Marriage Without Love & More Than a Convenient Marriage?

by Penny Jordan

  But there was a fine line between delegating and neglecting. Much more lolling about his home, playing airplane with his son and necking with his wife, and he’d be a full-fledged layabout.

  Of course, he could blame finishing the renovations, putting in a staircase to the lower floor, painting and furnishing their new private space away from the main floor. That had taken time. There had also been his recovery from minor surgery, but that had really only been the one afternoon on headache pills and he’d been fine.

  No, he might be getting up in the night to change diapers, but he wasn’t breast-feeding or anemic from childbirth. He didn’t have Adara’s totally legitimate reasons for shirking work.

  He certainly shouldn’t be leaving confidential papers lying openly on his desk, whether the workmen were gone or not.

  The block letters and signature tabs were a dead giveaway that this was a contract, one he couldn’t remember even pulling out to review, but— Ah. It was the separation agreement he’d sent to Adara. She must have left it here.

  A pang hit him, but it was merely the remembered pain of thinking he’d lost everything and was quickly relieved by a rush of relief and happiness that they’d recovered. Her devotion was as steadfast as his, prompting a flood of deep love for her as he walked the papers toward the shredder. He didn’t want this bad mojo in the house, but then he saw she’d signed it. His heart stopped.

  Ha. That wasn’t her name. Under the statement that began, I, Adara Makricosta, hereby agree..., she’d scrawled with a deep impression, Never, and added a smiley face.

  Quirking a grin at her sass, he decided this was a signed contract in its own right, definitely worth tucking in the safe. Suddenly, work didn’t seem important after all. Was she finished feeding Androu? he wondered. They’d had coinciding follow-ups at separate doctor clinics today. He’d returned to find her rocking a drifting Androu to sleep downstairs and decided to see what he could get done here, but...

  He turned to find her in his office doorway, the baby monitor in her hand.

  “He’s asleep?” he asked.

  She nodded and came to set the monitor on his desktop. “How did your appointment go?”

  “Not swimmingly.”

  Her eyes widened in alarm.

  “That’s a joke,” he hurried to assure her. “I’m saying there were no swimmers. I’m good. Shooting blanks.”

  She snorted, then sobered and cocked her head in concern. “You’re sure it doesn’t bother you? I really was fully prepared to have my tubes tied.”

  He tried to wave away the same worries he’d been trying to alleviate for weeks, but she kept her anxious expression.

  He sighed. “I’d make ten more just like Androu if we could. We both would, right? He’s perfect,” he said, moving to take her arms in a warm but firm grasp of insistence. “But if we want more children, we can find another way. You can’t risk another pregnancy.”

  “Exactly why I should have been the one having the permanent procedure. What if someday—”

  “Are you going somewhere?” he challenged lightly. “I’m not. Therefore, my getting fixed is a solution for both of us. You’ve been through enough. And this was not a big moral struggle for me. I’m happy to take responsibility for protecting you.”

  She pouted a little. “Well, thank you then. I do appreciate it.”

  He caressed from the base of her throat to under her chin, coaxing her to tilt her head up so he could see those pillowy lips pursed so erotically.

  “There was some self-serving to it, you know,” he admitted, voice thickening with the many weeks of abstinence they’d observed. Now there’d never be any worries for either of them, no matter when or where they came together. And hell, if he hadn’t inflicted pain down there to distract himself, he probably would have lost his mind waiting for this moment. “How did your appointment go?” he belatedly asked, reminding himself not to let the engine rev too high and fast.

  “Oh.” Her lashes swooped and her mouth widened into a sensual smile of invitation. “All clear to resume normal activities.”

  “If you can call how we make each other feel ‘normal.’” He backed her toward the desk. “I was just thinking I haven’t been spending enough quality time in here.”

  Her breath caught in the most delightful way, and even though she stiffened in surprise when her hips met the edge of his desk, she melted with reception just as quickly, hitching herself to sit on it. Her hand curled around to the back of his neck and she leaned her other hand onto the surface of his desk, watching without protest as he began unbuttoning her top.

  “We do have a nice new bed downstairs that hasn’t been used for one of its intended purposes, you know,” she reminded in a sultry voice.

  “I am quite aware,” he countered dryly as he bared her chest and released her bra. Her breasts were bigger, pale and lightly veined, the nipples dark and stiff with excitement. “God, you’re beautiful.”

  “They’re kind of majestic, aren’t they?” She arched a little.

  “They kind of are,” he agreed with awe, tracing lightly before he bent to touch careful kisses around her nipples.

  “Gideon?”

  Her tone made him raise his head. “What’s wrong?”

  “I know we should savor this because it’s been a really long time and we kind of started over with our marriage so this is a bit of a honeymoon moment, but I’ve really missed making love with you. I thought about walking in here naked. I don’t want to wait.”

  Ever willing to accommodate, he stripped her pants off without another word, taking her ice-blue undies with them. Spreading her knees, he only bothered to open his jeans and shove them down as far as necessary, before he carefully pushed inside her.

