Still, with luck she would be okay, she thought, worriedly chewing her bottom lip. Much as she would love another child, she dared not take the risk. This marriage was for eight years only, not a commitment for life, she constantly reminded herself. She saw no reason to tell Theo of her precautions. He had taken over her life almost completely, but in the most personal areas of her life she was determined to retain control, and she slanted a wary glance up at her husband.
Theo caught her worried gaze. 'Stop it, Willow, it might never happen.' He gathered her into his arms and kissed her full on the mouth with a deep, drugging tenderness that drove every thought from her head. Only Stephen pulling on his jacket finally forced him to release her.
'Hey, Dad, that's mushy,' Stephen said indignantly, and everyone laughed.
The champagne flowed freely and the running buffet was a gourmet's delight. Willow lost track of the people who congratulated them; all she was aware of was Theo's tall, commanding presence close to her side through countless toasts and teasing. A quartet started to play and with great ceremony Theo led her out onto the terrace and took her in his arms.
'Have I told you today, Mrs Kadros—' his dark eyes captured hers, a gleam of triumph and something else in the inky depths that made her heart squeeze in her chest '—my wife—' he savoured the two words as he held her closer and she had no choice but to lift her hands to his broad shoulders as they moved slowly around to the music '—you look stunningly beautiful, and absolutely divine?' Bodies touching shoulder to thigh, legs entwined as he spun her around, Willow almost believed him.
Whether it was the champagne or simply bowing to the inevitable, she found she no longer cared. 'You don't look so bad yourself,' she murmured, an involuntary sensual smile parting her soft lips. The formal silver-grey tailcoat and the intricately tied neckpiece gave him a slightly piratical air, and the familiar heightened awareness of him invaded her body. 'For an older man,' she dared to tease.
'I will remind you of that remark tonight,' Theo breathed huskily against her ear. 'Then we will see who has the most stamina,' he drawled, so seductively that desire ripped through her like a knife.
The music stopped, but Theo seemed reluctant to let her go. 'People are watching,' she said, lowering her eyes from his intense gaze, afraid he would see in her eyes the hunger and the need she was helpless to conceal.
She had watched him over the past week and she could not doubt his love for Stephen was absolute. As for her, she was just part of the package. To imagine otherwise would be fatal. Once before she had confused sex with Theo with love and she dared not make the same mistake again. But she had the uneasy feeling that it might already be too late. . . Was she already half in love with him? She didn't know, and she was glad of the diversion from her troubled thoughts when Tess appeared at her side and suggested it was time to change her outfit.
'No way.' Theo grinned easily down at Tess. 'No one is going to deprive me of the pleasure of unpeeling that spectacular dress from my wife's body. It has been driving me mad all day. I am whisking her off in the helicopter in ten minutes exactly as she stands.'
'A man after my own heart.' Tess laughed. 'If it wasn't for Bob, I would have had you myself.'
'Tess!' Willow remonstrated. What on earth got into her friend every time she saw Theo? She began flirting outrageously.
'Never mind the outrage, Willow. I have known you for years and you have hardly ever looked at another man, and now I know why. You were lucky; you started with the best. I knew the first time I clapped eyes on Theo he was Stephen's father and the only man for you. By the way, I have told your friend Dave that you were getting married so you have no need to worry on that score. Now off you go and enjoy your honeymoon. Stephen will be perfectly okay here with me and Bob and he has his pal Tommy to play with.'
Willow had forgotten all about Dave. Theo had swept every thought of the man out of her head. They had dated casually for over a year but she had never held any real feelings for him. More like just companionship.
'Forget Dave.' Theo swore softly. 'The helicopter is waiting.' Grasping her arm, and with a last hug and kiss for Stephen, he whisked her away. The congratulations of everyone was still ringing in her ears until they were drowned out by the sound of the rotary blades.
Situated on a spectacular headland, the hotel was out of this world. Their suite was magnificent but Willow was nervous. A glass wall opened out onto a fantastic terrace, and she wandered out to take a few deep steadying breaths of the warm night air, her eyes widening in awe at the fabulous view of the sea and the night sky.
