Theo caught her worried gaze. ‘Stop it, Willow, it might never happen.’ He gathered her into his arms and kissed her full on the mouth with a deep, drugging tenderness that drove every thought from her head. Only Stephen pulling on his jacket finally forced him to release her.
‘Hey, Dad, that’s mushy,’ Stephen said indignantly, and everyone laughed.
The champagne flowed freely and the running buffet was a gourmet’s delight. Willow lost track of the people who congratulated them; all she was aware of was Theo’s tall, commanding presence close to her side through countless toasts and teasing. A quartet started to play and with great ceremony Theo led her out onto the terrace and took her in his arms.
‘Have I told you today, Mrs Kadros—’ his dark eyes captured hers, a gleam of triumph and something else in the inky depths that made her heart squeeze in her chest ‘—my wife—’ he savoured the two words as he held her closer and she had no choice but to lift her hands to his broad shoulders as they moved slowly around to the music ‘—you look stunningly beautiful, and absolutely divine?’ Bodies touching shoulder to thigh, legs entwined as he spun her around, Willow almost believed him.
Whether it was the champagne or simply bowing to the inevitable, she found she no longer cared. ‘You don’t look so bad yourself,’ she murmured, an involuntary sensual smile parting her soft lips. The formal silver-grey tailcoat and the intricately tied neckpiece gave him a slightly piratical air, and the familiar heightened awareness of him invaded her body. ‘For an older man,’ she dared to tease.
‘I will remind you of that remark tonight,’ Theo breathed huskily against her ear. ‘Then we will see who has the most stamina,’ he drawled, so seductively that desire ripped through her like a knife.
The music stopped, but Theo seemed reluctant to let her go. ‘People are watching,’ she said, lowering her eyes from his intense gaze, afraid he would see in her eyes the hunger and the need she was helpless to conceal.
She had watched him over the past week and she could not doubt his love for Stephen was absolute. As for her, she was just part of the package. To imagine otherwise would be fatal. Once before she had confused sex with Theo with love and she dared not make the same mistake again. But she had the uneasy feeling that it might already be too late… Was she already half in love with him? She didn’t know, and she was glad of the diversion from her troubled thoughts when Tess appeared at her side and suggested it was time to change her outfit.
‘No way.’ Theo grinned easily down at Tess. ‘No one is going to deprive me of the pleasure of unpeeling that spectacular dress from my wife’s body. It has been driving me mad all day. I am whisking her off in the helicopter in ten minutes exactly as she stands.’
‘A man after my own heart.’ Tess laughed. ‘If it wasn’t for Bob, I would have had you myself.’
‘Tess!’ Willow remonstrated. What on earth got into her friend every time she saw Theo? She began flirting outrageously.
‘Never mind the outrage, Willow. I have known you for years and you have hardly ever looked at another man, and now I know why. You were lucky; you started with the best. I knew the first time I clapped eyes on Theo he was Stephen’s father and the only man for you. By the way, I have told your friend Dave that you were getting married so you have no need to worry on that score. Now off you go and enjoy your honeymoon. Stephen will be perfectly okay here with me and Bob and he has his pal Tommy to play with.’
Willow had forgotten all about Dave. Theo had swept every thought of the man out of her head. They had dated casually for over a year but she had never held any real feelings for him. More like just companionship.
‘Forget Dave.’ Theo swore softly. ‘The helicopter is waiting.’ Grasping her arm, and with a last hug and kiss for Stephen, he whisked her away. The congratulations of everyone was still ringing in her ears until they were drowned out by the sound of the rotary blades.
Situated on a spectacular headland, the hotel was out of this world. Their suite was magnificent but Willow was nervous. A glass wall opened out onto a fantastic terrace, and she wandered out to take a few deep steadying breaths of the warm night air, her eyes widening in awe at the fabulous view of the sea and the night sky.
‘Champagne?’ Theo suggested and came to stand behind her.
‘This place is incredible, but where are we?’ Willow asked. The flight had been barely half an hour, the helicopter had landed on the heli-pad and the manager of the hotel had met and escorted them straight to this lavish suite. She was alone with Theo for the first time in days, and fear and anticipation of the night ahead had made her as tense as a bowstring. ‘Under the circumstances I don’t think a honeymoon was really necessary,’ she said stiffly.