  Adara gasped at the pinch and friction of not being quite ready, but his hot, firm thickness was the connection she’d been longing for. With a moan, she twined her legs around him and forced his entry, drawing a deep hiss from him.

  They fought a light battle, him trying to slow her down, her urging him as deep into her as she could take before she sprawled back on his desk and let him have his way with her.

  It was raw and quick and powerful, over in minutes, but they were shaking in each other’s arms as they caught their breath. Her vision sparkled and she felt as if she radiated ecstasy.

  “You okay?” he murmured as he kissed her neck. “That was pretty primal.”

  “That was an appetizer,” she said, languidly kissing him and using her tongue. Her fingertips traced the damp line through his shirt down his spine. “Now you can take me downstairs and show me your best moves.”

  “You’re sounding pretty bossy there, Mrs. Vozaras.” He straightened and gently disengaged so he could hitch up his jeans and scoop her off the desk into a cradle against his chest.

  “Only a problem if we want different things, and I don’t think that’s true.”

  He cocked his head in agreement. “You’re so right. Monitor,” he prompted, dipping his still-weak knees so she could grab it off the corner of the desk.

  She craned her neck over his shoulder as he carried her through the door. “You gonna leave my clothes on the floor like that?”

  “Do I look stupid? We’re on the clock. He could wake up any second.”

  She traced his lips with her fingertip. “But if the boat rocks, they’ll be thrown all over the place,” she teased.

  He paused on the stairs. “I am dry-docked and landlocked, sticking right here with you, my siren of a wife. We’re on solid ground. Nothing is going anywhere.”

  “Aw.” Touched, she kissed him. It grew deeply passionate. He let her legs drift to find the step above him so he could roam his hands over her naked curves, lighting delicious fires in her nerve endings.

  She worked on divesting him, caressing heated skin, leaving
a few more articles of clothing on the stairs before she led him below to christen their new bed.

  * * * * *

  Now, read on for a tantalizing excerpt of USA Today bestselling author,

  Dani Collins’s new release,

  XENAKIS’S CONVENIENT BRIDE

  The second book in The Secret Billionaires trilogy!

  Stavros Xenakis refuses to marry—until deliciously tempting Calli proves that a wife is exactly what he needs! Stavros’s proposal gives Calli the chance to find her stolen son. But she doesn’t expect life as Mrs. Xenakis to be quite so satisfying…

  Read on to get a glimpse of

  XENAKIS’S CONVENIENT BRIDE

  PROLOGUE

  STAVROS XENAKIS THREW his twenty-thousand-euro chips into the pot, less satisfied than he usually was postchallenge, but it had nothing to do with his fellow players or his lackluster hand.

  His longtime friend Sebastien Atkinson had arranged his usual après-adrenaline festivities. It had wound down to the four of them, as it often did. Many turned out for these extreme sports events, but only Antonio Di Marcello and Alejandro Salazar had the same deep pockets Stavros and Sebastien did. Or the stones to bet at this level simply to stretch out a mellow evening.

  Stavros wasn’t the snob his grandfather was, but he didn’t consider many his equal. These men were it and he enjoyed their company for that reason. Tonight was no exception. They were still high on today’s exercise of cheating death, sipping 1946 Macallan while trading good-natured insults.

  So why was he twitching with edginess?

  He mentally reviewed today’s paraski that had had him carving a steep line down a ski slope to a cliff’s edge before rocketing into thin air, lifted by his chute for a thousand feet, guiding his path above a ridge, then hitting the lower slope for another run of hard turns before taking to the air again.

  It had been as physically demanding as any challenge that had come before and was probably their most daredevil yet. Throughout most of it, he’d been completely in the moment—his version of meditating.

  He had expected today to erase the frustration that had been dogging him, but it hadn’t. He might have set it aside for a few hours, but this niggling irritation was back to grate at him.

  Sebastien eyed him across the table, no doubt trying to determine if he was bluffing.

  “How’s your wife?” Stavros asked, more as a deflection, but also trying to divine how Sebastien could be happily married.

  “Better company than you. Why are you so surly tonight?”

  Was it obvious? He grimaced. “I haven’t won yet.” He was among friends so he admitted the rest. “And my grandfather is threatening to disinherit me if I don’t marry soon. I’d tell him to go to hell, but…”

  “Your mother,” Alejandro said.

  “Exactly.” They all knew his situation. He played ball with his grandfather for the sake of his mother and sisters. He couldn’t walk away from his own inheritance when it would cost them theirs.

  But “settle down?” His grandfather had been trying to fit Stavros into a box from the time he was twelve. Lately it had become a push toward picket fences. Demands he produce an heir and a spare.

  Stavros couldn’t buy into any of that so, yet again, he was in a power struggle with the old man. He usually got around being whipped down a particular path, but he hadn’t yet found his alternate route. It chewed and chewed at him, especially when his grandfather was holding control of the family’s pharmaceutical conglomerate hostage.

