A fool, she thought, but it did not stop her murmuring, ‘If that is true, I am sorry.’
‘No need to be, and I don’t need your sympathy. It changes nothing. You and I are married with a child to care for and that is all that matters.’
He was right in one respect. Unless she left Nicholas, and she would never do that willingly, everything else was irrelevant. She had not married Leon for his character, or for the sex. Because that was all it was or ever could be, she recognised now. Her dream of Leon growing to care for her was just that—a dream.
‘I need to get up and shower, if you don’t mind.’
‘Ask me nicely and I’ll join you.’
‘Hell will freeze over first,’ she snarled and rolled off the bed and raced to the bathroom with his mocking laughter ringing in her ears.
When she returned to the bedroom Leon was sprawled across the wide bed, flat on his back and sound asleep. She looked at him for a long time. He really was quite magnificent—on a sexual level, perfect. But was she mature or jaded enough to accept sex for fun, and nothing more? She was still worrying the thought in her mind when she crawled into bed.
When she awoke the next morning he was gone, and she realised for the first time he had slept beside her without touching her, and left without the early-morning kiss he usually gave her. Obviously he had meant what he had said about not touching her until she asked him. Well she never would, she silently vowed.
When he returned that night it was as if nothing had changed. Over dinner he told her they were leaving for the island the following day for two weeks over the Easter holiday, and the nanny was having a few days leave but would join them later.
When he joined her in bed he simply said goodnight, turned his back on her and within minutes the deep even sound of his breathing told her he was asleep. Sleep did not come so easy for Helen. The seed of hope that had taken root in her heart and begun to grow in the last few weeks had, like a tender shoot caught by a spring frost, been killed stone-dead.
The next day they boarded a much smaller aircraft than the company jet necessary to land on the island’s private runway. Nicholas was ecstatic, Helen subdued and Leon his usual aloof self.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘IHAVE TO go to the mainland this morning.’ Leon addressed his wife over the breakfast table set on the terrace of the villa. She looked up at him her violet eyes wary, and he wanted to shake her. No, what he actually wanted to do was make mad, passionate love to her, and he cursed for the hundredth time the asinine challenge he had made that she had to ask him first. He must have been mad, but his pride would not let him back down.
She would come around he knew. He could see the desire in her eyes, when she watched him covertly beneath those incredible long lashes, in the way she backed away from him when they were alone in the bedroom or when they messed about near naked on the beach with Nicholas. Helen was frightened to touch him, and he was man enough to know she was more afraid of herself than him.
It was only a matter of time before she gave in and begged him to make love to her. In the meantime, unless he wanted to end up looking like a prune from the countless cold showers, he needed to get off the island and away from temptation for a few hours. Thankfully, he had some business to discuss with Chris.
‘I have meetings lined up with Chris. You can come with me if you like.’ Where the hell had that come from? And he told himself he was relieved when she refused.
After over a week of Leon’s constant company, it was with a relieved sigh that Helen stretched out on a towel on the beach.
She had spent a fun day with Nicholas, a visit to the harbour and an attempt at fishing, followed by lunch outside the local café. A slow walk back to the villa, and a short nap, and now it was three in the afternoon and she had given in to his demand to play on the beach.
She glanced at Nicholas happily building a sandcastle a few feet away and sighed. At least he was enjoying the holiday, but the sight of a Leon wearing a tee shirt and shorts day after day, or even less on the beach with them, had her nerves in shreds. It was bad enough she had to fight the temptation to touch him in the huge bed at night, without being faced with his great bronzed body all day as well.
‘When is Dad coming back?’ Nicholas demanded, coming to slump down on the towel beside her. ‘I want him to give me another swimming lesson.’
‘I can do that,’ Helen declared and got to her feet. She threw off her sun hat and caught his hand in hers. ‘Women are just as good as men at swimming, you know. I don’t want you growing up to be a chauvinist.’ Like Leon, she thought as she led him towards the water.
‘What is a chauvest…chauvinct…?’
‘Yes, what is a chauvinist?’ a light voice called.
Helen spun around, her eyes widening. ‘Mary, where did you come from?’
She was walking towards her with her eldest son Mark at her side.
‘Leon brought us all over, along with the nanny. He thought you might like some female company for the Easter weekend and the children would enjoy playing together.’
‘It’s great to see you, and he’s right, I could use the company, but he never said anything to me.’
‘Maybe he wanted to surprise you.’ Mary grinned and, with an order to Mark to watch Nicholas, turned her keen gaze on Helen. ‘I can see why, you are not looking very well at all. What’s with the dark circles under the eyes? You are on holiday, you’re supposed to be relaxing, not wound up as tight as a drum.’
Helen grimaced. ‘What do you expect?’ She glanced at Nicholas and saw he was happily engrossed with building the sandcastle again with Mark supervising. ‘And to answer your first query, a chauvinist is a man like Leon, a man who thinks women are an inferior species, and the only place for them is in bed.’