'Champagne?' Theo suggested and came to stand behind her.
'This place is incredible, but where are we?' Willow asked. The flight had been barely half an hour, the helicopter had landed on the helipad and the manager of the hotel had met and escorted them straight to this lavish suite. She was alone with Theo for the first time in days, and fear and anticipation of the night ahead had made her as tense as a bowstring. 'Under the circumstances I don't think a honeymoon was really necessary,' she said stiffly.
His arm folded around her waist and he pulled her back against the hard lines of his powerful body. 'A very private hotel for the chosen few,' he said softly. 'Where it is does not matter—all you need to know is I have chosen you.' And turning her around in his arms, he added, 'As my wife.'
But he had not chosen her, Willow realised with an ache in her heart. Not really. . . He was as much a captive by the love he felt for his son as she was. Slowly she raised her head. Theo's lashes half covered his eyes, giving him a saturnine cast. Beneath them his gaze, intent and blatantly possessive, roamed over her face as his long fingers closed around her upper arms.
'And a honeymoon, although it will be unfortunately brief as I must be back in Athens on Monday, is a necessity to me,' Theo said, smiling his slightly crooked smile. 'Much as I love our son, we need some time alone together.' His dark eyes serious, he added, 'I want to make this marriage work. Surely you would not deny me the chance to try?'
Did he need her? Or would any woman do? she wondered. As for denying him! 'No,' she murmured. She wanted him too much. Then his hands slid gently up to cup her head in his palms and the depths of emotion in his night-black eyes, the intense raw passion, stunned her.
Willow stood very still, her breathing shaky. One week ago to this very day she had been an independent single mother, acclaimed by the press for her skill as a writer; now she was married to a man who offered her wealth and a basic primitive passion for a stipulated duration only. How had her world changed so dramatically? She instinctively tried to shake her head, her confusion showing in the blue eyes that clung to his.
Theo's dark head bent and he took her mouth in a kiss. It started as a gentle touch of his firm, silken lips against her own, and only ended when he had plunged deep and long into the moist depths, and Willow was boneless in his arms.
'Time to find the bedroom,' Theo suggested with a husky chuckle, swinging her up into his arms. Willow buried her face in his neck as he carried her into the bedroom. Slowly he lowered her down the long length of his body and she swayed as her feet touched the floor. Seconds later she gasped as he found the zip at the side of her wedding gown, and peeled it from her quivering body to fall in a pool of satin at her feet.
'I have ached to do that all day. The dress is exquisite, but you. . .' he husked throatily, and for a long moment he held her at arm's length. 'You are perfection.' His glittering black gaze swept down over her near-naked body, lingering on the firm, high breasts, her narrow waist, her only covering the briefest of silk lace briefs. When he lifted his head she saw the turbulence in the depths of his eyes, and her heart leapt.
He raised his hands to her hair and removed the clips holding it back almost reverently. He raked his fingers through the silken mass, and, lifting it to his face, he breathed deeply. 'I remember the scent of your hair from the first time we met, fresh apples in the fall. It is still the same,' he murmured huskily and, stepping back, smoothed the silken length over her shoulder.
He was right. 'Creature of habit, same shampoo,' she said softly, but she was touched by his memory. Maybe he did care for her a little, but he was not touching her now. . .and she needed him to, her senses inflamed by his unexpected mixture of tenderness and passion.
Then his dark head bent and he kissed her throat and scattered swift, biting kisses down the length of it as he divested himself of his clothes. Finally naked, he lifted his head, and he pressed a swift, hard kiss on her softly parted lips, his eyes dark as he reached for her shoulders.
'I thought I had imagined how smooth and white your skin was; a trick of memory, but I was wrong,' Theo murmured, his eyes roaming over her exposed flesh. 'Pale and translucent as a perfect pearl,' he husked, his hands gentle as he stroked slowly down over her firm breasts. The tips of his fingers began circling then teasing the burgeoning peaks before trailing down to shape her waist and lower to hook his thumbs in the scrap of lace and slip the last covering from her body.