His arm folded around her waist and he pulled her back against the hard lines of his powerful body. ‘A very private hotel for the chosen few,’ he said softly. ‘Where it is does not matter—all you need to know is I have chosen you.’ And turning her around in his arms, he added, ‘As my wife.’
But he had not chosen her, Willow realised with an ache in her heart. Not really… He was as much a captive by the love he felt for his son as she was. Slowly she raised her head. Theo’s lashes half covered his eyes, giving him a saturnine cast. Beneath them his gaze, intent and blatantly possessive, roamed over her face as his long fingers closed around her upper arms.
‘And a honeymoon, although it will be unfortunately brief as I must be back in Athens on Monday, is a necessity to me,’ Theo said, smiling his slightly crooked smile. ‘Much as I love our son, we need some time alone together.’ His dark eyes serious, he added, ‘I want to make this marriage work. Surely you would not deny me the chance to try?’
Did he need her? Or would any woman do? she wondered. As for denying him! ‘No,’ she murmured. She wanted him too much. Then his hands slid gently up to cup her head in his palms and the depths of emotion in his night-black eyes, the intense raw passion, stunned her.
Willow stood very still, her breathing shaky. One week ago to this very day she had been an independent single mother, acclaimed by the press for her skill as a writer; now she was married to a man who offered her wealth and a basic primitive passion for a stipulated duration only. How had her world changed so dramatically? She instinctively tried to shake her head, her confusion showing in the blue eyes that clung to his.
Theo’s dark head bent and he took her mouth in a kiss. It started as a gentle touch of his firm, silken lips against her own, and only ended when he had plunged deep and long into the moist depths, and Willow was boneless in his arms.
‘Time to find the bedroom,’ Theo suggested with a husky chuckle, swinging her up into his arms. Willow buried her face in his neck as he carried her into the bedroom. Slowly he lowered her down the long length of his body and she swayed as her feet touched the floor. Seconds later she gasped as he found the zip at the side of her wedding gown, and peeled it from her quivering body to fall in a pool of satin at her feet.
‘I have ached to do that all day. The dress is exquisite, but you…’ he husked throatily, and for a long moment he held her at arm’s length. ‘You are perfection.’ His glittering black gaze swept down over her near-naked body, lingering on the firm, high breasts, her narrow waist, her only covering the briefest of silk lace briefs. When he lifted his head she saw the turbulence in the depths of his eyes, and her heart leapt.
He raised his hands to her hair and removed the clips holding it back almost reverently. He raked his fingers through the silken mass, and, lifting it to his face, he breathed deeply. ‘I remember the scent of your hair from the first time we met, fresh apples in the fall. It is still the same,’ he murmured huskily and, stepping back, smoothed the silken length over her shoulder.
He was right. ‘Creature of habit, same shampoo,’ she said softly, but she was touched by his memory. Maybe he did care for her a little, but he was not touching her now…and she needed him to, her senses inflamed by his unexpected mixture of tenderness and passion
.
Then his dark head bent and he kissed her throat and scattered swift, biting kisses down the length of it as he divested himself of his clothes. Finally naked, he lifted his head, and he pressed a swift, hard kiss on her softly parted lips, his eyes dark as he reached for her shoulders.
‘I thought I had imagined how smooth and white your skin was; a trick of memory, but I was wrong,’ Theo murmured, his eyes roaming over her exposed flesh. ‘Pale and translucent as a perfect pearl,’ he husked, his hands gentle as he stroked slowly down over her firm breasts. The tips of his fingers began circling then teasing the burgeoning peaks before trailing down to shape her waist and lower to hook his thumbs in the scrap of lace and slip the last covering from her body.
Willow groaned her delight; she could not help it, her hands reaching to circle his neck. Did it really matter that she surrendered without a fight? Did it matter if it was only lust, or chemistry, even love…? He was her husband and, dear heaven, she wanted him. She tilted back her head for his kiss, her fingers threading through his hair and urging his head down, her lips softly parted in anticipation.
