by Abby Green
‘I was young, very naïve…but I don’t regret it. It was a brave thing to do even if it had drastic consequences.’ She took a deep, shaky breath. ‘I’d do it again if I had the chance, and I’ll do it again now.’ She stopped for a long second and then said with simple truth, ‘Alexandros, I love you.’
She lifted his hand and kissed the palm. ‘I love you.’ She drew his head to hers, pressing a kiss to his lips. ‘I love you, Alexandros Kouros, and nothing in the world would make me happier than to be your wife…’
His hands went to her waist. She could feel them shaking and it made an exultant force move through her. She had taken the leap. His uncertainty made her ache.
‘Are you…? I mean, you’re not just saying it? Kallie…’
She nodded. ‘I mean it.’
He stood and pulled her up with him, drawing her so tightly into his arms that Kallie never wanted the moment to end. The ring twinkled on her finger and she looked up. ‘But…we’re already married. How can we…?’
His voice was husky. ‘I want us to walk around an altar three times, in a church. To symbolise our journey together, from when we first met to when we will end our days…together.’
She just nodded tearily and reached up again, meeting his hungry mouth with hers.
Much later, when they lay in each other’s arms among tousled sheets, Kallie looked at Alexandros. He kissed her and slid a hand over the curve of her hip, across her belly. She stopped his hand and held it there. For a long moment she revelled in the silent communication that flowed between them.
It was time…‘There’s something…I have to tell you…’
‘What is it?’ He shifted slightly so that his hand stayed on her belly, but he came up on one elbow to look down at her.
She opened her mouth and stopped again, suddenly scared that it was too soon, that he wouldn’t be ready. That what they had between them was too fragile. She didn’t want that love to fade from his eyes.
‘Kallie?’ He looked worried.
She had to trust again. She took a deep breath. ‘I’m…pregnant. I was on the Pill but I changed over just before we met…’ She was starting to babble and she knew it. ‘That’s why…I was so adamant about a divorce last night. I couldn’t stand the thought of you tying me to you in a loveless marriage if you found out…’
For a moment he didn’t move, and then a surge of something powerful moved through him. His hand tightened on her belly. He looked up for a second and Kallie felt unbelievably nervous. It was too soon, it was too—
He looked back down at her and she could see the glint of tears in his eyes. She looked up with worried ones.
‘Are you…? Is it too soon?’
He shook his head, unable to speak for a moment. The thought of Kallie loving him, marrying him had been all he’d thought he could handle, but now this?
‘Us…’ His voice was reverent. ‘Having a baby…’
He dipped his head and told her everything she needed to know with his kiss.
EPILOGUE
THE moonlight lit the patio with a magical glow. On a seat with huge cushions, Alexandros kissed Kallie’s neck and she leant back against his big body with a blissful sigh.
His hands were around her, on her distended belly. Her hands were over his, their fingers intertwined.
‘Anything?’ he whispered in her ear.
She shook her head against him. The lights of Athens twinkled in the distance.
‘Are you sure?’
She turned sideways in his lap, lacing her hands behind his neck, feeling her belly pressing into him. He pulled her even closer. Her heart was so full of love for him she thought she might burst. And she could see it reflected in his eyes.
‘The only thing I’m feeling, Mr Kouros, is your son or daughter playing football in my insides…and how in love with you I am.’
She moved experimentally in his lap and smiled at her husband’s low appreciative groan. ‘Hmm, and something hard…’
He bent his head to hers and she tingled all over, his lips hovering. Thea came onto the patio at that moment with a squirming body in her arms, a mock angry look on her face. ‘A certain someone refuses to go to sleep unless Daddy reads him another story.’
Alexandros groaned and gave Kallie a kiss that promised his swift return. She stood with a bit of effort to let him out of the seat. He took their son Nikos from Thea, holding him high. ‘We’re going to have to work on your timing, young man.’
‘What’s timing, Daddy? Night, Mummy!’ the little boy called as his father carried him back through the doors.
Kallie blew him a kiss and smiled dryly. She’d said good-night twice already. She watched her family—her life—go back into the house. Placing a hand back on her belly, she walked over to the low wall and took in the magical view. She felt tears slip down her cheeks. But she knew that they were tears of joy…
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2160-8
THE KOUROS MARRIAGE REVENGE
First North American Publication 2008.
Copyright © 2007 by Abby Green.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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