by Sarah Morgan
And she had nowhere to hide.
Whoever it was knew that she was on the boat. That she was alone.
They’d followed her.
All the time she’d sensed someone behind her, she hadn’t been paranoid…
There really had been someone there.
Watching.
Her heart pounded hard in her chest, her palms were suddenly damp and her mouth was dry. Reminding herself that the door was locked, Ella sat frozen to the spot, trying to convince herself that it was just someone walking their dog—ignoring the terrified part of herself that was telling her that people didn’t generally walk their dogs at ten at night in total darkness.
The footsteps stopped and she knew, she just knew, that whoever had followed her was now standing directly outside her boat.
Her hand shaking, Ella fumbled in her bag for her mobile phone only to find that the battery was dead because she’d forgotten to recharge it.
She had absolutely no way of contacting anyone.
She was on her own.
Slowly, stiffly, she rose to her feet and closed her hand around a saucepan that was sitting on the top of the hob. It wasn’t much of a weapon but it was the only thing she had.
And then she heard a thud and the boat rocked slightly as someone landed on the deck.
Her scream shattered the terrifying silence.
CHAPTER FIVE
PARALYSED with terror, Ella’s hand tightened around the saucepan.
Her heart was pounding so hard it felt as though it was about to spring out from her chest.
And then she heard someone swear and a deep, male voice called her name. ‘Ella?’
She was shaking so badly that it took a moment for her to realise that she recognised the voice.
Filled with relief, she tried to speak but instead she just burst into tears, all the pent-up tension exploding in a flood of emotion as she realised that the footsteps outside had belonged to Nikos, not an evil stalker.
‘Ella!’ His tone was savage. ‘Let me in!’
She heard him let rip a stream of Greek and then the door crashed open and he forced his way into the cabin like a warrior going into battle.
‘Theos mou, what has happened? Who has hurt you? Tell me!’ His strong hands closed over her shoulders and Ella launched herself against his powerful chest. He braced his legs to steady them both, his arms closing round her protectively as she burst into sobs. ‘Talk to me!’
Ella ignored his urgent command and clung to him, so relieved that he was there that she was totally unable to speak He swore fluently in English, then switched to Greek as he scooped her up in his arms and sat with her cradled on his lap.
She didn’t understand a word he was saying, but his deep, strong voice was so reassuringly male that she didn’t care.
‘Hush, now. Stop crying.’ His hand infinitely gentle, he stroked her hair away from her face as if she were a child. ‘Tell me what happened. What was it that frightened you?’
‘I thought someone was following me—I heard someone and my phone was dead and there was this owl…’ Babbling incoherently, Ella tried to explain, her fingers holding so tightly to his shirt that her knuckles were white.
‘You live in the country so you will hear owls, no?’ Carefully he extracted his shirt from her grip and took possession of her hand. ‘And your phone is dead because you have always been useless at remembering to recharge it. And as for the person following you—’ He broke off and muttered something under his breath.
‘What? Did you hear someone when you were outside?’
The breath hissed through his teeth. ‘The footsteps were mine, Ella.’ His fingers tightened on hers. ‘I was the one following you.’
She stared at him with incomprehension. ‘You were following me? Why?’
‘Because you are impossibly stubborn and you insist on living in this place in the middle of nowhere!’ His dark gaze burned fiercely into hers. ‘Did you really think I was going to let you cycle home alone? I was held up by a phone call and by the time I’d finished, you’d gone. I wanted to check that you were safe.’
‘It was your footsteps I heard.’
‘Yes.’
‘I was terrified.’
‘I’m sorry. Obviously the last thing I wanted to do was frighten you. But it does prove that you should not be living here alone,’ he gritted, sliding his free hand into her hair and tilting her face to look at him. ‘It is not a suitable place for a woman. Tonight has proved that.’