‘That bad, hmm?’ Mary took her arm. ‘Come on, sit down I have something to tell you.’
Helen sat back down on the towel and Mary flopped down beside her.
‘You love him, I can see that, and I can understand why you don’t trust him after what you overheard. As a lawyer I know I should not betray a confidence, but I like to think of you as my friend and you deserve to know.’
‘That sounds ominous.’
‘Not at all. Chris is not just Leon’s lawyer, he’s also his friend. Leon called him last night to tell him he was coming over to go over some family business they had been dealing with. But he also told Chris that, although he enjoyed every moment here with you, he thought you might appreciate some female company for the weekend. Now for Leon to actually consider how a woman might feel outside of the bedroom is definitely a first in all the time Chris has known him. Chris is convinced Leon is totally smitten with you.’ Mary lifted her eyebrow elegantly in Helen’s direction.
‘You don’t need me to tell you Leon is a cynic where women are concerned. But even more crucial information I discovered later, in bed.’ She grinned wickedly. ‘It was Chris who visited Louisa in Paris a couple of weeks ago. It was Chris in his capacity as Leon’s lawyer who presented Louisa with the deeds of the apartment, and a cheque for a large sum of money. Not very nice, I know, but not grounds for divorce. Now, whether Leon slept with Louisa the week before he married you, I don’t know, but he definitely did not afterwards. He wasn’t even in Paris when Chris clinched the less than salubrious deal, and that is the absolute truth. Pillow talk can be a mine of information.’ Mary chuckled. ‘But you must never tell a soul I told you this or Chris will kill me.’
Thinking about the conversation she had overheard, Helen realised what Mary was saying could be true. Louisa had not actually said Leon had handed the gifts over personally. Helen had just jumped to that conclusion. She looked into the eyes of her friend and saw the honesty and genuine care there and sighed.
‘I believe you, Mary, but it changes nothing. Leon does not believe in love. I will never be anything other than a convenient body in his bed, and not even that now,’ she confided. ‘In the fight we had after the party
the conceited devil declared he would not touch me again unless I asked him, and that is never going to happen.’
‘Talk about cutting off your own nose to spite your own face—are you crazy?’ Mary declared. ‘Heaven knows, Leon has never had much love in his life and he probably would not recognise the emotion if it hit him in the face. But if you really love him, show him. What are you, a woman or a wimp? You can easily make him change his mind. It’s up to you to try, and now I am taking these two boys back to the villa and you can stay here for a while to think what you really want to do.’
If Helen believed Mary, and she did, Leon had been faithful at least since they had married. But with the image of his magnificent virile body flashing though her mind, she recognised he wasn’t a man cut out to be celibate, and there were hundreds of willing women out there. Was she such a fool as to deny what her body craved, and maybe push him into the arms of another woman? Not a pleasant thought, and one that made her realise sadly that she still did not trust him. Her heart told her love and trust were indivisible, but her head and her achingly frustrated body were telling her to go for the love and hope the trust came later.
Helen was still thinking what she wanted to do, or more to the point whether she dared do what her heart was telling her to, when she walked into the bedroom to shower and change. She slipped off her shirt and grimaced as the sand stuck in her bikini irritated her skin. Then her answer walked out of the bathroom, all six feet plus of vibrant male, his black hair wet from the shower and wearing only a towel slung around his lean hips.
‘Leon, I thought you were with Chris and the children,’ Helen blurted, her heart hammering against her breastbone, her gaze roaming helplessly over his near-naked body. In front of her fascinated gaze he whipped the towel off his hips and began rubbing his hair dry.
‘The nanny is looking after them.’ Leon slung the towel around his neck, his dark eyes flicking appreciatively over her bikini clad figure and up to her scarlet face. The pupils of her wide eyes were dilating with desire, and her lush little breasts were firm, the rigid nipples peaking against the scrap of blue fabric just begging to be touched.
The fact she could still blush after all they had shared was a source of amusement to him and rather endearing. He took the towel from his neck and draped it around his hips as he walked towards her and battled to control the urge to take her in his arms. With a little verbal encouragement he would not need to, she would be asking him in no time at all.
‘You have the same expression on your face as the very first time you saw me naked on the beach,’ he reminded her softly. ‘I wanted you then, but I was married. I remember saying you should ask before ogling, that was perhaps a little unkind of me.’
He stepped forward so their bodies were only inches apart, and saw the slight tremor that shivered through her. She wanted him.
‘I never saw you naked,’ she returned. ‘Not until we married.’
‘Liar.’ He smiled down into her incredible eyes. ‘I saw you staring at me as you walked towards me, before I slung a towel around my waist.’
He wasn’t touching her but Helen was hypnotised by his closeness the heat of his body reaching out to her. It was so long since she had felt his touch, the glory of his possession, and her whole body was flooded with heat. Mary was right, and all she had to do was ask. She opened her mouth to do just that when he continued speaking.
