r nerves, she made a quick detour through the kitchen, then headed upstairs.
Demetra knocked on the door five minutes later, clutching the armful of candles Belle had requested.
“Efkharisto.” Belle smiled her thanks.
The old woman gave her a sad smile in return, and muttered in Greek.
“I’m all right, I promise,” Belle reassured her.
“Ne, ne,” the housekeeper agreed, reaching out to pat her hand. Then with another watery smile, she handed over the candles and left.
Belle headed for the bathroom, where she’d placed several more candles.
Handmade by a specialist on the neighboring island of Santorini, the sensual candles she’d chosen on her visit to his shop during her honeymoon had never been used. As a young newlywed, not totally comfortable with her sexuality, she’d more often than not chickened out when it came to making the first move in the bedroom. The candles had never been given a proper outing.
Tonight she had every intention of using them.
She placed the smaller candles on the bedside tables and the larger ones on the floor in their holders. One by one she lit them, inhaling the exotic fragrance of amyris, saffron, and crushed rose petals.
In the bathroom, she rubbed on a small amount of the luxurious body cream she’d purchased from the same shop, enjoying the pearlescent glow it gave her skin. Next, she slipped into a floor-length negligee.
Looking down at the diaphanous garment, she almost blushed at the sight of her aroused nipples peeking through the gauzy peach material. Not quite ready to look farther down, she picked up her hairbrush and ran it through her hair, letting the repetitive motion calm her heating senses.
Finally, she returned to the bedroom and, careful to avoid the naked flames of the candles, sat down on the bed and reached behind her neck. Unclasping the chain, she let the skin-warmed rings fall into her palm.
…
Nick took the stairs three at a time. His heart hammered a wild beat as he approached the bedroom door. He forced himself to slow down and, with another deep breath, tried to regulate his breathing so as not to give himself away.
The snaking fear that had seized him when he’d entered the living room to find the French doors still open but Belle nowhere in sight snapped like a live electric wire. Although logic told him she would likely be upstairs, he couldn’t dismiss the irrational fear.
He turned the doorknob, and his anxiety vanished.
She sat in the middle of their bed, an ethereal vision, surrounded by candlelight and rich, exotic scent. His hand shook so hard the doorknob rattled. Dear God, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
That alien emotion was back again, tightening around his chest, making his breath snag in his lungs. This time when his heart ground to a halt and resumed hammering with thunderous force, it wasn’t driven by fear, but by the intensity of his need for this woman. His Tinkerbelle.
Without realizing he’d moved, he arrived at the foot of the bed, his eyes never once leaving hers.
In a sinuous move that made his throat dry and his cock harden, she swayed upward, rising to her knees. Her lower lip caught between her teeth, she reached out her hands to him.
Again his heart stopped. A violent tremor shook his frame when he saw the rings glittering on her finger.
His eyes flew back to her darkened blue gaze, where what looked suspiciously like tears glistened on her lashes. “Is this what I think?” He paused, almost afraid to ask the question out loud.
She gave one shaky nod, causing his heart to hammer anew. “Yes, my husband,” she confirmed. “It is.”
…
Belle saw a raw emotion she couldn’t name spread across Nick’s face as he swallowed visibly. He reached out to take her hands. Bringing them to his lips, he kissed the rings before kissing each knuckle.
Then he pulled her to him and, for the longest time, held her tight, the only sound the fierce pounding of his heart beating as one with hers.
At last he pulled away and, looking deep into her eyes, said, “You have made me the happiest man alive, yineka mou, and for as long as I live, I will make sure you don’t regret your decision.”
A sob caught in her throat, but before a single tear could fall, he kissed her with such adoration, thoughts of tears were immediately forgotten. “I intend to hold you to that promise,” she whispered.
Her eager hands winding themselves around his shoulders and bringing him home to her, she kissed him back with equal fervor. She felt him tremble…or was that her? She lost all thought as Nick’s tongue caressed hers, his groans of need matching hers. She reached for his clothes, her hands working to divest him of his clothes.