‘That isn’t true. It was you all along—’
‘But it might not have been me.’ His tone was edged with roughness. ‘It might not have been me, and then what, Ella? You think a saucepan is going to be sufficient defence against an intruder? What were you going to do? Sauté him with garlic and serve him on a bed of pasta?’
‘I was going to hit him, of course.’ Stung by his sarcasm and increasingly embarrassed by the whole incident, Ella made a desperate attempt to regain some of her pride and dignity. ‘It’s possible that I overreacted,’ she said stiffly, ‘I think it’s hormones or something. I was imagining all sorts of things. I’ll be fine now.’
She just wanted to curl up in a ball and hide.
What a pathetic wimp she was!
What a spineless excuse for a twenty-first-century woman.
She’d made a total fool of herself. How on earth had she worked herself up into such a state?
Calm now in the safety of Nikos’s lap, she glanced around her, wondering what it was about this cosy canal boat that had seemed so terrifying.
‘You’ll be fine? You’re sure?’ Nikos tipped her gently off his lap and onto the seat as he rose to his feet. ‘In that case I will leave you to it. I know how badly you want to stay here on your own, so—’
‘You’re going to leave me?’ Alarmed, disbelieving, Ella looked at him, her heart starting to race again. ‘Y-you’re going?’ Without him there, the canal boat would cease to be cosy. She could feel the menace closing in around her—the dark trees, the glassy surface of the water.
‘You don’t want me here, I understand that. I never intended to come in—I just wanted to see that you arrived home safely.’ His back to her, Nikos dropped into a squat and fiddled with the door. Then he picked up the key, performed some deft manoeuvre that she couldn’t see and then rose to his feet. ‘This lock is fine. It’s not that secure, so miraculously it didn’t actually break when I forced it. You can lock it again after I leave. You might want to sleep with that saucepan by your bed, just in case.’
The lock wasn’t secure?
Fear and pride fought a quick, desperate battle for supremacy.
‘Wait a minute—you can’t leave.’ Fear trampled on pride as she forced the words out. ‘I don’t want you to leave.’
‘You don’t?’ He turned to look at her, his eyes glittering dark. ‘Why?’
She swallowed. ‘Because…I feel better when you’re here.’
‘I thought you liked living alone on the canal,’ he said silkily, his sardonic tone dragging over her nerve endings, ‘I thought this was your idea of blissful independence. I’d hate to get in the way of that.’
His powerful frame almost filled the boat and she knew that her sudden feeling of security came from his presence and nothing else.
If he left…
‘I like having you here.’
One dark eyebrow lifted. ‘As your bodyguard? You want my muscles, yes? My ability to throw a punch?’
The chemistry crackled between them, a powerful force drawing them together in the small, intimate space they both occupied.
Feeling the immediate reaction of her body, Ella felt herself weaken. ‘Not just as my bodyguard.’ Oh, dear God, what was she doing? What was she saying? It must be something to do with the darkness. ‘I—I just don’t want you to go.’
Nikos slowly and deliberately turned the key in the lock, securing the door from the inside. ‘I’ll stay,’ he said softly, ‘but only if you prom
ise that tomorrow you’ll move out of this place.’
Ella’s heart was thudding. ‘Nikos, I—’
‘Do you want to spend tomorrow night alone here?’
‘No.’ She shook her head, hating herself for being so wimpy. ‘It’s gorgeous during the day. I love the water and the wildlife, but…it’s spooky at night.’
What was the point of denying it?
Given her dramatic performance over the past few minutes he was only too aware of how spooky she found it. His shirt was still wet from her tears and he probably had scratch marks from where she’d clung to him for dear life.
He picked up the saucepan and returned it to the kitchen area, amusement in his dark eyes. ‘We won’t be needing that any more. If I am required to repel an intruder I would choose to use hand-to-hand combat rather than kitchen utensils.’ Then he took her hand and pulled her gently to her feet. ‘Time for bed, agape mou. You are exhausted and I am too tall for this boat. It will be more relaxing for both of us if we lie down.’ Without giving her time to pass comment on that suggestion, he tugged her along the narrow passageway that led to the bedroom area.