Theo obliged with the sweep of his tongue around the lush outline of her mouth, while his hand stroked and caressed a tantalising, subtle path down to the triangle of hair at the apex of her thighs. A long finger found the sensitive nub within, and he watched her incredible blue eyes widen and flare as he stroked with slow, sensual skill until he felt the tremors she could not control racing through her incredibly receptive body. His own heart pounding like a drum, he swung her up into his strong arms and laid her on the bed.
He was determined to make their wedding night unforgettable, and, after ravishing her mouth, he covered the pulse beating madly in her throat and sucked gently. Then he licked and kissed a slow, expert trail to her breast, delighting in the silken smoothness of her skin. He took one perfect rosy peak between his teeth and nipped gently, then began to suckle with greedy pleasure until he heard her feverish gasps of excitement. He relished the sound and transferred his attention to the other breast, with equally devastating results. His own skin began beading with sweat, his heart pounding as he moved lower to tease her navel and lower still to the juncture of her thighs.
She was hot, wet and wanting and went wild beneath him. She wanted him inside her and he ached to be there, rock-hard and hurting. But he fought back the incredible urge, and, raising his head, he slipped his finger inside her. A triumphant primitive smile slashed his darkened features as he saw the pale beauty of her body suffused with colour, her blue eyes unfocussed and blind with passion.
At last she was his, her surrender complete. She was his wife. He kissed her hard with a dominant, possessive passion. ‘Willow mou, all mine,’ he groaned and, drawing back, he tilted her slender hips with hands that shook, and slowly thrust into her silken depths, and stilled.
‘Theo…’ Willow gasped, breathless as wave after wave of sensation buffeted her slender body. Delirious with excitement, she raked her hands down the solid wall of his chest and back again, her hand grasping his hip bones. ‘Please,’ she almost sobbed. It was like being tortured, held on the rack between pleasure and pain, but his hands tightened on her thighs, holding her still.
‘Not yet,’ Theo growled, his dark eyes intent on her, gauging her response to the nth degree. He slowly and skilfully took her to the edge and, testing his own control to the limit, he kept her there while he caught her whimpering cries with his mouth. With his tongue he did what her body, arching beneath him, was urging him to do with his own body. By a mighty effort of will he held back, and then once more tasted her luscious breasts before moving in her again. He felt her muscles clench around him and still he withdrew and waited, holding her on the pinnacle yet again.
‘Please, please, Theo, don’t stop,’ Willow cried, her nails digging into his taut buttocks, her mouth urgently seeking his, her eyes closed. Breathless and out of her mind with excitement. ‘Now…no…please, I can’t…’ she whimpered, incoherent in her need for his complete possession.
Hearing her pleading shattered Theo’s control. He thrust deep and hard, filling her to the hilt, his muscles locked, his great body taut as he thrust over and over again. Instantly she met and matched his rhythm and they rocketed over the edge, his seed shooting into her in a prolonged, explosive climax that left them both shuddering in the aftermath.
Later as the pounding of their hearts slowed Theo eased up and brushed the tumbled mass of hair back from her face and looked down at her. Her magnificent eyes, sated and slumberous, smiled lazily up at him.
‘Wow,’ she said dreamily.
‘Wow—is that the best you can do as a writer?’ he teased, and gently trailed a finger around her love-swollen lips.
‘What do you expect when you have knocked every sensible thought from my brain?’ Willow confessed, her breathing shallow but slowing.
‘Good. I will have to make sure I keep you from thinking. That way our marriage will be fine.’ And he fell back on the bed and slid an arm around her to cuddle her close to his side.
Even in her euphoric state she was taken aback by his statement and, rolling over to lean an arm on his chest, she looked lazily up at him. ‘Do you really believe that a brainless wife makes for a good marriage? Is that why you divorced Dianne?’ she asked without thinking. Immediately she felt the tension in him, and saw the hardening in his night-black eyes, and wished the words unsaid…
‘Sorry. I should not have asked.’ She withdrew her arm from his chest and turned onto her back. For a moment she had forgotten that theirs wasn’t the kind of relationship that included sharing confidences.