  Stavros might be a hell-raiser, but his rogue personality had produced some of the biggest gains for Dýnami. He was more than ready to steer the ship. A wife and children were cargo he didn’t need, but his grandfather seemed to think it would prove he was “mature” and “responsible.”

  Where his grandfather got the idea he wasn’t either of those things, Stavros couldn’t say. He upped his ante to a full hundred thousand, despite the fact his hand had not improved. He promptly lost it.

  They played a little longer, then Sebastien asked, “Do you ever get the feeling we spend too much of our lives counting our money and chasing superficial thrills at the expense of something more meaningful?”

  “You called it,” Antonio said to Alejandro, tossing over a handful of chips. “Four drinks and he’s philosophizing.”

  Sebastien gave Stavros a look of disgust as he also pushed some chips toward Alejandro’s pile.

  “I said three.” Stavros shrugged without apology. “My losing streak continues.”

  “I’m serious.” Sebastien was the only self-made billionaire among them, raised by a single mother on the dole in a country where bloodlines and titles were still more valuable than a bank balance. His few extra years of age and experience gave him the right to act as mentor. He wasn’t afraid to offer his opinion and he was seldom wrong. They all listened when he spoke, but he did get flowery when he was in his cups. “At our level, it’s numbers on a page. Points on a scoreboard. What does it contribute to our lives? Money doesn’t buy happiness.”

  “It buys some nice substitutes.” Antonio smirked.

  Sebastien’s mouth twisted. “Like your cars?” he mused, then flicked his glance to Alejandro. “Your private island? You don’t even use that boat you’re so proud of,” he said, moving on to Stavros. “We buy expensive toys and play dangerous games, but does it enrich our lives? Feed our souls?”

  “What are you suggesting?” Alejandro drawled, discarding a card and motioning for it to be replaced. “We go live with the Buddhists in the mountains? Learn the meaning of life? Renounce our worldly possessions to find inner clarity?”

  Sebastien made a scoffing noise. “You three couldn’t go two weeks without your wealth and family names to support you. Your gilded existence makes you blind to reality.”

  “Could you?” Stavros challenged, throwing away three cards. “Try telling us you would go back to when you were broke, before you made your fortune. Hungry isn’t happy. That’s why you’re such a rich bastard now.”

  “As it happens, I’ve been thinking of donating half my fortune to charity, to start a global search-and-rescue fund. Not everyone has friends who will dig him out of an avalanche with their bare hands.” Sebastien smiled, but the rest of them didn’t.

  Last year, Sebastien had nearly died during one of their challenges. Stavros still woke from nightmares of reliving those dark minutes. He’d wound up with frostbite burns on his fingers, but he’d been frantic to save Sebastien, unable to watch a man die again. A man whose life he valued. He felt sick recollecting it and took a sip of his whiskey to sear away the nausea.

  “Are you serious?” Alejandro charged. “That’s, what? Five billion?”

  “You can’t take it with you.” Sebastien’s shrug was nonchalant. “Monika is on board with it, but I’m still debating. I’ll tell you what.” He leaned forward, mouth curling into the wicked grin he always wore when he proposed cliff diving or some other outrageous act. “You three go two weeks without your credit cards and I’ll do it.”

  “Starting when? We all have responsibilities,” Alejandro reminded.

  After a considering pause, Sebastien canted his head. “Fair enough. Clear the decks at home. But be prepared for word from me—and two weeks in the real world.”

  “You’re really going to wager half your fortune on a cakewalk of a challenge?” Alejandro said.

  “If you’ll put up your island. Your favorite toys?” He took in all three men. “I say where and when.”

  They all snorted with confidence.

  “Easy,” Stavros said, already anticipating the break from his grandfather’s badgering. “Count me in.”

  Copyright © 2017 by Dani Collins

  Don’t miss

  XENAKIS’S CONVENIENT BRIDE

  by USA Today bestselling author

  Dani Collins,

  available June 2017 wherever

  Harlequin Books and ebooks are sold.

  www.Harlequin.com />
  If you enjoyed this story by

  NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author

  PENNY JORDAN,

  you will love

  Harlequin® Presents!

  Do you want alpha males, decadent glamour, and jet-set lifestyles? Step into the sensational, sophisticated world of Harlequin® Presents, where sinfully tempting heroes ignite a fierce and wickedly irresistible passion!

  Look for eight new stories every month!

  Recommended Reads for May 2017

  The Sheikh’s Bought Wife

  The Magnate’s Tempestuous Marriage

  Bound by the Sultan’s Baby

  Di Marcello’s Secret Son

  The Forced Bride of Alazar

  The Innocent’s Shameful Secret

  Blackmailed Down the Aisle

  The Italian’s Vengeful Seduction

  ISBN-13: 978-1-488-03191-5

  Marriage Without Love and More Than a Convenient Marriage? © 2017 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:

  MARRIAGE WITHOUT LOVE

  Copyright © 1981 by Penny Jordan

  MORE THAN A CONVENIENT MARRIAGE?

  Copyright © 2013 by Dani Collins

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.