Ella recoiled as she saw the insects. ‘Oh, dear—I must have left the window open.’ She eyed an enormous spider with horror and wondered if she dared ask him to remove it. But she’d already made such an utter fool of herself that this time pride was the stronger force and she remained silent. But she watched the spider, desperately willing it to find its own way to the window.
Nikos angled his glossy dark head and looked at her quizzically. ‘I thought you liked the wildlife. Being close to nature.’
‘Ducks,’ Ella muttered. ‘I like the ducks. And the dragonflies are pretty from a distance.’
To give him his due, he didn’t tease her. He simply scooped the spider up in his palm and gently tipped it out of the window. ‘Anything else?’
Ella’s face was scarlet. He already knew she was a coward, so what was the point in pretending? ‘The daddy-long-legs on the ceiling?’
Nikos rehoused the daddy-long-legs outside the boat and Ella gave a weak smile.
‘OK. This is embarrassing. You think I’m completely pathetic.’
There was laughter in his eyes as he cupped her face in his hands. ‘I think you are beautiful,’ he said huskily, ‘and you are all woman. I think perhaps a canal boat is not the best setting for you. You should be sharing luxurious surroundings with an over-protective Greek male, not a selection of British wildlife. You should be pampered and cosseted and spoiled.’ He drew her T-shirt over her head in a decisive movement and then reached for the snap of her jeans.
As his warm fingers brushed against the sensitised skin of her stomach, a spasm of excitement shot through her and she gave a soft little gasp.
‘No, honestly Nikos, we shouldn’t do this. It will just confuse everything.’
‘I’m not confused.’ He gave a sexy, possessive smile. ‘Your jeans are tight, agape mou. Soon this baby of ours will begin to show and people will ask questions.’ He lowered his head and his mouth gently brushed that one sensitive place at the base of her throat. ‘By the time that happens, you will be my wife.’
‘Nikos—’
‘We will spend the night here,’ he purred, ‘and I will protect you, no?’
There seemed little point in protesting that she could protect herself after her miserable performance so far, so she kept silent.
And suddenly she realised that the only really threatening thing left in the boat was him. The way he made her feel.
It felt as though there was a war going on in her head.
Dizzy with longing, Ella rested her forehead against his chest, breathing in his tantalising male scent, reminding herself of all the reasons she shouldn’t be doing this. And then his strong hands slid down her bare arms, the slow, sensual slide of his flesh against hers a promise of things to come.
It was impossibly intimate, just the two of them in this small, enclosed space surrounded only by nature.
A raw, primal sound came from outside the boat and she gave a start. ‘What was that?’
With soft laughter, he tipped her back onto the bed and came over her, his body powerful and protective. ‘Foxes mating,’ he breathed huskily, a smile touching the corners of his mouth as he gently brushed her face with his fingers. ‘And now you need to block out the sounds you hear or by the morning you will be taking tranquillisers. You have no reason to be afraid of anything because I am here.’
Ella gasped as his clever fingers slid between her thighs and rested there, close to the part of her that was aching with longing.
It had been four months…
She shifted her hips slightly but he didn’t move his hand. Instead his firm, sexy mouth glided onto hers with effortless skill and the sounds of the night outside faded out of her brain as excitement erupted inside her.
The first time he’d ever kissed her she’d decided that she could happily spend the rest of her life doing this one thing and never stop. And this time she had no reason to rethink that ambition. What Nikos could do to a woman’s mouth was something that no female should die without experiencing.
The erotic slide of his tongue sent a fire burning low in her pelvis and she shifted against the sheets. His fingers rested at the top of her thigh, tantalisingly close to that part of her that ached and throbbed. But he didn’t move his hand. Instead, he transferred his mouth from her lips to her breasts, teasing her jutting, sensitised nipples with the slow, relentless graze of his tongue. It was like completing an electric circuit. Sensation arced through her body, piercing her low in her pelvis. Ella lifted her hips in silent invitation but still his fingers didn’t move—didn’t touch her where she most wanted to be touched.