‘No, you shouldn’t,’ Theo said quietly, turning his head to glance across at her. ‘But now you have perhaps it is as well you know the truth.’ His dark eyes clashed with hers. ‘I divorced Dianne because I caught her in bed with another man. So be warned.’
Whatever she had expected as a response, it was not that. She looked at him carefully. He was strikingly handsome, sinfully sexy and his great, tanned body simply oozed virile male power. He had to be joking, and Willow couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘I don’t believe you. The other way around maybe.’
‘Am I supposed to be flattered by that backhanded compliment?’ Theo asked with a sardonic arch of one ebony brow.
‘No, well, you know what I mean,’ Willow muttered, suddenly realising he was not in the least amused.
‘No, I don’t know what you mean. Explain.’ Theo leant up on one elbow, his dark eyes pinning her to the spot. ‘Bearing in mind that adultery is not the sole prerogative of the male.’
‘Yes, I know.’ Suddenly she wished she had never started this conversation, but now she had… What the hell? She might as well tell the truth as she saw it. ‘But let’s be honest here, Theo, you’re a very handsome man, very wealthy, and you must have had dozens of women over the years. Also given the fact that you were unfaithful with me when you were still engaged to Dianne and then married her anyway, the odds are that if anyone was going to stray in your marriage, you have to be the prime candidate.’
‘Thank you for your opinion of me,’ Theo ground out sarcastically. ‘But you could not be more wrong. A, I was not engaged to Dianne when I slept with you, and B, I had finished with her the day before you and I met. Got it?’
Willow’s eyes widened in stunned amazement. He looked so serious that she was inclined to believe him. Had she been wrong all those years ago?
‘And, before you say anything, yes, I had spent the night before in Dianne’s flat, but I had slept in the spare room. Because, and listen and learn, she tried to manipulate me using sex into giving her a commitment. I allow no woman to do that, not even you, my sweet wife.’ The arrogant warning was evident in his dark eyes, and it surprised her.
‘As if I could…’ Willow said with a wry smile. Her knowledge of the male sex was so small she would not know where to start.
‘You’re a woman…’ Theo drawled cynically. ‘Anyway, I told Dian
ne it was over and I could not get away fast enough. Her frantic calls the next morning, one of which you apparently answered, were to try and get me back. I don’t know what you said to her but you must have given her the idea that she had a rival.’
‘I did nothing of the sort,’ Willow exclaimed. ‘I simply said you were still in bed asleep.’
‘You said what?’ Theo asked, his dark eyes widening incredulously, and then narrowing on her honest outraged blue. It was his turn to chuckle. ‘Ah agape mou.’ He threaded long fingers through the silken waves of her hair, and lazily smoothed them over the curve of her breast. ‘You really were an innocent. Surely you can see by telling her I was in bed asleep, you had as good as told her you had shared my bed.’
‘Oh.’ Willow stared back at Theo, feeling a fool. But with his hand on her breast it was a second or two before she could form any thoughts and get her vocal cords to work again. ‘But you still married her,’ she shot back. She wasn’t that much of a fool…
‘Yes, and do you know why?’ Theo prompted, his eyes swirling for a moment with dark resentment. ‘Because of you. Did it never cross your mind to wonder how I felt after you gave yourself to me, and then ran? I woke up the next morning to discover the woman I had asked to stay with me had gone. Then I had to discover from my sister you were only just eighteen and had in fact just left school that day.’
He was right—it had never once entered her head to think how he’d felt. ‘I did wonder why you followed me to the airport,’ she murmured.
‘I followed you because I was mortified by what I had done, and I wanted to put it right. I wanted to see you again.’ His long lashes lowered, masking his expression from her. ‘I was twenty-eight and a bachelor at heart, but I had the mad idea that I might court you. But you soon put me right,’ Theo drawled with dry self-mockery. ‘Instead I spent the next three months drinking a bit too much and swinging between incredible anger that you could give away your innocence so lightly, and self-disgust that I had seduced someone so young.’
The Greek Tycoon's Love-Child Page 13
