The baby was safe, wasn’t it? And Eleni. She was slim but strong, right? But icy uncertainty dripped down his spine—slow at first, then in a rush as he suddenly realised what he’d been too full of lust and selfish haste to remember.
Eleni’s mother had lost her life in childbirth.
Damon felt as if some invisible giant had wrapped a fist around his chest and was squeezing it, making his blood pound and his lungs too tight to draw breath.
How could he have forgotten that? How could he have dragged her here to this remote island without seeing that damn doctor back in Palisades? He’d promised her brother that she’d get the best care, yet he’d been in too much of a hurry to escape his own demons to put her first. To put his child first.
He’d been thinking only of himself. His wants. His needs. His father had done that to Kassie and her mother. Now Damon was as guilty regarding Eleni and their unborn child.
How could he have neglected to tend to something so fundamental? He’d been so smug when he’d texted his assistant to find an obstetrician that day on the boat. As if he’d thought of everything—all in control and capable.
But he wasn’t either of those things. Turned out he was less than useless—to not even have a routine check done before flying for hours out to somewhere this isolated? What the hell kind of father did he think he was going to make anyway?
He’d failed before he’d even begun. Both his wife and child deserved better. H
e huffed out a strained breath. At least seeing the truth now cemented the perfection of his plan. They’d be better off apart from him. He’d always known that, hadn’t he? Wasn’t that why he’d insisted on his and Eleni’s separation in the first place?
This whole marriage and kids and happy-ever-after was never going to be for him.
Except, just for this little while on his island, he’d let himself pretend.
That he could have it all with her. Be it all for her.
But he couldn’t.
Bitterness welled, a surging ball of disappointment within himself. For himself.
‘Are you okay?’ Eleni gave him a searching look as she joined him to stroll along the beach.
‘Fine.’ He flashed a smile through a gritted jaw and kept strolling along the beach, staring down at the sand.
But he wasn’t and wasn’t it typical that she’d already sensed that? She was too compassionate. Too empathetic.
‘Did you spend up large?’ He made himself make that small talk.
‘Every cent.’ She held up a carrier bag and shook it, a twinkle in her eye that he couldn’t bear to see right now.
‘Then let’s go back,’ he said briskly.
He sensed her quick frown but she simply turned and quietly walked alongside him.
Of course she did; that was Eleni all over—doing what was asked of her, knowing her place, unquestioning when she sensed tension.
It was how she handled Giorgos, how she handled the public and palace demands on her. And, apparently, it was now how she handled him.
It was the last damn thing that he wanted. He wanted impetuous, spontaneous, emotional Eleni who liked nothing more than to challenge him. But what he wanted no longer mattered. Because she was vulnerable and he didn’t have the skills that she was going to need long term. He’d just proven that to himself. The lust they shared wasn’t ever going to be enough and the sooner they separated, the better.
He was such a damn disappointment to himself—let alone to anyone else.
‘I’m going to the workshop for a while,’ he said the second their helicopter landed.
‘Sure.’
He turned his back on that hint of coolness in her voice. The tiniest thread of uncertainty. Of hurt. He had to walk away to stop hurting her more. That was the point.
The guys were heads down, but he waved them away when he walked into the room. He’d rebalance in here. Get stuck in another of the projects. But while he could take in the info his team had sent him, he couldn’t make it stick. The future kept calling—her pregnancy, the baby. What he was never going to be able to do for them both.
‘Which do you want to go with?’ Olly ventured over to Damon, showing him three designs for a new logo.
‘I need to think about it.’ Damon lifted the sheet displaying the three options, his gaze narrowing as he registered the colours. He wanted to do more than think about it. He wanted to ask Eleni. She had a better eye than any of them.
‘I had a call from one of those futurist foundations,’ Olly said as Damon headed to the door. ‘They’d like you to speak at next year’s gala.’
More like they wanted him to bring his beautiful Princess wife. He did not want her used that way.
‘Next year?’ Damon asked idly, still staring down at the sheet.
‘They’re planning well ahead of time. Futurists,’ Olly joked.
Time. Damon walked out of the den. In time, according to Damon’s plan, he and Eleni would be sharing custody but living separately. They’d be on their way to divorce already. She wouldn’t be curled next to him in bed, or sitting at a desk at his side any more. And their child would be a few months old. Their tiny baby with its tiny heart would still be so vulnerable. His chest tightened. He had no idea how to provide the required protection. How did he protect Eleni? How did he give either of them what they needed when he hardly knew what that was? When he’d never had it himself?
Eleni had changed so much in the few days she’d had of freedom. He realised now how much more she needed. How much more she deserved. She was loving and generous and kind. She deserved someone who could give all that back to her tenfold.
She was going to be a far better mother to their child than his mother had been to him. She was open; she was generous. She was loving.
What did he have to offer her? She had a workaholic brother and no one else close in her life. She needed a husband who could offer her a warm, loving family. All he could offer were sycophantic grandparents who’d leech everything they could from the connection—and offer nothing. No warmth. No love.