She gave a tiny gasp of frustration and desperation and when he drew the whole of her nipple into his warm mouth, that gasp turned to a moan and then a sob.
When exactly had he removed her panties?
The question flew into her head and out again because she was too dizzy and dazed to hold onto any coherent thought for long. Her body was on fire, her only focus to relieve the maddening ache that he had aroused in her.
‘Nikos…’
But he ignored her whispered plea and instead turned his attention to her other breast while his clever, teasing fingers gently stroked the inside of her thigh, slowly driving her mad with longing.
He trailed his mouth down her body and lingered for a moment on her gently rounded flesh. ‘My baby.’
His possessive tone set off an alarm bell in her head but Ella was too excited to pay attention. The ache in her pelvis was almost painful and her breath came in tiny gasps as she tried to snatch air into her starving lungs. The whole of her world was centred around his fingers—waiting, just waiting…
But in the end it wasn’t his fingers that touched her first, it was his mouth.
With firm, determined hands he gently spread her thighs and settled his mouth on that single part of her which he’d so far delayed touching, and it felt so impossibly good that Ella cried out.
He gave her no opportunity to resist or be embarrassed because he identified his target with effortless accuracy, the relentless flick of his tongue so shockingly skilled that her fingers gripped the sheets in desperation.
He took her right to the very edge and held her there, trembling and shivering with expectation and anticipation and then he shifted over her, his eyes holding hers.
Barely able to breathe, Ella looked into his eyes and then gasped as he gently slid his fingers deep inside the quivering softness that he’d created at the very heart of her. She moaned, knowing that she was close to exploding.
And he knew it too because he gently withdrew his fingers and shifted over her, and only then did she realise that he was naked, too.
Exactly how and when he’d removed the last of their clothes she didn’t know. Neither did she care because she felt the roughness of his thigh brush against the softness of hers and then he slid a hand
underneath her bottom, raising her slightly.
‘You are exquisite,’ he breathed, and then he entered her with a series of smooth, gliding thrusts that took him right to the very heart of her.
Her body exploded into an instant orgasm and she heard him swear under his breath as her body tightened around the powerful thrust of his arousal. He held himself still for a moment, teeth gritted, jaw hardened as he fought for control while she sobbed and clung to him. His hand scraped through her hair and he took her mouth, silencing her cries with his kiss, holding her hard against him as she tumbled and trembled in a sensual explosion that affected both of them.
Finally her body calmed and he groaned something in Greek against her mouth and then moved inside her again, the raw virility of his thrusts sending her spiralling out of control once more.
And this time she took him with her, the spasms of her body drawing a thickened groan from him as he surged into her with masculine force and then shuddered above her as he finally lost his iron grip on control.
It was primal, primitive and impossibly intimate and she lay there struggling for breath, the palm of her hand pressed against his sleek, damp skin, her legs brushing against the hard muscle of his.
It was ages before either of them moved.
Finally, Nikos lifted his head, his breathing still uneven as he looked down at her. ‘If you weren’t already having my baby,’ he said huskily, ‘then you would be now.’
Her heart was still pounding. ‘That’s a really Greek male remark.’
‘How many Greek males have you known?’ His tone was rough but his eyes teased her. ‘It is fortunate for you that I know you were very inexperienced when I met you.’
Frustrated by the effect he had on her, Ella stiffened defensively. ‘I had boyfriends—’ The rest of her sentence was cut off as he touched her mouth with his fingers.
‘I don’t want to know.’
‘Another really Greek male remark.’
A faint gleam of mockery in his eyes, he rested his hand low on her stomach. ‘Your body is changing.’
‘You mean I’m fat.’ She tried to keep her tone light but he was too experienced a doctor not to detect the thread of insecurity running through her glib comment.