‘Now I really appreciate you ogling me.’ He let his appreciative gaze roam sensuously over her lush little body. ‘And I will forgive the lie, if you say the words I want to hear. You know you want to. The tell-tale press of your perfect little nipples against your bikini top are screaming for my touch.’
Helen heard what he said and it was his damned arrogance that froze the words he wanted to hear in her throat.
‘I do not lie and I did not see you naked,’ she snapped. ‘I was blind for over a year and I had just had my last eye operation a few weeks earlier. I was staring because I was trying to bring you into focus, and when I did you were wearing a towel,’ she told him furiously.
Leon’s startled gaze leapt to her face. He knew she wore disposable contact lenses and he could see she was telling the truth.Theos, he was fifty kinds of fool. Was he never going to get anything right with this amazing woman? Swallowing his pride, he reached for her.
‘To hell with you asking, I am taking,’ he declared, and hauled her against his hard body, finding her mouth with his own, and kissed her with all the pent-up frustration that had gnawed away at him for a week. He savoured the taste of her, felt her body melt against him, heard her low moan, and wondered why he had waited so long.
He swept her up in his arms, and carried her to the bed.
‘What are you doing? I am covered in sand,’ she squealed.
Leon grinned at her stunned expression and changed direction to head for the bathroom. ‘I am going to bathe you, pamper you and make love to you, not necessarily in that order.’
Held against his broad chest Helen ran her tongue over her suddenly dry lips, and swallowed hard. He had actually said make love, and she had not had to ask him.
Unbelievably her proud, indomitable husband had relaxed his iron control and given in to his feelings. Whether it was love or lust didn’t really matter. As Mary had said, it was up to Helen to teach him the difference. She looked at his hard, chiselled features, the determination and passion blazing in his eyes, and she knew even if it took a lifetime she would try, because she loved him.
When he lowered her to the cool marble floor she stood still as he deftly removed her bikini and turned on the shower. Her hungry gaze swept helplessly over him as he shed the towel and joined her.
With a gentleness that enthralled her, he bathed her from head to toe. His hands lingered in certain places and she made no objection as his lips pressed soft kisses on her sensitised flesh, igniting a familiar heat inside her. She returned the favour and ran her hands up his strong arms, caressing his wide shoulders, and clung as he lifted her from the shower to wrap her in a huge towel and tenderly dry her body.
Finally when he lowered her onto the bed, and came down on top of her, his arms either side of her supporting him, his muscular thighs trapping her legs, she felt the hard strength of his arousal against her belly and she was no longer dry, but hot, moist and wanting. His mouth covered hers and she opened to him with a passionate sigh of relief.
He lifted his head, his smouldering gaze sweeping over her. ‘Have you any idea how beautiful you are?’ he husked.
For a long moment she looked up into his dark, attractive face, and she knew he could no more deny the compulsive desire that flared between them than she could. She reached for him then and drew his head down to hers, and kissed him. Her tongue seeking the magical depths of his sensuous mouth, her hands stroking and kneading his sleek bronzed skin. Discovering again the familiar strength and contours of his great body.
‘Ah Helen, you have no idea how much I need this,’ he groaned, trailing an exquisite line of kisses to her aching breasts. He closed his mouth around a rigid peaking nipple, suckling her hungrily.
Helen gave a gasping cry and arched into his mouth, her hands raking through his hair as he bestowed the same savage pleasure on the other. His tongue gently laved each straining nipple, his hands stroking, shaping the line of her waist, hip and thigh. Then he curved a strong arm round her to splay across her back, his mouth trailing lower, never ceasing the exquisite torment. His free hand reached to trace her lips, her throat, her breasts. Her legs parted eagerly, wanting, aching for him there. She felt the touch of his tongue in her navel and groaned her delight as his mouth dipped lower still and found those other lips and his skilful tongue teased the small, swelling bud of her passion.
‘Please, Leon,’ she cried out as her whole body shuddered in instant violent response. But still he continued until the pleasure was almost pain.
‘Please,’ she begged.
Leon heard her cry and lifted his dark head,
feeling her hands rake up over his back, her teeth nipping his shoulder. He saw the blind hunger, the passion on her beautiful face, and with one powerful thrust plunged into her moist, tight, silken sheath and stayed. He wanted to make this last, but he could not. The sweet taste of her was on his tongue, the fiery heat of her consumed him, and for once his incredible control deserted him as her inner muscles clenched around him, drawing him on. And with a shuddering groan he thrust again and again, driving her, driving him, on a wild, primitive ride that exploded into a mutual orgasm that shattered anything he had experienced before.
Helen clung to Leon, her hands instinctively stroking his broad back as the trembling aftershock of their ferocious passion slowly faded away. The weight of his body pinned her to the bed, but it was a pleasurable weight and one she had missed the past week. She sighed languorously, her mind and body at last in accord.
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