Damon had money, sure. But King Giorgos would never let his little sister suffer financial hardship. There was nothing else he really had to offer her—other than orgasms and the occasional cheesy line that made her laugh. He didn’t know how to be a good father, or a good husband. She deserved more than that. She deserved the best.
And he had to help her find that somehow. He owed her that much at least, didn’t he?
He walked to the house, missing her already, wanting her advice on the decision he couldn’t quite make, just wanting to be near her again. He found her at her desk—her new favourite place—clad in a vibrant orange bikini that was bold and cheerful and sexy as hell. She wore a sheer white shirt over it that hung loose and revealed a gently tanned shoulder. Her hair wasn’t brushed into smooth perfection but looked tousled and soft and there wasn’t a scrap of make-up on her glowing skin.
She looked beautiful and relaxed; he’d never seen her look happier. She was thriving, from so little. She should have so much more. More than he could ever give her.
Her welcoming smile pained him in a way he’d never been pained before.
‘You’re busy.’ He hesitated, staying at a distance, trying to resist that fierce, fierce pull.
She deserves better.
‘It’s okay.’ She put down her pen and turned her full focus on him. ‘What did you want?’
He’d forgotten already. But her gaze grazed the paper he was holding.
‘I just...’ he glanced down at the images he held ‘...wanted your opinion on this.’
‘My opinion?’ she echoed softly.
‘You have an artist’s eye.’ He gruffly pushed the words past the block in his throat. ‘I wanted to know which you think is better.’
Eleni blinked, pulling her scattered wits together. He walked in here looking all stormy and broody and sexy as hell and then wanted her opinion on something he was clinging to as if it were worth his very soul?
‘Are you going to let me see it?’ She smiled but he didn’t smile back.
He put the page on her desk. She studied the three designs that had been printed on it. That he valued her input touched her and it took her a moment to focus on what he’d asked her to do. ‘I think this one is cleaner. It stays in the mind more.’ She pointed to the one on the left. ‘Don’t you think?’
‘Yes,’ he said, nodding brusquely. ‘Thank you.’
A defiant, determined look crossed his face as he stepped back from her. She stilled, trying to read all the contrary emotions flickering in his expression. He always tried to contain such depth of feeling, but right now it was pouring from him and she could only stare, aching to understand what on earth was churning in his head.
‘What?’ His lips twisted in a wry, self-mocking smile. ‘I don’t know why you’re staring at me when you’re the one with ink on her nose.’
‘Oh.’ Embarrassed, she rubbed the side of her nose with her finger.
He half snorted, half groaned. ‘Come here,’ he ordered gruffly, tugging a clean tissue from the box on his desk.
She loved being this close to him. Loved the way he teased her as he cared for her. She held ultra-still so he could wipe the smear from her face. He was so close, so tender and she ached for that usual teasing. But his eyes were even more intensely blue and his expression grave. He focused on her in a way that no one else ever had. He saw beyond the superficial layers through to
her needs beneath. Not just her needs. Her gifts. He saw value in her and he appreciated it. That mattered to her more than she could have ever imagined. Suddenly, thoughtlessly, she swayed, her need to be closer to him driving her body.
‘Eleni?’ He gripped her arms to steady her, concern deepening the blue of his eyes even more. ‘You okay?’
All the feelings bloomed in the face of the irresistible temptation he embodied—the capricious risk he dared from her with a mere look. But beneath it was the steadfast core of certainty. He’d caught her. Just as he’d caught her and held her close that very first night. Somehow she knew he’d always catch her. He was there for her in a way no one had ever been before. That spontaneous tide of emotion only he stirred now swept from her heart, carrying with it those secret words until they slipped right out of her in a shaky whisper of truth that she breathed between them.
‘I love you.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
‘I’M NOT SORRY I said that,’ she said shakily, determined to believe her own words.
Impulsive. Impetuous. Spontaneous. Stupid.
Because he stood rigid as rock, his fingers digging hard into her upper arms and his eyes wide. But his obvious shock somehow made her bold. She could have no regrets. Not about this. Not now. So she said it again—louder this time.
‘I’ve fallen in love with you, Damon.’
It felt good to admit it. Terrifying, but good.
His expression still didn’t change. Just as it hadn’t in the last ten seconds. But then he released her so quickly she had to take a step back to maintain her balance.
‘You only think you’re in love with me because I was your first.’ He finally spoke—harsh and blunt. And then he turned his back on her.
That was so out of left-field that she gaped as he walked away towards his desk. ‘Give me some credit.’ She was so stunned she stormed after him and yanked on his arm to make him face her again. ‘Even just a little.’
But he shrugged her hand off.
‘Eleni, look...’ He paused and drew breath. ‘You’ve never felt lust before. You haven’t had the opportunity until now. I’m just the first guy you’ve met who got your rocks off. But lust doesn’t equal love. It never does.’
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